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?

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...

In The Pink!

Today I took part in the 10 km Race For Life, the UK's largest women-only event that raises money for Cancer Research UK.
Some people have criticised the event for being for ladies only....but the rationale behind this apparent sexism is to create a noncompetitive atmosphere that encourages women of all fitness levels to take part. There are events for men too, such as the Race For Moore annual event. Traditionally, participants wear bright pink, the colour synonymous with breast cancer awareness, but Cancer Research UK supports research into all cancers.

It was a fantastic, colourful day....

The Nivea Boys - cheerleaders - warm up the crowd

They were quite popular!

Even this basset hound got in on the act

A sea of pink

At the Start

Flowers along the way

Along the River Great Ouse

Young participants

The end is nigh

The final stretch

Early last year, my dad was diagnosed with advanced colorectal cancer. Surgery was not possible and the doctors were wary of trying chemotherapy. The outlook was not great. But my dad was not giving up without a fight...and a big one at that! He underwent 12 grueling cycles of hard core chemo, at the end of which the scans showed some shrinkage of his tumour. Last week he saw his oncologist for his 3-month check-up and was told the cancer is dormant. For how long it will remain so, no one knows...but for the moment, he is doing remarkably well.  This is why I take part in events like Race For Life....so that other families can have a few more weeks, months, maybe years with their loved ones.

The Bear Facts

After much deliberation, humming and hawing, fretting over the prices, and debating whether we can indeed live on cheese on toast for the next 6 months, we’ve finally booked our trip to Canada!

We fly into Vancouver mid June and will be travelling the following route to reach Calgary by month end:

One of the highlights of the trip for me is going to be the possibility of seeing black and grizzly bear in their natural habitat....contrary to a surprisingly popular held belief, there are NO bears (or tigers for that matter) in Africa, and while lions and cheetahs may be found in abundance in game reserves, they do NOT roam the streets of southern African cities. The only bear of my childhood was an old, bedraggled cloth teddy called "Freddy".

There's likely more wildlife to be found on the streets of a typical UK city, where urban foxes abound in the twilight hours...mangy, scrawny scavengers that emit annoyingly loud yowling sounds, definitely not conducive to a good night's sleep. I was completely freaked out the first time I came across one of these creatures, boldy scratching though our rubbish bag. He halted momentarily in his business and stared at me as if to say "Who you lookin' at? Can't you see I iz busy here grocery shopping 'n sh*t?"  Foxes reminded me of the African jackal, and seemed out of place in a concrete jungle. I've since encountered their rural cousins...shyer, better fed animals, more akin to the fabulous, bushy-tailed fox of Roald Dahl's tale of 'Fantastic Mr Fox', some nostalgia from my early reading days. I've yet to see a live badger, but I've heard they can be pretty bad tempered...hedgehogs may be a little prickly too, but they're ever so cute, when they rustle through your garden at night, crunching on snails.

Anyway, I digress. Back to the bears....apparently, in the past century, around 100 people died in North America due to bear attacks. I do not want to become part of that "grizzly" statistic. We'll be hiking as part of a small group, escorted by a tour leader, who will hopefully not lead us into situations where a mauling from a pissed off bear is likely....nonetheless, a bit of background survival info may make an unexpected encounter a bit more bearable. Do a google search on "Surving A Bear Attack" and you'll find there are loads of dubious informative websites offering wacky handy hints. You can read some of them over at The Art of Manliness (did you know that Manliness is a lost Art in much need of revival?).

The key to survival appears to be knowing the difference between a grizzly and a black bear, as you have to play dead with the first and fight for your life with the second. I really wouldn't want to get those two options mixed up, and I'm also not too confident I'll be able to apply my Aikido moves to a 600 pound sow who thinks I'm in the market for a rug made from the finest cub fur (possibly even Tattoo Man, famous for his monkey grappling techniques, would be hard pressed to wriggle his way out of such a bad situation). I'm hoping that any Canadian readers will jump in here now to impart their wealth of knowledge about bear-related matters...after all, you guys must be fending grizzlies off on a daily basis (you know, like all southern Africans know how to wrestle with lions!)

Grizzly (Ursus Arctos Horribilis) photo found HERE

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In other Very Exciting News, I am the winner of Rebecca@DiaryofaVirginNovelist's giveaway! You really should visit her blog found HERE.

Weekend Morsels

This weekend, I realised that resistance is futile and I may as well just give up the fight...I am gradually turning into my mother in so many ways. Not only am I obsessed with doing laundry, and always having enough milk in the house, I’ve really taken to cooking with the aid of a Slow Cooker. I confess to buying one quite a few years back, making some half-arsed attempts at almost inedible, watery stews and then putting it aside as, quite literally, “a Crock of old sh*t”.

However, as my new “active” lifestyle is taking up most of my evenings (and takeaway curry four nights a week is just not conducive to achieving a svelte body or funding flights to Canada), I recently revisited this marvellous kitchen appliance, this time with the aid of several simple but successful recipe books, specifically written with the slow cooker in mind (read that any way you want!). Tasty lamb stew, chicken casserole, pork with dumplings, and sausage casserole are just some of the culinary delights I’ve prepared the night before, left to simmer the next day and then gobbled up after a strenuous night in the Aikido dojo or packed gym class.

Tigers in love?

Sunday saw the start of a new Chinese year...the year of the Tiger. Up until quite recently, I’d assumed I was born in the year of the tiger, but, it turns out I’ve been growling up the wrong tree. According to the Chinese lunar calendar, a person born in January 1974 was in fact born in the year of the ox.

“Persons born in the Year of the Ox are diligent, patient and rather remain silent. They are consequent and reliable as friends. But they are easy to irritate and tend to be stubborn and obstinate.”

It was also Valentine’s Day...the day that keeps card makers, florists and chocolatiers in business for another year. B and I don’t go in for V-Day in a big way and usually just exchange cards. I really struggled this year to find him one as I’m not into all the soppy satin hearts stuff (or the bluntly sexual stuff on the other side of the scale)...finally settling on this one that quite amused me and sh*t.

Maybe I’m not turning into my mom after all...she’d never give my dad a Valentine’s Day card, let alone one like that.

One Tiger who probably didn't get a Valentine's card this year

The Weekend In Colour

It was a dismally grey, foggy weekend, yet I found a whole rainbow of colours....

Red – the sanguine hues of “Spanish” chicken casserole....I tried out an old family recipe that marinades chicken thighs in onions, red peppers, red wine, chicken stock, a hefty dose of paprika, bay leaves and whole peppercorns (Note to self: invest in muslin spice cooking bags as whole peppercorns may be delightfully crunchy for a moment, but soon become overpoweringly peppery, and fishing them out of the pot with a slotted spoon is the culinary equivalent of watching paint dry).

Orange – the brash tone (akin to the toxic E number 111) sported by a well-known no frills airline....I’ve booked cheap flights to Amsterdam for mid April to (hopefully) coincide with the tulips in full bloom.

Yellow – lashings of custard over sticky toffee pudding....catching up with an old friend over lunch in a cosy pub in Cambridgeshire, discussing life, love, the universe and everything else.

Green – the lush forests of the Canadian Rockies in summer, gloriously portrayed in glossy travel brochures...and the shade of B’s gills when he clocked the price of a fortnight’s holiday by said forests!

Blue – the colour the air turned when, after two months of searching and finally finding bathroom accessories befitting our newly renovated cloakroom (temple to the revered Gas Bill), an accursed screw snapped during the fixing of the “Stockholm” swivel chrome hand towel rail (not from Ikea!). We will now have to pay Handy Man to extract the broken screw from its socket, a job probably entailing knocking a chunk out of the freshly plastered wall, replastering and redecorating...which goes to show we really can’t be trusted to do any DIY and should just leave it to the professionals... or continue to live in an authentic 1970s hovel.

Indigo and violet – the high fashion shades of the bruise extending from my shoulder to my elbow...the result of an Aikido roll that went horribly wrong last night. I’m also limping with a badly stubbed toe, and my back feels like I’ve been left on a medieval torture rack overnight....that’s what comes from going up against Tattoo Man.

Hope your weekend was as colourful.

Hope-To-Do List

OK, so I'm a bit late (like a whole month) with my variation on a theme of new year resolutions. The truth is...I've spent ages procrastinating deliberating  fine-tuning my unbelievably original and exciting list. Actually, I'd sort of forgotten and then last week, I was reminded by Sid's inspiring post of her plans for becoming her ultimate self, that you can read over here.

Anyway, finally here it  is....my list of things I hope to achieve in 2010 (and beyond).

Post-It Notes were made using Superstickies.