Isolation Journal 98

We ended up not going to bed properly until around 3am so we woke up about 10am, and just had a lazy morning in bed and got up around 11am, mostly prompted by Maya bringing up a mouse that she'd eaten like an apple with the just a "core" remaining.  I put some washing on and Alan started to make some lunch.  We had a delicious aubergine and okra taco recipe that we'd previously had from Hello Fresh and it was really lovely.   I also hoovered and mopped most of the floors.

We watched Friends and then more Storage Hunters whilst we ate and then we went out for a cycle up to Fairburn Ings and back home via Ledsham.  Annoyingly as my heart rate was low for the 52 mins of cycling it didn't even register as points on my Vitality!  It did change my garmin training status to "peaking" that was positive.

We had hot cross buns and a cup of tea and watched some more Storage Hunters.

When we got back I did some more tidying up and Alan went up for a bath and I went to take the compost out, remembered that I'd not planted my pansies that arrived earlier in the week and so I quickly planted them out in any place I could fit them after doing some weeding, hacking back the artichokes (I needed to saw the stems with a bread knife!) and then removing the old tent greenhouse frame that had gone rusty.

I then cooked the Hello Fresh BBQ and had to swap the chicken as it went out of date on the 28th, the beef was the 29th, but was ok and I made the 2 salads and chicken korma and koftes.  I also made some rice with beans for my lunch so that I'm all safe tomorrow with my own food.  Alan made us a JD and ginger. 

We ate and started to watch Zoolander, but Qubit turned it off by accident and so we watched some John Oliver and Modern Life is Goodish and then I finished off cleaning up the kitchen and changed both sheets on the bed.  I listened to more of "The Wind Up Bird Chronicles" as I was doing the chores.

It's now nearly midnight and I'm feeling pretty anxious aboutt getting enough sleep for work tomorrow, hopefully it should all be ok.

Isolation Journal 75

We woke up at a fairly decent time, shortly after 9am. Alan made us coffee and a hot cross bun each and we watched some more Peep Show.

I then tided up the kitchen and the dishwasher hadn't been cleaning well so I ran it on a rinse cycle and did a load of washing.

For lunch I made a salad with dressing of ginger, honey, sriracha, olive oil, mayo and salt and pepper and cooked some sausage rolls.  

I felt quite low energy and dizzy today, I stood up really quick  and nearly passed out first thing.

I listened to more of "I Heart Vegas" as I was doing chores and then watched a bit more TV.  Alan is still feeling poorly with sore ears and just feeling really weak.  I'm not sure how best to help him, but I fed him some of the vitamins I've been taking - vitamin D and a "megavit" from Holland and Barrett.

I went upstairs and messed around on my phone before getting my "Little Fires Everywhere" book out and had a good read.  Last night I'd also ordered Girl Woman Other from Fox Lane Books that is my most local independent bookshop, it was more expensive than Amazon etc, but I'm keen to support them. 

I've definitely been feeling premenstral with levels of rage bubbling away and today I had stomach cramps and finally my period arrived.

Alan made tea which was Hello Fresh and Haloumi with lentils.  And we started to watch Greyhound, but I was really struggling to concentrate that wasn't helped with Qubit came running in and panted like mad.  Moments later I spotted a facebook post from the neighbours about an injured rabbit and then the Amazon shopping arrived and Chris our neighbour explained that Qubit had brought in a rabbit and it was stuck under a bush.  Between us we managed to get the rabbit out and it hopped away into another field.  I took the recycling out, moved the bins down from being stored on top of each other and spotted Kirsty looking at the rabbit and trying to scare off one of Anna's cats from going for it!  We had some ice cream and Qubit licked te bowl out.

I tried to focus on the film, but couldn't so went for a run at 9pm.  Sunset was at around 8.50pm and it got dark quite quickly, but I got around my run quick enough to be able to do it in the light and I appreciated not having to do lots of intervals up and down the driveway.  I ran about 5.8K in 31 minutes and my VO2 Max went up to 51 and I'm still "productive" with my training.

I then watered the plants and I ran a bath and got stuck for ages playing Pokemon go.  I came down and watched a bit of Frasier with Alan and had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and a lolly and I put on "Lose a stone in 21 days" as a lot of people are talking about it.

Isolation Journal 62

Alan woke up and got straight out of bed at 8.50am and then went to fix the TV/Upgrade it and I snoozed until he rang me and wanted feedback on what the tv picture was doing.

I stayed in my PJs and slobbed around and then when he'd finished I made scrambled eggs, black pudding and toasted left over bread from yesterday.  I wrote "I love you" in sriracha on Alan's plate, but he wasn't as impressed as I'd hoped.

We put on a film and watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them although half way through Alan got interupted to go and help our nextdoor neighbour with her IPhone upgrade, so I got dressed into my run kit and then I tidied, hoovered, cleaned the kitchen and watered the plants and one of the neighbours further down Donna asked what Alan liked to drink as she wanted to thank him for his work on the TV.  Alan managed to turn on the TV to play Tina Turner from next door which was a bit of a surprise when "Simply the Best" started blasting out.

I watched Catfish whilst waiting for him to come back and we finished the film which was quite good and I enjoyed even if I was playing on my phone for a lot of it.  We had a pre-pared pizza and some coleslaw that Alan made for lunch.  Alan had a nap as he was really tired.  The nextdoor neighbours popped around with a bottle of Gentleman Jack to say thanks for his help.

I read through a piece of Flash Fiction for my friend Lauren and gave some thoughts (it was good!) and then finally got organised and went out for a run in a nice sunny evening and did about 7 miles which was more than I was planning.  I turned on the Strava app as it's still not working for Garmin to sync to Garmin Connect or to Strava.  I went with a planned route, but spotted a different turning that I'd not explored and went into the woods and found a burned out car.  I was a bit nervous as I was by myself, but it was a fun route and I must take Alan back.

I had a quick shower when I got back and Alan prepped some veg and made Ketjap Manis and cooked some mince and then I finished off the stir fry and we watched Peep Show.  We drank Lynchberg Lemonades and a Knob Creek and ginger beer.  

I then spoke to my brother as he'd rung whilst I was running, he was mostly worried about my Dad who had been wearing a back brace the last time that he saw him and was worried about what he could do to help.  We talked about it and his 3rd oldest was running around naked looking at the caterpillar he'd rescued from the garden and put in a pot.   I mopped down the house as I'm keen to keep it clean on a weekly basis if I am able to.

I then had to prep for a meeting tomorrow to pitch for some work with trustees of a charity for a senior role.   

Isolation Journal 33

I got up and fed Qubit around 8am and then finally properly woke up at around 10am.  I had coffee and cornflakes for breakfast and we put on a film after watching a bit of Scrubs.  I've never watched Silence of the Lambs so we put that on, it was a really good film and I didn't know the plot twists despite it being around since 1991.

I didn't do very much today, I was feeling quite down and frustrated, probably some of the things running around in my head from yesterday as well as I'm guessing probable PMT looming.  

We had chicken salad for lunch with Sriacha Mayo dressing and I added in some extra ingredients like radicchio and heritage tomatoes.  

I then did hoovering around the house, took the bin out and mopped floors and cleaned the bathroom as the house was just a bit smelly.  I took all the cardboard recycling out and got it blown around and also took the bin and the compost out which helped with  the smell.

I then finally got organised and went out for my run and dropped off my dance fee payments for yesterday along with a little Hello Kitty coin purse.  I ran 7.2K and would have run a bit further, but it was so windy and rainy.  I listened to a good few more hours of "What Alice Forgot" as I tidied and went for a run.

When I got back Alan was on Zwift and so I did a bit more tidying and polished the dining room table.  I then ordered some dark wood polish as it's going a bit white.  Alan did most of the cooking for tea and made a Hello Fresh oven baked risotto.  We had crumble and ice cream as two separate pudding dishes!  I also naughtily snacked on salami and mortadella and 2 chocolate biscuits earlier.

As we sat down to dinner we watched Hannibal and weirdly I remembered at least one scene even though I've not watched it before.  

We then put Mock the Week on for something a bit more light hearted than cannibalism.  I also then got into a slightly stroppy debate with WW who I had trialled in December to try and lose weight as I'd hoped the "free food" scenario would make tracking what I ate easier than myfitnesspal.  The trial was via Vitality and was 6 months, but they gave no notification email that they'd be taking £21.45 out of my account.  I did manage to block the payments via paypal so they couldn't take anymore, but I had no response to my cancellation email and request for a refund.  It's not loads of money, but for something that made me so cross for a week I resent having to pay.  They won't respond to emails currently and instead sent me to speak to a WW coach... they managed to cancel my account, but can't process a refund.  I need to call up which is irritating.  I also got the worst non apology "I'm sorry you feel like that" which coupled with PMT meant I was truly riled!  

20 things in 2020 update at the nearly half year point!

I've finally (at nearly halfway through the year!) had a look at how I'm tracking on my 20 things in 2020 goal... some are slightly more challenging given the substantial issue of a global pandemic which I'd not really considered when I wrote my list, but interestingly some of them I've completed more easily given our lockdown situation.  I've now made a spreadsheet to track things a bit more closely...

1 - Complete 20 parkruns - an "easy" one as I've averaged more like 40 per year since I discovered parkrun in 2014. This seemed like an easy one when I set the target as I did 49 last year...20 as a number was purely arbitrary to fit in with my theme, how wrong I was!  I'm currently sat on 10 (I missed two on New Year's day because I was too hungover and one on the day we flew to Barbados), I'm not sure that it will actually be possible as parkrun is only just restarting again in New Zealand.  I have just started logging "not parkruns" so maybe that will be my workaround if I need it...I really hope parkrun starts again soon (as long as it's safe!)

2 - Donate to charity / recycle 20 bags or boxes of stuff - living in a house with no storage is great in some ways as it forces this issue, but recently I've definitely accumulated too much and a sort out would be useful.  This is certainly one that I need to focus on more, although donating to charity in terms of stuff is hard at the moment because of charity shops being closed and things like shpock being harder to use with social distancing etc.  I'm currently on 2...I need to up my game!

3 - Go to 20 yoga or pilates sessions. - This has possibly become a little easier as I find it hard to leave work on time or do much in lunchtimes, but since we've been in lockdown I've been doing pilates 1 - 2 times per week online as well as doing one yoga session with people in a class (wild!) at the start of the year, I'm tracking well on 14 sessions at the moment.

4 - Write 20 letters or postcards - I probably should track this a bit better as I've probably made more progress, but I've done a few multiples and want to push myself to do more letter writing.  I'm on 7 different iterations, but with a few multiples.  

5 - Complete at least 20 crafting sessions - either alone or even better with friends - I was doing quite well with this at the start of the year, 2 Artnights and a sewing session with Sam, but it has got a bit harder, so I might need to do more independent or zoom sessions as I'm currently on only 4

6 - 20 sessions of creative writing / blogging entries - I didn't expect to, but lockdown and my friend Lauren has really inspired this in me, I've done online flash fiction classes, I've kept an Isolation blog, and a couple of mental health blogs and even this one - so this is completed with more than 20 done, but I'm enjoying it and will happily keep going!

7 - 20 sessions of mindfulness - Ideally I'd do this everyday, but I'm not great at always remembering, so this is a nice achievable target. - I'm only on 1 as I'm not counting using Headspace to get to sleep - I must do more of this as I think it would really help me.

8 - Today having a stunning walk around Fairburn Ings RSPB nature reserve I realised this is one thing that makes me really happy and so I want to do at least 20 walks or runs around beautiful nature locations. - This is a bit hard at the moment as I know we can travel further, but we are very cautious, so I could count all my lovely runs, but for now I'm just counting the ones that I've got as far as nature reserves and so I'm on 5.

9 - Leading or backmarking at least 20 run club sessions - Again a hard one at the moment, not sure when I'll be back to normal on this, but whilst we've been in lockdown I've written a few session plans for people and run zoom sessions for #runandtalk and so if I count those then I'm on 13.

10 - Volunteer at least 20 times - If I count Guides then I'm on 16 as we've kept the meetings going via Zoom which actually feels more important even though it's not quite the same as meeting in person.  I hope we get back to that soon.

11 - Meet friends for coffee/lunch/catch ups at least 20 times - Again another coronavirus impacted activity, but if I count some of the zoom catch ups then I'm on 11 and hopefully will meet people for some socially distanced walks soon.

12 - Read 20 books - I'm really struggling to read, even before Coronavirus, my attention span was terrible, I'm nearly at the end of my first proper book and I'm going to be easy on myself and count audio books too, but I am trying to improve my book reading as it is good for my brain and my mental health and I have a big stash of great books to get through.  I'm currently on only 2 audio books completed.

13 - Watch 20 new films - I'm sure I'm further along with this than I've tracked as from what I can recall I'm on only 6, but I'm not sure I've written them all, so I need to track it a bit better, I'm sure I can catch up well during lockdown though - this is what I've noted down so far.  I think I'd have hoped more would have been in a cinema setting...

• 1917
• Starter for 10
• Hunger Games
• The Voices
• Hidden Figures
• Arrival

14 - Spend 20 hours learning something new - I'm not sure how to best count this as I've got 2 hours so far from my flash fiction course, but I've listened to lots of lectures online and so I might give this a bit more thought.  I think I'd thought that it might be more hands on.

15 - Get at least 8 hours sleep 20 times (this is a challenge as my regular 11daytime sleep is only 6.5 hours) - before lockdown I only managed to do this 7 times, I'd be getting up at 6.20am and not in bed often before midnight, it was a challenge, post lockdown means that I'm now at 40 in total.  So this one is now complete.

16 - Visit 20 new places (not countries, just different places that I've not been before, whether a restaurant, or a nice place to walk) - a bit harder to do this one post lockdown, but I'm tracking well with 13 at the moment.

17 - Visit the gym at least 20 times (pretty sure I didn't manage this in 2019) - I was tracking ok....I'd managed 3 sessions I think before lockdown, I might count the online zumba sessions that I've been doing with my friend Gui which would add another 5 including a HIIT session and put me on 8.

18 - Plant 20 "things" whether seed bombs or vegetables. - I need to focus a bit more on this, but with seed bombs, lavender, mushrooms, potatoes and raspberry cuttings I'm on 8.

19 - Watch at least 20 live music acts (should be achievable as we are least going to Blue Dot festival again and hopefully might still get tickets to Glastonbury in the resales - fingers crossed!) - This is a tough one, we had one festival and one gig booked, but we're now postponed, I may have to have a rethink...i'm on 0!

20 - Get to work without driving at least 20 times (I'll cheat if needed and include working from home!) - this is complete as I've only driven my car about 4/5 times since March!  It is more than 20, but I've not counted!

So out of a possible 400 at the halfway point I'm on.... 182 so not doing too badly, I think I'm on track with most of them.

I also set myself a challenge of not buying any new clothes in 2020 other than underwear, lockdown has made this more achievable as I've not had to worry about outfits other than leisure wear, active wear and decent camera workwear.  I've so far only bought a swimming costume and a sports bra and a second hand coat to replace one that was broken.

Sukawati Market, Sanur Beach and a long journey home

This blog entry I'm writing on the train back to Leeds from Kings Cross.  Everyone said that I would be really shocked by the weather and how cold it would be, but actually it's been quite pleasant.  I do love the warmth and sunshine of Bali, but there is something to be said of the ability to walk 100 yards without literally dripping sweat everywhere!

Anyway, I wanted to write about my last full day in Bali which was really good fun.   The day started very well with a gorgeous Banana Pancake with caramel and coconut on it and the usual selection of fruit - Papaya, Pineapple, Watermelon and the option of a tiny banana or green tangerine with coffee.   Rachel came by my hotel with Kiran having found a really lovely guy to be our driver for the day called Putu - Made was busy with some preparations for a family cremation.

First of all we drove to Sukawati market as the market that I'd been keen to visit in Ubud is currently being renovated.  Sukawati market is huge and I think that we saw only a very small part and mostly the tourist shops, and it was perfect for completing my holiday present shopping.  I bought 3 sarongs for the pretty batik patterns that I will be able to use in my embroidery and sewing work, a lovely little dress for one of my friend's babies (who hasn't been born yet so will have to wait a while to grow into it.), some small paintings for my Mum and some incense for Coddy from the "local" part of the market.  Everything is brightly coloured and I could really spend a whole lot of money there and if transporting them back to the UK wasn't an issue I'd love to buy some of the amazing wood carvings and furniture.

We got back in the car and drove out to Sanur which is a beautiful coastal resort.  We grabbed some lunch - impressively there was a baby chair so Kiran was able to bang his hands on the table and make a mess of all the food that he was eating and Rachel got to eat using both hands for a change.  We both had some very tasty Nasi Campur.

It was a warm and sticky day and so we walked along the beach and found a nice spot to lay out our sarongs and get into our swimming things and Rachel put Kiran into his swimming outfit.  He was much more interested in playing with and trying to eat the sand of course.  

We went into a beautifully clear sea which was really calm and shallow, and as warm as a nice bath and perfect for Kiran's first experience of swimming in the sea.  He loved it and smiled and giggled as we splashed him around in the water.  Rachel and Kiran got out and I swam around for a bit until I spotted a sea snake nearby and so decided that was a good time to get out!

We walked along the beach for a little bit and I bought an amazing kite for my Dad which was shaped like a boat and we saw a Labrador that was happily lying in the sea enjoying the warm water (he was there for ages as we saw him on the way there and the way back!)  

Our driver took us back to Ubud and we got showered and changed and relaxed in the hotel room until Made came with Maya to pick us up and take us to a lovely restaurant for dinner.

The restaurant was very attractive and a large section of it had individual tables in little huts where you sit on cushions on under low tables.  We ordered a big fish sharing platter and some rice and it was pretty spicy, but really tasty.  Maya and Kiran amused themselves by trying to crawl under the table and Kiran enjoyed shredding paper napkins like an Andrex puppy.  I ordered a young coconut drink which was huge and very tasty.  Basically it was a whole young coconut with the top sliced off and some sugar, avocado and jelly added to it - was more than enough for a pudding even though it was just a drink!  

After dinner I was dropped back at the hotel and was determined to fulfil the final thing on my list that I'd wanted to do and I walked down to find somewhere that I could get a manicure!

I initially went back to the first place I'd been where I'd got my pedicure done earlier on - Kenko, but at 8pm it looked distinctly closed so I walked back and just went for the first place that wasn't too far off the main street who shouted "Yes massage" at me!  I asked if they could do a manicure then and they said yes and I went to Daisy Spa which was by no means glamourous, but for £3 for a manicure I was more than happy.  At the last minute I also thought that I may as well get my toes redone as the pedicure I'd had was starting to chip after 10 days of walking around in flip flops and so the girl got her friend and I had my feet done at the same time.  It was a bit of a weird place and experience made even odder when the girl doing my nails told me "You are beautiful, I like your face".   I took it as a compliment, but "I like your face" is one of the strangest compliments I think that I've ever been paid.

Back in the hotel room I packed up my suitcase as I knew that getting up at 4.30am I wasn't going to want to do very much at all and I managed to snatch about 4 hours sleep before Putu came by at 5.30am to pick me up and drive me to the airport.

Yesterday was a really long day - the whole day went like clockwork in terms of getting picked up, the flights that weren't delayed and the transfers that were very smooth, but 19 hours or more of travelling is just exhausting.  I grabbed breakfast at the airport in Denpasar and even though I was tempted by Eggs Benedict, I dedicated that an Indonesian breakfast was a good idea as I'm not likely to get the chance again for a while.   The journey from Bali to Singapore was very smooth and I had a brief snooze in between the time when they fed us.  The transfer from Terminal 1 - 3 in Singapore was smooth, a brief walk and the "Sky Train" in between the terminals with about 10 minutes free to buy 2 very expensive bottles of water for $4.  On the 13 hour flight from Singapore to London I managed to watch a total of 4 1/2 films!  I was trying hard to keep awake to try and right my sleep pattern by going to bed early and waking up at a usual time this morning.  I think that it's more or less worked, although I did practically fall asleep in my dinner.

First of all I watched "The Hunger Games" as I was interested to see how it was done compared to the book that I'd read earlier on in my holiday.  The film is really faithful to the book and it was very similar to how I'd pictured everything in my mind.  The portrayal of the main character - Katniss Everdeen was very good and just as I'd imagined her, the actress - Jennifer Lawrence looked very similar to how I had imagined her.  Peeta Mellark who was one of the other main characters looked different as I'd not imagined him to be blonde, but Josh Hutcherson portrayed him well in terms of character.  I suppose my only criticism was that they didn't really make as obvious in the film in comparison to the book the main characters feelings about each other, they glossed over it a little which was disappointing, but does make for a neater conclusion.

Next was People Like Us I'm not sure why I chose this one, but it was a bit of an odd film with a plot that could have been shortened and tidied up considerably, but felt quite unnecessarily drawn out.  Basic premise is that Sam the main character is a bit of a shyster and is short of cash, in debt and doesn't visit his family.  He ignores calls from his Mum all day and then his girlfriend tells him that his Dad has died.  He makes every effort to avoid going to the funeral including hiding his ID from his girlfriend, but they end up arriving there late and missing the funeral.  His Mum is played by Michelle Pfeiffer and she is clearly angry with him and a lot of the film explores their strained relationship.  Sam picks up a note from the lawyers about his fathers will which is an odd request to deliver $150000 in cash in a shaving bag to a "Joshua Davis" who he then discovers is his Dad's Grandson to a half-sister that he never knew existed.  The majority of the film then is a slightly farcical exploration of him getting to know his sister and nephew without revealing until right at the end who he is so that she ends up trying to kiss him.  All in all it's a bit weird.

Total Recall the remake was next.  I think I've watched bits of it in the past, but I can't remember watching the whole film.  I was a bit sleepy during this one so I think that I may have nodded off and had to rewind at points.  I do remember that they left in the 3 boobed lady from the original film in the dodgy district that the main character - Hauser visits to go to Rekall.  The premise of the film is good and the remake seemed good too - although I can't remember if I've seen the original in full to give an accurate comparison.  It reminded me quite a lot of Inception that I've seen recently and the special effects were very accomplished.  The ending was fairly satisfying and there of course were lots of parallels that can be drawn with global politics which I always find quite interesting.

Finally I went for Papadopoulos & Sons which was actually a lovely film.  It was the story of a self-made Greek millionaire - Harry Papadopoulos - who over leverages himself and ends up bankrupt apart from £25K cash and a closed down fish and chip shop that he co-owns with his estranged brother.    When he is evicted from his mansion with his 3 children, they all decide to move into the shop and re-open the business and it's a lovely exploration of family connections, and whether money or happiness is more important.  I really liked the film, it had a predictable ending, but it wasn't too saccharine sweet and had some good performances from some British actors. 

I started to watch 2 days in New York which was quite good, but I just kept falling asleep and then they collected up the headphones, so I'll have to have another try at this one in the future perhaps. 

The flight got in a little early to Heathrow and so my parents only had to wait a few minutes for me and then drove me back.  I gave them my presents, managed to eat some curry takeaway before falling asleep very early for me at 10pm.

3 Airports, 2 flights and 1 lovely hotel in Bali

So I probably should go to sleep as in Balinese time it is about midnight, although in the UK it's about 5pm.  

My journey started with an East Coast Mainline journey from Leeds to London on Tuesday evening which only took 2hrs 15, was very comfortable and allowed me to play with my Netbook as though I was an important business person (I actually used the 16 minutes free wifi to mostly go on Facebook!)

I arrived into London Kings Cross and then made the journey back to see my parents travelling to Hampton Court Station - as the crow flies this is 12 miles and took over an hour!

It was really nice to catch up with my parents and my Mum made my favourite dinner - Aubergine Stew for when I arrived back at 10pm on Tuesday evening.  I spent the next day with my parents until my Dad drove me (and my Mum came too) to Heathrow Airport which is about a half hour drive.  I was worried about checking in my bag as I was limited  20kg and had a lot to bring over for Rachel plus lots of presents from me and my Mum.  I snuck in with just a little over and got through security with my bulging clear bag of toiletries.  

There was time to kill and I was a bit hungry and so I treated myself to Yo Sushi! which was very tasty, but I just ate off the belt to save time and wished I'd had a bit more time for some Ramen or Moochi.  

I flew with Singapore Airlines who were very polite and the food was really good, they also were kind enough to feed me some red wine so that I felt a bit more relaxed and sleepy for my first ever flight by myself.  I was intrigued by the uniforms of the stewards and stewardesses - which is a  sarong kebaya in batik material I'm guessing to incorporate traditional dress.  The different colours of the different batik designs designates different levels of seniority.  I liked them much more than what you usually see on Ryan Air etc, I'm less keen on the title of the page Singapore Girl it seems a bit chauvinistic as the guys have different colour ties that designate their seniority too.

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I didn't really get to see much of Singapore Airport as I literally had time to walk off the plane through the airport, get on the "sky train" to a different terminal before I was queueing up to get on the plane to Denpaser. 

On the first leg of the flight I watched - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel which I actually really enjoyed.  It was sweet and romantic, without being saccharine or flippant.  There was a great cast of actors and actresses which helped and I have to say that I really do love Dame Judi Dench.  I also love how in the film Maggie Smith brings Hobnob biscuits, Branston pickle and HP sauce with her, but they won't let her take her pickled eggs on the plane!  On the second leg of the flight I watched Ted - not really my thing - I can summarise the plot for you as follows - talking bear that swears and smokes weed + Mark Wahlberg + kidnap and rescue of bear + a bit of relationship turmoil.  Far too predictable and not enough novelty to make up for this for my liking - still it did pass the time.  I also used the online game to learn some Indonesian phrases like "dua" - two and "Mobil" - car and most impressive "supermarket" - Supermarket.  I also bought The Hunger Games before leaving Heathrow and at first glance it reminded me of Battle Royale so far 5 chapters in, there are a lot of similarities, I'll let you know what I think when I'm finished.

Arriving at Bali Airport in Denpaser was fine, but it took over an hour to get through customs, immigration etc.  My friend Rachel and her gorgeous little baby boy Kiran met me at the airport gate and then we grabbed some drinks and her husband drove us all back to my hotel Sagitarius Inn which so far is lovely.  The room is a little basic, but for less than £20 per night it's perfect and has breakfast and free wifi included.  The grounds are really beautiful and I'll take some pictures when it's light as the flowers and plants are amazing.  Here are a couple of dodgy pictures of my room - sorry, but I'm very tired, better ones at a later date!

I got in, showered and then ventured down Monkey Forest Road and bought some bottled water, crazy additive only available in Bali Rhino drinks and some cheese and chocolate bread (don't know why, but it is tastier than it sounds!) - all of this was 300 000 rupiah which is about £1.93.

So now it's late and I've not had much sleep over the last few days I think I'll switch off the fan and listen to the sound of Ubud to get me to sleep.