How Did I Do?

As the year draws rapidly to an end, it’s time for me to revisit my Hope To Do List For 2010 and see how I got on with my goals...



1. Become Master Ninja at Aikido

Ha! This is never actually going to happen...I struggle to work out my left foot from my right most of the time. Then there's the minor issue of a morbid fear of rolling head over heels (break falling). Amazingly, I did manage to pass my first grading though.

2. Get superfit and svelte

I’m certainly fitter (thanks to the energetic Aikido classes and boxercise sessions with Muscle Man) but as long as there is a source of chocolate on this planet, I’m never ever going to be svelte...

3. Run the 10 km Race For Life

Well, it was more of a jog/shuffle/hobble than a run, but I did it, raising £175 for Cancer Research. Then I walked a half marathon, raising £225 for Macmillan Cancer Support. I’m very glad that I took part in both.

4. See the Dutch bulbfields

I really tried to...but I hadn’t counted on a $%^&ing Icelandic volcano spewing an ash cloud into the sky and shutting down European airspace, just a few days before I was scheduled to leave. I am still fighting for my travel insurance to cough up the money they owe me for my cancelled trip, and along with hundreds of thousands of equally conned people, I’m waiting on the Financial Ombudsman to make her final decision. I'm not holding my breath...

5. Take a city break in Berlin

Didn’t happen. I was a bit put off city breaks after the Amsterdam fiasco. I did get to see Lisbon (briefly as I was at a conference), somehow managing to fly in and out between ash cloud disruptions, and I was wowed by the beautiful city of Seville during the Andalusian adventure. 

6. Visit Canada (or China or Japan)

O Canada!  I had a fantastic trip to Vancouver Island and the Rockies in June that you may have read about in my couple of dozen posts. Absolutely loved it and hope to return soon. As for China or Japan...watch this space as we’re hoping to squeeze in a visit somewhere in the East in the second half of 2011.



7. Stop worrying about things I cannot control

Definitely didn’t happen. I have spent a large part of the year worrying about something or another, most often my dad’s health, which has unfortunately not been too great lately.

8. Overcome my fear of driving

I was forced into this.... with B being away for business and my dad in and out of hospital in another part of the country, I had to do some hairy driving on Britain’s motorways this year. Now, with the icey weather upon us, I’m trying to get to grips (literally) with snow driving.

9. Let go of people who bring me down

Again, this didn’t really happen, although I’ve learnt to sometimes screen my calls….some days I just can’t deal with anyone else’s (really quite trivial, self-inflicted) problems.

10. Plan and save for a new kitchen

This became quite urgent earlier this month, when the door fell off our oven…it’s back on now, but we broke the handle in the process, meaning we now have to prise the door open with a knife and burn ourselves senseless. I've decided I want a sleek black and white kitchen….the designs are in, finances are under review, so watch this space.

11. Learn to cook properly

While having a decrepit oven doesn’t inspire me to undertake anything too complicated, I can make some damn good lamb stew (in the slow cooker), roast chicken and lasagna, and I can bake a great banana bread. What else would anyone want? Best thing I bought this year…an egg poaching pan.



12. Watch 3 classic films

Does watching 'Love Actually' for the tenth time count? Just never found the time this year…probably because I was too busy watching rubbish TV.

13. Watch less rubbish TV, read more good books

Epic fail on this one (see 12 above).

How did you get on with your new year plans in 2010?

It's A Winner!

Remember a while back I asked you, my faithful readers, to help me pick my entry for a photography competition? Well, it seems like all your good advice paid off, as (amazingly!) I won with this one....

Long shadow

Thanks again for your help!

Now I'm going to check out Amazon to decide how to spend my vouchers...

10 Things I Learnt Today

1. I have the best husband in the world...happy to get up at 5 am (even with man flu) to drive me down to London in time for the start of my half-marathon, then battle for almost 2 hours with London Saturday afternoon traffic to collect me again afterwards.
2. Most people are good at heart...like the random strangers who came up to us to make donations as we walked past and the pub landlord who gave us all free lunch.
3. Then, unfortunately, there are the toe rags who find it entertaining to vandalise and destroy the course marking signs, thereby sending some of us off track, and having to go an extra mile.
4. Even after all these years, I still “connect” on so many levels with some of the people I went to school with, who were on the walk today.
5. I can walk 13.1 miles (21.1 km) in well under 4 hours.
6. Walking 13.1 miles in under 4 hours gives me hip and knee pain worse than anything I’ve ever experienced (not even the 10 hour trek in the Alps left me in this bad a state!).
7. I have a ridiculous tendency to plan for every scenario...meaning I lugged a 10 kg backpack along those 13.1 miles as I thought I may need a fleece, spare socks, rain jacket, first aid kit, 8 (!) cereal bars and 2 litres of water when in reality it was warm enough to wear just a tee shirt, the rain held off, water was handed out at various points along the route and I only ate one cereal bar.
8. Lucozade lite (electrolyte replacement drink) is the Elixir of Energy and is possibly the only reason I made it through the last 2 miles.
9. This evening, I’m doing a pretty good imitation of John Wayne’s famous walk.
10.  I have nothing but deep admiration for those brave souls who completed 26.2 miles today.

These boots have walked!

Help!

I've mentioned before that I'm going to be taking part in a charity half-marathon walk - it's next weekend! The organisers of the walk are holding a photo competition - the idea being to enter a pic taken on any of your training walks and of any subject.

I am really tempted to enter something from my Canadian trip...technically, I had already registered for the marathon before I left on my travels, and there was an awful lot of walking involved to get some of the photos! But that would possibly be deemed as cheating, and with such spectacular scenery to choose from, I'd certainly have an unfair advantage.

Anyway, I've selected a few "possible" entries from the photos I have quite randomly been taking on my walks... mostly along the fields and woods surrounding my home village. Some of these I've already posted on here, others are new.

Now I need to ask you, my dear readers, a BIG favour... do you think any of the following photos would be worthy of entry into the competition and if so, which one do you like best?

Be honest....

For best viewing, click on the photo to enlarge, then click BACK to return to my blog

A - Sunset behind the trees

B - Blackberries along the field

C - Frisky horses (I did contemplate 'Biggus Dickus')

D - Hay bales in the evening sunshine

E - Freshly mown hay in the evening sunlight

F - Nat's long shadow in the hay field

G - Fields of Gold

H - A Ray Of Light

I - Another sunset behind the trees

Thank you! Your opinion is valued...

And The Weather Forecast Is.....Rather Funny

I've mentioned before that many Brits are more than a tad obsessed with the weather.... but recent antics on the BBC News Channel are enough to get everyone paying attention to the forecasts.

Weatherman Tomasz Schafernaker was caught live on TV flicking a bird to his off-camera breakfast show colleagues.....

Realising his gaffe, Tomasz quickly tried to cover his rude gesture by pretending he was just going to scratch his chin....or perhaps smoking an imaginary cigarette...

That just made him look like he was trying to pull a two-up instead!


Meanwhile in other weather-related news......

Why does it always rain on me?
Is it because I lied when I was seventeen?

No, Travis...it's because we live in the UK! Apparently our summer is pretty much over, thanks to the jet stream (the fast-flowing ribbons of air in the upper atmosphere that move weather systems across the northern hemisphere)....the same phenomenon is thought to have contributed to the devastating floods in Pakistan, mudslides in China, and killer heatwave and wildfires in Russia.

We can expect temperatures to start dropping and rain showers to ensue. But, come rain or shine I need to keep moving.... in just over three weeks' time I'll be walking a charity half-marathon, so I need to step up my training plan.

Walking boots, ipod, phone, brolly.... check!

Rainy days

And blue sky thinking

I've heard that a good way to get fit is to carry extra weight as you walk...I'm pretty sure that means in my backpack and not on the bottom of my boot....

Meanwhile, the local farmers are making hay while the sun does actually shine....

 

Ain't nothing gonna break my stride
Nobody's gonna slow me down
Oh no, I've got to keep on moving
Ain't nothing gonna break my stride
I'm running and I won't touch ground
Oh no, I've got to keep on moving
[Men At Work - Ain't Nothing Gonna Hold Me Down]


Photos of naughty boy weatherman found here.

Move Your Feet!

Two months today, I'll be taking part in the 10 km (6.2 miles) Cancer Research Race For Life.

Then in September, I'll be walking a half marathon (21 km/13 miles) to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Time to get moving!