Getting back in the swing of things....7/10/25

I'm trying to be more present here but I'm also trying to get back into the routine of walking - the summer, despite being lovely with various trips and visits, has played havoc with my schedule.

Anyway I managed to walk on Sunday on my own and yesterday with Hubby.  Sunday was the first time I'd been around the lake for a while so although I'd read about the fire at the boat house I hadn't seen the aftermath in person.

The fire happened on 24th September and although the fire brigade responded quickly the building was gutted.

You can see in the bottom photo where the area in front of the boat house at the bottom of the lake has been fenced off.  Hopefully it won't remain fenced off for long as a lot of the ducks, coots etc come there to be fed.  I did actually see two people cross the fencing to the right (not shown in my picture) with bags of bird food.  The fencing has fallen down so it's easy to get past it.

Yesterday Hubby and I did what I call the "golf course loop" and we both overdressed - it was really quite warm thanks to the sun. 

Today it's been mostly grey and cloudy but no rain.  I made it to my Keep Fit class and then coffee with friends.  It won't be the highest step count of the week but I do at least feel I've moved!

Hubby rushed back from his exercise class today as he thought he had a blood test booked for today only to find the appointment is tomorrow.  He was not best pleased!

A Walk in the Park - 6/11/23

I walked in the park today - didn't need the wellies for that although I think they were repairing a burst water main at the end of my road as there was a lot of water being pumped out of a hole and pouring down the road!

Anyway here are a few photos of the autumn trees in the park with a lovely blue sky

And the sun setting beyond the park

And the lake.

Thanks to the clocks going back last week I need to be starting my walk earlier in the day!

Walking on Sunday (5/11/23)

 

Today was the first day this week that I got to do a proper walk.  It's been a busy week - I didn't even find time to do a Friday Five post again, although I have visited the blogs of those who took part and as usual there were lots of good things going on.  Apologies for the lack of comments.

On Monday I had a Diabetes Prevention Programme session.  It was good to get back to a face to face session - I missed the last one when we were away and doing the catch up over Zoom just wasn't the same.

Tuesday I did an extra session at the Food Bank and then had Ella in the afternoon. 

Wednesday was a quiet day which was needed because we had Grandchildren Nathan and Ella here from Thursday morning until just after dinner time on Friday.  It was my DIL Vicky's 40th birthday on Friday so she and my daughter Becca went away overnight to celebrate with some of their close friends.  We decided to have the children here rather than at their house but with hindsight we probably should have at least gone there to sleep.  I ended up sharing a bed with both children and needless to say I didn't get a lot of sleep!

Yesterday we (us, Becca, Vicky and their 2 children) all met up with my younger son, his wife and 2 boys for lunch at an Italian restaurant.  We've been there before and the staff are very good with the children so although not the most relaxing of meals it was still nice to all be together.

Today has been a quiet day (phew) although there are currently lots of fireworks to be heard.  I was determined to get out for a walk though and thankfully I missed the heavy shower we had this afternoon but we have had a lot of rain this week so it's:

Welly time!

The cygnets are almost fully grown now - the male swan will soon be chasing them off.

I couldn't see the other adult swan at first then found him at the bottom end of the lake where someone was feeding the birds.

The swan family were actually in one of the few sunlit areas on the lake.

I did get rained on a bit while I was out but after I got back there was a real downpour so I was lucky to avoid that as it hadn't been on the forecast I'd looked at.

I walked for just over an hour so probably covered about 3 miles - picking my way around the worst of the mud slowed me down a bit!

Getting out and about

I managed a walk around the lake today.  I think this is the first time this year I've managed to do that in trainers rather than wellies.  It is still quite muddy in places but the edges of the paths are fairly well compacted so easy to walk on.  There was only one part where I went along the right side of the path which turned out to be the wrong side and I had to jump across a patch of mud.  Fortunately I landed on my feet and didn't slip and fall onto my backside!

The weather has been good so far this week and I've walked each day.

The pair of swans have had 4 cygnets this year by the look of things although someone posted pictures yesterday where there seemed to be 5 of them.  There was also a picture of 2 goslings but today there only seemed to be 1 with the pair of geese I saw.  The swan was already in protective mode of the cygnets, as in aggressive mode to any bird that dared to come near them.  It seems to be an ongoing battle every year.  

There is only one pair of swans on the lake and each year once the cygnets are fully grown they have had to be removed from the lake and rehomed elsewhere.  Fortunately there are several places nearby where there are lots of swans and no issues over territory.

These are the pics I took today.

Unfortunately another casualty has been the wooden bridge across the river at the top end of the lake.  It's still passable but the side bars have been vandalised.  Hopefully the authority responsible for the forest will arrange for it to be repaired.

Non Hodgepodge Wednesday

Joyce is taking a well earned break this week so I will have to find my own things to waffle about today.

It sounds as if Joyce is following good advice and taking care of herself during a very busy/stressful time as their house building nears completion and all that entails.  I'm pretty good at giving out advice but I don't always follow it.

However, I have given up on the Couch to 5K, for now!  This was an app I'd started, with hubby coming along for the ride and spurring me on.  The app aims to prepare you to be able to run a 5K event after nine weeks of training.  Well we managed to complete the first two weeks but my knees were protesting.  Big time.  So I have listened to my body and stopped the running but I'm still keeping up with walking.

Well rather I'm getting back to walking.  The week away with the family was a very lazy time.  The furthest I walked was from the house to the swimming pool most days!  But it was good to just totally unwind and relax and I've come home raring to go.

I've had a plasterer in to provide quotes for the ceilings that need plastering, I've fixed the bathroom door that was sticking, I've donated the cat food we still had to a local shelter, I've been reading more and I've picked up my crochet again.  All this and getting out for a walk each day.

Hopefully I can keep the momentum going.

Yesterday I also dragged hubby out on a walk in Greenwich.  I decided that we should make use of one of his "retirement" days each week and actually do something.  We have a lot of guide books with walks in them so I picked out one that was fairly close by and not too strenuous.  Except I didn't factor in that it was quite a hot humid day, and part of the walk was uphill!  (Well I knew about the hill but I didn't predict the weather.)

We picked up some food for lunch, which we enjoyed en route and collapsed in a pub for a beer and a pimms as a reward at the end.

I'm hoping to make this a regular thing now and use his other "retirement" day to catch up on jobs around the house.  I'm not sure how well that idea will be received but I can only try!

Greenwich Park looking up to the Observatory

From the top of the hill looking across to Canary Wharf

The National Maritime Museum

Another view - the City of London - the Shard disappearing into the clouds!

Successful shopping

Well I braved Westfield today and managed to get the paper cutter I wanted.  I also got gold and silver inked pens to use in the scrapbook - it has black pages so they should contrast nicely on those.  I've become quite a savvy shopper since we've come down to one income.  I noticed a coupon in our Saturday paper for £5 off if you spent £12 in W H Smiths so guess where I got the paper cutter from?

I expected the shopping centre to be more manic than it was as it's school holidays and I didn't get there very early.  Rain was forecast for this afternoon so I wanted to get the washing done before I set off which meant it was almost lunchtime when I got to the shops.  It wasn't actually that bad and it helped that I knew exactly what I wanted and where to get it.

Paper cutter and pens - tick

Birthday present for D-I-L - tick

Watering can  - tick

Milk, onions and marmalade - tick

I had tick symbols next to those when I typed this in word but they didn't translate when I posted here. :(

I took the bus there and back as parking is quite expensive so I did what felt like quite a bit of walking, especially as the watering can had to be bought from a shop in the old Stratford shopping centre.  I was pleased to see quite a lot of people there though as, when Westfield was built just across the way, I did worry that the old centre would decline.  But they are two quite different shopping centres and both seem to be thriving.  I was disappointed to find though, that despite trekking there and back by bus and walking between the centres I only managed to clock up about 2 miles of walking.  But that’s 2 more than I would have done had I stayed home.

I have been quite lazy this afternoon though, just getting the washing dry and looking at properties online.  My daughter is flat hunting at the moment and she sent me details of a flat she was going to view.  Well that flat led to another …..and another…..it’s scary how easy it is to fritter away time looking at things on the internet.  But being lazy means I don’t get so hungry which is good when you’re trying to diet.  I lost 3 pounds last week so that’s a good incentive to keep trying to be good!

Monday meander 8/6/15

I love chocolate.  I have a small box of Godiva chocolates on my kitchen table.  I bought them yesterday when we were on a chocolate walking tour in central London.  The tour was a present to me from my son and his partner for Mother's Day.  They had bought 2 places so hubby came too.  We met our guide by The Ritz hotel and we wandered through the streets of Mayfair visiting several very classy chocolate shops.  We learnt about the history of chocolate and also got to taste some samples.  I was in heaven.

Several of the shops were very small but we also visited Fortnum and Mason which supplies the Queen.  It's a very impressive shop with a huge chocolate selection.  Of course it also sells teas, preserves and oh I could go on and on.  The staff uniform is very traditional.  It was actually the first time I had ever visited the store.  We notice this everytime we do something like this - we've lived in London all our lives but there is so much of it we haven't seen.  When we retire.....

Of course some people think I've retired already.  The jury is still out on that at the moment.  I had a better week last week having got back to scheduling things to do and there is still lots to be done at home so I've no plans to look for a job just yet.

As for my June goals well I managed to complete reading all the Hodgepodge posts from last week.  Thanks to all who left me comments.  I hope I've responded appropriately.  I also managed to visit 10 blogs on the A-Z Road Trip list at the weekend.  That was interesting.  One blog hadn't even posted any A-Z posts, one site seemed to be a promotional site for books and another had quit after only a few posts.  Not sure why they included themselves on the Road Trip.

I also managed over 10 miles of walking but I'm yet to get on my bike.  (Although I did pump up the flat tyres.)

Today I have finally got round to touching up the paintwork in our kitchen.  We had a couple of patches where I think the paint was applied before the plaster underneath had totally dried out so the paint had peeled.  Nothing major but just one of those annoying things that need to be fixed.  Well today I fixed it (hopefully it won't peel again!) now I just have to take bets on how long before my hubby notices.  Maybe if I leave the painting paraphanalia around he might get the hint.

I also thinned out my Hellebore seedlings: 

I have a thriving Hellebore in the garden and it had seeded earlier this year so my gardener had me collected the seedlings to grow into new plants.  I think she has an ulterior motive - she is part of a group setting up a community garden nearby.  It is a huge undertaking and they will need all the help they can get, including donations of plants.

Well I started this post yesterday and it's now nearly bedtime today so I will end now.  It's been a good start to the week.

Tuesday toddle 19/5/15

Well we had a Monday meander so now it's a Tuesday toddle.  I'm still not up to more than walking (although I did do an interval walking session yesterday) but I have been increasing my daily steps.  I'm not counting them accurately as I'm only using the basic app on my i-phone and I don't always have it to hand.  It tells me I'm not yet up to 10000 a day but I'm doing much better than when I started taking notice!

I've managed to get up earlier both days so far this week so now having done all the morning chores it's time for a tea break and a blog.  It was a horrible wet day yesterday and although the sun keeps coming out at the moment more rain is forecast.  It's doing the garden good but the grass is doing too well.  Hmm sounds like there's no pleasing me.  Actually I'm very easy to please.  I'd just like the grass to stay dry long enough to get cut.

I actually finished a knitting project yesterday.

My son and his partner brought some magazines for me when I was first home from work and one was a knitting magazine which had free wool with it.  There were also instructions for a variety of things you could make with the wool, many of which were Easter themes (it was that time of year) but I thought the tea cosy looked quite sweet and at least it will get used.

I'm quite bad at starting things and not finishing them so I was determined this week to get it done.  (I'd done the main knitting part but just needed to put it together, stitch in all the ends and do the flowers.)  I'm trying to get back into knitting when I'm watching TV.  It doesn't feel quite like I'm just wasting time then.  Of course relaxing and watching TV is not a waste of time but I prefer to be a bit more productive.

Someone asked me about using a tea cosy.  Although we use tea bags a lot, especially if it's just for me or we're in a hurry, we do really like to have a proper pot of tea.  My husband is very exact about how tea should be made.  The pot has to be warmed, the water must be boiling and the tea must be stirred and then allowed to stand for a certain amount of time.  (4-5 minutes)  It sounds like hard work but he does make the best cup of tea!  (As long as he doesn't put too much milk in - he can be a bit heavy handed with the milk sometimes.)  We like PG tips best.  We're not fans of flavoured teas.

Well my tea (and the biscuits I found that I'd forgotten I had) is finished so I need to press on.  Literally - I have some ironing that needs to be done.  I'll be back later to work on the Wednesday Hodgepodge - some tricky questions in there this week.  That will keep the grey matter working!

Monday meander 18/5/15

Well I still had breakfast in bed this morning but I was up much earlier and as I've already done a few chores I'm allowing myself some blogging time. It's also a miserable day so I don't need to feel guilty about not being out in the garden.

Thankfully the weekend weather was much better in that it was dry and sunny on and off but it was quite breezy and not that warm.  It was still warm enough for a BBQ at my cousin's house on Saturday.  That was fortunate as we were there to celebrate her hubby's 60th birthday and there were quite a few of us.  If we had been rained inside it would have been a bit difficult. It was lovely to see them and their family - all five children (who are actually all adults) were there including most of the partners and the 6 grandchildren.  The garden looked quite different from when I was there last.  Her hubby was in the process of preparing to build a large garage on one side of the garden and the whole thing was a bit of a mess.  But it looks great now.  The garage (which is huge) is finished and the remainder of the garden has been restored.  There is even a vegetable plot at the bottom.  They've not been there that long but have achieved a lot.  It suits them - it's in a small village but it wouldn't be for me.  I'm too much of a city girl.  But nice to visit and we had a lovely day.

Yesterday we had lunch in London's theatre district with my daughter, her partner and her future in-laws.  It was the first time we had met them but it went well and we had a very nice lunch.  The food was excellent and we seemed to get on ok with the in-laws.  We're not likely to see a lot of them though as they spend most of their time in America.

After lunch we decided to walk back along the south bank of the Thames as far as London Bridge.  It was interesting seeing the way the London landscape has changed.  When you live here you don't play the role of tourist often enough to really appreciate things.  At least we don't.  Although I'm not sure that some of the new modern buildings sit quite well alongside St. Paul's Cathedral for example.

Anyway, I have set myself some targets for this week so that I can feel that I'm achieving something so I should push on with those.  I'll let you know later how I get on.

Election Day 7/5/15

Today is Election Day here in the UK.

I am not an expert on politics but I have been to cast my vote as I agree that you can't complain about the system if you're not part of it.  My daughter is much more involved, she is currently working at a polling station and then going on to count votes. My hubby exercised the right to a postal vote as he's away in Lincoln for work today.  

I just had to get myself up and out to our local polling station. Fortunately I was expecting a shopping delivery early today so I needed to be up and dressed for that. I managed to cast my vote despite not realising until I checked my voting card that they'd moved the polling station!  Still within walking distance, the local church hall as opposed to the local junior school.

It will be interesting to see the outcome of the election but I suspect it will take longer than usual as no main party seems to have a chance of an overall win.  This is not what we're used to.  For so long it has been a two party race (between conservative  and labour) but during the last parliament we did have a coalition between the conservatives and lib-Dems. A coalition looks the most likely outcome this time but as to which parties can work together we will just have to wait and see.

My own MP is actually someone who was at the same secondary school as me at the same time. Hers is a fairly safe seat so I expect her to be re-elected although it will be interesting to see if her majority is affected by the rise in the UKIP party.  Hopefully not.

I went out to lunch at a friend's house, walking there and back so I've clocked up a over a couple of miles today.  Not yet doing 10000 steps a day but doing lots more that a few weeks back.

My gardener came today and she offered to assemble our new lawnmower and put it to good use.  Downside of that is that she didn't get as much weeding done today so that's my homework before her next visit.

Now I'm planning to relax.  It's been a good day.