Thinking Out Loud

Well it’s been 3 days since my recent ski trip.  I don’t think I miss my new friends any the less.  Possibly because I don’t have any of them as local friends it’s a bit stronger.  Who knows.  Anyway, the title of the post sums up how I have been in the last couple of days.  I’ve lost count of the number of people I have said my thoughts to.  So far I haven’t managed everyone who’s important in my local circles, but that will sort itself out soon, and I trust they won’t mind it appearing on here.

I have certainly come back changed from the holiday and I have to say that it’s the first time in a long time that I have felt this way.  The change is twofold.

I am certainly happier from the holiday (despite not having these new friends nearby).  I feel more energized spiritually than I have for a long time.  The CDs have changed in the car and in due course the loaded podcasts will be changed as well (though finding new ones will take a bit of time).  I am desperate to keep this energy going now that ‘normal life’ is resuming.  During the week away I felt so very positive, it is how I want to keep feeling.

The other change is about where I live.  I’m not thinking of packing up in the next two weeks and moving, nor am I necessarily thinking of moving abroad.  However what I have realised is just how unnecessarily ‘tethered’ I have become to where I live.  I think this happened due to property and having my own place.  I’m not looking for sympathy here as I know I am fortunate, and I would like to hope that I haven’t turned where I live into a idol of sorts.  However the holiday has made me realise that there is nothing that should stop me from being willing to be more mobile.  I have no ties to where I am in terms of family.  I have some very good friends, who would be missed, but that is it.

I feel that the next few months and years could be very positive and hold a lot of change.  I need to hold onto what I have come back with and my fear is that as time goes on the normal run of life will take over again and these desires will fade.  Hopefully I can look back on this post and it will be a reminder of what can be.

Skiing Speculation

Well I've been away from blogging for a week, but that's due to going on a ski trip. (pictures will be posted in due course).

So the last bit of skiing was on Friday (and interesting day that will be posted about in it's own right) with a journey home on Saturday.  I think for the first time from such a holiday I am really missing everyone I met on the holiday and that I've come home.  Although it's only been a week together I know that a lot of them have become special to me for a variety of reasons.

Now I don't want misunderstanding here.  I have some great friends here that I'm very close to and see regularly.  I also have a job that keeps me busy and is enjoyable without stresses or major issues.  In that respect, there are no issues with coming home.

The holiday itself was great fun, lots of good skiing, some challenging conditions at times, but was able to ski every day.  There was a great group of people that were on the trip and out of the 40 or so people, everyone got on really well.  I don't think anyone was ever 'isolated' in terms of the group as a whole.  Obviously in terms of the group there are those you spend more time with as a result of the skiing and socially and some really good friendships have been formed.

Staying in touch is easier now.  Social media being one option (not one that I partake in much now having left Facebook) but there is email and other options as well.  However it's different from having all these people that you get on with around you on a daily basis.

Possibly part of it is due to the nature of the holiday itself.  There was some good teaching on the trip that has made me think a lot about the future and different options.  (I'll post on that more in due course as well). 
Maybe all these things combined have created the feelings like a 'perfect storm'.  There is a large part of me that doesn't want to lose the feeling because I want to miss these new friends, and want to meet up with them again soon.

Hopefully there will be a get together soon, maybe not everyone, but certainly a good number.  Travel is easier now so its more than possible.  Time will tell.

Stay on target

Well I’ve finally managed to feel within myself that the marathon training is sort of on target.  While I had planned to be a bit further along on my long runs than I am, with the minor injuries and the bad weather, am I content with where I have got to.

So, Sunday morning and I woke to what must have been one of the nicest days of the year down here.  Bright sunshine, clear blue skies, not a cloud in the sky.  Yes at 8am was a little fresh, but once I was running I didn’t really notice it.  I had to take a totally new route due to local events taking place and took a bit of a risk as if I had to stop after about 1/2 way there was no shortcut home.  Lots of nice new things to see though, and the podcasts kept me company during the run.  Will be adding it to my list of training routes for when I’m up early enough to avoid shoppers!

By the end of the 11 miles (50% more than I’ve done in training so far this year) the legs were quite tired so I was glad I had finished, but there have been no problems after, so that is good.Having finished in a good time, I carried on and watch those running the offical local 1/2 marathon, something I could have done if I’d managed to get around to signing up last year.  Took me a little while to realise it by I was in celeb corner with Zoe Ball and David Walliams in attendance.  Happily they did their bit with flag waving and a couple of photos for a local charity.  No one disturbed them, which was also good.  Norman has been good at supporting the full marathon and was there quite late last year as he was still cheering when I went past!
So I plan to do another 10 miler this week towards the end to start getting the longer distances under me.

As things stand I think I’m pretty close to being on target.

Its the little things

So, the marathon training continues, but has become somewhat interrupted.

First of all there was a load of snow and ice.  Living on a hill makes training somewhat difficult in these situations.  It was a shame as I was doing well with the training, had got over the injury I always get when I restart my run training, and was increasing the distances nicely.  Getting somewhere flat to carry on the running wasn’t possible either, with driving conditions, esp on a hill, too risky.

Anyway, the snow goes and I resume.  Thankfully the legs are still used to running so no repeating issues from before.  Again the runs start to go well, times coming down, distances going up.  All the good stuff that encourages you.

Then came last Sunday.  I’m heading out on my first 10 miler.  Not worried about the distance, have done over 7 already, so know that I’m building up gradually and it won’t be an issue.  Then less than a mile in, I notice or rather feel, something wrong.  Pain in the left foot arch when I land.  Not shooting pain, but enough for it to be uncomfortable.  I run on for a bit (possibly a mistake) to see if it goes, but no luck.  After less than 2 miles I’m heading home, walking, to avoid doing any long term damage.  I go out for a trial run on Monday, just in case it was a ‘oh it’s playing up today’ type thing on the Sunday.  Same problem and I stop straight away.

I choose to rest for a bit and due to a series of events, it’s come round to Saturday and I’ve not run.  Hopefully it will be better.  The plan is for a 5 mile run today and a longer one tomorrow, possibly 10 miles.  Of course that’s the plan.  It’s not been helped by another niggle now.  Bringing in the shopping (not heavy bags at all), I walk up the step to my house and feel a muscle by the shoulder blade go.  I’ve no idea how this might effect the running, will have to wait and see, but you can imagine my thoughts when it happened!

None of these are big injuries, but they are annoying little niggles that are stopping me getting to a decent distance in terms of training runs.  I know I still have over 2 months to go, but I’d have liked to have got 10 miles under the belt by now.  Hopefully tomorrow!

Signs of the Times

I've always found advertising and signs interesting.  I think that was one of the reasons I enjoyed some of those elements of my degree.  It is reckoned that a billboard has less than 1/2 a second to attract someone's attention.  Of course there is much more than grabbing attention that is important for a billboard, it has to also be in keeping with what is being advertised.  I doubt strongly the now famous wonder bra advert would have been quite so memorable if it had been for the Financial Times.  (Then again...).

For a long time (over half my life) I subscribed to Private Eye.  They would take great pleasure in pointing out where the same advertising campaign would be used for different products, often when the same advertising agents were being used.  I get the feeling that it happens far more often than most people are aware of, but then I suppose there is an argument for not changing a winning formula.

Wording on signs is equally important as well.  A website that I drift to every now and again has a section entitled Signs and Blunders (Ship of Fools for those who want to look) that often has unfortunate wording from church signs and newsletters.  I think the self assertiveness class being asked to use the doors at the rear of the building was a classic case.

There are two signs that I drive past on a weekly basis that have drawn my attention.  One I've only just noticed, and it talks, in big bold words, about being open 7 days a week.  Nothing odd about that I grant you, plenty of places are.  Its the small print on the sign that I find intriguing.  Having made a big fuss about being open 7 days a week, in small, but readable writing at the bottom it goes on to mention that they are closed all day one day a week.  This sparked my curiosity as to why it was important to give the impression that they are open everyday when they are not.  Personally I'd have thought that people would be more upset to find a place they thought would be open and isn't, then think that a place didn't open 7 days a week.  Maybe I'm wrong in that and the message that is being sent.

The second sign is one that always makes me laugh whenever I see it.  Whether the wording is done on purpose or not I don't know.  I like to think that it's been written so that people like me can have an immature giggle at it.  The sign is outside a vets and related to an offer in relation to having your pet neutered.  Now I'm sure that neutering is not a laughing matter in itself, however everytime I see the sign offering 20% off neutering, I can't help but wonder which 20% they take off and which 80% they leave!  Yes it's silly and we know what is meant, but words can be easily twisted, as I am doing so on this occasion for comedy reasons.

So this brings me back to my interest in signs.  Hopefully it might have made you wonder a little more about some of the signs you go past each day.

Driving to Distraction

OK, now I’m going to come clean and admit that I am probably not the worlds best driver.  Clearly as I’m not a current, or ex F1 star there are people out there that are better drivers.  I would though, like to think I’m a considerate driver and know what I’m doing on the road and how to handle most of the conditions we have in the UK.  I do have 20 plus years under my belt now, and I suspect that time has tempered my driving.  I know the desire not to get penalty points certainly helps!

Anyways, over the years I have noticed that people seem less able to ‘cope’ with what I would consider fairly standard conditions for the UK.

The first time I noticed this was after quite a bit of rain.  Now in the UK, we get a lot of rain.  This is therefore something one would think people could cope with.  Ten years ago or so, if there was a large pool of water that stretched out along the road, not deep, people would drive through it.  Most would know to take their foot off the accelerator and not to brake so as to avoid aquaplaning, and that would be it.  However what I witnessed recently was traffic on a 70mph stretch of road come to a total standstill because people were stopping to move into the other lane which was clear of water (that alone should give an idea the water wasn’t deep).

Today, I saw a similar performance.  There had been snow.  Now the sort of level of snow I’m talking about was a ‘dusting’ on walls and grass.  Little more than a heavy frost.  The roads themselves were fine.  No snow settling, no risk of ice.  However other drivers were ‘skittish’ shall we say with brakes being put on, again on a 70mph stretch of road.  This brought the traffic to a standstill when it wasn’t necessary.

I realise this comes over as a bit of a rant, but people not knowing how to drive in these conditions is a concern.  We face them (particularly the rain) all the time in the UK.

There are other things that worry me with driving, but these are not weather related, they seem to revolve around indicating.  There seems to be a common belief that indicating gives a right to pull out into another lane, rather than an indication that you want to and will look for a gap.  Roundabouts seem to be either for indicating to turn off all the way around, or not bothering to indicate at all.

I cycle as well as drive, but please don’t think this is with a cyclists ‘hat’ on.  Those who know me know I’m equally critical of other cyclists as well.  I suspect in time I’ll put something up about cyclists on the roads as well, but that’s for another time!

Personal Forth Brigdes

Well it’s probably one of the coldest days of the year so far.  It’s about 2C outside (that’s about 35F in old money for those who are unsure) and I’ve chosen this day to do a spot of gardening.  Wrapping up warm means that it’s not too bad and I know that people go out and garden in much colder climes, however it’s not the weather that is the main purpose of the post.

I’ve been working on my garden for over 8 years now, and compared to what it was like when I moved in (an overgrown wilderness at best), it is incomparable.  However this doesn’t happen by magic.  As all gardeners will know, it takes time and energy to keep a garden maintained.

I don’t mind this.  I find it great to plan things, see them come to fruition and to keep things going so that they continue to look good.  I am always wondering about how to change things and what I can do to make things easier to maintain (short of concrete which would defeat the point of a garden).

I often think of a garden in the same way as George Lucas thinks of films (something clearly shown in the different releases of Star Wars).  He once said that a film is never finished, merely abandoned for a variety of reasons.  I often wonder whether my garden will ever ‘be finished’.  I know the work on it will continue year in, year out, but in terms of it’s design, well possibly one day.

Until then, my garden will continue to be a bit like the project of painting the Forth Bridge used to be, with work always needing to be done.

However, I will enjoy it in the summer!