Showing posts with label run. Show all posts
Showing posts with label run. Show all posts

Wednesday 20 October 2021

How #runandtalk helps me

Overjoyed after reaching the end of 91 miles of walking Hadrian's Wall path!

I work in recruitment, or rather I did work in recruitment, at the moment I'm having a small break which is giving me much needed time to do a few very important things and one thing I wanted to do was to tell people a bit about it.  

I don't think that my life is especially noteworthy, but the reason I wanted to write this is because I've been a mental health champion both within work, but also within Hyde Park Harriers and the one thing that is clear is that whilst we have numerous days marking "Mental Health" and the conversation is much more open than when I started my career 20 years ago, it's still clear that some people will be going through incredibly challenging times alone and thinking they are the only people feeling that way.  It's important for people to talk, but it's also important for them to be able to listen and realise that they aren't a terrible individual for feeling like they do because actually others feel the same.

The first thing I always say is that is that mental health isn't a competition and this is something really relevant in Covid times as the vast majority of us have had some pretty awful things happen in the past 18 months and if *your* experiences don't feel as worthy as others to be sad or depressed, but you still can't bring yourself to go out for a run, speak to a friend or even brush your hair it doesn't mean you don't have the "right" to feel sad.  Sometimes it's harder to tackle mental ill health when there isn't an obvious cause so the best advice I can give is that if you aren't feeling yourself or you notice that you are avoiding things you used to enjoy doing regularly, please start a conversation with someone whether that's a good friend, family member, a colleague or a professional.  Likewise if you notice someone you know is behaving differently a simple check-in of how they are or inviting them for a walk can make more of a difference than you might imagine.

So back to me.  I've worked within recruitment for 20 years as of the 1st October this year and during that time I've had barely any time off ill, not missing a single day when I had broken my shoulder and was typing one handed for weeks and on very strong pain killers.  Discovering that I have low self esteem in 2017 (which was cleverly disguising itself as my assuming I am a competitive person) I would be likely to be overperforming in work if there was more horrible stuff that I was having to deal with outside of work.  Work was escapism and a place where generally if you worked hard you'd get validation, that you were a worthy person by beating colleagues on monthly sales league tables. I even went into work to sell a retained advertising package for a senior role less than 24 hours after being mugged in the work car park and was most likely mildly concussed after being hit on the back of the head twice.  

Recruitment is always a competitive industry and to a certain extent I thrive in this environment. Certainly in covid times I was always grateful to be working throughout, even if it was flat out at home with the physical boundaries between work and home removed.  I was notching up 50 - 60 hour weeks with nothing to distract me away from the laptop with hundreds of emails and tasks to be done.  I worked for a well established large recruitment firm since 2008 and I led my small team through the  covid crisis and we started to break records.  I was consistently anxious, worried and finding the world a challenging place, but work remained a safe place for me and I knew I get paid at the end of each month.

In January this year there were a few changes and that is the norm in large recruitment businesses.  I had a new boss who I'd not really met or worked with before and we went straight into the 3rd lockdown.  I don't know why exactly, but this new relationship didn't work.  I carried on doing my job and my team continued to perform really well, but in Februrary I noticed I was waking up every morning with a headache.  This wasn't a new thing as I have had this before when I've been under stress and would typically go when the stress dimished, but as time went on in March I was still struggling and even focussing on my laptop screen was a challenge in the morning.  

In March I went to see a fellow HPH for an eye test and all was normal and so I called my GP who was rather unhelpful and suggested it was because I had too much screentime.  I knew that this was unlikely to be the issue as the headaches were very recentl and I was fortunate to be able to use a my health insurance for a private GP appointment who referred me to a neurologist.  In June I had MRI brain scans which were all clear and was diagnosing with chronic low level migraine and prescribed Amitriptyline that acts as a preventative medication taken about an hour before bed.  The challenge many people have is that it can make you very drowsy the following morning and not being a morning person already, it did make the first couple of hours of work very challenging

The headaches were slightly better, but still there and alongside this I had begin to realise after doing a little health, wellbeing and purpose audit as a result of reading Dr Alex George's book - "Live Well Every Day" (and no I've never watched an episode of Love Island!) that change was needed for me in work.  I identified that my key passions and purpose revolve around health and wellbeing, nature and conservation and helping and supporting people.

I started to consider a few different options, but nothing progressed very quickly and things started to get more challenging at work when it was very clear that there were quite deep misunderstandings between myself and my boss.  Running alongside the challenges at work over the summer were a number of family issues with my immediate family who all live 5 - 6 hours drive away.  My Dad was suddenly diagnosed with a silent stroke and Parkinsons and over the space of a week lost mobility to walk without shuffling and use fine motor skills and then two weeks later my brother had some serious issues with his young family as well.  

I take some responsibility for the challenges at work as I'm sure I could have made more proactive efforts to build a better relationship with my new boss, but when I noticed I was being excluded from meetings, I asked for a catch up and it was clear that my longer term aspirations and the company plans for me were totally different.  I proposed some solutions of what I could do that were being considered, but then early September I got back from leave to discover some very major changes had happened, but that no one had told me.  After a discussion with my husband Alan we concluded that I should resign from a job that I had for a long time and had provided me with significant financial and personal security without anything lined up to go to.  

Over my lifetime I've had different strategies to manage my mental health including talking therapy and at one point I was on various anti-depressants for 12 years, but drawing upon past experience. I felt very strongly that how I was feeling this year was my mood responding to a situation and that if I could change the situation my mood would improve without needing to use anti-depressants.  (I would like to re-emphasis that there is nothing wrong with using anti-depressants, but I personally wanted to make sure on this occasion I'd explored other solutions first)

First Tuesday was of course #runandtalk day and I was looking forward to relaunching in-person #runandtalk and whilst I was naturally feeling worried about everything that was going on, I knew that a run with friendly people would make me feel better and it really did.  We ran, jogged and walked around the city centre on a warm evening chatting away and taking time to smell the roses and look at some beautiful landscape photographs outside of the town hall and I knew that whilst I was making a scary change, I had people around who were really supportive and that I'd be ok.

Rolling forward 6 weeks and I'm in a very different place.  I managed to hand everything over at work which was a challenge as I had a lot of pre booked annual leave and so only had 14 working days to finish everything and my last day of employment conincided with me completing the Hadrian's Wall Path walk (91 miles in 7 days)  Spending time being active in nature and beautiful surroundings with Alan was exactly what I needed and guess what - the headaches have more or less disappeared entirely!  I now have something new arranged that I'm looking forward to starting and my anxiety over the years had forced me to save up a bit of a rainy day fund (one "benefit" I suppose of always catastrophising everything from being pre-disposed to anxiety!).  For now I am in a very fortunate position to enjoy resting, focusing on my health, spending time with Alan (cooking him lunch every day!), trying hard to complete writing my novel that I started last year, helping my family and getting ready for a fresh start.  

I've not really talked much about running in this post (and I've done a lot of it this year to help with headaches and my mood), but then much like parkrun for me #runandtalk is more about the talking than the running.  It's about getting out of the house, into the fresh air and moving your body and noticing the world around you whilst being around friendly and supportive people.  You don't even really need to talk, I'm sure there have been people who have come along and said very few words, but go away feeling that they've done something positive with their evening and that can sometimes be far more important than people would imagine.

#runandtalk will mean something different to everyone, but as one of the Mental Health Champions for HPH I want it to be somewhere you can come to be active and social (even if that's not talking, but just being around people).  In our sessions we've talked about everything from our favourite type of biscuit to some more mental health specific topics, but no one is forced to disclose anything they aren't comfortable in doing and it's always good fun.  I share my experiences not for pity or praise, but because I hope to make a difference to that person who doesn't feel like anyone else could begin to understand what they are going through, that might have lost hope and I just want to create a friendly and safe community who will be there on the first Tuesday each month to offer support.  I am fortunate that I love running, I love talking, I love being outside in green spaces and I loving supporting people and so being a #runandtalk mental health champion and even a regular HPH leader helps me enjoy all of these elements and if any of this has resonated with you then please come along to the next #runandtalk session on the 2nd November we'd love to have you there.  If you're interested in becoming a Mental Health Champion you don't need any specific qualifications, just ideally lived experience of mental health either personally or through supporting someone else and willingness to give it a go - get in touch if you want any more details or have any questions.

In the meantime, I sincerely hope everyone is doing ok, but if you are struggling, please reach out to someone or if you don't feel you have anyone to talk to - here are some helpful contacts:

  • SANEline. If you're experiencing a mental health problem or supporting someone else, you can call SANEline on 0300 304 7000 (4.30pm–10.30pm every day).
  • Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). You can call the CALM on 0800 58 58 58 (5pm–midnight every day) if you are struggling and need to talk. Or if you prefer not to speak on the phone, you could try the CALM webchat service.
  • Papyrus HOPELINEUK. If you're under 35 and struggling with suicidal feelings, or concerned about a young person who might be struggling, you can call Papyrus HOPELINEUK on 0800 068 4141 (weekdays 10am-10pm, weekends 2pm-10pm and bank holidays 2pm–10pm), email pat@papyrus-uk.org or text 07786 209 697.
  • Nightline. If you're a student, you can look on the Nightline website to see if your university or college offers a night-time listening service. Nightline phone operators are all students too.
  • Switchboard. If you identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, you can call Switchboard on 0300 330 0630 (10am–10pm every day), email chris@switchboard.lgbt or use their webchat service. Phone operators all identify as LGBT+.
  • Helplines Partnership. For more options, visit the Helplines Partnership website for a directory of UK helplines. Mind's Infoline can also help you find services that can support you. If you're outside the UK, the Befrienders Worldwide website has a tool to search by country for emotional support helplines around the world.

Wednesday 30 September 2020

Isolation Journals 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128

 So I've got a bit out sync, I'll try and summarise....

123 - Friday - Work was busy, Rachel was on holiday, I persuaded Alan to go out for a walk at lunch to pick up my prescription and it was windy, when we got back onto Whitecote Lane we found a tree that had fallen down and blocked the road and one of the trees in Andy and Becci's paddock was also losing a branch so I had to call North Yorkshire County Council to report and sort out the tree in the road.  I managed to finish work just in time to walk down to the Thack and pick up some Fish and Chips for dinner before they go on holiday.  It was windy, but I chatted to my Mum and Dad as I walked.

124 - Saturday - I woke up fairly late and then put my running stuff on and wrote a letter in reply to my Aunty Alison and Ron who had sent me and Alan an Anniversary card and I posted it on my run.  I took an epic photo of Maya looking like she'd written a disapproving letter.   Alan made orzo pasta for a very late lunch and then after I'd had a bath we went out for a walk and then he made a rice pudding which we had for "tea" and then we went to bed.

125 - Sunday - Another late rising and I mostly faffed around before deciding to go for a run and I wanted to do over 10K and so I did and managed a reasonable time.  We then had another late lunch, I made Korean Tacos and then had a bath and tidied up the house and mopped the floor whilst Alan went out for a run.  

126 - Monday - I'd negotiated with Alan to go into the office for the morning as he is uncomfortable with me being there the whole day and so I went in for the morning, only drank water that I'd brought with me and we have a one way system and lots more sanitiser.  It felt safe, but I went back at lunchtime and logged on from home and finished off another very busy day.  My extra beer 52 delivery arrived.

127 - Tuesday - worked from home all day, made waffles and scrambled eggs for lunch and in the evening some meatballs and spaghetti for tea and had a couple of beers and then we went for a walk in the dark along Whin Lane.

128....Will catch up tomorrow!

Friday 25 September 2020

Isolation Journal 122

I woke up reasonably eearly, but was pretty groggy and it took me a while to get going, although I was logged on at 8.30am   I had crumpets with marmite and 2 coffees for breakfast.  We had a meeting at 9am to discuss working from home v. the office and then a seminar with housing finance professionals via MS Teams.

I managed to catch up with a bit of work, but I'm still not on top of things.  I updated the forecast which is looking a bit better and certainly brings us further forward than we have been.  

I didn't have time for lunch other than grabbing the packed lunch that I'd made from Tuesday evening and it was salad with a pepperarmi and a scotch egg and I had some kombucha that I'd forgotten about.  I then did a quick open demo on the new system on the reports function that was useful.

My flowers from Arena Flowers arrived after lunch so I had a 10 minute break to empty the old flowers and arrange the new ones which were chrysanthemums with some jazzy purple foliage.  They look cheerful.

I then powered through with work, picked up 2 new jobs and arranged a meeting, helped Rachel put a booking on and talked about referrals with Katie and booked a candidate meeting and confirmed people to come to the charity webinar next week.

I finished at about 6.30pm and Alan had made a Hello Fresh Pasta dish for tea and then I ate it and logged onto Zoom for the guide meeting which was fun as we had a guest speaker which was a lady called Rosemary and her Guide dog Una, it was really eye opening to hear about her experience and how actually she said it's good if people ask if a blind person needs help as especially at the moment people are keeping their distance. Una has her own facebook page!

I then went out for a run up and down the drive as I didn't do a great deal of moving around either yesterday or today and I ran just over 5K and my training status is now unproductive apparently.

I then had a tidy up of the kitchen and the dining room, ran a bath and chatted to Lauren who is on a writing holiday by herself in Margate and ended up bumping into someone she'd been on 2 dates which twice who was also on a holiday there to write!


Tuesday 22 September 2020

Isolation and Not so Isolation Journals 116, 117, 118, 119 and 120

116 - Friday was a whirlwind, Rachel was back from holiday and I had a short period of time to quickly handover with her before another call at 9am to discuss additional Covid protocols in the office and then I had another interview with a candidate and then a very busy day prepping for not being around for 2 days next week.  I had a catch up with Katie and Rachel for my handover and then I finally finished up around 9pm having had to upload all the CVs for my retainer and send all the links for the Hinterviews.  I also had a dilemna about what to do with a particular role, but I came up with a workable solution in the end thankfully.  We then had a late dinner of takeaway Chinese which did take ages to arrive and then I was very tired and went to bed after I think watching some more Dave on TV.  I also eventually managed to finally order a present for him at last and ordered a personalised OS map (paper!) centred on where we got married at North Shire.

117 - Saturday - we woke up and Alan decided to tell me that we had to go and "collect" my anniversary present from somewhere in South Yorkshire, so we had some coffee and some quick cereal and set off and he drove down the A1 and eventually after a guessing game I managed to guess Worksop as where we were going.  We got there after around an hour and he'd sponsored an area of woodland for me at Hannah Park via the Woodland Trust which was a lovely present.  We wondered around and found the patch that was dedicated and it was a lovely place with lots of different types of trees and birds and lots of people walking their dogs.  Amusingly as we walked towards the entrance there was a friendly little dog that kept saying hello and I was almost convinced that Alan had adopted it for me!  We drove back home and then had a relax at home with an idea that I wanted us to head back to Eccup Resevoir where we ran our first "date" 5 years ago.  We got there fairly late on in the afternoon, but had estimated we'd have enough time to be able to get around before sunset and we just about managed it with a jog walk around the 4 miles.   We got home and then I made tea which was a Hello Fresh spicy veggie coconut curry soup and I also prepped some of the very many apples that our neighbour Anna had kindly given us for the Apple and Roasted Garlic chutney  I then tidied as much as I could and organised things for travelling to North Shire tomorrow after making 5 litres of the chutney and putting it all in jars - it was past 1am by the time that I came to bed.  I cleaned the fridge so that I could ask our neighbour who was feeding the cats to put the milk away for us.  

118 - Sunday - I woke up at a reasonable time and spent a good chunk of time tidying and cleaning the house after packing and we set off to drive to Bempton Cliffs and I drove in Alan's car.  It's not far, but lots of slow winding roads and took us over an hour and a half to get there.  The weather was calm, but not too sunny or windy and we strolled along the edges of the cliffs and saw a fisherman who had scaled down the cliffs to fish, lots of gannets and a potential seal (fortuantely we'd brought the binoculours this time!) we stopped off and I had a sandwich and Alan some millionaires shortbread (he was disappointed that it was vegan) and a couple of teas and then Alan drove us to North Shire and we arrived just after 4.30pm.  We walked straight to Hagrids and the key was in the lock for us and we settled in and ended up cooking some pizza for tea, drinking the champagne that my work colleagues all bought for us when we got engaged.  We watched Dave and started a very hard 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle which was extremely tricky!

119 - Monday - the weather was lovely when we woke up and we made breakfast which took a while in the convection oven - we baked sausage and black pudding for about an hour and ate it with tiger bread and BBQ sauce outside and enjoyed the lovely sunny day that wasn't quite as warm as our actual wedding was exactly a year ago.  I wanted to go for a run and suggested I could do that whilst Alan had a bath, but then I'd also suggested that we visited Runswick Bay as we'd never been in any of the times that we'd visited North Shire and so we drove out and it was only about 13 minutes drive.  We found a car park that unfortunately had a broken card machine and so we put all the coins I had into the machine and got an hour, but we weren't sure if that would be enough, luckily I spotted that you could use the Ringo app to pay and we took a picture in case we needed more time.  It's a really stunning beach although a good steep walk down, and quiet as no busy shops or food stalls and so we walked along paddling in the sea and looked at the rock pools and saw different seaweed, anemones, little fish, crabs and later on Oystercatchers.  We then moved inland so that Alan could sit and sort out the parking and spotted a load of rocks that had fossils in them, we tapped away and found some great ammonites and also found some fools gold.  We then started to head back up the beach and spotted a crack next to a water fountain and a chap told us that it was 300 steps up to the top, so we climbed up the cliff path and looked at the stunning view.  We then had to top up the parking again and headed back up to the car.  Once we got to the car I was craving fish and chips, but couldn't find any on the way although we did stop at a COOP and I grabbed salad leaves, lollies, drinks and raspberries and it was the first proper shop I'd been in ages and no one was doing the one way system right!  We got to the fish and chips place I'd found on the map, but it was closed, but Alan spotted it on Just Eat and so we decided to try and order later.  We got back and it was still lovely and warm and we bumped into the new manager and had a chat about how business had been for them in the past few months and the fact that they weren't doing a pick a pumpkin patch again this year as it was too stressful last year!  I went for a run and explored a few of the little public footpaths and found that the road wasn't too good to run along, but managed to clear 4 miles in a decent time and then got in the lovely copper bath for a relax and Alan ordered us fish and chips for delivery.  We did more work on the jigsaw and then ate fish and chips outside, the peacocks were after me and I managed to spill the gravy and peas on the floor and Alan had to keep chasing them away!  We had some nice pink Moet with our dinner and watched the sunset and then went inside to watch a DVD - Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and then move Dave and struggled with the light on the jigsaw puzzle before I rested on the sofa and started to fall asleep.

120 - Tuesday - we had planned to walk up Roseberry Topping today, but Alan woke up with ear ache and feeling rubbish so we relaxed at Hagrid and I tidied up, packed and had breakfast and then at 11am we checked out and I drove us home as Alan wasn't feeling good and didn't even eat breakfast.  It took about an hour and 40 mins to get home and at one point an angry Network Rail van driver beeped and gestured at me as I stopped at a roundabout before driving on!  When we got back we unpacked and Alan went almost straight away up to bed for the rest of the day.  I tidied and unpacked and then dealt with a few work bits whilst watching The Social Dilemma which was really though provoking and made me turn off a lot of my notificatios.   I then went for a run - I had time and daylight so I decided to do 10k which I managed in 53 mins and 9 seconds which is probably the fastest all year and I then decided to run for a full hour and managed nearly 7 miles.  I managed to listen to a further 1 hour of the Wind Up Bird Chronicles and only have 2 hours to go!  I'm behind by about 7 miles from my 1000 mile target so I'm hoping I can catch up over the next few days/weeks.  I came back and had a bath and read some more of Fabulous and only have 1 story left to go.  I bottled some more Kombucha and watched the 8pm speech from the Prime Minister which is a bit odd as now he's saying if you can work from home to work from home, so I'm not sure what the means for me, although our company line is that we work better in offices so to try and continue to be in the office, so I'm going in tomorrow, much to Alan's frustration.  I made a jacket potato and salad for dinner and ate it watching Great British Bake Off and made some lunch for tomorrow and found bugs living in the tiger bread and so had to throw that out.  I'd managed to get Alan to eat some strawberries, raspberries and cream, but he's still feeling poorly.

Wednesday 16 September 2020

Isolation Journal 114

 Woke up ok, apple, yoghurt and granola for breakfast.  A busy morning of calls and emails and doing some more video screening.  I also had a few internal chats about the issue from yesterday as well and had 2 coffees, Alan didn't sleep very well.

I had a very late lunch and made a stir fry out of chicken and veg from the veg box and it was nice and I arranged for my car MOT whilst I was cooking inbetween listening to the Archers.

I finished work and a very long interview/client meeting at around 7pm and then went out for a run and went up to Sherburn, then down back via the BP garage and back round through the fields about 4 miles in total and reasonably fast in 34 minutes.

I had a bath and then Alan made haloumi chicken shwarma for tea and then we watched lots of cricket and I did more work and we watched some more comedy on Dave.

I meant to go to bed earlier, but it's not happened, I did eat 2 lollies though.


Monday 14 September 2020

Isolation Journal 112

I got woken up pretty early as my phone buzzed as the delivery from Pets at Home was to be delivered at 7.30am, I managed to get them to update the delivery to just leave it at the door rather than ring the doorbell.

I got up and brought it all in and also the Hello Fresh and accidentally managed to split open the 10kg of food.  I opened the boxes and took out the trays of cat food, cat urine remover, litter tray and also the water fountain.  Breakfast was homemade kombucha and 2 coffees and yoghurt, apple and granola.

I got logged on in plenty of time to help Nic with a query and get ready for the morning meeting at 9am.  It's been a very busy day of relentless admin and organising and things breaking or not sending on the system.  I didn't get a chance to eat lunch until past 2pm and I made pasta, cheese and a corn on the cob and had a packet of skips afterwards.  

I had a very long day and finally signed off around 8pm after Alan had been for a run and cooked dinner as I'd had an extended conversation with a colleague in my team over a lot of things that perhaps haven't been communicated as they could have been.

I had dinner - paprika chicken Hello Fresh and then I did a bit more work and then finally at 9.30pm went out to run up and down the hill outside and didn't see anyone all day other than Alan and Andy from number 1 walking Bentley.  I ran 31 minutes and just over 3.3 miles.

I came back in and had an ice lolly and got hooked into watching Don't tell the Bride.  

Sunday 13 September 2020

Isolation Journal 110

We woke up late and had a lazy morning in bed before getting up and watching the Film "Big Daddy" whilst eating takeaway from last night - I had pizza and the curly fries and I make Alan's leftover kebab meat into a wrap.  I made sure to feed Fudge and Smudge and Maya and Qubit first. 

Alan watched some Formula 1 stuff upstairs and then did some study, I mostly played Clash of Clans on my phone and then tidied up the kitchen, did 2 loads of washing and put the dry washing away, changed the sheets on the bed and then went and harvested the potatoes in the garden before taking the recycling out.  I ordered 3 pairs of tights from Snag Tights as they do look like they'll be more comfortable and at some point I'll need to wear tights again.  My boss had a negative covid test which is good news.

I then went for a run and didn't majorly push myself, but my VO2 Max is now up to 53 so it wasn't so bad, I'm now only 2.4 miles behind my yearly 1000 mile target.  

Over the course of the day I listened to the High Low and With Me Now podcast as well as a bit of The Wind Up Bird Chronicles.  Maya came running in proud of herself meowing like Qubit does.

I fed Fudge and Smudge again and then had a shower and Alan cooked hallomi and bulgar wheat Hello Fresh for tea, he's feeling quite down at the moment and I'm not sure how to help him out.   We watched "Coming to America" and then I read lots of my Kombucha book and decanted some to add strawberries to (we also had strawberries for dessert) and also some turmeric.  I added more sweet tea to the batch - I think this is right, the book is very complicated.  


Saturday 12 September 2020

Isolation Journal 109

I woke up fairly well at 8am and then got up and went to feed Fudge and Smudge, and Maya and Qubit and then I grabbed some cornflakes and coffee and logged on for work.  The milkman came a bit after 9am and Qubit managed to bring both a nearly dead mouse that he killed quickly and then a poor dead rabbit that Alan checked was definitely dead.  

I had a very busy day and got through a reasonable amount of work in the morning, I've got jobs to match, admin to do and clients to keep in up to date.  I'm still behind on emails and general organisation, but  I'm hoping I might be able to catch up over the weekend.

For lunch I had the dinner to lunch from Hello Fresh the night before and had a muller corner yoghurt in front of the computer. Maya lay next to the keyboard for most of the day.

The Delifresh order arrived about 30 mins than they'd said at 2.20pm and they'd delivered plain flour when I'm sure I'd ordered self raising flour.

I finally signed off at 7pm at work and discussed with Alan what he wanted to do for dinner and he wanted takeaway so I went out for a run for 30 mins and did just over 6K slower than the past couple of days as my left big toe joint is still hurting.

We ordered from Tokies and I had a Zeus Pizza with some curly fries and milkshake called "Hi honey I'm home" I had a very long bath and read some Facebook drama as the place where we got married had had a family staying and had complained at the end of their stay that there was a problem with the mattress and were aggressive to the manager and were getting all their friends to leave false negative reviews.  It's so sad as tackling things like that is not good for anyone.

We watched some Dave TV after Alan had finished watching Middlesborough lose to Watford one nil.

I went to finally book my Arvon course for the week off that I'd booked, but it's sold out...I'd just read 3 of the stories in the Lucy Hallett Hughes Fabulous booked and loved them and was keen to book, but now I am on the waiting list and I'm sad as I don't know whether to try and book something else, cancel my week off or just take the week and try and crack on with my own writing.  So frustrating.


Sunday 6 September 2020

Not so Isolation Journal 103

I'd not got to bed at a very good time and so I was quite tired when I woke up at 9am and needed to be out the house for around 9.30am to get to my writing class at 10.30am.  I didn't end up eating breakfast, but I made a couple of coffees and drank one before I left and took one for the journey.  I packed the last rice and beans and a couple of slices of pizza from the night before.

The traffic was good and so it only took me around 35 minutes to get there and I tried to park behind The Bowery, but it was a bit tricky and tight in the car park, so I drove down to where the art deco houses are and walked around 5 minutes to get to the class, I was just on time fortunately.

I wore my mask to enter the class and then the whole way through other than to drink my water bottle and then to eat lunch outside.  The course I was doing was How to Write that Novel and it was the first writing workshop that I'd booked this year for my 20 things in 2020 and was due to be the weekend after I'd got back from honeymoon in March, but it got delayed to June and then September so it feels like I've been waiting a while and have done a lot of online zoom in the meantime.  It was definitely worth the wait.  

The Bowery made me feel comfortable as there were only 10 of us in the room and we all wore masks apart from the tutor Mark Connors who work a visor so that we could hear and see him speaking properly.  There were masks available, but I'd brought my own and they had lovely lavendar hand santiser available around the tutor room.  

I really enjoyed the course, we started off by reading aloud the first page and the blurb of a selection of books including one by the tutor because he'd run out of books Tom Tit and the Maniacs.  We noticed various things about both especially the hook and intrigue and then we all had a go at writing our own as well as coming up with titles.  I've now got a lot more books on my "I want to read list".  We read aloud our blurbs and also our first pages and there were some really interesting outlines for novels and starting points within the class, some were fantasy, one was a romance, one about a lady's grandmothers journey from India to Africa to England and one about an aging rockstar getting together with someone who looked like his younger self, one about a Dunkirk Solider and one about dragons and another about a fantasy dream world.  I later felt sad for the fantasy dreamworld guy as he didn't get a chance to read out one of the exercises.  We also discussed how to always try and avoid cliches.

We had a break for lunch and I sat outside in the little garden area.  

After lunch we did work around scene setting and wrote and read aloud some descriptive scenes and then talked about character before having a question and answer session with Mark.  Finishing at 4.30pm I bought a copy of Tom Tit and the Maniacs and then some of the hand santiser spray, but they only had a peppermint flavour, but I bought a couple for £5.50 each.

After I'd walked back to the car I texted my friend Jenny as I've not seen her for months and she's been being very cautious.  I popped into the house briefly and she signed off a guide planning zoom call with my old guide group and I waved to Fran and some of the other leaders which was lovely.  She then showed me her homemade kombucha which was delicious!  I had some of the plain kombucha as well as some strawberry flavoured stuff with actual strawberries.  And told me about how to make it and asked me if I wanted some of her scoby to make my own and I said yes please! 

We then took Luna the King Charles Spaniel for a walk around the Meanwood woods and she was very excited and running around and it was really good to have a good chat.  When we got back to her house she boxed up the scoby and gave me some instructions and then I headed back to find Alan in the bath after a run and so I went out for a quick run too to get my (not) parkrun fix in.  I'd noticed a pain in my left big toe joint yesterday and I could run, but I could definitely still notice it today.  I listended to With Me Now podcast as I ran and they read out my Facebook comment about doing Temple Newsam parkrun with Alex last weekend.

I fed Fudge and Smudge and Fudge ran out as soon as I opened the door and they had been sick 3 times and I had to clean the litter trays, but they were more friendly than usual which was cute.

The coffee beans, chai tea and pistachio tea I'd ordered from Coffee on the Crescent had arrived as well as the Vitality free and discounted coffee from Cafe Nerro.  My mum had also texted me to tell me that the big tub of marmite I'd ordered months ago had finally arrived.

I had a soak in the bath for far too long when I got back and Alan wasn't sure what we should do for tea and eventually I made some wraps with the left over kebab meat from last night and reheated the curly fries and cut up some lettuce.  

We watched a variety of random comedy from Dave and I started to make Kombucha and ran a load of washing through.  

To make kombucha you make 2 litres of tea with 6 - 8 teabags and 160 - 200g of sugar, let it cool to a warm tepid temperature.  You then pour into a plastic jar and add the scoby to it and the scoby juices and cover with cotton and leave for 7 - 30 days - fingers crossed that it works well!

Friday 4 September 2020

Isolation Journal 101

It was nice to wake up a bit later this morning, although I still woke up around 6am which was slightly frustrating, but I did manage to get back to sleep.  We had a wrap up call and so I got up and logged on before 8am and fed the cats and had some banana bread and yoghurt for breakfast and a couple of coffees.

The wrap call was fine, although I was a bit annoyed that our info was grouped into "Sold a number of" rather than the specifics.

We then had a pub sec teams call which was short and sweet and useful.  I then jumped nearly straight onto another call to plan for filming another short video for our LinkedIn profiles.

I booked 4 interviews for today and tomorrow and had to learn how to do it and then I made pizzas for lunch and some salad.  Our veg box arrived and looked really tasty and Alan's replacement aftershoks arrived and so I finally used mine and paired them with my phone.  

The afternoon was pretty busy and I picked up a new job to work on and also showed Nic how to add it to the new system.  Alan brought me up tea and biscuits, like a mini afternoon tea.

I didn't really finish until around 7pm unfortunately and Alan had been out for a run and had started tea and so I ended up needing to run and he had to stop cooking, I went out for half an hour and did around 6.8K and thought I was doing ok with a few PRs on Strava, but apparently I'm unproductive!

Tea was potatoes and mexican beef and we had a feast for pudding.  The doorbell rang and one of our neighbours had brought us a key so we can feed their cats and also showed us a video of Qubit having a fight with their cats!

We watched Legally Blonde which I really enjoyed and then Alan went for a bath.

Monday 31 August 2020

Isolation 96 & 97

I set the alarm on Saturday for 9am to make sure that I was up in time to go for a run and do "adult" parkrun with Alex at around 10am at Temple Newsam.  I woke up a bit before and then woke Alan up to see if he fancied doing it too and he did join me.  We drove over and saw Han's house for the first time since the fire damage repairs had been completed. It was looking really good and we had a coffee and then took Alex to run a "not" parkrun.  There was a socially distanced race going on and so we ended up being cheered on by the marshals!  

Alex hasn't run much and so there was a good amount of walking and we got around in about 51.51 and had a good chat about a lot of things.  We had an ice lolly at the end and Alan finally got to enjoy a feast - I had a cider refresher and Alex had a screwball.

We spent a bit more time at Han's and went for a walk with her as James was desperate to ride his little car around the block.  His behaviour was quite challenging and we think in part because he'd not seen us for a few weeks.

We headed home and then I made some pizza for lunch on tortilla bases and some salad.  We watched some tv and then Alan went up for a bath and a nap and I cleaned the cat litter trays at last and did the recycling as well as loading the dishwasher and cleaning the kitchen and doing a load of washing.  I then had a bath and got ready for Cyberfest 3 by Beer 52 an online beer festival which had a 4 hour live stream with commentary on the beers provided, comedians, music and interviews with the brewers.  There were 12 beers and a special glass, but we only managed to get through 6 during the time we were drinking.  They were the ones in bold:

  • Northern Monk **England** - Patrons Project 18.03 TDH Pale Ale 5% **440ml**
  • De Leite **Belgium** - Cuvee Uncle Pol Flanders Red 7% - very weird, but interesting blended concept, very strong lambic flavour.
  • Vocation x Brew York **England** - Sweet Temptation Stout 6% **440ml** - I had this at the end, I perhaps shouldn't have done as I was quite full, but it was a really tasty sweet stout.
  • By the River (Wylam Tap) **England** - Heedhunter DDH Pale Ale 4.5% **440ml** - Our first beer, really hoppy and fresh to start off with.
  • Ale Browar **Poland** - Hazy Rooster DIPA 8.9%
  • Mothership **UK** - Hazy Peach Pale 5.5%
  • Funky Fluid **Poland** - Gelato Pastry Sour 5.6% **500ml** - A crazy combination of flavours, but delicious, as the presenters suggested, you'd likely only have one as it's quite sweet.
  • Round Corner **England** - Drovers Hazy Session IPA 4.3% - Alan loved this one, I thought it was good, but didn't stand out as much as the others did for me - the challenge of having lots of strong flavours together.
  • Glen Affric **England** - Rutting Stag American Red 5% - Another very drinkable and nice beer.
  • Heaney Farmhouse **NI** - Pale Ale 5%
  • Sori Brewing **Estonia** - Madonna of Sori 5.3%

The rest we get to look forward to trying later!  I think we'd have been really smashed if we'd attempted all 12 let alone getting 2 boxes so we had one beer each!  The comedy, quizzes and music helped the evening along and I concluded that it was a lovely day.  Qubit was a big fan of hiding in the Beer 52 box!

We'd ordered a takeaway from a new place Fire it up! for tea as Alan was craving a kebab and I had one too, but it was INSANELY spicey I think they basically coated it in just red chilli sauce, I had 2 attempts at eating it, but couldn't complete it.  I had chips and some strawberry cheesecake as well.

We went to bed and I was ridiculously full and fortunately fell asleep quite quickly.  

We woke up quite late and I don't think that Alan had a great night of sleep so we dozed and napped and I snuck downstairs to feed the cats and put a loaf of bread on in the breadmaker.  I felt very full of anxiety, which I'm assuming will be the drinking as it tends to affect me if I've had a few drinks the morning after.   Eventually I got up and made scrambled eggs, sausages, toast (with marmite for me) and coffee and orange juice.  The bread was a bit too doughy, but everything else was ok.  We watched the end of the Addams Family movie and then I watched some Storage Hunters whilst Alan went up to watch Formula 1.  

I did a load of washing and then got ready to go for a run and did 8K fairly steadily as I woke up with a sore stomach which is likely a combination of beer and far too spicey food.  It took around 45 minutes and then I got back home later than I'd thought as it was 6.30pm and we were booked for our first post covid meal out at Pizza Express at 7pm.  I managed to get showered and changed and to Pizza Express by 7pm. 

We got to the entrance wearing our masks and waited for about 10 minutes before anyone came to show us in, but once we'd sat down we looked at the online menu, but ordered from a waiter.  We sat in the middle of 3 x 2 seater tables and there was one table allocated for social distancing and to put used dishes on for collection.  I had an elderflower drink and Alan had still lemonade and I shared olives and I had some calamari and Alan had dough balls.  For my main I had a vegan Giardiniera and a side salad and Alan had a Calabrese.  The food was much as I remembered and tasted nice, although it was disappointing that some of our favourites like the Dolcetti desserts and the arancini starters were not on the menu, but I completely understand how restaurants have had to change the way they work.  

We headed back and I plugged in Lauren's friend Lorraine's live Instagram where she was practicing some of her comedy and then I finished watching this and Alan watched Ricky Gervais Animal and made us hot apple brandy and then I grabbed us some ice lollies and ibuprofen as we both had aches and pains.

Tuesday 25 August 2020

Isolation Journal 92

I grabbed a coffee before signing on for the call this morning and then had some cornflakes as well.  It was pelting it down with rain really heavily and so the cats were a bit cautious about going out.

The morning was reasonably productive, although there was a lot of adminy sorting out of stuff to do. I am nervous going back into the office, but I do think it will help me feel a bit more engaged.  I made lunch again and we had the same as yesterday - sausages, potato waffles and chard, but I also made some quick hassleback potatoes that were really delicious and dead easy to make.

We had a kick off for our temp BD session and I also had a D&I Unity champs session which was enjoyable. 

We had another teams meeting and then I had a request for a meeting with a client where I've hopefully successfully sold a retainer.  

I had a headache and felt pretty tired and so when Maya kept lying on my keyboard at 6.30pm I called it a day and finished up.  

I went out for a run and just about got done without getting rained on - and just before I headed out spotted a worm that had got out of Qubit's bum - I've now ordered worming tablets for him!  I ran 6.5K and was reasonably on track, but my status is now down as unproductive!  

I listened to the With Me Now podcast on the run and then had a quick shower before cooking tea which was a Hello Fresh pizza recipe with some black bean salsa.  I listened to more of the Wind Up Bird Chronicles and then we watched Jon Oliver "The Night Tonight" and then some "Storage Hunters" and had an ice lolly and then some of my birthday present dark coffee flavoured chocolate.

I also ordered a lightning cable from Amazon as my apple charger is on the way out.  I tidied up the kitchen after tea.

Thursday 20 August 2020

Isolation Journal 86

I had a reasonable night of sleep and woke up and faffed around on my phone so only had a chance to grab a coffee before logging onto the morning call.

It feels like a bit of an unproductive day, but I did manage to book and complete 2 meetings with clients and get through some calls with people I've not spoken to for a long time.

I had the first of the client meetings at 12pm and I'd only picked up breakfast around 11am which was yoghurt, granola, lemon curd and apple and so I made a ham sandwich with salad for lunch and finally finished eating it around 2.30pm.

Maya was insistent on sitting on my keyboard an awful lot today and stole my water at one point.  I had to make sure that I'd locked her out of the room for one of the meetings with the clients.

I caught up with a friend who I'd placed previously to see how she was getting on and it was good to catch up with her.

Finished work around 7.20pm and then cooked dinner which was a really complicated Hello Fresh recipe of Chicken Katsu burgers, salad and wedges and had 3 different sauces to mix in 3 different bowls and breadcrumbs, it was really tasty, but I should have saved half for tomorrow as it had 1275 calories in!

We watched Peep Show and then I went out to run up and down the driveway at 10pm and did just over 5K in about 31 minutes and at least managed to burn some calories back.  

I'm now in a boring bit of "The Windup Bird Chronicles" the main character is talking about a story of war with the Mongols and it's very long and involved.  I cleaned the kitchen and had a bath and my heart rate went up to "high stress" in the bath. 

I also found out my youngest nephew needs stitches under general anasthetic tomorrow as he'd cut his hand on a jar of olives that he managed to break, I hope that he's ok.

Alan seemed a bit better today thankfully, so I hope he is on the mend at last.


Tuesday 18 August 2020

Isolation Journal 85

12 weeks and one day of journaling every day, I wonder how long I'll keep this going for?  Today I woke up early again as we'd made it to bed at a reasonable time and had read a bit of Matt Haig's - The Midnight Library - it's really good!  I had nearly 8 hours of sleep and I went back to sleep for an hour and then got up for a quick shower.

Breakfast was cornflakes and it was a two coffee day.

Kicked off at 9am and then had a meeting with some other colleagues at 9.30am and then a client meeting/interview with a really great candidate at 10am that went on for an hour and twenty minutes.  I had calls and emails from my boss whilst this was going on with "are you in today?" but obviously I couldn't respond. 

I then had to prep 2 candidates for interviews that afternoon and prep for a national meeting, I was glad I prepped as they asked for my update first and I'm not sure I did a very good job, I hope I did ok.

I realised at 3pm I'd not had lunch so quickly made a sausage sandwich with lettuce, tomato and some cucumber with mayo and sriacha.  Alan is still feeling poorly and so he just had some toast.

I finished work eventually at 7pm, it was a long day and I really wanted to try out my new trainers that arrived and they were great - I ran my first KM in 4 minutes 19 and my first mile in 7.08 and they felt so good on my feet!  I did 5k in 24.34 which is my fastest for a very long time.  I listened to more of the Wind Up Bird Chronicles.

Alan made Hello Fresh for tea and it was a pasta bake and there was enough to save a portion for tomorrow lunch.   I tidied up the kitchen, lounge and dining room and set off a load of washing.

We watched Peep Show and then I had a shower and filled the bath for Alan and then got distracted when he came into my office looking at beds as he wants a more comfy bed and so we tried to find a good storage bed that is Super King Size.

We then started to have ideas about loft beds in the spare room that would give us more storage space so we wouldn't need a bed with storage space...

Monday 17 August 2020

Isolation Journal 83

Again I woke up quite late, but Alan was still asleep so I went into the other room to mess around on my phone until Qubit demanded I fed him, so I did and then he was sick onto the table so I had to clean it up.

I managed to finish Little Fires Everywhere as Alan went to sleep in the other room and it was a great book - It grabbed me through from about 100 pages in and I really wanted to keep reading on.  It now means I can start my new Matt Haig book - hooray!

I decided to get up and go for a run to get it out the way and so I steadily did 9.1K through a Lumby Loop and a few different segments.  My left leg was quite stingy with the nerve thing that I've had for the last few days, but not really whilst I was running, but I took a fairly steady pace.  It was warm, but started to drizzle as I was running.

When I got back Alan had made pancake batter and so made us some pancakes with apple sauce with maple syrup.  We watched some UK Celebrity Storage Hunters and then I tidied and hoovered a bit before having a bath.

We then went over to see Alan's brother and the kids and had pizza cooked in the BBQ oven which was delicious.  The kids were quite hyper and excited to see us and did a lot of running around.  Winston dog was also excited to see us.  I had a glass of prosecco as Alan was driving us to and from.  I also gave some of the spare bedding plants to them as I'd run out of space to plant them.  I ordered some Amazon Prime Now whilst we were chatting as I figured I needed some ibuprofen gel and ibuprofen for my leg, hopefully it will help.

We got back just before 10pm and the order arrived about 30 minutes afterwards and so we watched more UK Celebrity Storage Hunters and cuddled the cats who were being particularly loving.  

I realised I've run about 1010K in my current trainers and I've not used my Vitality half price Runners Need discount yet for this year - my last pair were bought back in November 2019.  I decided to buy some next generation Asics Nimbus 22 and also a pair of Aftershokz headphones.  

Saturday 15 August 2020

Isolation Journal 81

Alan was up until around 4am doing his exam, so sleep was a bit broken.  I had apple, granola, yoghurt and lemon curd for breakfast, but quite late and I also had 2 coffees.  I got the milk and orange juice in.

We had a kick off call at 9am and I also then had a handover call with Katie who is off on holiday, so I will need to work out how to recruit marketing people for the next 2 weeks.

Today was very much a sort out of admin and emails day, but I did also have some good conversations with candidates and clients and will be more organised for next week.

The game that I ordered for Alan arrived and we thought about playing it today, but we were both a bit too tired.

I made some pasta, mushrooms, garlic, onion and courgette with cream for a fairly late lunch at around 1.30pm.  I set off the dishwasher after lunch.  I chatted to my brother as I'd been debating going to see him and my parents this weekend.  It's a really long drive, but I'm not likely to see them all that easily for a while and I'd feel uncomfortable going after I'm back in the office again.  It seems easier to stay with my brother than a hotel or indeed my parents and at least I know he's had Covid, so it's less likely he'll have it.  I'm slightly worried about the flash floods forecast for down towards the south, so I'll have to check the weather warnings before I set off.  

I sorted out some purchase order issues and more admin and got my emails down to a more sensible number, re-wrote a spreadsheet and went through around 30 job applications for a remote working job that had over 139 applications.  I had to sort through them before I could delete them.  

I managed to speak to the letting agents of my flat to find out whether the key had gone missing as they had not got back to 3 emails.  Apparently the tenant had moved in ok and there was some works I'd paid out for, but now that it's been done I should receive a statement update soon.  

I finished work at around 7.30pm and we ordered a Chinese - I had hot and sour soup, chips, crispy beef in peking sauce and some waterchesnuts and bamboo shoots, Alan had a spring roll, chicken in ginger and garlic and singapore noodles and banana fritters.  I am very full now!  

I went out for a run and again was fairly fast, even though my legs ache from yesterday and I did 6K in just over 30 mins including a PR on a segment and came 7th overall.  The takeaway was delivered about 1.5 hours later, but was good, I had to ring up and make sure it was on it's way.

I spoke to my parents who seem worried about me coming, but happy to see me in the garden.  It will be a long drive, so I should really go to bed at a sensible time.

I managed to do a bit more linked in work whilst watching TV, mostly Dave and Taskmaster, 8 out of 10 cats does Countdown and QI and a bit of CSI New York.

I also stopped my anxiety, but finally booking the virtual escape room ready for Monday - we're going to try this one Out of Hours

Wednesday 12 August 2020

Isolation Journal 79

Alan's alarm went off at 7.30am this morning and he seemed in a much better mood and had a much better night of sleep and his grogginess seemed better too.  I wasn't too bad and got up and had cornflakes for breakfast because the milk had leaked.

I had a set up call with Katie and chatted a bit about her being on holiday for 2 weeks.  We then had a BD day set up call at 10am and I didn't make many BD calls, but I found a new contact and picked up 2 jobs...for the property team!  I'm just not picking anything up for myself at the moment.  

I was at least pleased that one of the other girls has filled 5 of the roles I'd passed her and one of the guys in Manchester filled one as well so overall it's like me placing 1 role!  We ate outside which was very warm, Alan made waffles and sausages and some mayo and sriracha and we had a lolly.  

We had a meeting to share permanent candidates with the wider team and then I had a busy afternoon trying to sort out some issues and get up to date with emails, candidate applications and coaching people on their career choices.

Hayley and Flower were coming over to visit and Alan made dinner and I ate a lovely Hello Fresh haloumi curry and we watched the Peep Show Christmas episode.  

The second accidental book that I'd ordered arrived and so I gave it to Flower to have a read and also made him a cappucino and gave Hayley a rocket lolly.

After they had left I tidied and cleaned the kitchen and the rest of the downstairs and earlier Alan had discovered that the Apple TV remote had got smashed.  

Maya kept sneaking out onto the roof during the day and this evening as we were getting ready to come upstairs she managed to get onto the adjacent flat roof of Ally and Pete next door, I had to shake the treats to encourage her to come back in the window!  I listened to more of the "Windup Bird Chronicles"

I didn't run, but it's the first time I've had a day off since last Wednesday.

Late last night I saw on my time hop that it was a year since my hen day and so I was reminded that I wanted to borrow a game from Jenny and Jonny that I thought Alan would like based on the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, but Jenny said no as Jonny was quite particular and didn't lend out games, but I searched and found it at an independent game sellar/cafe and ordered it and I told him about it earlier to try and cheer him up from his anxiety.

Tuesday 11 August 2020

Isolation Journal 78

I don't know why, but I don't like Tuesdays...groggy wake up, got cornflakes and coffee, logged on for the team call and then sorted emails and covered a few calls and sorted a spreadsheet.

I'd managed to place someone yesterday, but I realised I'd completely messed up the rate quote, I worried about this for a while, then spoke to the client and managed to sort it out, but I'm frustrated that I ended up in that situation. It has been very hot today that hasn't really aided my ability to behave coherently.

We then had 3 deliveries, one for Alan - a new extractor fan for the bathroom to replace the one that had broken, he fixed it, a book that I'd ordered direct from my most local bookshop Fox Lane Books and they had wrapped it beautifully and also refunded my delivery which they really didn't need to and finally a shower cable for the shower so I don't have double water spray which I managed to fit with a bit of Alan's help.

Maya managed to sneak out onto the flat roof and looked very pleased with herself.  

I had a temp BD session kick off call at 1pm and then quickly made some salad with lettuce, coriander and radiccho for lunch with a slice of tiger bread and some smoked wensleydale cheese.

I had a meeting at 2pm with a client that was quite productive and I'd found out some really sad news that the partner of a candidate I've placed twice and known fairly well for a few years had suddenly been bereaved.  Her partner had died very suddenly and it's so sad as she's younger than me.

I managed to make some headway sorting through my emails and catching up on admin and then finished work around 6.45pm again and went out for a quick run and managed to do 5k in my fastest time for a while of 25.25 and finished up with 30 mins of exercise.  I listened to more of the "Wind Up Bird Chronicles"

I quickly showered and then made dinner of Hello Fresh Lamb Linguine - Alan was feeling ill with a bad headache so I cooked. 

I then signed onto the Zoom call for the Chalk the Sun reading session and somehow ended up reading an excerpt from my "novel" that I've been writing.  The feedback was generally positive and gave me some food for thought.  I also enjoyed hearing other people's writing too.

I then watered the plants, tidied the kitchen, put washing and dish washing on and ate 2 ice lollies.  I came up to write, but wasn't feeling very inspired so have just managed this and probably my flash fiction challenge and then I'll get into bed.

Isolation Journal 77

I didn't sleep very well at all, I kept waking up just as I was drifting off and I think it was only about 6 hours or so in the end.  I had cornflakes and 2 coffees for breakfast and I picked up the milk, orange juice and eggs and brought them in.

I logged on and had a catch up call with both Rachel and Katie and then had a morning of sorting out emails and then I signed on for Pilates and at the end had a chat with David about the weird nerve thing that is happening to my left leg - basically when I was shaving my legs the other day I noticed the nerves all over my foot tingling like mad.  He didn't think that it was anything to be too worried about, but recommended roll downs and prayer stretches.

I had reheated pasta bake for lunch and then also lots of water!   I arranged a team meeting for our team and the colleagues who look after the more junior end of the market.  We then had a client meeting and then I interview prepped a candidate.  I finished the day by placing a candidate into a job, I was especially pleased as we've been tryinig to help her since I found her a role about a year ago and she couldn't start as she'd had a stroke.  I was really pleased to hep her.  I even managed to send out a LinkedIn search for Rachel.

I finished off at 6.45pm and went for an easy run of 6.5K and then cooked Hello Fresh for dinner which was potato wedges with steak strips and mushroom and red wine sauce with green beans.  I took all the recycling out and the flowers were past their best and put them in the green bins.  I listened to Wind Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami whilst out on my run and cooking - I'd listened to a good few hours whilst commuting, but not for about 6 months, so I'd started from the beginning again.  We watched Peep Show and ate dinner and 

I then had a shower in the bath and I called my Mum back and suggested I could try and visit them although she sounded uncomfortable.  We ended up down the odd conversation topic that she was saying she is 94% English DNA, and no African DNA, I pointed out all of us are likely to be from the same, very likely African DNA, but then she started saying we are all descended from Adam and Eve, very odd.  My brother texted to say that he'd ended up getting the job he'd applied for as the external candidate had turned it down.  We then chatted for about 45 minutes and.  He was suggesting I might be better to stay at his and I think that should be fairly safe as he's very careful and has definitely already had Covid even though he tested negative for the antibodies 4 months later.

I followed up on twitter as I was due to have a flash fiction prompt from Tania Hershman but it hadn't arrived via stupid hotmail, so I had to follow up and she kindly resent it for me.  

Sunday 9 August 2020

Isolation Journal 76

We woke up late again at around 10.30am, Alan had been sleeping in the other room for most of the night as it was so warm and his ear had been giving him grief.

I came downstairs to a dead pigeon that Maya had brought in and mauled with feathers everywhere, I cleared it up with Alan's help, thankfully it was completely dead.

I made some tiger bread toast, sausages and scrambled eggs for breakfast with orange juice and we watched some Peep Show this morning.  I listened to more of "I heart Las Vegas"

I then watched some CSI original Vegas episodes as I've finally had a play around with the SkyQ box.  One of the only things I used to watch when I had Sky was CSI, NCIS and Criminal Minds, I used to watch them for hours whilst my ex would go to bed at 9pm about 20 minutes after I had got home.

I went upstairs to read, but ended up messing around on my phone and then eventually got up and hoovered and mopped all the floors and cleaned the bathroom whilst listening to "I heart Vegas" and then went for a run.  I didn't really need to go for a run, but it seemed like something I could chalk up to achievement for the weekend.

I ran 7.2K and just did a very even pace and it seemed to say it was a base effort and took 43 minutes.  It was a nice sunny evening and I did a few Strava segments to increase my Local Legend efforts.  

Alan made dinner which was a Hello Fresh pork and rice dish and also harvested the rhubarb in the garden and bought some more yesterday and made a crumble.  I made Lynchberg Lemonades for me and Alan and we watched even more Peep Show and I accidentally ordered another copy of Girl Woman Other from Hive, forgetting that I'd ordered it already from Fox Lane Books!