I was woken at 4am by a combination of Thomas kitty leaping onto the bed and the dawn chorus so I decided it was time to get up and get going. Get going at what I'm not sure of yet but I think my plan so far revolves around going to the storage place to collect a couple of things that I promised my next door neighbour and doing a little light shopping.
I had planned to go to the gym but I have a really painful heel at the moment and until I have seen the doctor about it I don't want to put too much pressure on by leaping around on rowing machines, bikes and treadmills, that would probably do more harm than good.
I am however doing well on the weight loss front merely by cutting my beer intake by 70% and eating more fruit and fewer sweeties. I am down 5 pounds so far and am certainly heading in the right direction.
Anyway, I have just had to break off from writing this to reply to an e-mail from a wine company who tried to take a monthly payment for a wine buying club they run even though I e-mailed them to say I wasn't going ahead with the offer to join.
I have bought wine from them on the odd occasion previously so they had bank card details but I'm glad I didn't change the details on my account when my new bank card was issued a couple of months ago. They have now been informed that I will not be buying wine from them again since they ignored my explicit instructions that I didn't want to take up their offer.
I'm too grumpy to write any more now.
TTFN
Sunday, 2 June 2013
Friday, 24 May 2013
Still Spring, still freezing cold.
But that is not what I am writing about today. What I am writing about today is writing, my writing or lack of it.
Many months ago I started writing The Tale, it's about a young fellow who leaves his home in the North East of England for a new life in America. So far the poor lad is stuck in Cleveland, Ohio waiting to propose to his sweetheart and move West to make a new life for himself and, he hopes, his new bride.
The problem is I've ground to a halt and can't seem to motivate myself to get going again. I even started a second tale about an abandoned fishing boat called the Tale of the Mary M but that is still in dry dock as I haven't been able to get this tale afloat either.
I should concentrate on getting Bob West, the hero of The Tale, or West goes West as I've provisionally titled it moving again. I will set a start date and stick by it, writing for half a day at weekends, probably on a Sunday after the gym and lunch. I will reward myself with a beer in the club at the end of each writing session to give me an incentive to do the job and get the first draft of The Tale finished.
That's decided then, I will recommence The Tale on Sunday June 2nd at 2 pm and write until 7pm when I will decamp to the club for a beer, just one though as I'm also on a plan to become a snake-hipped lothario by Wednesday April 9th 2014 which is the date I have to go to the lipids, or as I call it, fat clinic.
I will also try to bore my reader a bit more often on here as well but until my next foray into blogdom, ttfn.
Many months ago I started writing The Tale, it's about a young fellow who leaves his home in the North East of England for a new life in America. So far the poor lad is stuck in Cleveland, Ohio waiting to propose to his sweetheart and move West to make a new life for himself and, he hopes, his new bride.
The problem is I've ground to a halt and can't seem to motivate myself to get going again. I even started a second tale about an abandoned fishing boat called the Tale of the Mary M but that is still in dry dock as I haven't been able to get this tale afloat either.
I should concentrate on getting Bob West, the hero of The Tale, or West goes West as I've provisionally titled it moving again. I will set a start date and stick by it, writing for half a day at weekends, probably on a Sunday after the gym and lunch. I will reward myself with a beer in the club at the end of each writing session to give me an incentive to do the job and get the first draft of The Tale finished.
That's decided then, I will recommence The Tale on Sunday June 2nd at 2 pm and write until 7pm when I will decamp to the club for a beer, just one though as I'm also on a plan to become a snake-hipped lothario by Wednesday April 9th 2014 which is the date I have to go to the lipids, or as I call it, fat clinic.
I will also try to bore my reader a bit more often on here as well but until my next foray into blogdom, ttfn.
Saturday, 18 May 2013
Spring?
This morning I had porridge for breakfast whilst sitting in front of a roaring fire with a blanket over my knees. I'm either feeling the cold more than usual in my old age (54) or Spring has not sprung and Summer has gone on holiday leaving us to be looked after by Autumn.
I remember Spring and Summer, they were those seasons where the sun shone and you could go into the garden with a nice cold drink or perhaps sit down by the sea watching as the waves lapped gently onto a golden sandy beach. These days you have to sit in the house wrapped in blankets by the fire watching the rain lashing the windows whilst clutching a mug of soup.
Where has the good weather gone? Is there an evil weather pixie that has stolen our temperate climate and replaced it with permanent Autumn/Winter? If so please can we have it back if I promise to be good?Another year like the last couple would be just too much to bear so come on Spring/Summer sort yourselves out and do your job!
TTFN
I remember Spring and Summer, they were those seasons where the sun shone and you could go into the garden with a nice cold drink or perhaps sit down by the sea watching as the waves lapped gently onto a golden sandy beach. These days you have to sit in the house wrapped in blankets by the fire watching the rain lashing the windows whilst clutching a mug of soup.
Where has the good weather gone? Is there an evil weather pixie that has stolen our temperate climate and replaced it with permanent Autumn/Winter? If so please can we have it back if I promise to be good?Another year like the last couple would be just too much to bear so come on Spring/Summer sort yourselves out and do your job!
TTFN
Sunday, 28 April 2013
Contact lenses.
I had a try-out of some soft contact lenses yesterday. I've been thinking for ages about whether to get them or not so I decided to go for a free trial. I had gas permeable ones many years ago but could not get away with them. Now there are soft ones which are said to correct astigmatism which they apparently couldn't do before.
I tried a variety of options and although they were all very comfortable none of them gave me the level of eyesight that I achieve with glasses. They all had an element of either blurred vision or a feeling that I was cross-eyed which made me feel uncomfortable, especially with the thought of driving with them in.
The upshot is that I've decided against contacts and have gone for a pair of rimless glasses which are very light and comfortable and should maintain the level of sight correction I'm comfortable with alongside the added advantage of not having to mess about taking them out every night. It is much easier to fall into bed and stick my glasses on the night-stand than it is to poke around in my eyes for however long it takes to get the darned lenses out.
So that's it, I remain a wearer of glasses and am happy with that.
TTFN
I tried a variety of options and although they were all very comfortable none of them gave me the level of eyesight that I achieve with glasses. They all had an element of either blurred vision or a feeling that I was cross-eyed which made me feel uncomfortable, especially with the thought of driving with them in.
The upshot is that I've decided against contacts and have gone for a pair of rimless glasses which are very light and comfortable and should maintain the level of sight correction I'm comfortable with alongside the added advantage of not having to mess about taking them out every night. It is much easier to fall into bed and stick my glasses on the night-stand than it is to poke around in my eyes for however long it takes to get the darned lenses out.
So that's it, I remain a wearer of glasses and am happy with that.
TTFN
Friday, 26 April 2013
I'm back....
...from Edinburgh after a productive and enjoyable couple of days capped off by meeting a lovely young lady on the (much delayed) train home. She was on her way to Leicester from Aberdeen to take an exam tomorrow and we got talking about how she would not get to the place she was staying until really late and how she was concerned about the test.
She was young enough to be my daughter and although I am aiming to be a snake-hipped lothario by this time next year I only felt fatherly, or maybe avuncular feelings towards her. At least I managed to make her laugh and maybe took her mind off her concerns for a little while. I hope she reached her destination safely and does well in her exam as she was a lovely young lady and it would be a shame if she didn't achieve what she has set out to do, especially after such a long trip.
The kitties were fine whilst I was away, but I wouldn't like to leave them for anything longer than one night without someone coming in to see they are ok which The Brother has kindly volunteered to do.
Tomorrow I'm going to get my contact lense trial started to see if I can cope with soft ones. I hope it all works out.
Off for another rum and coke and a watch of the tv before bed.
TTFN.
She was young enough to be my daughter and although I am aiming to be a snake-hipped lothario by this time next year I only felt fatherly, or maybe avuncular feelings towards her. At least I managed to make her laugh and maybe took her mind off her concerns for a little while. I hope she reached her destination safely and does well in her exam as she was a lovely young lady and it would be a shame if she didn't achieve what she has set out to do, especially after such a long trip.
The kitties were fine whilst I was away, but I wouldn't like to leave them for anything longer than one night without someone coming in to see they are ok which The Brother has kindly volunteered to do.
Tomorrow I'm going to get my contact lense trial started to see if I can cope with soft ones. I hope it all works out.
Off for another rum and coke and a watch of the tv before bed.
TTFN.
Thursday, 25 April 2013
Edinburgh
I'm on my way to Edinburgh for a two day work meeting and to catch up with an old pal for a curry and a beer or two (well, probably more that two if I'm honest).
This is the beginning of a series of trips over the next couple of months which will mean that I'm away as much as I'm at home but I quite like travelling so it isn't a chore by any means.
The Brother is looking after the kitties whilst I'm away so they'll be fine, all I have to do is avoid too much unhealthy food and not drink too much. My new weight loss and fitness programme started on Tuesday so I hope that in a few months I will no longer be a lard-arse and will be the racing snake hipped lothario I always saw myself as in my dreams. In my dreams indeed. We shall see.
I do think that I need to find a theme for this blog, my random burblings are all very well but what I'm writing is hardly the most entertaining of stuff so I will have to have a think and see if I can come up with more entertaining subject matter in the future.
Until then, ttfn.
This is the beginning of a series of trips over the next couple of months which will mean that I'm away as much as I'm at home but I quite like travelling so it isn't a chore by any means.
The Brother is looking after the kitties whilst I'm away so they'll be fine, all I have to do is avoid too much unhealthy food and not drink too much. My new weight loss and fitness programme started on Tuesday so I hope that in a few months I will no longer be a lard-arse and will be the racing snake hipped lothario I always saw myself as in my dreams. In my dreams indeed. We shall see.
I do think that I need to find a theme for this blog, my random burblings are all very well but what I'm writing is hardly the most entertaining of stuff so I will have to have a think and see if I can come up with more entertaining subject matter in the future.
Until then, ttfn.
Sunday, 21 April 2013
Another Sunday...
....hoves into view and once again I find myself cogitating upon life, the universe and everything. I seem to live life on the edge, not in the sense of taking on death defying stunts but rather on the periphery of the lives of those around me. I haver over whether this is a good or a bad thing, on some occasions I think it's not so bad in that I can keep my own counsel and stay out of the political, religious or sporting arguments that inevitably arise in the places I frequent. On the other hand I sometimes feel a sense of crushing loneliness which lies like a huge, heavy blanket over me. On yet other occasions I feel a great sense of lightness, a feeling that I can do anything I want and don't have to think about pleasing anyone else. This often segues into a feeling of emptiness that comes with the realisation that I have no-one special to share my life with. Complicated? I certainly think so.
So, to recap. I am happy and sad, content with being alone and lonely. Make of that what you will.
On a lighter note, yesterday The Brother and I planted some vegetable plants and made the first cut of the grass in the garden out back. We will be putting in some vegetable seeds in a week or so once the weather has warmed up a bit more so I hope we can look forward to some fresh home-grown produce in the not too distant future. There is nothing finer than a meal which includes vegetables you have planted and nurtured yourself.
Anyway, now that I have gotten all that off my chest I'm off to read the Sunday paper before emptying another couple of boxes. I'm not rushing the box emptying since slow but steady is always a good approach with such things as this. I'll get there eventually.
TTFN.
So, to recap. I am happy and sad, content with being alone and lonely. Make of that what you will.
On a lighter note, yesterday The Brother and I planted some vegetable plants and made the first cut of the grass in the garden out back. We will be putting in some vegetable seeds in a week or so once the weather has warmed up a bit more so I hope we can look forward to some fresh home-grown produce in the not too distant future. There is nothing finer than a meal which includes vegetables you have planted and nurtured yourself.
Anyway, now that I have gotten all that off my chest I'm off to read the Sunday paper before emptying another couple of boxes. I'm not rushing the box emptying since slow but steady is always a good approach with such things as this. I'll get there eventually.
TTFN.
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