Ouch!

Examintation provides no explanation
No swelling or bruising discolouration
Why it hurts so I can't understand
I wish I knew what I have done to my hand

Why I...

like the music of Within Temptation. Here's one reason:



And here's another.

Failing Resolve

So, here it is almost a week into the new year and I am yet to commit to a resolution.
In the past I have valiantly failed to drink two litres of water a day (easy enough in the summer but as the temperature fell so did my water intake), exercise for 30 minutes a day (because, as any mother could tell you when you need to be in three places at once and something's exploded in the microwave and you can't get from the front door to the letter box without a machete the first thing to go is exercise), lose weight (no that's not a conjoined twin behind me, it is, in fact, my arse), or live more spontaneously (who was I trying to kid. Military campaigns have been fought with less precision than boy genius's daily routine).
Inspired by these heroic failures past I have decided to run with the idea of the unfinished. This year I will endeavour to complete, or to at least make substantial progress on, the unfinished craft projects, unread books, unwatched DVDs and undone jobs about the place generally.
I'll report back as to how it goes.

Verily I say...

Yuletide hath passed me by with unwonted haste.
One moment I was felicitating my husband on the anniversary of his birth ere I knew it the last of the turkey carcass is discarded and I stand on the threshold of a new year.
So I send thee salutations for the season passed and pray fervently for a salubrious new year for all.

Because

Because I was nauseas I didn’t take my antihistamine.
Because I didn’t take my antihistamine I couldn’t stop sneezing.
Because I couldn’t stop sneezing I threw my back out.
Because I threw my back out it hurt to move.
Because it hurt to move I limited movement.
Because I limited movement my joints started to stiffen up.
Because my joints started to stiffen up I thought I’d get some exercise.
Because I needed exercise I thought I’d go for a run.
Because two weeks ago I could run for half an hour I thought I’d be able to do it okay.
Because I struggled to make it to 20 minutes I gave up and went home.
Because I gave up and went home I felt pathetic and miserable.
Because I felt pathetic and miserable I attempted to cheer myself up by eating comfort food.
Because I was very sorry for myself I ate a lot of comfort food.
Now I feel nauseas and lethargic.
In just two short weeks one piddling little irritant has led to a spiral of crappiness that I just can’t seem to pull out of.
Please feel free to give me a cyber boot in the pants.
Because I really don’t have time for this.

Stonehenge Photos

Testing, testing. Can I load photos? This should be a trio of stonehenge photos. One traditional view (outside the ropes), one inside the circle and one with picturesque sunset on an upright.

Thanks St Anthony

I may have mentioned that while we were away we lost the memory card from our camera and with it all of our photographs from London, Paris, Bath and Stonehenge. We looked everywhere, tearing my mother-in-law's house apart in the search, and to my great disappointment couldn't find it. When we returned home we even removed the linings of our suitcases in our hunt for the missing memory card. All to no avail.
So imagine my surprise when I walked into my bedroom this afternoon and saw a memory card sitting on top of my satchel-as if it had fallen from the ceiling.
I didn't want to get my hopes up and loaded it into the camera thinking I'd probably find 200 pictures of the cat. But lo-there was the Eiffle tower winking back at me!
It was the lost memory card-with most of the photos intact (London seems to be missing but I will continue to work on it.)
I don't know where the card was, or why it has turned up now but I am happy to have it back.
As the patron of lost things St Anthony gets my thanks-as does whoever petitioned him on our behalf (since it wasn't us).
Now as soon as I work out how it's done I'll be able to post some photos.

C25K

This morning I completed day 3, week 9 of the couch to 5k running program officially graduating from couch potato to “runner”. I use the quotation marks because most people could probably walk faster than I run. Hey, I can probably walk faster than I run. Even so, I did it and I’m quite pleased with myself.
I ran, okay jogged, for time rather than distance. Nine weeks ago shuffling along for one minute was a bit of an effort. Today I can do thirty continuous minutes with the same amount of effort. I figure this means that my fitness has improved, though I have no objective way of measuring that.
Now that I’ve made it this far I am determined to stick with it, aiming to increase my speed/distance. (I am currently only running about 3.5-4km in half an hour as opposed to the 5km the program targets so there’s lots of room for improvement.)
If you’re interested in checking out the program for yourself (or just to see what I’m talking about) you can find it here:
cool running, couch to 5k running program
It’s not particularly easy but neither is it very hard. And if I can get my fat, middle-aged, arthritic arse through it then anybody can.

A Big Thanks

I have returned from my time in the UK with an addiction. I love trashy magazines. Not of the celebrity gossip, latest Hollywood diet and fashion kind, but of the reptiles really rule the earth, crop circles are really messages from beyond and my cat saved me from poltergeist variety.
I’ve always loved a good ghost story (having lived in a couple of haunted houses myself) and I do have a soft spot for a good conspiracy theory (or, let’s be honest, even a bad one, in fact, I don’t know which is more fun-completely whacked out theories or those plausible enough to make you wonder). While we were away I discovered a plethora of magazines devoted to these and other out there subjects. My nearest and dearest simply don’t understand my fascination and I’m sure the in-laws are just a little concerned about what my hero has married into but I was delighted to discover ‘chat It’s Fate!’, ‘the Fortean Times’ and their many contemporaries.
Sadly Australia offers no equivalent reading material, so you can imagine my delight when a friend offered to pick me up a couple of magazines while she’s passing through London. However I do believe that she may now be regretting the offer given that being seen purchasing the requested material makes her feel a little bit (and here I quote) “like a sky clad, crystal bedecked, om chanting, Gaia sentient fringe dweller”.
So I hereby acknowledge the sacrificed dignity and extraordinary embarrassment that she has suffered on my behalf in the purchasing of this material. And to any who doubted her, yes it really is for a ‘friend’.

Trip Report Part 6

Being a total ancient monument whore (I’ll do any of them, anywhere, any time, at every opportunity) I was quite keen to visit Stonehenge. Several past visitors warned me that it wasn’t anywhere near as good as they’d hoped-the site was crawling with like minded tourists and you can’t get close to the stones themselves. It was suggested that I give Stonehenge a miss and visit some of the lesser known standing stones that dot the area. But to me that would be like telling a visitor to Sydney to forget the harbour bridge, icon that it is, and go check out some other bridge, the city has heaps of them. But in deference to the advice I found a tour company that took a limited number of people inside the stone circle after hours. This nicely circumvented the crowd and distance problems.
The tour took us to Bath for the afternoon where we visited the Roman Baths then spent a couple of hours wandering about the city. My imagination was captured by the idea that over two thousand years ago someone else was sitting at the edge of the bath in the exact same spot that I was in. The day was sunny and warm, a band played in the park and a few characters wandered the streets in regency costume. Nature and man seemed to conspire to show off the place at its best.
After we left Bath we travelled to Lacock, a village pretty much unchanged since Saxon times, for dinner. The tiny township was dressing itself for its latest movie role (apparently it’s often used in this capacity) so the roads were all covered with sand and gravel giving an even better idea of how the place would have looked way back when. Dinner at the oldest pub in Lacock (there are two pubs in this four street town) was nothing to write home about but the service was efficient and the place charming. I’m sure they did their best with the volume of customers they had and it’s not as if they were advertising themselves as the home of fine dining. Even so they win the dubious honour of the third worst meal eaten out while away. If you ever get the urge to visit Lacock take a picnic.
We reached Stonehenge at sunset and were given free access to the site. Standing back behind the ropes I can completely understand why some people might not find the structure as impressive as its image would have them believe. But what a difference a few feet make. Once inside the circle your entire perspective changes. Up close I found the structure spectacular. I must have taken about a hundred photos (and if we hadn’t lost the memory card I’d be able to post a few of them-but that’s another story).
Did I feel any mystical connection to the site? No. I suspect that any magical vibrations the place may have held have long since been drained away by the thousands upon thousands of visitors and are now so slight as to only be apparent to the supersensitive, of which I am not one.
But it really is one awe inspiring piece of engineering and I’m glad I got close enough to touch the stones because, as I said earlier, the difference that contact makes is amazing. So maybe there is a bit of magic left in the old circle yet