Bali 3.2 - Walking through rice fields, catching up with friends and Luxury Spa

I didn't end up sleeping until approx 2am, and I'd had an idea that I might go to Yoga  and doing an early morning class, instead I decided to wake up naturally and was awake about 8.30am.  We had breakfast brought to our balcony at The Swan Inn Omelette for me (with lots of Garlic!) and pineapple pancake for Anna with some fresh fruit and coffee - really tasty!

We then went for a little walk around Ubud so that Anna could get her bearings - first all the way down Monkey Forest Road going past the actual Monkey Forest and then onto Hanoman and back around onto Monkey Forest Road an up past the palace.  Rachel had given us some excellent directions to her house - about 3K from The Swan Inn.  My favourite part of the directions was "past the bamboo house and you get to a little garden with a goat - you need to go down the stairs here and cross the stream"  We wandered through some gorgeous rice fields before finding Rachel's house - impressed that we found it first time!

Rachel is in a different house to the last time I came when she was still living with her In-laws and the house is much closer to Ubud for her.  It's the same slightly scary Balinese traditions with hard stone floors and steps which I'm amazed at the agility both Kiran and Maya were able to navigate.  Maya has just the same character now that she's nearly 4, as the last time I saw her when she was 2 - bright, cheeky and mischievous with a devilish sense of humour, but unlike last time when she was shunning speaking any English (whilst understanding every word!) she was babbling away sounding great and with no hint of a Balinese accent.  

Kiran is now 2 and still has a lovely baby face, but is definitely a little boy in behaviour and loved playing with the cars.  He is talking too, but his English has a hint of a Balinese accent - it's really fascinating how they are developing and I'm so jealous of how amazing their linguistic capabilities will be.  Kiran was lovely and when Maya spilled my cup of Bali coffee (just the grounds) he cleared it up with a cloth!

Kiran and Maya liked their clothes that I'd brought with me as presents from both my Mum and me and put them on straight away.  We got to meet Rosie and Robbie rabbit who are tiny and very cute.  

We went down to a nice restaurant with a good play area for the kids that kept Kiran and Maya busy for most of the time that we were eating.   Anna and me both had Tuna with vegetables, but we both think it was actually swordfish!  It was tasty and I had another soup - have had a few this holiday already - developed a taste for sour and hot seafood soups!

We wandered back up the road after poor Maya was separated from a Hello Kitty toy microphone from the restaurant and then walked back through the rice fields to Ubud and went on the hunt for a suitable spa for a massage.  Anna had a picture in her mind of the sort of luxury spa experience she was looking for and so after a few trips, leaflets and examining of treatment rooms we settled on the extremely luxurious Dala Spa.  In Ubud you can get a full hour of massage for approx 70,000 rupiah which is the equivalent of about £3.61.  Dala Spa was a little different of 450,000 for an hour so more like £23.18 - about 6 times as expensive, but in comparison to the last massage I had in the UK of an hour for £50 still extremely affordable for the average British tourist purse.

So you're probably wondering - was Dala Spa 6 times as good/luxurious and I have to say it was the *most* plush spa experience that I've had and I have tried out a couple of different places both for treats to myself and hen weekends etc.

First of all we sat in a wooden classic looking reception area and were served a cool ginger and lemony tea with a cold towel.  We got to choose from 5 different massage oils - I went for a lavender based one.  

We were then shown into the "Marigold" room and then taken straight into the "Ylang Ylang" room which was a bit confusing, but the room was beautiful and the whole place as we walked down the stairs smelt a strange combination of clean, eucalyptus mixed with the general Balinese incense smell that you get all over the place which hits you with a cool air in contrast to the humidity upstairs.

Both Anna and me were treated in the same room - I had gone for 90 minute massage selecting "strong" on the pre-treatment questionnaire for my pressure and Anna had gone for 30 minute body scrub and a 60 minute massage.  We changed into the paper knickers (lovely!) and sarongs and were shown the safe to put our belongings - although we didn't feel that it was necessary.  

We first of all had our feet washed in a wooden bowl of water to which the therapists stared intently at us whilst telling us what they were adding to the bowl - lime, ginger and then lemon grass - it felt at one and the same time decadent and a bit wasteful - you could have made a lovely Thai soup with the ingredients!  We had a quick foot scrub and then lay down on the really comfy treatment beds.  My massage was commenced by the therapist sounding a bell/sound bowl (useful I knew that when I heard Anna's I still had a further 60 minutes to enjoy!)

The massage was very good, but I was so tired that I definitely drifted off into some sort of subconsciousness several times so may not have been fully aware of it all - although I did really enjoy it and was incredibly relaxed at the end of it.  I definitely woke myself up at least 3 times snoring (my nose blocked after lying face down for 45 minutes!) so poor Anna had to cope with my snoring as background music mixed in with the "classic" that we had chosen on our questionnaires.

At the end of the treatment they sounded the bell again and we sat up and slowly got dressed again and sat back down in the reception area and had some warm tea and a cinnamon biscuit.  We settled the bill - a bit weird as they produced the card machine with just a prompt for my pin - I declined as I wanted to check the amount that I was paying first!

We sleepily and very calmly wondered back up Monkey Forest Road and stumbled into Dian Restaurant for dinner and sampled some Brem which is a local rice wine and then I had some more seafood soup and some Cap Cay - Chinese style vegetables with chicken served with rice.  We went for a quick drink at XL Shisha Lounge which was busy, noisy and had football on TV screens and live music and wasn't compatible with our very relaxed states and so we went back to the hotel and organised our flights to Lombok and worked out what we needed to do to get to Gili Air - still debating either public ferry or private charter boat! 

A screenshot of my favourite question about travelling to Gili Air!

On the walk back we booked a cooking class for the following morning at 9am at Bumi Bali.

We'd stopped off in a supermarket earlier in the day to pick up a drink and I'd spotted one of my favourite things about Bali - Mangosteens and so for equivalent to about £1.50 I'd bought 5 and put them in a plastic bag to take home - thank goodness for the bag as when I took them out of the bag on my bed about 50 ants came out with them too!  The fruit was fine, but I had to shake my sheets outside to get rid of the unwelcome passengers!  

I also thought I'd be brave and try mung bean juice - interesting flavour and texture!

Bali Adventure Number 3!

A lot of this blog has ended up being about travel and a lot from my last visit to Bali, but it's such an amazing place I can't help wanting to come back again and again and having the lovely Rachel - www.howtoescape.co.uk living here is a big help too.

My journey started with a drive to my parents in Molesey after work down the M1 at about 7.30pm and we arrived approx midnight.  Up for a taxi at 8am to Heathrow and onto Malaysia Air flight to Kuala Lumpur a mere 12 hrs 35 minutes. There were some spare seats, but it seemed reasonable full despite all the bad press they've had recently.  

I'm travelling with my friend Anna and during the 12 hours we managed to keep ourselves entertained more via glasses of red wine and giggles than the in flight entertainment. I managed to watch 2 films - The Other Woman and The a Grand Budapest Hotel and slept very little.  The food and service from the staff was excellent.

We had time to walk from one end of KL Airport before our next Malaysian Air flight to Denpaser in Bali.  I are a sandwich and snoozed a bit. 

Rachel met us at the airport with a driver and it was an hour back to Ubud.  We checked into The Swan Inn - basic, but nice views and cheap at £18 per night.  

Anna had a rest and I went for a wander with Rachel and lunch at Juice Ja where I had the yummy lemongrass fizz, guacamole - amazingly fresh and a chicken curry salad.

I bought my favourite drink here which is supposed to be medicinal...

Rachel headed home and Anna and me headed out for dinner, a stroll and the intention of taking advantage of the many beauty parlours offering very reasonable deals.  

We dined in a lovely place overlooking the rice fields with small lizards creeping onto the walls and the sun setting.  I had my first Bintang and we both had the set menu of iced tea a traditional Balinese dish - I had nasi champur and Anna had Nasi Goreng finished with fresh papaya, melon and pineapple.  I also splurged and had a hot and sour soup - all for a total of £5!  

We went on our next mission - finding somewhere to get our nails done and had a brief side track to a shop full of clothes perfect for tiny Anna!

She bought a lovely 60s style dress and a skirt.

We then settled in at Forrest Spa and I had a pedicure (necessary for my horrible runners feet) and Anna had feet and hands nail polished - here's my before and after - I know I don't have pretty feet!

I feel asleep whilst having this done, but now at 3.30am am wide awake!  We wandered back to the hotel room for some planning and some of the wine we brought with us with improvised wine glasses.

Oh and they still do this....

London Marathon 2014

So I've been a bit rubbish at blogging - it's nearly a year since I last updated and I've got all of my Nepal entries to write (wrote them down to type up when I got home!), but I've reviewed lots of races in this blog and London Marathon is a pretty special one to blog about I feel!

This is the 4th full marathon that I've completed - I've run and blogged my experience of Edinburgh Marathon in 2010 which was my first full marathon and I then ran and reviewed 2 marathons in 2011 - Brathay Windermere Marathon and Eden Project Marathon.

My marathon times until yesterday read as follows:

Edinburgh - 4hrs 54 mins 32 secs
Brathay - 4 hrs 57 mins 9 secs
Eden Project - 4 hrs 47 mins 51 secs

I had been planning on running York Marathon last year in October after taking 2012 off from long distance running, but even though my training was going ok I was mugged in September and then got tonsillitis and so I had to withdraw.  Fortunately around this time I found out that after my 4th attempt I'd secured a ballot place for London and was really excited to be able to train for the most prestigious marathon.

I decided that I would start my training after Christmas which was a good thing as I had to fit in a trip to Nepal and then another few bouts of illness.

I downloaded the Lucozade Sport 14 week Marathon Training plan for 4 - 4.45 hours which is the best training plan that I've tried so far.  Previously I've had training plans that only have 3 runs per week and really the difference I've found shifting to 4 runs is huge.  The training wasn't without challenge as I missed out 4 of my long runs (one due to holiday and one down to realising that I'd trained for 9 days in a row and needed a rest and the others were illness - cold/flu.  In general I was tracking really well for a 4 hr 30 minute marathon - 20 miles I managed in 3 hours 36 minutes 2 weeks before the race.

The biggest challenge is that after being mugged I was quite scared of running outside so most of my training was on a treadmill other than a couple of Park Runs and also my final long run I forced myself outside for 17 of the 20 miles.

It was important that the charity I ran for really motivated me to overcome my fears and so I chose to run for Joseph Lillywhite an amazing cause to inspire me through my training and the race itself - my donation page is here if you want to add to my total.

This is an overview of how my preparation went!

I'm one of those people who always gets things done, but I'm not the best at planning in advance, so I actually managed to read through my marathon instructions to work out what I needed to do about a week before.  The organisation of the London Marathon is great right from the minute that you find out that you have a place and the magazine that they send you with your letter notifying you of your running number has really comprehensive information for both runners and spectators.

My original plan was to drive down to my parents who live 30 minutes away from Waterloo on Friday evening, but I was exhausted when I woke up on Friday morning with only 4 hours sleep so I decided to get up early on Saturday and head down on the 4.5 hour drive (I even managed to pick up a TV for my brother that he'd bought off Ebay and meant a detour to Nottingham)  I got back home around lunchtime and my brother dropped me off at Surbiton Station so I could get straight up to London to pick up my race number.  

I'm not 100% sure it's necessary to travel to pick up your number for a race, but the atmosphere was good and the exhibition was interesting, but I could have benefited from it being posted to me!  

As soon as I had my number I relaxed as I'd already worked out which trains I needed to get the morning of the race, although travel logistics always make me a bit nervous.  I packed up my kit the night before and even wrote my medical details on my running number that evening and pinned it onto my shirt ready - very organised!  I then stuck 6 medium compeed (3 on each foot arch) to my feet - sounds excessive, but I've run enough races to know what happens to my feet over distance - huge blisters!

I like to be self sufficient when I run and so have a Camel Bak that can hold 3 litres and I add some zero highs to the water to ensure I have a good balance of hydration and electrolytes.  I also use energy gels and this year had some from SIS and some from High 5 - not sure which I prefer - SIS are thicker, but High 5 are more pleasant to taste (even have mojito flavour!)  I got dressed after applying liberal amounts of petroleum jelly to any area of my body that I tend to get blisters/chafing.

 I got the 7.30 am train up to London from Surbiton which was busy and then an even busier train from Waterloo East to the start at Blackheath!  I arrived in good time with over an hour and a half to wander around the start area (I was blue start).  It was very easy to navigate where I had to go - I just followed all the runners with their red kit bags!  

Once I got into the start area it was so warm and sunny that I decided that I could get rid of my kit bag fairly quickly and not get cold!  So I put my jogging bottoms and hoody in my red kit bag which also had a change of knickers, flip flops and a mars bar in.  It was really well organised and I handed my bag over into the baggage truck which matched my race number.  

I made my first trip to the toilet - hardly any queues with an hour still to go until the race start and then soaked up the atmosphere and watched the big screen, I also stopped off at St John Ambulance as they had sun cream on offer which I was sure I would need!  I then decided to queue up again at about 9.20am for my second toilet break - spotted my friend Gemma in a parallel queue and then wandered down to starting pen number 8, which she was also in, but it filled up quickly and I couldn't see her.  

10am came and went and we started to walk down towards the start line and I started to really need the toilet again!  I agonised for a few minutes before deciding to sprint out of the pen and to the toilets before re-joining the queue with some of the slower runners.  I was really pleased that I did otherwise this would have been a major worry throughout the whole race.

I think it was around 14 minutes past that I actually crossed the start line and switched on my Nikeplus on my work phone to track my run.  Ideally I wanted to switch it on on my own phone to have the option to listen to music if I needed, but I got my headphones all tangled and so just ran on and hoped the atmosphere would mean I didn't need music.  

I wasn't disappointed the first 2 miles went in a flash - the crowds at the start were great and cheering everyone on - I made sure I had my name on my vest as at any point it's an amazing feeling to hear complete strangers cheering you on by name.  I also overtook a marching brass band which was pretty awesome.  I went under a bridge which had a drumming band combined with a cheering crowd - the roar and the noise was just amazing.

The first 6 - 7 miles were great, I was averaging my target of 10 minute miles perfectly and felt great.  The crowd and participants gave me lots to look at and I hardly noticed that I was running.  I ran past the crochet lady and a guy dressed as a Rhino and then when I ran past the Cutty Sark I saw a guy carrying a fridge on his back!  One of my work colleagues wanted me to take a selfie at the Cutty Sark, but I was running well - I didn't want to stop!  I even caught up to the Runnersworld pacemakers for 4 hours 15!

Miles 7 - 13 were a bit of a blur - lots of amazing support and great signs like "Chuck Norris never ran a marathon", "Mo Farah never ran a marathon" and my favourite which made me choke up "I don't know you, but I'm proud of you".  Running over Tower Bridge was amazing - I don't think I've even walked it before despite being born in "Greater London" and living here until I was 18!  Unfortunately this is where I saw the first collapsed person on the race, although the marshalls and first aid were doing a great job of looking after her.

I hit the halfway point reasonably on track at about 2 hours 12 and was well on track for my 4 hours 30, but then felt very much like I needed the toilet.  I spotted some, queued up and added about 5 minutes onto the time which was frustrating as I actually didn't need to go.  At this point I switched Nikeplus onto my other phone so I could have music if I wanted, but more importantly I could broadcast it on Facebook and my friends could virtually cheer me on - it helped!  I caught up with the Runnersworld 4 hours 30 pacemakers which was a bit of a boost.

The mile markers for London were great - huge, balloon arches so you can see them from a way off and have the elapsed time on the clock.  You also have markers every 5KM so you always know where you are.  

The water stations were really well manned, they weren't just grumpy folk handing over bottles, they were actually cheering everyone on.  All the instructions stated not to pour water over your head as it's a waste so I was conscious of not being wasteful, but I did need some water to cool down my swollen hands, some for a good glug and the rest I emptied on my head - I would only have thrown a half empty rather than an empty bottle away.

Lucozade is an interesting thing for marathons as I don't normally drink any of it in training, but to stop me rooting around in the back of my Camel Bak for a gel I do take the occasional bottle although I only ever drink about a quarter of the bottle - it's so sticky to run through these sections as everyone else generally does the same I think!

At about mile 15 I needed the toilet again - or so I thought - another queue and another 5 minutes added to the time for no reason - it felt a bit like cystitis it was really odd and not very comfortable to run.  This is when I started to slow down a bit and did bursts of running with some sections of power walking.  The sights were interesting and we went through the Canary Wharf business district which I've never been through before and the crowds continued to be amazing.  Before the race I had said to myself that this would be my last marathon and at this point I was convinced of my opinion.

At about mile 21 I think I had my final toilet stop and again it was pointless - I decided that really I needed to get on with it, I'd worked out that my 4 hr 30 goal was out of the way, but that sub 5 hours was still feasible.  I did my best to keep running, but at points it was really hard so I set myself little targets like running to the next mile markers, running whilst people were cheering me on.  I think that it's around mile 23 that I went through a huge long tunnel that Lucozade had put lots of balloons with inspirational messages on - like "You're awesome" and this you tube video gives you a feeling of what it is like to run and the support that you get.

I have to thank the guy though who at around 24 miles tapped me on the shoulder and said "come on it's only another couple of miles to go" and then at that point I pretty much managed to run the rest of the way.  I then ran shortly past one of the London Marathon Ever Presents  - (people who have run every single London Marathon since 1980) who I've now worked out was David Walker and that certainly spurred me on as well.

Seeing Big Ben and The Houses of Parliament close up was brilliant and distracted me a fair bit and then the last couple of miles were painful, but amazing, I knew I was going to finish and I spotted the 4 hours 45 pace makers (weirdly I'm sure that the 4 hours 58 pacers had overtaken them?!?!) and I knew if I kept running I would be close to my previous marathon times.

Running along the last 800m is pretty special, there are amazing crowds smiling and cheering you, and you are too embarrassed almost to stop and walk.  Turning the corner and seeing the finish line was such an incredible feeling, I really wanted to sprint, but I just didn't have it left so I keep running and crossed the finish line realising that I'd managed a sub 5 hour time, but no idea as to how much!

I'd been feeling a bit emotional at quite a few points and choking up when I saw an emotional sign or thought about what I was doing and why I was doing it and then when I crossed the finish line I nearly lost it and completely broke down.  All the different charities around the course was a great inspiration - so many different and worthy causes.  I'm proud to be raising money for a charity that I don't think had enough resources to have a cheer point.

I walked on and had my timing tag snipped off, received my amazing medal - definitely my favourite I think and was given my goody bag.  I ate the apple in the goody bag and drank some water and picked my kit bag effortlessly easy and no queuing.  I'd arranged to meet my parents at the South African War Memorial and my Dad spotted me through the fence after I'd put my flip flops on and the only queue I experienced really was to get round the corner into the park.

I sat down for a rest, changed into my jogging bottoms and put my marathon t shirt on and then we wandered back through St James Park and crossed the Marathon Route through the elaborate crossing where the marshalls tape off alternative sides of the road.  As we waited to cross I cheered on the runners that were heading past as I knew how much I'd appreciated it.  I also walked along the road to the Tube Station to cheer them on as well.

My friends helpfully texted me my finish times and congratulated me before my phone batteries died and I found out that I had managed 4 hours 51 minutes and 12 seconds - only 3 minutes and 21 seconds slower than my PB - if only I hadn't stopped for those loo breaks!

I think with all the weaving around slower runners at the start, detours to the toilets and not following the blue marker line the whole way I managed to do an extra bit of running - here is my route according to Nike Plus and my official running time.

So all in all, an amazing experience, ridiculous support at every step from the supporters and the runners and the crowd, Thank you Virgin Giving London Marathon I have a strong suspicion that you will see me again.

I've just found this on YouTube - even speeded up it feels like a long way - gives a good indication of the route and how far it is!  http://youtu.be/WmabgZ_0SbU

Paris

I've lived in England my whole life and was 30 minutes away from Waterloo station and so therefore Eurostar until 1998, but I've never actually managed to visit Paris.  When my friend Sam mentioned she was going to book a solo trip "but I've always wanted to go to Paris" I whined, "So come with me!" she said and then we picked up my friend Zoe too who wanted to come and has also been able to act as a very useful tour guide.

Last week was mentally busy for me, I had Guides, drinks out on a work night, Robbie Williams in Manchester, WI and then visiting my cousin.  When people learned that I was flying to Paris on Saturday they all wanted to know - "is it a romantic weekend?"  Well actually no, but it's been extremely fun and actually really nice sans les garcons.

Sam was amazing and had booked all our tickets and accommodation and so after a very straightforward flight from Leeds Bradford Airport we took a train and a metro (all included within our "visite" card) and arrived at our apartment that Sam had booked through Air BnB 

The apartment is beautiful, if a little quirky and has amazing views including the Eiffel Tower!  I had to use a lot more of my A-Level French to speak to our host who doesn't speak any English and was giving us a guided tour of the facilities.   If there were negatives to be cast on this beautiful place it's that there is only one toilet with very thin walls off the living room/lounge and that there are no curtains (?!?!)

The lift is also pretty terrifying, it says that it can accomodate " 3 personnes..."

but unless you are a contortionist  or extremely thin, it feels like a horror film of claustrophobia about to happen.  Although it is also amusing like a cupboard that goes up and down!

After we had settled into the apartment, got changed and ready we headed out to look for a restaurant recommended to us by our host, after we couldn't find that particular one, we ended up at Marcel's and I had probably one of the best meals I've ever eaten! 

I started with Foie Gras which i've never had (appreciate it might be cruel in production at times, but it felt like a must have today - sorry!), I then went onto a blue steak with chips and a chocolate fondant pudding for dessert.  It was all melt in the mouth and amazingly tasty and the red wine went down extremely well also.

We wandered back to the hotel, put our PJs on and hung around and played on the piano and ate some funky pic n mix that we'd bought after dinner.

California Dreaming - High Flyers Style - Day 1

Once again there has been a big hiatus in my blogging (well on here anyway, I've been keeping a more private journal online with some of the thoughts that are going around my head at the moment, but it's best to keep them separate from day to day stuff I feel)

Anyway, I couldn't go on holiday and not fill everyone in on the minutia of details of what I've been up to.  The post title is a bit of a clue...I'm currently in California and have had a really interesting week so far, but fairly limited time to sit and reflect and record exactly what has been going on.

First of all, this will be (for what I've managed to do so far) a fairly cheap holiday for me as my flights were paid for (bar a £65 amendment fee) as well as the first 3 nights of accommodation, food and activities for 3 days.  How you might ask?  Well I ended up doing pretty well at work last year and qualified for an incentive that we call in our organisation "High Flyers" although i'm not sure whether more accurately it should be "High Fliers"?

Anyway, when you are a High Flyer, it means that for 4 days you are treated a bit like a VIP/Royalty and given 2 extra days holiday and flown out to a destination with other High Flying colleagues.  There were about 15 of us in total that went on the holiday - more had qualified, but some couldn't make the dates.  We also had 3 directors with us to "supervise".  We met at Heathrow and made introductions and then shortly boarded the plane to LAX.  Being the extremely well coordinated person that I am, I managed to throw an entire Bloody Mary complete with ice down my jeans within 30 minutes of takeoff - I had only tops to change into, no change of trousers.  It dried eventually and I ended up smelling of tomato until I managed to get changed at the hotel.

My attention span wasn't great, so I managed to watch 2 films, but they were fairly low brow and I have to say, not very good at all.  In brief I watched For a Good Time Call it was incredibly predictable, but also really quite poorly characterized  so you didn't really care what happened to the characters who weren't at all realistic or in a realistic situation.  I then watched Smashed which was much more realistic and actually very sad - a mutually alcohol dependent marriage that changed when the wife decided to get sober.  Probably not the best preparation for a holiday where we'd be frequenting some high end bars - although it was a good sense check.

So we landed at LAX and took a long time to get through immigration, but fortunately we all made it through.  We were met by our rep who showed us to our transfer coach and then after a short journey we arrived at the fabulous W Hotel Hollywood.  We were welcomed with a cocktail and a seat outside as we walked through the truly awesome lobby.

We had about 45 minutes to get freshened up and accustomed to our hotel rooms before dinner.  The rooms were fairly spectacular - very white, bright and clean and with a very exciting, but expensive mini bar selection!

We went up to the rooftop restaurant of the hotel and had a really lovely meal which included 4 courses - although I had gone to bed by the time they brought out the desserts!  I particularly enjoyed a melt in the mouth steak with garlic mashed potatoes (although it probably had a posher name!)  The view from the rooftop was brilliant and the atmosphere was really good too, however at 10.30pm (equivalent to about 6.30am UK time) even an espresso couldn't keep my eyes from closing and drifting into mini sleeps so I snuck away and went to bed in my huge comfy white bed switching on the wave sounds machine to block out some of the partying noises from down the corridor.  I think that the rest of the guys were out pretty late - although everything in Hollywood does close at around 2am so not that late, but the equivalent of 8am for those who hadn't slept on the plane!

Time Lapse

So apologies if I indeed have any regular followers, there has been a bit of a blog hiatus.  I'm hopefully back for the time being and will do my best to ensure smaller gaps in the future....

So what have I been up to?

Well my parents are visiting at the moment as it was my Mum's 61st Birthday on the 19th February and my Dad's 70th on the 9th so I decided to buy them some tickets to see Fairport Convention at Leeds City Varieties - for a band that have been going for 46 years they certainly do well on a 3 month tour in terms of energy and engagement with their audience.  We went straight to the gig from home and it was a very very cold Leeds night - fortunately we didn't have far to walk or long to queue.  

The support act for the gig was a chap called Fake Thackray who was entertaining, but a little blue and was signing the songs of a fairly misogynistic individual from the past.  It was done in good humour and more in appreciation for the artist rather than the sentiment, so I was able to tolerate it, though was keen for Fairport to start!

When I was 7 my parents first took us to to Fairport's annual festival reunion in Cropredy which was great fun for us at the time because it involved camping, shopping in hippy shops and festival food.  I did also grow to love the music - including becoming somewhat partial to a fiddle and other folk music traits.

The gig was good, the City Varieties looks awesome post makeover, but I probably only knew about 4 songs during the gig.  They did play my favourite which I can highly recommend a listen of, even if you don't like folk.

Operation - don't read if squeamish!

After the burglary last week on Thursday I was debating whether or not to go ahead with an operation that I'd had re-arranged several times on the following Saturday, but as my cousin pointed out - there probably never was going to be a good time to have it done.

Again I'm not blogging for any sort of sympathy, but more because it's one of those things that I've experienced and hope that by sharing it, someone else who might be nervous about it - can read a realistic account of what happened.

I wrote a few months back about my colonoscopy which was to investigate a skin tag, they also found some Internal Haemorrhoids which needed removing.  At the time they'd suggested initially removing the haemorrhoids whilst conducting the colonoscopy, but they would need to remove the skin tag under a general anaesthetic, so I made the (obvious to me) suggestion of doing it all when I was under anaesthetic.   I was initially due to be having the procedure before I went to Bali - 3 days before flying out, but decided to reschedule, and on reflection, I'm pleased that I did.

I had to get up early on Saturday morning having fasted from midnight with nothing to eat or drink and I got a taxi over to The Spire for 7.30am.  I signed in at reception and was shown to a private room - the procedure was all on the NHS, but had been allocated to The Spire for it to be carried out.  The private room was almost like a hotel room - it had a telephone and a TV as well as an en-suite bathroom with shower and bath.  

I started to settle into the room, logged into the free wifi and messaged a few people that I'd been meaning to catch up with.  A lady came in to ask me for my lunch choice - I went for a tuna sandwich on brown bread, but I could have chosen from ham, cheese and even smoked salmon.  I then had a snooze on the chair and then the consultant came in to talk me through the procedure which he said should take about 30 - 40 minutes and that I should be ok to leave at around mid afternoon.  His demeanour was friendly, but incredibly efficient, I get the impression he is a very capable doctor, but has a very short attention span!  He was concerned I'd not been checked in by the nurses yet and so very soon after he left a couple of the nurses came in to tag me up with wrist bands with my name and address and also another separate one with my allergy to penicillin and my mild asthma noted.  The nurses were lovely, obviously busy (the surgeons had moved around all of the procedure schedules), but were friendly and gentle and talked through what I needed to do and what was going to happen.  I hadn't realised quite that I'd need someone with me for the whole night after the operation, so I checked in with my cousin  and arranged for her to pick  me up and take me home to feed the cats, give them their medicine and pick up some stuff.   The anaesthetist then came to talk to me and confirm I didn't have any lose crowns in my mouth or problems with anaesthetic etc.   


I had to give a urine sample and the nurse checked my blood pressure and pulse - both were normal.  I was given some tape and covered up my ear and belly piercings and  I got changed into a hospital gown and then got on the bed and lay on my side and I was given an Enema to prepare me for the operation.  It's not a painful process, it initially feels cold and you have to stay still for as long as possible, basically until I could feel a clenching slight pain in my lower stomach and had to go to the toilet quickly.  I was also given some Compression_stockings to wear to reduce the risk of clots during the operation.

I had only a brief 10 minutes before the nurse came to walk me to the theatre.  I put on my slippers and dressing gown and locked my phones and purse into a locker and put the key in my dressing gown pocket.  The nurse then put my dressing gown and slippers in a plastic bag under my bed.  I lay on the bed and was hooked up to a heart rate monitor on my finger and 4 electrodes to my chest as well.  I chatted to the nurses about Guides as they asked me a question that I was asked a few more times that day - "What would you normally be doing today?"  and I couldn't think of a suitable answer as I realised that I don't have a routine Saturday activity.  They made me feel very comfortable and the anaesthetist then put a Cannula in my hand.   "Sharp scratch" he said and it was put in the back of my left hand.  He then told me that I would feel a pain in my hand as the anaesthetic went in, as it went into the back of my hand it did indeed feel like a really deep ache, the last thing that I remember saying was "Is it supposed to hurt a lot?" and then about a second later I was asleep.

What felt like seconds later I woke up and another nurse called Andrea was looking after me.  I didn't have my glasses on and so I couldn't see how long I'd been under for, but Andrea told me that it was about 40 minutes that had passed.  I had an oxygen mask on when I woke up and started chatting away and Andrea told me to relax and keep it on for the moment.  I then realised that I had quite a lot of pain in my lower stomach and was writhing around, Andrea gave me 2 Tramadol tablets.  I chatted to Andrea about being burgled and somehow then got onto the topic of craft - she also enjoys craft and so I told her about Buns & Roses and she said that she was retiring and I suggested that she might want to join a WI.  As much as chatting was fine, I still felt in quite a lot of pain so after another 10 minutes or so I was given 2 Paracetamol.  Another lady was brought in next to me and she was coughing a lot and I remembered that they were giving her a special type of humidified oxygen to help her - it seemed to work quickly.  I noticed that the finger in the rubber attachment for the heart rate monitor was bloody - I think it had dripped down from my cannula, so Andrea wiped it clean for me.

Andrea had to ask a couple of times and then I was taken back to my room on the bed.  I was still in quite a lot of pain, but one of the nurses told me that it was probably gas used to perform the procedure and I'd feel better after using the toilet.  The nurses checked my blood pressure and pulse and stayed with me as I got down off the bed in case I wasn't steady on my feet.  At one point the monitor beeped as my pulse dropped down below 50 BPM - I have a naturally low  heart rate so I ended up having to reassure the nurse so that she didn't worry!  I managed to go to the toilet which helped a little with the pain.  I got back on the bed and then switched on the TV and watched The Simpsons and The Big Bang Theory which helped distract me.  I also had my tuna sandwich, but my mouth was so dry I couldn't eat the crusts even though it was a really tasty sandwich.  I drank the coffee and even drank the milk because I was so thirsty.  I didn't know how to call the nurses - but there was a phone, so I used that and asked for some water and also asked what had happened to my dressing gown and slippers so that I could get the key to the locker.  The nurses brought everything through and I texted people including my Mum who was going to call, but I needed a sleep.  

I think I slept for about 2 hours and then woke up feeling much better, still sore and drowsy, but the pain in my stomach was much better.  I called for the nurses again and asked if I could go home and so they took my blood pressure and pulse, checked that I wasn't bleeding too much and then said that I could get dressed and go home.  I texted my cousin to come and pick me up and rang my Mum to let her know that I was ok.  One of the nurses came back with a big bag of medicine including lots of Paracetamol and Tramadol for pain relief and then some Fybogel and some Lactulose to help make going to the toilet less painful during my recovery period.  The nurse was Scottish and lovely, we chatted about the burglary and how my cousin was going to pick me up and she walked me to reception.  I made a point of telling her how lovely the staff and the nurses had been and that I really appreciated them.  I had enough time to buy a coffee for 50p and then my cousin arrived and I got into the car.  

Jenny took me back to her house and I watched TV with the kids and then we headed back to my house so that I could sort the cats out - they were all a bit freaked out still from the burglary, but Marla enjoyed cuddling with 5 year old Joe who loves her.  We went back to my cousin's house and ordered a yummy takeaway from Aagrah - I had a very mild vegetable Korma, poppodoms and mushroom rice which I couldn't finish - a sure sign that I wasn't myself.  I started watching Dorian Gray which was really good, but I was feeling so spaced out and drowsy after taking some more pain killers that I ended up going to bed at 10pm.  I was sleeping in Joe's room which was in a surprising comfy single bed.  I remember waking up about 11.30pm when my cousin checked in on me.  I woke up at about 2.30am in pain, took some Tramadol and couldn't sleep so browsed Groupon and spotted a deal for a 10 day trek to Nepal including accommodation, Yoga classes and transfers.  I emailed my friend Kate to see what she thought and then she emailed me back to say that she was definitely interested.  

The next morning I woke up and felt drowsy and still in a bit of pain, but better than I had.  I had fresh bread for breakfast and we had a quick trip to Ikea as my cousin had to sort something out with the new wardrobes that she'd bought for the kid's rooms (I was the very fortunate new home for her old ones).  I needed a new rug and a lampshade for my lounge and 8 year old Caitlin helped me choose.  I thought I felt fine and I got around ok, but I did start to feel a bit dizzy after about 25 minutes and so I'm pleased that I'd planned a very lazy day for the rest of the day.  In the end I went for 4 £10 rugs in red, blue, green and yellow as well as a white and primary colour streaked lampshade.  

Marla seems to enjoy the rug, although I was particularly unhappy about the fact she'd managed to get through the cat flap and spent possibly the night outside on Saturday night.  Hopefully the cold weather will have persuaded her that she shouldn't do that again!  At least she hadn't managed to get far - I found her sheltering underneath a fence panel.

Anyway, I seem to be recovering well, the Tramadol was making me very spaced out and so even though I've been in work all week, I've not been my usual energetic self, although I did have a fairly successful week and placed 2 candidates.  I stopped taking Tramadol on Wednesday and whilst I've felt sore for most of the week, I'm feeling better now, but I'm very pleased I wasn't on a flight to Bali only 4 days later.  I needed to bring cushions to work and take my time to walk slower than usual.  

Anyway, I have looked on the internet and here is a more medical report of what you can expect, but hopefully my ramblings might have helped someone who was nervous.