I am literally going to explode

A friend just posted that she 'literally cannot wait until 1pm tomorrow'.   Hmmm. "Well", I said, "you're literally going to *have* to wait, unless you have a time machine!"

Or am I becoming literally anal?    OK, maybe that's not such a nice thought!

Annual event

We have a 4 day weekend here, Monday and Tuesday are bank holidays.  The publicity says that it's something to do with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee but I know that really it's because of my birthday.   Tomorrow I become nearer 50 than 40... but I feel about 33 (I don't care how much my nephews and nieces, and friends in their 20s, tell me how old I am!)

So, are Mr H and I going out to celebrate?  well yes, we thought we may take fish and chips to the beach if it's dry :-)    I'm really 'over' going out to eat at the moment, and so is he; we don't get as much pleasure out of it as other people seem to, plus we need the money for more important things.

My birthday present from him is fixing up the Imp, he's been working so hard on the engine and now the suspension, that it's worth much more to me than any 'got to get something' present.

TP 197: Far from home

This photo was taken when Mr H was living far from home in Scotland.
  

for Thematic Photographic

Fruit Break

I have invented the Fruit Break.

If others can go and stand outside the office for 5 minutes while they have a cigarette, I decided that I can go and stand outside for 5 minutes while I eat my {apple}  (insert appropriate fruit/snack here).

Plus, staring down the river rather than at my computer screen is good for my eyes....

So, twice a day sounds ok, right?

Overheard...

While at the gym this evening I overheard a woman talking to one of the instructors about her three children..

"They're all different, you know?  they each take after their fathers.  They are always arguing about their fathers, you know 'My dad's better than yours' haha!"

What should I do?

How odd that even though I am a free agent (well, home alone anyway) until tomorrow evening, I feel that I should do things that I will be proud to tell Mr H that I did.   Whereas actually I can do what the hell I like as long as the house looks reasonably presentable by the time he gets home.

How difficult it is to get away from the "should's" of life.   I should revise. I should play my violin (sorely neglected already). I should ... whatever.   Somehow the more rare time alone becomes, the more pressure we have to make the most of it, and the more we spend to much time deciding what we should do to fill it best.

I should.... stop thinking about it and go with the flow!

Signed up

I have joined a gym.   But not any old gym, a new and exclusive one in my home town which offers personal service and advice, and plenty of variety in exercise.

I used to go to the local gym at the recreation centre, but lost interest in it, didn't like the TV they showed, and just didn't like the atmosphere there. Others have said the same thing about it, so it's not just me! Anyway when talking about doing more to get fitter and build up my leg strength etc. Mr H suggested going back to the gym. I screwed up my face and said No Way, I Hate It.  Walking, cycling and gardening are fine, but I'm only maintaining myself, not progressing; I need something else.

Then I found that a friend from when I went to dance classes works at a newly opened place in town, so I looked at their website. It sounded good and they mentioned rehabilitation and post-surgery recovery exercise, so I booked in with her for a free consultation and 'tour'.   Well, it's nothing like the big sweaty places most gyms are!  Four small rooms with varying machines, and they are currently building a room which will house dancing, yoga, boxercise etc. - but only for small numbers not the 20+ people who go to the rec.  Or you can just use the equipment on your own between classes.

So I thought "Why Not", it wasn't much more expensive per month and I will get loads of encouragement from people who know my first name (always a bonus).

So, my first visit is on Friday straight from work!

Oh, and they take your measurements as well.... if that isn't an incentive I don't know what is.

PDAs

Public Displays of Affection - PDAs.  Hmmm!    I was on an airport bus with a male colleague and my boss last year, when a couple right next to us decided to start (if you'll excuse the expression) sucking the faces off each other.   I had to turn my back on them because it made me feel... well, uncomfortable. Is that a British thing?   I suspect it may be.   I just want to say "PLEASE can you not wait until you are alone? is it THAT urgent?"   When we got off the bus I said to my colleague "I give them 6 months".  "Oh", he said, "I was going for 3."   Such is our cynicism!

Over the last few years a new kind of PDA has developed online.  One of my friends keeps getting boyfriends and then mushing over them on Facebook. At one time, about a week after she'd announced her relationship (which then got loads of 'ooh congratulations!' comments from her friends), she'd be sobbing over her break-up.   For goodness sake girl, just keep it offline!   The poor guys probably run a mile when they see all her friends slapping her on the back, it must be like being in a relationship with 20 people.

There are online PDAs that I don't object to of course; even I am guilty of commenting that it is our 23rd anniversary, but I don't start mushing over how much Mr H means to me, that is for people who write to Steve Wright's Sunday Love Songs. I tell him that to his face (yes, shameless I know!).

And it's not just couples, what about all those "I'm so miserable" statuses, or "I'm so useless", or "I love all my friends so much, you are all SO amazing" that then provoke an outpouring of loveliness from everybody.    Now, I realise that there have been cases where seriously depressed people have probably had their lives saved by uplifting and encouraging comments from their friends in times of dire need, and I am not denigrating that.   But I know most of my facebook friends enough to know they are not about commit suicide (.....or do I?).  They have friends that instead of picking up the phone or going to round to see them or take them out to the pub, or for a walk, or even sending a private message, they write my pet hate comment: "Awwwww, are you alright hun? xxxxxxx"   CLEARLY NOT!!!!   "You are the strongest person I know xxxxxxxxxxxxx"  again, CLEARLY NOT!!

Maybe I am just someone who prefers to keep my emotional needs on a more private platform.   I exchange private messages with particular friends, or talk to them person to person.

And of course, all those comments that I hate?  I don't have to read them, do I?

TP 194: Strong Lines

Whenever I see the word 'lines', I immediately think of boats, since when we see a design we say "what beautiful lines" (or not as the case may be!). 

Boats consist of so many lines when you start looking at them, in the hull, the rig and the sails.

I also liked the photo below, how the man-made lines of the hotel mix with the natural verticals of the palm trees..

(Kata Beach Resort, Phuket)

For Thematic Photographic 194: Strong Lines