Touching the Void

We watched the DVD of Joe Simpson's 'Touching the Void' last night (sitting on the floor of our office watching it on the computer!). Has anyone seen it or read the book? It is the most remarkable (true) story of human endurance I've ever heard. From the DVD cover:
"May 1985 - Peru. Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, ambitious young mountaineers, set off to scale the hitherto unclimbed West Face of Siula Grande, a remote and treacherous peak in the Peruvian Andes. Simpson and Yates reach the summit but shortly after starting the descent, an accident turns their daring expedition into a desperate fight for survival."
You don't have to be into mountaineering to 'get' this story. R's read the book and recommends it (I must read it myself) but the DVD was also very good.

Cats and Babies

I do love the insights that I gain into the world of a parent when we go and see our friends T&A. We popped round this afternoon. A. needed to take her cat to the vet. Sadly, he has a cancerous growth on his cheek. He has quite a number of homes now. This is difficult, because he's supposed to take tablets twice a day. She's tracked down one house that he goes to, and they have told her about some other neighbours who also have him. Apparently one lot of neighbours tied a note to his collar, which was then removed by another set of neighbours. They finally all tracked each other down, and A has been distributing tablets in the hope that somehow he will get them.
So today, she tried to coax her 2 year old daughter into showing R her book while she set off to look for the cat. "Would you mind staying?" she asked. "It might make things a bit easier." Eventually, she returned having tried various houses, but no joy. So the vet appointment was cancelled (clever cat). At which point, R and I left them to juggle cats and children. What a full-on life they have. It's so nice and quiet here.

Fit for Something

Earlier this year a leaflet dropped through my door for a free 'Fit for Life' course run by Loughborough College. So, never one to turn down help where I think I could do with some, I signed up.
Today I got the train and then bus to Loughborough College for a health checkup and fitness test. Given the amount of walking just to get there, I'd already raised my heartbeat several notches by the time I arrived. I was met by a slim, fit young university student who was my tutor (!). The first stage was to change into my swimsuit and swimcap (I'm sure there was a camera in that room) and then climb into a machine that looked like a flight simulator. This was called a 'BodPod' and measured my fat composition. It was a bit like being in an MRI scanner. Anyway, I came out top end of normal (or a bit on the podgy side).
Then I was measured all over, my blood pressure taken and my 'resting' heartrate (which was, not surprisingly, a bit high).
Then onto the fitness test. I had to climb on and off a step for 3 minutes. Easy, huh? I was beetroot by the end of the 3 minutes, but thankfully my heartrate had not embarassed me by shooting off the scale. Then a minute of situps (oh, I'm going to hurt tomorrow) and press-ups (I cheated as much as I possibly could).
I think the overall verdict is I'm hanging in there, but now have plenty motivation to improve my fitness levels. Or that's the theory.

Diary of a Housewife

Today is hoovering day, because we've got two viewers. One has tentatively made an offer (hurrah!) but hasn't put her house on the market (boo). We also have some people booked in for Saturday.
Last Friday we actually saw some sunshine, and the weather was warm and springlike. So for the first time in months, I actually got out into the garden. The brambles had been having a ball, and needed some serious reining in. The grass is now almost completely smothered with moss, but I 'cut' the lawn anyway, the lawnmower bouncing over the squashy carpet. With some judicious wielding of secatares, and some gauging out of dandelions we now have a much tidier garden and an enormous pile of garden rubbish waiting for the garden waste collection on Saturday. It was also quite therapeutic spriritually, and good exercise physically.
We did a lot of walking at the weekend, again making the most of the weather. Just local walks (as we can't bear getting in the car at weekends), so walked into town on Saturday (and then got out again as fast as we could - urgh) and over to Wollaton Park on Sunday. The Park is popular with families, lots of kids with scooters, roller blades, footballs etc.
Not sure what I'll be doing this week - like I said somewhere else, I'm missing art terribly, but it is such a messy business and I live in a show home now. There's just no-where to put stuff. Still - I could go walking with a sketchpad at least. Need to make the most of this lovely spring weather!

Diary of a Housewife

Today is hoovering day, because we've got two viewers. One has tentatively made an offer (hurrah!) but hasn't put her house on the market (boo). We also have some people booked in for Saturday.
Last Friday we actually saw some sunshine, and the weather was warm and springlike. So for the first time in months, I actually got out into the garden. The brambles had been having a ball, and needed some serious reining in. The grass is now almost completely smothered with moss, but I 'cut' the lawn anyway, the lawnmower bouncing over the squashy carpet. With some judicious wielding of secatares, and some gauging out of dandelions we now have a much tidier garden and an enormous pile of garden rubbish waiting for the garden waste collection on Saturday. It was also quite therapeutic spriritually, and good exercise physically.
We did a lot of walking at the weekend, again making the most of the weather. Just local walks (as we can't bear getting in the car at weekends), so walked into town on Saturday (and then got out again as fast as we could - urgh) and over to Wollaton Park on Sunday. The Park is popular with families, lots of kids with scooters, roller blades, footballs etc.
Not sure what I'll be doing this week - like I said somewhere else, I'm missing art terribly, but it is such a messy business and I live in a show home now. There's just no-where to put stuff. Still - I could go walking with a sketchpad at least. Need to make the most of this lovely spring weather!

Home Again

Wednesdays always seem to take hours to get started. But at least I've finally ordered some more yarn, so can get knitting again soon.
We spent a weekend wandering around Warwickshire, doing a bit more research into places that we might like to live. On Saturday, we explored some villages just West of Daventry - Staverton, Hellidon, Priors Marston and Priors Hardwick. It's surprising how they all feel different, just getting out of the car and walking around a bit. Staverton was a rural working village, and very quiet. Hellidon much more traditional, rolling parkland countryside, but very small. Priors Marston (or was it Hardwick?) was a bit bigger, with paths squeezing between houses throughout the village, all paved in bricks with a criss-cross pattern. It didn't have any obvious focal points though.
Then we reached Harbury, where we'd booked our B&B. Harbury is the village that we'd discovered last October, and decided we'd like to live in. This weekend has just reinforced that. There are even some houses there that we could imagine living in. It's strange - you know that feeling when you finally walk into the right house, and you know it's 'the one'? Well, it's just like that, but with a village. We *know* that we will live there. It's just a matter of when. Be patient, I keep telling myself. It will happen.

Stuff

Arrived back yesterday to find Tiscali wouldn't let me log on. Aaargh! It stressed me out far more than it should have done.
It's been a busy week. I had two evening functions on Wednesday, so didn't get back to our hotel until 10:30pm. Then had to get the train back home yesterday morning, which took about 3 hours.
My catalogue from Texere Yarns http://www.texere.co.uk has arrived. It's lovely - samples of all their yarns sellotaped to photocopied sheets of paper. I quite like the homespun feel of it. There are a huge variety of different yarns for all types of crafts, and a huge range of colours - not just the ones that happen to be in fashion this season.
I still haven't photographed my jumper. Perhaps I'll get round to it today.
We are planning to spend this weekend in Warwickshire to do a bit more research and exploration. We're staying in a B&B in Harbury (the village we liked) to get a feel for it, and are staying on Sunday night so we can see what the commute would be like on Monday morning. All sensible stuff.

Jumper

Finally! Here it is.

Bah - winter

Enough of all this cold weather. I've got a temperature, aching limbs and sore head. I want sun now please.
On the bright side, as I've felt completely unable to do anything but sit on the sofa, I've finally finished my jumper - all bar darning the loose ends in. So - as the jumper is nice and warm and chunky - we are virtually guaranteed a hot spell now so I can't wear it! Either way, I win. Nice cozy jumper or lots of sunshine.
A photo will follow when I get some daylight. It's a bit dark now.