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Hola!

Pic of the week 26/2/23

The days are getting noticeably longer, which is nice.  Its now at least 5.30 before the light starts to go, and today has been a lovely day full of blue sky and sunshine. But its been cold – last Monday was warm(ish) but since then the temperature has slide and, on the days that its been grey (most!) its just been cold with little redeeming features.  The daffs are starting to come out – the lawn is beginning to look good, and I hope that this week the big planter out the front will start to boast some flowers.  But things do seem late this week.

Becky went to Cornwall Tues, through to Thursday, hence the pic, (and I’ve done a little bit of Spanish to create a tenuous link.) My foot is getting a lot better – I refereed on Wednesday, Saturday and today and I must confess I’ve enjoyed the exercise (although I do feel quite unfit.) I’m not running freely, I still feel my foot and at times it does hurt as I traverse the pitch, but importantly it doesn’t leave me in crippling pain after the event. I’ve been wearing an ankle support whilst refereeing, and that has helped.  Still a long way to go on my recovery, I think, but I am in a much better place than a couple of weeks ago.

 

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A Busy Week

Pic of the week 19/2/23

Its been a busy, but enjoyable, (half term) week.

On Wednesday, Becky & I went to Clevedon for the morning, It was a beautiful day (well, the morning was – we left at lunchtime under gathering grey skies) and we watched the swimmers emerge, very pink, from the marine lake. We ambled along the seafront enjoying the big blue sky and then sauntered up and down the pier. We sat outside for coffee and felt a million miles from home. A very pretty seaside town that hasn’t declined like so many have.

On Thursday we went to Cardiff to visit the children.  A cold, damp day (I had misjudged the weather and found myself shivering in my lightweight spring coat, wishing I’d worn my puffa) As always, lovely to see the bambinos, we went for lunch, and then ice cream (ice cream! in the cold!?) Both seem well, and Sam appears to be doing some work for his course. I spent a small fortune on footwear – I’ve entered the “Sketchers ” phase of my life where function triumphs form as a I battle with the pain that is plantar fasciitis. On the whole my foot is getting better, but its still “there”, and still a constant thought on my mind as well as pain in my foot.

The Corsa passed its MOT, the 205 neither passed nor failed its MOT – it was “abandoned” as they couldn’t open the boot. An annoying occasional problem that I have now (hopefully) permanently fixed.

And I’ve been back in the pool. Twice. Unable to run, I thought I’d try swimming again (although I shall leave the frigid waters of Clevedon marine lake to warm up considerably before dipping a toe in there!) and swam a couple of times at Strode. Was pleasantly surprised how quickly I got back in the groove, and on both occasions completed 40 lengths. As running is still very much off limits, I can see an increasing number of visits to the pool in my near future.

And Saturday (18 Feb) saw our first daffodil of the year in flower, one of the ones I planted in the lawn in September.  We’ve had a lovely day today, and one gets the sense that before too long we’ll have a whole load more in flower, although it does seem like everything is a bit late this year. Oh well, good things come to those that wait …

Back to school tomorrow, but with the days staying lighter longer, the first flowers of spring and (hopefully) the odd day of lovely weather one hopes that the worst of winter is behind us.

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Taps

Pic of the week

So half term has finally arrived and I’ve been enjoying “pottering”. The pic above has me in my “job clothes” – did a little bit of minor prep on the 205 yesterday ahead of its MOT on Tuesday, and then I washed Becky’s car and the Corsa. The weather was dry, but grey, not cold, but you needed a reason to be outside, and I’m glad I had one.

Today I replaced the kitchen tap, which had been leaking from where the swan neck entered the body of the tap and tracking through into the cupboards underneath.  Not the simplest of jobs has the tap tails were solid (not flexi) and had been soldered into the system, and the biggest problem was the retaining nut keeping the tap in place was well and truly seized in place. Getting the old tap out was a problem, first cutting through the tails was not simple, but this did then give me a bit better access to the retaining nut and I was eventually able to free it. I reckon it took about 2 hours to remove the old tap, and then 30 minutes to install the new one.  Anyway, a job well done! (And I’ve left the plumbing in a much more maintenance friendly sate should the tap need replacing in the future.)

Foot update – its “still there” but getting much, much better. Not really painful now, but still not 100%.

 

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Nothing to report

Pic of the week 5/2/23

Not a lot to report this week – nothing major has happened – have been to work, come home, got up the next day, rinse and repeat. Perhaps not surprising, given that Thursday (2nd Feb) was Groundhog Day! Anyway, today the weather has perked up (has been dry and grey of late) and had a lovely sunny day, and it stayed light ’till gone five, so there is a sense of hope of better days to come, plus at the end of this week its half term.

(update: forgot to add, on Sunday I changed the oil & filter on the Corsa)

My foot is “still there” (the plantar fasciitis – of course my foot is still there at the end of my leg!) Did the line for a game yesterday and was a bit sore afterwards, but not as bad as last week.  Its certainly getting better, but I’m not sure its going away fully, just learning to manage it and live with it at the moment. (Deep stretching seems to be the best thing for it, that and my underfoot roller)

The pic is a treat that Becky kindly brought home for me today – I shall look forward to eating that this evening.

Am very much looking forward to a change of pace next week when half term arrives.