Pond Life

I grew up in the city, with a glamourized view of country life - the vast acres of space, the more laid-back pace of life and all. Over the years I've been weaned off this romantic ideal. Everything seems slow. The things people find interesting seem to be the new shop that's sprung up in the village, how the local Tesco seems to have better/worse stuff than Asda, how the flooring in someone's house has been redone, how the beer in a certain area and stored differently tastes different, and relatively menial things like that. There are acres of space in the country, yes, but it seems to take too long, for my liking, to get anywhere - a trip to the supermarket, from the initial pre-amble about the stuff on offer, to completion, could well last a weekend.

My relatives on the other side of the family all grew up in the country. They still live there, and their views of cities are perhaps best summarized by one family member who says "the best view of the city is the one through the rear view mirror".

Throw in other differences of opinion emanating from generation gaps, culture and lifestyle, and you realize that ten, eleven, days is just about enough time to be away from home. Thank goodness for the distraction of toddlers.



I don't want it to sound like I didn't have a good time, but it's always nice to get back on your own turf and way of life. Oh yes, it would also be nice not to have to bring back a cold.

We did manage to get a few runs in but most of the time it rained, as expected, which meant indoor workouts. I won't bore you with details of traditional exercises ("traditional" except done with a rucksack and other household items), but I did discover this good stretch - sit on a chair, cross one leg on top of the other (like men do), then try to touch the floor with your hands. The traditional hamstring stretch is also another one you can do while sitting down.


Over the past few months, gas and electricity companies in England have been raising utility prices, blaming the rising costs of wholesale prices worldwide for the need to do so. The public have been especially disgruntled, particularly when the afore-mentioned companies have simultaneously recorded higher profits than in previous years. Switching your gas and electricity companies in the hope of a better deal is commonplace. While comparing the different suppliers and their deals, we worked out our yearly expenditure and discovered that in the past nine months, we have used more electricity than we did in the previous year and a half. The culprit? The evil computer, which my father-in-law advised to leave in standby, because "turning it on and off damages the components". I'm keeping it off when I don't need it - fry the components and all. The unnecessary excess I pay in bills yearly would pay for a new computer. It also means I'll have to blog more at work now instead of at home.


Work partly resumes sometime next week, and fully the week after. I love the flexibility of work - having some control over the hours and timing of one's own work is great. I enjoy my work because I know I have more control over it than it has over me.


And what about exercise? September, for me, means I start the 50 workouts campaign again. Today will be #1 - the usual Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes workout. Last year I hit 50 around the post-Christmas mark, and I'll try to beat that. I expect the bulk of my workouts will be formed from circuit training and shorter runs (pfffft - at 20-30 minutes, it's not as if they can get much shorter!). It's not anything fancy; I just need to get into the habit of exercising regularly.

That's all for now - have a good weekend, folks!