About Stuff

Pic of the week 5/3/23

Last night, Becky and I went to a concert at Wells Cathedral – The London Film Orchestra with a tribute to John Williams and Hans Zimmer, playing the music from the movies. We were treated to Jaws, ET, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones amongst others. A really enjoyable evening.

Our middle aged bodies continue to let us down; the pic above shows me pulling Becky’s leg, a new nightly treat to lengthen her left leg and stop her walking in circles.

(Its actually something to do with opening up a connector in the hip)

My foot finished the week probably a little more painful than the start of the week. Not sure why, possibly because I started experimenting in going barefoot at home, and trying my school shoes (DMs) without the insoles. Its not bad, but its still there.

Went for a swim this morning – it was good to start the day with some exercise – and then fiddled with the 205, bleeding its brakes and applying some filler. An enjoyable diversion for the morning.

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.

 

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%.

 

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.

Pic of the week 29/1/23

So last week the inspectors came a calling at school.

We were notified before breaktime on Monday and they arrived on Tuesday. A busy week got a whole lot busier.  In truth, it wasn’t too bad, but a few meetings on the Monday evening, and then a meeting for (with 4 others) and an inspector on Thursday morning, a lesson observation period 3 on Thursday, extra lunch duty to swamp the dining room with staff … plus the “not knowing” did result in a draining few days. Don’t know the outcome of the inspection yet, but its done and we can now all carry on as normal for the next few years!

My foot: un update. It has been getting a lot better, such that I would describe as it not hurting, but I was just “aware” of my foot.  Which meant I did allow myself to be talked into refereeing at school on Saturday (as it turns out, I hadn’t missed any games as pitches have been frozen until this weekend, due to the cold spell) Was good to be out running about, but my foot did start to hurt a bit during the game, and afterwards, all Saturday evening, it hurt a lot.  Still painful when I got up this morning, but after stretching through some “tough” yoga, and padding around in sliders all day, its not hurting now (although, as before, still “aware” of my foot)

The pic of the week is “The Commitments” dvd – Becky and I watched it last night, as a precursor to deciding whether or not to go to the stage show in Bristol at the end of March. A good film, I enjoyed it.

Pic of the week

Sadly, the most overwhelming memory of my week has been the pain in my foot,  Monday and Tuesday it was particularly bad and I declared myself “off games” – although heavy frost saw all fixtures, indeed all sessions, at Kingweston cancelled.  Yoga on Wednesday evening seemed to do it a lot of good, I really focused on anything that stretched my lower leg, but its still not gone away completely.  I’d say that currently I’m “aware” of my foot, rather than in pain from my foot. Potentially quite a dangerous phase as I could return to activity too soon.  I must resist!

As I mentioned, its been a cold, cold week – overnight freezing and waking to heavy frost, but accompanied (in the main) by blue skies. Some bulbs have popped up in the lawn, and that does give hope.  These are, I think, the ones I planted this September.  The ones I planted the previous year are just beginning to pop up.  It is now still light at circa 4.30, which is nice, but it does still seem a long three weeks until half term…

Pic of the week 15/1/23

I’ve expanded my culinary skills, and today I made myself spicy sausage surprise tortillas – the surprise being that it tasted nice!

I quite enjoyed myself creating this concoction  – diced an onion, chopped some mushrooms and a chilli and popped the lot in the microwave for six minutes.  Meanwhile, I turned on the oven, put some tortilla chips in a baking tray and when the microwave went “ping” put the contents onto the tortilla chips, added some sliced sausage (left over from tea yesterday), a tin of chopped tomatoes,  and topped with grated cheese.  Put the whole lot in the oven for 10 minutes, take out and eat. Very nice!

In other news, my foot still hurts, although the pain seems to be moving back along the heel. I did referee a football game yesterday (1st XI girls) and it was good to be able to get out and run around – I developed a new running gait, running very much on the front half of my foot, and it didn’t hurt too much yesterday, so I’m surprised that it has hurt as much as it has today – perhaps it was not wearing shoes all day?

And I must mention Wednesday – I did the line for the 1st XI and it pelted down with rain, and the wind howled. It was horrendous and I got very cold. Thing is, you forget quickly (probably a good thing!) but thought it worth mentioning. Don’t think I’ve had a game that bad (weather-wise) before.

Pic of the week 8/1/23

I’ve been a bit broken this week.

I’d picked up the cold that Sam had brought back from Cardiff but by Saturday and Sunday of last week I was feeling over it. But on Monday it was making a return and I felt pretty grim on Tuesday (INSET day) and Wednesday – firts day back at school. Coupled to this my foot hurt, really hurt. I think I’ve developed Planta fasciitis and my run on Sunday (new years day) left me hobbling.

So, coupled with going back to work, I’ve been feeling pretty sorry for myself, feeling a physical wreck.  But going to bed a little earlier on Wednesday and Thursday put me on the road to getting better again, and I do feel a whole lot better now, although still not 100%

Because of my foot, I didn’t run today, but rowed for twenty minutes which, whilst a bit boring at the time, did get my heartbeat rising and endorphins flowing. Foot is a whole lot better, but think I’ll take the return to road running carefully – I shall be refereeing next week (Wed & Sat) and am interested (concerned) to see how my foot is after that.

The pic of the week is taken using Becky’s new phone which can do all sorts of fancy things to the background. Sam went back to Uni on Thursday, leaving us home alone again.

On Friday morning (shortly before I got up) the downstairs hall smoke detector started chirruping, to announce a failing battery, so I changed its battery, along with the one in our bedroom, and the one outside Sam’s room.

Bulbs are beginning to show in the big planter out front, and quite a few in the lawn – always something to keep one’s spirits going with the prospect of Spring to come.  At the moment, the weather is quite warm, albeit grey, damp and windy. Lots of things beginning to bud – which will be fine if we have had the worst of winter, but its not yet mid-January and there is still the chance for cold weather to come and wreak havoc in the garden, but lets hope not.

Pic of the week 1/1/23

Happy New Year!

2022 is behind us, and we look ahead to the empty book that is 2023, its chapters waiting to be filled. Personally, and as a family, 2022 was not a bad year, but for society as a whole it was not good – political chaos in the UK, war in the Ukraine, death of the Queen, cost of living crisis, strikes, broken Britain …

Sadly, on a societal level, I don’t think things will get too much better.  I think (hope) that the war in the Ukraine may be over by this time next year, but equally it could still be grinding on. We will have a winter of discontent, with continued, and increasing, strikes (which I support) and as I would always hope that I, and my loved ones, stay fit and healthy, it is particularly important right now as our NHS is in crisis due to years of underfunding.

But other than moan and complain, spread the word and take action where I can, there’s not too much I can do about societies ills, but what do I have to look forward to, to hope to achieve over the coming twelve months?

This time last year I wrote of bringing my weight under control – whilst I think I have stopped things getting any worse, it hasn’t got any better, so this is a very tangible goal I shall strive for.  Getting that weight back below the 13 stone mark.

Exercise – I stopped swimming last year as I just ended up with sneezing fits, but I will look in to the Greenbanks open air pool – if they have lane swimming sessions I may well get back in the water.  I have run less – I now often only run 7K rather than 10K on a Sunday morning.  I think I am becoming more relaxed about my exercise regime – its more about doing something than logging the longest distances and fastest time. I am, after all, nearing my mid-fifties!  I ran this morning, but my foot now hurts; I think I have developed plantar fasciitis and so may be unable to run for a while.  However, I shall set a target of running 500 Kms this year.  Also, an absolute must, is to keep up with my yoga, and maybe do more stretching at home.

My Spanish continues to improve, and I continue to enjoy the learning journey. With trips to Majorca and Barcelona already booked up, I’m looking forward to the opportunity to practise my spoken and listening skills “in country.”

After a really cold spell, the last week or so has seen remarkably mild weather and, when it hasn’t been raining, I’ve spent quite a bit if time outside pottering in the garden and this is something I aim to do more of this year.

I realised I hadn’t blogged on my maths blog for nearly two years, so today I posted my first maths blog since Fen 21. I am committing myself to writing (at least) one maths blog post a month,  Definitely doable, just got to get the inspiration.

Get the 205 its MOT, and improve its paintwork, so I can start driving a classic.

And despite all that looking ahead, here’s a little summary of the year that was, some highlights of 2022:

2021