My new life

I heard this song yesterday:

It starts, "It's a beautiful day / but I'm stuck inside / staring at this screen / working 9 til 5," and the whole song is about having a job that you hate and sticking it out for the sake of weekends and holidays.

I used to sometimes listen to it, grimly, on my commute into the office.  I don't know why really, I suppose just to try and kick my arse into gear,  to try and make myself change something.

Well now I have, it's half term, I don't have a job I'm supposed to go to and instead spent yesterday afternoon baking cake and doing a Hallowe'en trail with Amber.

The sense of freedom I got hearing this song again was exquisite.  I'm so glad I left that job.  Even if all of this doesn't work out, even if I get rejected by every university, it will still have been worth it because I never think about that office any more.  I can count the number of times it's crossed my mind since I walked out of there on one hand.  I don't need that it my life.  If anyone reading this is thinking of taking the plunge into the unknown.... DO IT!  You'll never look back!

My dearly beloved Dogbreath

On Saturday, I took Dogbreath for a walk.  It was a cold, blustery day with bright sunshine and I had spent the morning working on my Biology essay.  I took the opportunity to put on my warm winter coat and a beautiful blue scarf for the first time this year.  We set off across the muddy fields, with the sun streaming down.  Smiling to myself, I took off across the field, with Dogbreath bounding around behind me.  After a minute or two, I turned round to see what she was up to.

This photo was actually taken years ago, but the view is pretty much exactly what I saw on Saturday!
Heart sinking, I called her over, and in her own sweet time she trotted back to me.  As soon as she got near I could see and smell the fox poo.  Sigh.  My studies were going to have to wait as Dogbreath would clearly need a bath when we got home.

We carried on across the field and over to the poo bin, which is at the furthest point of our walk.  We returned to the field and had got most of the way back across it when Dogbreath decided that today was a Double Dump Day, as they are known in our household.  *SIGH!*

I went over to scoop it up.  A sharp gust of wind caught me by surprise as I was bending over.  My lovely blue scarf went flying through the air .... and landed in Dogbreath's poo.  Wonderful!  My dog smells of s**t and now I do too!!  Yippee!

We walked all the way back across the field, threw the second deposit in the poo bin, then walked all the way home holding my scarf at arm's length.  Dogbreath was subjected to a chilly bath in the garden and eviction from the rug for the rest of the day.

You have to laugh some days!  I'm smiling writing this but I can assure you I was less amused at the time!

One great reason to have a dog

The scene:  I am walking back from the school run with Dogbreath.  There's another dog walking ahead of us and it sees a cat on a driveway.  The cat puffs up its fur and the other dog passes it.  As we approach, the cat sees Dogbreath.  When we are a few metres away, the cat thinks better of it and dashes off to hide.   Dogbreath turns her head to stare after the cat.  I keep walking, and so does Dogbreath, but she's still staring off to one side.

Dogbreath doesn't notice that she is about to walk into a hedge.  She walks straight into it and sort of bounces off, looking disgruntled.  I cannot hide my amusement and howl with laughter.  The person walking the other dog turns round and sees me doubled over, giggling, apparently at nothing in particular.  Dogbreath is trying to look nonchalant.  It was freaking hilarious.

Wisdom from a random Saturday

This morning, I got up early to go for a run.  It was a foggy morning and the park was beautiful.  Autumn is in full swing now; the path is covered in fallen leaves and the trees are gradually becoming barer.  This morning I saw spider's webs covered in dew for the first time this autumn.  As usual I only had my phone so not the best photo, but you get the picture:

When I got home it was breakfast time and I decided to have toast.  For some reason we have a peculiar rule in our house that toast may only be eaten on weekends.  Both Carlos and I suspect the other of instituting the rule, and both of us break it regularly, but still it persists that toast is some kind of treat that should be reserved for the weekend.  We are weird, what can I say?

Anyway, I had a sudden urge to have marmalade on my toast this morning and when I looked in the cupboard, there wasn't an open jar.  So I decided to open this one:

Last Christmas I had to have an operation on the 21st December, and Carlos ordered this huge Fortnum and Mason hamper for me which was delivered the day after my op.  To say I was thrilled would be an understatement.  We have eaten everything from the hamper although I dragged it out as long as I could.  I saved the champagne until my birthday in April, and the jam until late summer.  Today I found this, forgotten in the back of the cupboard: the very last treat from my hamper.  It made my day!

Finally, this morning I went to the cinema with Carlos and Amber.  I can't remember the last time we did that as I'm not too keen on watching films (I fidget too much and get bored)!  Also the cinema is usually hideously expensive.  This time, I'd seen a tip-off on Facebook that the Muppets was being shown for the Saturday morning kids showing.  It cost £3 for all three of us!  It was a great film and we all enjoyed it.  There was one line that I really loved and I want to share it with you:

"That's what growing up is.  It's becoming who you want to be."

Hopefully I'm finally growing up then, by that definition!  I'm certainly getting closer to who I want to be.

Ironic conversation of the day

When I got home from college tonight I went straight into the dining room where Carlos and Amber were playing a game.  I ask them about the secondary school science visit that Amber had this afternoon.

Carlos:  It went well!  The teacher commented to me that Amber was very articulate.
(pause)
Amber: What does articulate mean?
Me: *sigh*
Carlos: *face plant*
Amber: What?
Me: It means you have a good vocabulary and are able to express yourself well....
Amber:  Oh.  Haha!

Distraction

I always try to work on the train into college. It sets me up for the day ahead and helps me feel prepared.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, the train passes through some of England's most beautiful countryside on the way. I often find myself gazing out of the window in awe rather than reading about Chemistry.

This morning it's cold but bright and the views are just stunning. I'm feeling very lucky to have all this on my doorstep today.

Running

This week I've started running again.  Usually I like going to the gym in winter, but as I can't afford it and I still want to keep fit, running outside is the best option.  Earlier this year I used the Couch to 5k podcast to get up to 30 minutes continuous running, but foolishly didn't keep it up.

So... I've decided to start all over again!  I was due to run on Thursday but the weather was horrid so I postponed until yesterday.  I got home from college at 5.30 and felt tired but forced myself to get changed and head out to the park anyway.  It turned out to be a lovely autumnal evening and a fairly easy run after sitting on my bottom all day.

As the runs involve some walking, I was even able to take a photo.  Lovely isn't it!   The best part though was where the road crosses a car park, and roadworks are taking place at the exit.  I've run past this section twice already this week and this wasn't here...  Someone has obviously been busy with the spray can.  It certainly worked for me!

Apologies, once again, for the delay in updating.  

Lucky, yet again, that I only have one reader ;-)

Last Thursday (yes almost a week ago!) I had to drive across the county to a training course at a hospital.  It's part of my volunteering work.  It was a beautiful day and on the way home I was smiling to myself as I drove through the beautiful countryside.  As I came over the brow of a hill, I couldn't resist stopping to take some photos at a beauty spot and here they are.  Stunning, aren't they?  All the things I love about living here encapulated in a couple of pictures taken from a road in a two minute stop.

On Saturday I had a whole day with Amber and Dogbreath as Carlos had gone to London to play games.  We went for a walk and it was one of those gorgeous autumn mornings when the sun is bright but the temperature is sharp enough for it to feel like winter is coming.  It was a beautiful walk and we stopped at the pub on the way home for a pint and a few games of Yahtzee.  Perfect!

I love this photo with just the tip of Dogbreath's tail showing as she rushed off stage left!!

Food bus

 A few weeks ago I mentioned that I wanted to go on a foodie bus tour of the local area.  Well, I decided to treat myself as a sort of 'leaving present' for finishing work.

It was last Sunday and I had a fabulous time!  It involved travelling around the county on a vintage double-decker bus:

As soon as we arrived they handed out Danish pastries and local apple juice, which were delicious:

Then we went to a chocolate factory which makes, amongst other things,  handmade champagne truffles.   All their chocolate is organic and fair trade and has no additives - it was pretty special - I feel like never buying a bar of Dairy Milk ever again.  The only downside is that their chocolate is £3 per 100g.   However it isn't full of crap -  I'd rather eat much less chocolate and have it be REALLY GOOD rather than eating loads and it be mass-produced and horrid.  Easy to say ... not so easy to do.  I'm going to try though!

After that I went to a brewery, then a place that makes rapeseed oil, then a local produce shop, then a winery.  We had lunch at the produce shop and samples at every place we stopped, I got to meet the owners and talk to them about their products.  It was fabulous.