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Thursday 26 April 2012

TP 193: Faith

What an appropriate theme from Carmi this week....

When I was hopping around for 6 months, missing even walking the dog, I always had faith that I would once again stand on a summit... maybe not the highest in the world but this was a good start - and the first of many more!

There is nothing like having something taken away from you to make you realise that the effort really IS worth it.


Juniper at 2630 feet.



Wednesday 25 April 2012

Mind over matter

On Monday we hiked up The Old Man of Coniston at 801m (about 2670 feet), 7 1/2 miles - my first proper hike after the broken leg, it felt great to be looking *down* on those sun dappled fells again.

Walked another 8 miles today.

Ok yes it's aching a bit now BUT I don't care!

:-)




Wednesday 18 April 2012

Changing places

I am moving.

No, not house. Just a relocation within the same office.

At the moment I sit in the main 'technical' office which I manage, with the other two girls.  I feel like one of the girls while actually I am supposed to be their boss, sometimes I want some peace and quiet and a bit of distance from the chatter; and from being too buddy-buddy with people who I sometimes need to pull rank on.

It so happens that the third technical team girl is about to return from maternity leave, and previously used a rather temporary feeling office next to my boss's.  It is temporary feeling because it also houses the photocopier/printer plus various office junk.   I decided that this would be a good place for me to be, because it is next to the boss so he can discuss things with me without disturbing everyone else, and I will be next to but not amongst my team. Plus the girl returning will be part of the group rather than stuck out on her own.  It is open plan-ish so I will still hear everything that is going on, but won't sit getting annoyed by people's personal habits that I have in my line of sight!

So, today I started dismantling my stuff.  Given that I've been there 27 years, and I've had the same desk (in various locations) all that time, this took a while. I can't take the desk with me, it will be rather sad to leave it, how silly to be attached to a piece of office furniture? Tomorrow we will move the photocopier to the other end of the office which will the space twice as big, and the paraphanalia.

I thought that the girl who sits next to me might be put out by my wanting to move and take it personally, but everyone seemed to agree that it was a good idea... plus she gets my desk next to the window with the best view (I now get to look out over the dinghy park!).

I'm hoping I won't regret it, but at least I will have my proper own space for the first time, ever?

Wednesday 11 April 2012

TP 191: Single people


The Beekeeper lights his smoker ready for hive inspection in the evening light.


Progress...

Carina's comment on my post from a year ago made me think about just how much things have moved on since April 2011.

Mr H has been through various forestry interviews and possible new houses/flats to move to, and then ended up moving home so actually it was a good thing none of them were successful. Although it didn't feel it at the time when he turned down a really nice house just in case he got the job in a different district!  And his new job is brilliant... will it last? who knows, but as he said tonight "we'll make hay while the sun shines".   If it goes belly up in a year's time, none of this will have been wasted, just like the forestry time hasn't been wasted.  I know that our parallel life, if Mr H hadn't said about 5 years ago 'I want to go to college and learn forestry and give up upholstery', would not have been nearly as rewarding as our life is now.

***
In the last couple of weeks I have gone on a normality spree. Maybe it was the orthopaedic expert looking at me as if I was making up the pain in my leg, or maybe it was talking boats and sailing with a friend (that sounds odd, given that I talk boats all day, but this was related to pleasure not work!), but I seem to have switched gears.

Mr H and I having taken out the Heron dinghy three or so weeks ago, on Easter Sunday I took the Topaz 'Purpletrator' out:

It wasn't as comfortable, as there was very little wind so I spent most of the half hour scrunched up in the bottom of the boat, and hurting when I had to move!  But, I went out and survived and will go out again this weekend.   

I also spent an evening on Friday with a bunch of old sailing friends who were doing a regatta in Cowes, and felt rather envious of them because I wished that it was me going out on the water with them the next day. That is the first time really that I've missed sailing with them, it's the camaraderie and fun of being part of a crew as much as the sailing itself.  I think that I should aim to be out yachting in 2013!

Today I put myself back on the sailing club duty roster, although with some conditions.  So I'm back on the roster for driving a safety boat (but with a crew who is also qualified to drive so we can swap places), but staying off tractor driving duty for now (for launching the safety RIBs). Mainly because doing both involves a lot of running around by the time I have launched and recovered three boats. And I've said that I'll train as an assistant race officer as long as it's ashore, since doing it on the races that start out in the Solent involves clambering on and off an old lifeboat to/from a RIB, probably in a bit of sea - it's rare that the Solent is flat! 

There is a training day for race officers and assistants at the end of May, but I'll miss it as I have an OU tutorial that day; but the sailing secretary and I agreed that since I know all the basics he's just going to throw me in the deep end, so that will be fun.

Oh and last on my list (but certainly not least) for this month of getting back to normal is going to be a week in the Lake District, hill walking and cycling amongst other things. That will be really interesting to see how much the beautiful view distracts me from how much things hurt!   

And now I must get on with some studying, I have a review to write of 'Protecting Scotland's Communities - Fair, Fast and Flexible Justice', which my tutor said was very boring, but naturally I found it interesting because I'm strange like that...

Tuesday 10 April 2012

Holding...

Well, Easter long weekend came and went.... Sunday was also the 23rd Wedding Anniversary for me and Mr H, so we almost forgot that it was Easter.

Now back to work and thinking about plans for the rest of April which include a wedding, a holiday and an essay.

Will be back with something more soon!

Monday 2 April 2012

Decisions, Decisions!

My current choice of things to read:

New Scientist
Persepolis
Lonely Planet guide to the Lakes District
Understanding Children & Young People 5-18 years
Protecting Scotland's Communities (Fair, Fast & Flexible Justice)
Homes & Antiques
The Quran
DD208 Book 3 Chapter 6
BBC History magazine

(most of the above I have already started!)

Hmm not much Chick Lit amongst that lot!

Or I could start something new like 'Attention All Shipping: A journey around the shipping forecast' or the other books waiting for me upstairs.... but no I need to finish what I've started first or I won't be able to move for half read books / magazines!

I think I have an addiction to the written word..... is there a group for that?

Sunday 1 April 2012

Thematic Photographic 189 'Branded'

Apologies to Carmi that it's quite a while since I participated in Thematic Photographic, for various reasons - mainly that of being out of serious blogger mode!

But here is a just-in-time offering for this week's TP189 'Branded'.

Mr H and I were talking about the fact that branding need not be a name, it could just be a shape like a Coke bottle.  In the absence of a Coke bottle to demonstrate, another image came to mind: