I've experienced what it is to be retired this week - my parents certainly seem to enjoy it.
Tuesday morning we went to the village hall to play indoor bowls - actually I was only going to watch, but I was persuaded to play as there weren't many there. I was rubbish at it, but apparently nobody played particularly well so my sporting inadequacies weren't too conspicuous.
On Wednesday Mum and I went into Stockton then met Sarah for coffee at Starbucks - her fiance Jon joined us too. It was great to meet him - Sarah's been engaged to him for over a year. Then on Wednesday afternoon we went to Dalton Park outlet mall. I stayed in Wednesday evening and spoke to Rob and Jen on the phone and skyped with Jill for quite a while.
Thursday was bowls day again - more people there this time, but I was still invited to play. I think if it's possible, I played worse than I had on Tuesday. Then after lunch we were going to go shopping but we got so involved in the daily sudoku and crossword puzzle from the paper that by the time we looked up it was 15:30 and half the afternoon had gone by. We ate early and went to see the play that Dad was doing the sound and lights for - Funny Money, a farce. It was good, but Mum and I both agreed that we prefer other genres of play - farces just make us annoyed that the actors seem incapable of making a decision that doesn't land them in trouble...
On Friday we went to Teesside Park to do some shopping, then in the afternoon we set about dismantling these collages of photos Mum had put together of Jen for her 30th birthday in August. While we were putting the photos back into their albums we spent some time looking through the albums generally - so much time that we only got round to putting about a third of the photos back in their places. We'll have to do the rest at Christmas. Jen arrived in time for dinner on Friday and we stayed in the rest of the evening.
On Saturday morning Jen and I went to Claire and Andrew's wedding in Stockton, then on Saturday afternoon I visited Louise, a friend from school, and in the evening I went with Mum to Middlesbrough Town Hall to watch her sing in Cleveland Philharmonic Choir's presentation of the Dream of Gerontius by Edward Elgar, while Dad went to the last night of his play and Jen went to the evening do of Claire and Andrew's wedding.
After church this morning and lunch, I left Mum & Dad's at around 14:30 this afternoon and got home at 19:30 - the only long journey of the week, as I'd travelled up north in 3 stages of no longer than 2.5 hours each. I had a great week - busy but very relaxing at the same time. And I can definitely see why Mum & Dad love being retirees so much!
Sunday 30 November 2008
Monday 24 November 2008
Busy Weekend
What a lot of people I've seen this weekend!
On Thursday, while still feeling snotty and horrible, I went round to see Jill who'd just got off a plane from Seattle. I didn't stay long because I didn't want her to get my lurgey as a 'Welcome to the UK' present, but I did want to say Hi before I left town for a week.
On Friday I left work around 11:15 and drove 2.5 hours up to Kingswinford, outside Birmingham, and spent a couple of hours with my friend Sally. From there I drove 2 hours up to Manchester, checked into the hotel and went to bed early, trying to get better before my weekend of visiting people. I spent most of the night on the phone to Rob and Expedia - despite the fact that I had a confirmation e-mail from Expedia, the hotel I'd booked for Rob in Vancouver had no record of his reservation, so I was awake between 02:40 and 04:15 sorting that out, then I was still awake at 05:10 and didn't really sleep properly after that so I got up at 07:30.
Saturday morning I met Catherine for a couple of hours, then in the afternoon Helen, Clare and I all went round to Nikki's house, where I met Nikki's daughter Evie for the first time and caught up with Helen's son Sam and Clare's son Harry. Saturday evening Clare and I went out for a meal, which was lovely.
Sunday I went to the outlet mall at Salford Quays to buy wedding stationery then went round to see Barry, my friend from Stockton (where I grew up), his wife Becky and their kids Olivia (2.5) and Alex (4.5 months). I went to church with them at 12:30 then later in the afternoon I went round to see Rob's parents for a few hours. Sunday evening I met up with Lynda, Marie, Nancy and Jean, who I originally worked with 8 years ago at a solicitor's firm in Manchester, although I've worked with Lynda and Marie more recently than that as well.
This morning I went to Glossop to visit Rob's Grandma - Grandad's in hospital at the moment so unfortunately I didn't get to see him too - then I left there and drove a couple of hours up to my Mum & Dad's near Stockton, which is where I am now. I've been out for a meal this evening with my friend Sarah, which was great, and I've arranged to meet her for a coffee on Wednesday so I can meet her fiance Jon.
I'm feeling a lot better - my nose has dried up a lot, although it's still not right, and the dreaded cough has come back. Still, I think I managed to see a total of 24 people between Friday and today and not pass my germs on to any of them. That's got to be some sort of record.
Plans for the rest of the week? Bowls tomorrow morning, some shopping, my Dad's the sound and lighting engineer for the local amateur dramatics society, which is doing a play this week so we'll go to that on Thursday, going to a wedding Saturday morning, and a concert that my Mum's singing in on Saturday night...
This was supposed to be a relaxing week - I'm busier this week than I ever am at home!
On Thursday, while still feeling snotty and horrible, I went round to see Jill who'd just got off a plane from Seattle. I didn't stay long because I didn't want her to get my lurgey as a 'Welcome to the UK' present, but I did want to say Hi before I left town for a week.
On Friday I left work around 11:15 and drove 2.5 hours up to Kingswinford, outside Birmingham, and spent a couple of hours with my friend Sally. From there I drove 2 hours up to Manchester, checked into the hotel and went to bed early, trying to get better before my weekend of visiting people. I spent most of the night on the phone to Rob and Expedia - despite the fact that I had a confirmation e-mail from Expedia, the hotel I'd booked for Rob in Vancouver had no record of his reservation, so I was awake between 02:40 and 04:15 sorting that out, then I was still awake at 05:10 and didn't really sleep properly after that so I got up at 07:30.
Saturday morning I met Catherine for a couple of hours, then in the afternoon Helen, Clare and I all went round to Nikki's house, where I met Nikki's daughter Evie for the first time and caught up with Helen's son Sam and Clare's son Harry. Saturday evening Clare and I went out for a meal, which was lovely.
Sunday I went to the outlet mall at Salford Quays to buy wedding stationery then went round to see Barry, my friend from Stockton (where I grew up), his wife Becky and their kids Olivia (2.5) and Alex (4.5 months). I went to church with them at 12:30 then later in the afternoon I went round to see Rob's parents for a few hours. Sunday evening I met up with Lynda, Marie, Nancy and Jean, who I originally worked with 8 years ago at a solicitor's firm in Manchester, although I've worked with Lynda and Marie more recently than that as well.
This morning I went to Glossop to visit Rob's Grandma - Grandad's in hospital at the moment so unfortunately I didn't get to see him too - then I left there and drove a couple of hours up to my Mum & Dad's near Stockton, which is where I am now. I've been out for a meal this evening with my friend Sarah, which was great, and I've arranged to meet her for a coffee on Wednesday so I can meet her fiance Jon.
I'm feeling a lot better - my nose has dried up a lot, although it's still not right, and the dreaded cough has come back. Still, I think I managed to see a total of 24 people between Friday and today and not pass my germs on to any of them. That's got to be some sort of record.
Plans for the rest of the week? Bowls tomorrow morning, some shopping, my Dad's the sound and lighting engineer for the local amateur dramatics society, which is doing a play this week so we'll go to that on Thursday, going to a wedding Saturday morning, and a concert that my Mum's singing in on Saturday night...
This was supposed to be a relaxing week - I'm busier this week than I ever am at home!
Thursday 20 November 2008
Relapse
I'm annoyed. The cold that I had a couple of weeks ago has come back. I spent all of last week and the beginning of this week still trying to shake off the cough that came with the original cold, and I realised yesterday that it was almost better. Then yesterday afternoon my nose starting getting bunged up again and today I've just been in a cycle of sneezing and blowing my nose all day.
Although I suppose I shouldn't be surprised - I do have next week off work. As I've mentioned before, I do have an alarmingly high ratio of being poorly when I have time booked off work anyway. Apparently it's an actual medical condition: you panic so much about getting prepared for being off work that you run on an adrenaline high for a few days beforehand, then when you're off work and the adrenaline drops, you get sick. I haven't been especially panicky about being off work this time, though, and I've been very prepared - I started packing on Tuesday night and finished it last night because I was supposed to be going to the pub quiz tonight but this stupid cold has put a stop to that, and I'm leaving straight from work to go up to Manchester tomorrow. So maybe I'm sick because I need the week off and my body's winding down. Either way, it sucks.
I'm really hoping I'll feel a lot better by Saturday afternoon because I'm seeing Helen, Clare and Nikki and their kids (one each) who are aged 2, 6 months and 6 weeks and I really don't want to pass my germs on.
Although I suppose I shouldn't be surprised - I do have next week off work. As I've mentioned before, I do have an alarmingly high ratio of being poorly when I have time booked off work anyway. Apparently it's an actual medical condition: you panic so much about getting prepared for being off work that you run on an adrenaline high for a few days beforehand, then when you're off work and the adrenaline drops, you get sick. I haven't been especially panicky about being off work this time, though, and I've been very prepared - I started packing on Tuesday night and finished it last night because I was supposed to be going to the pub quiz tonight but this stupid cold has put a stop to that, and I'm leaving straight from work to go up to Manchester tomorrow. So maybe I'm sick because I need the week off and my body's winding down. Either way, it sucks.
I'm really hoping I'll feel a lot better by Saturday afternoon because I'm seeing Helen, Clare and Nikki and their kids (one each) who are aged 2, 6 months and 6 weeks and I really don't want to pass my germs on.
Sunday 16 November 2008
Home Alone
Rob's gone to San Francisco today. He's there till Friday, then he's flying to Vancouver for a week, then Florida the week after that for SpringOne.
So I'm home alone for nearly 3 weeks. Although I'm hoping that I'll hardly notice - I went out this afternoon with Adrian, Sara and the kids, then went to church this evening; I'm going out Wednesday night and Thursday night, then I've got next week off work. I'm driving up to Manchester on Friday night and spending the weekend there, then going on to Mum & Dad's next week, coming back the following Sunday. Then there are only 4 days until Rob gets back. And then only 3 weeks till Christmas!
So I'm home alone for nearly 3 weeks. Although I'm hoping that I'll hardly notice - I went out this afternoon with Adrian, Sara and the kids, then went to church this evening; I'm going out Wednesday night and Thursday night, then I've got next week off work. I'm driving up to Manchester on Friday night and spending the weekend there, then going on to Mum & Dad's next week, coming back the following Sunday. Then there are only 4 days until Rob gets back. And then only 3 weeks till Christmas!
Tuesday 11 November 2008
Some People
The phone rang today at the office. Which isn't a big deal; it rings a few times in an average day, but today wasn't an average day. It was Remembrance Day, and this particular caller decided to ring at 11:01, right in the middle of the two minutes' silence.
I told him off.
I told him off.
Friday 7 November 2008
Healthy Eating & Exercise vs The Influenza Diet
Healthy Eating & Exercise
Pros
Allows you to lose weight slowly and healthily, avoiding the risk of piling on the pounds again once you've reached your goal weight.
Cons
It requires months, even years, of dedication and commitment - it's not going to happen overnight.
The Influenza Diet
Pros
The feeling of not wanting to eat because you know you're only going to throw it straight back up contributes to the dramatic weight loss this diet promises - 1lb a day or more. Note that this diet is a variation on the Salmonella Diet Rob tried a few years ago with even more dramatic results - 15lbs in 10 days.
Cons
You have to be prepared to feel awful for days - and you know you'll only gain anything you lose when you feel well enough to start eating again.
The Verdict
Whilst I'm currently experiencing the latter, albeit involuntarily, give me the former any day.
Wednesday 5 November 2008
Poorly Sick
I'm ill. To prove the point, I had a bath today, something I only do when I'm sick and even then not very often - I haven't had a bath at all since we moved here almost 18 months ago, for example. Still, it gave me a chance to try out the jacuzzi jets in the bath - very nice, although I got bored after about 10 minutes.
Yesterday afternoon I started feeling really achy - my neck and lower back, then my arms and legs. I was also freezing, despite the fact that the office was warm. I went to bed at 21:00 and during the course of the night I woke up about half a dozen times absolutely drenched in sweat, yet when I pushed back the covers I was freezing. I got up at 03:30 and went downstairs to watch some of the election coverage - at that point Obama had 207 votes to McCain's 135 and they were expecting California to come in any minute.
I got up at 07:30 and went downstairs to watch the breakfast news. My arms, legs, neck and back were still aching, plus my throat was quite scratchy and I'd developed a cough overnight, and my entire head was just one big round pain. I was supposed to have my PT session this morning, so Rob went instead - his session is tomorrow, so he said we should just swap, although I'm not going to be better by tomorrow so I've called Ben to cancel for this week. By the time Rob got back from the gym just after 09:00 I had already gone back to bed. I slept right through until 14:50, then I checked my e-mails, had a bath, took some painkillers and went downstairs for a while, but I was back in bed again by 17:20. The painkillers have taken the edge off the aches and pains, but my nose is now quite blocked and my throat is definitely getting worse.
So no fireworks for me this Bonfire Night - although I can hear lots of them going off outside. More sleep is in order, I think. Night night.
Yesterday afternoon I started feeling really achy - my neck and lower back, then my arms and legs. I was also freezing, despite the fact that the office was warm. I went to bed at 21:00 and during the course of the night I woke up about half a dozen times absolutely drenched in sweat, yet when I pushed back the covers I was freezing. I got up at 03:30 and went downstairs to watch some of the election coverage - at that point Obama had 207 votes to McCain's 135 and they were expecting California to come in any minute.
I got up at 07:30 and went downstairs to watch the breakfast news. My arms, legs, neck and back were still aching, plus my throat was quite scratchy and I'd developed a cough overnight, and my entire head was just one big round pain. I was supposed to have my PT session this morning, so Rob went instead - his session is tomorrow, so he said we should just swap, although I'm not going to be better by tomorrow so I've called Ben to cancel for this week. By the time Rob got back from the gym just after 09:00 I had already gone back to bed. I slept right through until 14:50, then I checked my e-mails, had a bath, took some painkillers and went downstairs for a while, but I was back in bed again by 17:20. The painkillers have taken the edge off the aches and pains, but my nose is now quite blocked and my throat is definitely getting worse.
So no fireworks for me this Bonfire Night - although I can hear lots of them going off outside. More sleep is in order, I think. Night night.
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