Reality check - the stinky edition in Orange, red and gold are the leaves. Autumn 2015

WHERE: in the living room, stretching after a session of hill sprints. This is where I jog to a local footbridge and sprint to the top. I then walk down again repeat ad infinitum or until my legs turn to jelly then jog home again. I’ve been home for half an hour but school holidays mean the impetus to stretch quickly isn’t strong!

WEARING: Capri length, black saucony running tights, bright, high viz aldi running top. Two hair ties, watch and three bracelets. Four rings, one necklace and five earrings. (And underwear, but you don’t need details!)

FITNESS UPDATE: I’ve added an extra run to my repertoire this week, plantar fasciitis, thy shall never beat me! I’ve got my 10k time to 1 hour 3 minutes 50 seconds but I reckon there’s more to come off it before the race in November… My weekly runs are, fast 10km, medium speed 6 to 7km, hill sprints and a slow run with the girls. My weight is still staying around where I’m happy and sugar still doesn’t pass my lips 💋
Ooh, and I’ve bought the most fabulous pair of running shoes…

On the right are my old, well loved and falling apart shoes. On the left, my sparkly, can’t-miss-me new ones.

IN THE NEWS: a Spanish military helicopter has gone missing with 3 people on board, California had revoked a 169 year ban on beekeeping in the state which is good. We need bees, the future of life on earth relies on these little fellows. And honey. Mmmmmm, I may not eat sugar but I do like a bit of honey!

Syrian refugees are still fighting to be given basic human rights while politicians are trying not to piss off their voters by allowing too many/too few refugees into their countries. Ffs, our earth has no borders, look at photographs from space. The borders are imaginary lines created by humans. People are people, just that. Not British, Syrian nor German. Just people.

READING: well, with Talaia I’m reading Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban. With Lila I’m reading Peter and Wendy by JM Barry. By my bed I have In the Shadow of Kilimanjaro by Rick Ridgeway. He’s a climber who has produced many books and presented t.v. shows about his expeditions. This one was done in 1997 and I bought the book when it came out. It starts with the climb up Kilimanjaro although the official walk is from the summit to the coast. It’s a lovely book, and (of course) the majority of it is in the country I don’t remember but still feel a strong part of due to my birth in the foothills of Mount Kenya. In the book, Rick talks about the danger of hippos which kill more people in Africa than any other animal. They are more dangerous than lions or crocodiles. This makes me smile because throughout my childhood (in Yorkshire, England) if anyone mentioned hippos my dad would give a lecture on how dangerous they were. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I pointed out to him that, since we were in England, the lecture wasn’t really necessary! However, I can see his point too since he had to treat people with hippo bites (which are pretty, damn, horrific things) and pronounce hippo victims dead during his time working there.
The other day, in the bath, I read Black Orchid by Neil Gaiman and… Uhh… Some other dude who, I think, illustrated it. I must admit, I’m not hugely into comics because I like to create my own images in my mind but I like Black Orchid because it takes the violence of comic books and turns it on its head, creating peace loving super-beings. Oh, and I read a peanuts book the other day too. I am really looking forward to the new movie coming out! Snoopy was my pin up 😉

ACTIVITIES TODAY: the second day of the school holidays and another chill day I think. Yesterday was pretty busy, the plumber was booked to come at 9 for the annual boiler service so I was up and ready. He was a bit late which meant I did a job that I often put off. You see, I’m happy pottering in the back garden but the front bores me! However, I needed to fill our green garden bin (which is emptied every other Friday ie today) so I hacked out the weeds from the front garden to fill the bin. Why did I need to fill it? Because I have to pay for it. Therefore I intend to never miss a collection! Anyway. Once Matt (the plumber) had finished I sorted out all the things from the airing cupboard. I discovered a gargantuan collection of shampoos, conditioners and toothpastes as well as various out of date asthma inhalers! I’ve now organised it all to make it easier to find things so that I don’t keep buying things we already have. I had done this by 11.30, and Lila had a homework sheet about volcanoes. She’s supposed to choose one thing from the sheet to do but we have all got a bit excited about it… We went to hobbycraft to buy air drying clay with which to build a volcano. But also wax to make a realistic volcano - put wax, then sand and then water in a glass container. Heat the bottom of the container (I’m going to Bain Marie it) and the wax should melt, bubbling up through the sand. A little later we took Talaia to her climbing lesson.

Anyway, I’m supposed to be telling to you about today - we’re meeting friends for lunch and we need to prepare another science experiment, this one about erosion.

THINKING ABOUT: I have transferred to the bath and Talaia is chatting to me. We’re sniffing all the new smellies that I’ve brought out of the airing cupboard. Discussing the various merits of them all! I’m also thinking about lunch - it’s an open invitation from a friend of mine to all her friends, I’ve made a few friends this way but one of her friends, who will be there today, well, I found her hard work last time. She didn’t interact with me at all and I felt as though she was there for the mutual friend only. I always include everyone, new or old, when we have our Friday Fry Ups (as they are called). shrugs, there’ll be plenty of others.
PLANNING: the school holidays. We have a trip to Pan to organise (Lila is a huge Peter Pan fan) and to our local lagoon pool. The girls also want to go to our local wildlife park but I’m thinking of doing it in December as part of their advent calendar treats.

And that’s all folks!

Last updated October 23, 2015