Still Alive
Posted: Wed 28 August, 2024 Filed under: Domestic, Health 2 Comments »Still alive – still feeling ropy, although at least all the chest infections and so on have cleared up.
I’ve still been left with a cough that’s just hanging around the back of my throat, and which causes the coughing up of lumpy green – not from the lungs, thankfully, but it’s still fairly grim.
It is easing – although the most recent course of medication has done absolutely sod-all – but the GP said it might take up to a month to appease, which is next week.
If it’s still bad at the end of next week, I’ll make another appointment.
In the meantime, I’ve changed a number of plans – some for not being in the mood, and some for (if I’m honest) not actually feeling like I’m up to them. Not entirely happy about that, but it’s definitely the smarter plan rather than breaking myself even further.
Unwellitude – Another Update
Posted: Wed 3 July, 2024 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »So, six weeks after the initial Unwellitude happened, my chest was still fairly well stuffed, ongoing coughing, and generally feeling crappy.
At night I was starting to make noises like the Predator, which is never a good sign.
So I finally got round to making an appointment with my GP, and saw them yesterday. (On a side-note, pretty impressed – called them Monday afternoon, not expecting anything to be available ’til next week, and instead got a slot at 8am on Tuesday!)
Diagnosis? A nasty chest infection – they wouldn’t say which one, but from previous experience and having done some reading, I’d say pneumonia is the most likely candidate. So a prescription for a week’s worth of hefty-dose Amoxicillin, and we’ll see what happens.
Ongoing Unwellitude
Posted: Sun 16 June, 2024 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Health, Single Life 3 Comments »Thankfully it’s not been non-stop Unwell, but everything’s taken a long time to finally start sodding off.
I was doing OK at the time of the last post, although the cough hadn’t quite Fucked Off yet. That stuck around for the next couple of weeks – not entirely surprisingly, as I was (against advice) busy and doing stuff, and not giving my body a lot of time off.
Then last weekend (the 8/9th of June, if anyone’s counting) I did a day-trip to Manchester (see above about not giving myself time off) for a restaurant visit. (Which was excellent, and well worth the trip) My table companion had been doing a lot of air travel and so on, and also had a similar cough to me.
I *think* that what happened there was that I picked up a second blast of what had already hit me. Or, if not the exact same thing, then at least bloody close to it, but different enough to get past any already-set-up immunity.
So this week was a kind of return to how I was a few weeks back. It didn’t mess me up *as* much, but still left me with a couple of very rough days.
It seems to be back in abeyance now, and hopefully that’ll also mean that this dry cough has a chance to piss off as well. We’ll see.
Unwell
Posted: Wed 29 May, 2024 Filed under: Covid, Domestic, Health 1 Comment »Over the last three weeks, I’ve been unwell – nothing major, “just” a seriously heavy cold, but it’s absolutely knocked me for six.
I say “heavy cold”, because despite symptoms including about 60% of the current “Is it Covid?” guidelines, it never showed up as Covid on an LFT test. Not even the thinnest of thin blue lines. But it’s *felt* like Covid, and as a result I kept myself out the way of everything for two weeks.
It all started with a sore throat (almost like the feel of tonsilitis) , temperature changes (feeling both too hot and too cold) and head cold – the combination of which meant I felt awful and didn’t actually sleep for three days. That lead on to some deeply weird and unpleasant sleep-deprivation side-effects, and a feeling of deep oddness.
Once I did finally get some sleep, the dreams were strange and uncomfortable. I won’t detail them here (because telling people about dreams is deeply effing dull) but they’ve added to the ongoing sense of slight disconnection with things. I know it’ll settle down again, but *wow*, it’s been odd.
For some reason it’s also altered some core things – appetite has changed, body clock is buggered, an ongoing awareness of exhaustion, and even a change in the amount of Coke Zero I’m drinking.
I’m pretty much through it all now – albeit still occasionally coughing up chunks of Finest Green™ – but it’s definitely been No Fun.
ColdFree
Posted: Tue 14 February, 2023 Filed under: Domestic, Health Leave a comment »Following on from last weeks “Bleurgh” post about having a cold, I’m happy to say that it’s now faded off, as expected.
It’s been pretty manky along the way, and I had a couple of days of being deeply under-the-weather, but it’s all eased off again.
Happy day.
Cold
Posted: Thu 9 February, 2023 Filed under: D4D™, Domestic, Health 2 Comments »I’ve not been feeling up to writing much recently. Primarily it’s down to my usual combination of keeping myself busy, a lack of impetus, and keeping on thinking “You know, I really should write something”. However, this week that’s also been tempered by the addition of a large and rotten cold. (And yes, it’s just a cold – nothing flu-based or Coviddy, thankfully)
I don’t get them that often, and bloody hate it when I do have one. For whatever reason, I just end up with a streaming nose, and currently look like Rudolph.
It started on Saturday, and has got steadily heavier through to today, so hopefully it’ll now start to ease off a bit before the weekend!
All fun and games. And snot, of course. Lots and lots of that.
*Sigh*
Working It Out
Posted: Mon 9 January, 2023 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Health, Travel Leave a comment »Over the last five years I’ve been involved with a fitness group in Bedford that was set up for overweight men over 40. We started as part of a larger organisation that did three months of longer sessions including an hour of information about nutrition, portion sizes etc., and an hour of physical exercise routines. It was a fairly decent programme, and certainly helped some of the group with losing weight.
Once that first course was over, the organisation lost the contract they had with the local authorities, so it all collapsed a bit. However, we worked with the trainer who did the exercise side, found a village hall in Bedford that could/would take us, and spawned off into our own group – and then two other related ones in other nearby locations where that organisation had also held courses.
The trainer turned out to be fairly disorganised and flaky, but it gave us a good grounding in what we wanted, and we ended up with a decent group that worked fairly well and met twice a week for an hour’s workout session. Not really enough to enforce weight loss, but also far better than nothing.
Just under three years ago the trainer buggered off to an overseas posting, and our group was the only one that had anyone daft enough to step up and keep it going, organising the sessions and workouts, as well as paying for the centre we used and so on. The trainer came back to take it all back, but proved to be even flakier, and quit completely about eighteen months ago.
So at that point I took it over completely. I sorted out insurance, organised workouts, and sorted out stuff that had always been promised previously but had never appeared. I’ve kept it going since then, and it’s been fairly successful, keeping about 80% of the initial members.
When I moved, it was just coming up to the end of the current quarter’s sessions, but without enough time to hand it over cleanly to someone else – so I made the decision that I’d be the one to keep it running ’til the end of 2022. It’s added a lot of mileage over the last three months, and been a bit of a bind, but in general it’s been worth the effort.
Now, though, I’m done. Things didn’t work out perfectly on timing, so last week was my final session – and today is the first time since moving here that I’m not now belting down the M1 to do the group and then come home. And that’s a very odd feeling after so long (both there and here) but also quite a nice one.
I’m honestly not sure if the group will continue now I’m done with it. The other members have said they want to do it, but no-one’s been prepared to take on the whole thing so it’s now being “run” by three of them (which amuses me quite a bit, having done the entire thing on my own as well as that extra dollop of mileage in the last three months) and we’ll see how it goes. I’ve been able to hand it over as ethically as possible – they’ve got a whole load of prepared workouts and so on, so it should actually be easy to run, but… I don’t know. I hope it does, but I’m not holding out much hope.
But anyway, I’m going to be sitting here doing my own thing on a Monday evening for the first time in far too long, and I’m pretty happy about that.
Health Check
Posted: Tue 22 November, 2022 Filed under: Covid, Domestic, Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »I usually try to get a fairly regular health check every couple of years with my GP, just to keep an eye on things (and with particular awareness of the family history with a whole horde of fun conditions) However, what with Covid, lockdowns and life in general, it hadn’t happened since 2018. I was just about due for the 2020 one when all hell broke loose, and my GP refused to do anything except urgent on-the-day appointments which I try to not take up (none of what I’m doing is urgent, and there’s plenty of people with more urgent concerns than me getting a bloody health check!)
So anyway, when I moved I registered with a new GP, got a message a couple of weeks ago that I was due for a health check, and booked it in.
That day was today. And I’m pleased to say that it all went well. They took bloods for further analysis (nothing to worry about, all part of the process) but the highlights so far are :
- Blood pressure of 140/70. Absolutely fine and within NHS acceptable levels.
- Pulse – about 70. Not ideal, but nowhere near awful.
- BMI / Weight – too high, but that’s nothing unusual. They’re both absolutely normal for me, so I’m not going to worry too much. As always, I’d like to lose some, but nothing so far has really worked, so 2023 is going to involve some other stuff.
- Cardiovascular Risk – so far (and this one is also connected with those blood tests, so it may change) my results indicate I’m at something like a 5% risk of having a heart attack in the next decade.
I’m also booked to get further blood taken in a couple of weeks in order for proper checks of some of those family-history points.
I’ll also get a call in a couple of weeks to go over the results properly, but for now I’m happy with these data points, and happy to have been able to get it all done again with a bare minimum of hassle and inconvenience.
Small Victories
Posted: Wed 8 June, 2022 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Weight Loss Leave a comment »Last weekend, I went to the wedding of a friend. That’s nothing particularly news-worthy (hell, nor is the rest of this, but there we go)
Anyway, the dress-code was “smart”, and I’d been considering getting a new suit anyway, but before I ordered anything, I decided to try on my current ones.
I was pleased (and more than a little surprised) to find that the one I’d bought for attending the wedding where I got together with Herself – eighteen years ago!
So yes, interestingly I’ve remained the same size for that length of time. I know I’m a fat sod, but at least I’m a consistently fat sod!
Lockdown – Two Years On
Posted: Wed 23 March, 2022 Filed under: Covid, Domestic, Health, Lockdown, The Future, Thoughts Leave a comment »In many ways it’s hard to believe that it’s already two years ago today that the UK’s first Coronavirus lockdown was announced.
Since then, time feels like it’s done some very strange things – some things feel like only yesterday when it turns out they were three or four years ago, but stuff that was yesterday feels like an eternity has passed.
Here, I’ve been lucky, as I still haven’t caught it – although that’s more by luck than judgement, and probably that’s helped by being single, antisocial, and without children, thus eliminating an awful lot of the potential vectors. I’ve also been lucky in that it hasn’t affected me in the same ways it’s affected a lot of people – I wasn’t suddenly thrown into a world of working from home, with a lot of my social interactions removed, and nor was I suddenly having to be in close confinement with partners or others.
It’s still not been easy, but it’s been OK. It could have been a lot worse – and obviously for lots of people, it was. And is. And will continue to be.
I don’t know how we’ll handle things in the future. I know that “going back to how things were” is a pipe-dream. We’ll find ways to accommodate life with Coronavirus, and it’ll affect us less (much as it’s already doing) but it’s not going to disappear, and things won’t ever be “how they were”.
Onwards, upwards, whatever.
Vaccinaceous
Posted: Mon 13 December, 2021 Filed under: Covid, Customer Services, Domestic, Health, Milton Keynes Leave a comment »Somewhat fortuitously, I managed to get my Covid booster jab a few weeks ahead of the latest Omicron variant’s appearance, so it was already in full effect by the time Omicron occurred. (That wasn’t through anything like me being organised, of course, just the way timings worked out) At the time it was a nicely organised process – rock up at the time booked, sign in, get the jab, wait fifteen minutes (in case I’m allergic to the jab and die, or something) and then fuck off to get on with the rest of my day.
The week after, I also ended up getting my flu jab. (In my opinion, getting the “you now qualify for a flu jab” message is *definitely* a sign you’re getting old) It’s safe to say that getting that one done was pretty much the polar opposite, and not far short of an absolute clusterfuck.
I’d originally tried booking it through Superdrug, but their entire online presence seems to be “Give us a call to find out”. Utterly, utterly fucking useless.
So eventually I went to Boots where the booking process was long, with big doses of repeated information. (No idea why, but hey ho, got it booked) That bit was OK(ish) though. It was when I got to the shop that things went utterly tits-up.
I got there a couple of minutes early, and no-0ne was in the waiting area. No-one at all. Not even staff. Another couple of people also arrived to get their jabs. Eventually someone turned up, and gave me a paper form to fill in with all my details. Which was a bit of a concern.
It turned out that – in a large town-centre store – the “proper” jab person was on a day off, and no-one knew their password, or could log in to the system and see what bookings were expected. (Nor, as it turned out, mark appointments as completed etc.) So it was all back to paper, and no-one had a single sodding clue about what was happening, who was booked in (or when) and generally shambolic.
The jab process itself was fine, once everything was sorted. And thankfully I’ve experienced no real side-effects from either vaccination.
Mind you, the following day, I got a set of messages and emails from Boots telling me that I’d missed my appointment. I assume it’s also not gone into my medical record, so I could probably decide to get another one early in the new year, or something. (Not that I would, but still, fucking hell)
Anyway, it’s all done now, and so far as I’m concerned, if one of these viruses is going to get me, they’re going to have to work bloody hard to do so.
Non-Emergency
Posted: Mon 20 September, 2021 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, Getting Old(er), Health, Introspective, Milton Keynes, Thoughts Leave a comment »Back in early 2021, I did something stupid to my knee – still no idea what – which I didn’t take overly seriously. It was sore enough that I did use a knee brace – particularly overnight – but it didn’t incapacitate me or anything.
Anyway, it turns out that the brace is quite possibly the worst thing I could’ve done, as it allowed things to heal incorrectly and so on.
The knee still plays up – but it’s intermittent. When I first stand or move, it’s sore as fuck, but then it eases off. I’m still fully capable of walking miles on it, but it’ll hurt significantly the next day, or if I then stop and leave it in one position for a long time (for example, driving home from wherever) Having talked to others with a similar thing, and doing some research, I think what I managed to do was a meniscal tear – basically ripping some of the meniscal membranes in my knee. Ooops.
Honestly, it’s pretty certain now that there’s not going to be much I can do to improve it. It’s as healed as it’ll get. But I’d like to get a proper diagnosis of it, in case I’m wrong – I’m only basing this so far on personal experience (of my own damage, and the stories of others) and Dr. Google/Wikipedia, so it’s quite possible that I could be wrong.
However, getting that diagnosis is proving problematic. It’s not an urgent thing by any chalk, but that’s an issue. My GP surgery are still only taking bookings on the actual day, so it’s a free-for-all of calling in at 8:30 in the morning in order to get a slot that day. And honestly, I feel guilty at that point about trying to get a slot that could be better used by someone with, you know, something actually important/urgent.
It really is a massively fuckwitted plan. I don’t understand why they can’t do it so that at least one of the GPs in the practice is doing non-urgent bookings for even one day a week. (Or balance the load and have a rota of who does a non-urgent day, or even week as a break from the urgent daily shit)
As it is, in this case I don’t honestly know that the GP would even be the best thing – all they’re likely to do is say “Oh, that’ll need an X-Ray/MRI” and refer it to the local(ish) hospital anyway. So maybe it’d be better to go direct to what used to be the “Minor Injuries” clinic, so I can get a scan straight away. But “Minor Injuries” is now somehow “Urgent Care” (which is somehow different to “Accident and Emergency”) and that has the same effect on me – it’s non-urgent, and there are people way more in need of treatment than I am.
I’ll get round to it in the end, I’m sure. But in the meantime it’s a situation that is utter, utter bollocks.
September Restart (Hopefully)
Posted: Wed 1 September, 2021 Filed under: D4D™, Depression, Domestic, Health, SAD, Sleep - or lack thereof, Thoughts Leave a comment »So, yes, I’m still alive. There’s been a bundle of stuff going on that isn’t blog-friendly (or even interesting) and August has been it’s usual shower of shit.
I don’t know why it happens, but it does, and it’s not a conscious process at all. But I’ll have about two weeks where pretty much nothing goes right, and it whacks my brain hard, and then I realise that yes, yet again, it’s bloody August.
Obviously this year I also got slightly walloped by July, but well, who’s counting?
As is obvious, I got through it all – and in fairness, it’s nothing major that’s been occurring, I’m still in the same house, same job, nothing epic has altered. But it hits me hard anyway, like I’ve had enough energy to keep going ’til now, then I just feel like I’ve been slammed into a wall, and there’s little to no time or energy to do anything for a few weeks.
So anyway, yes, September. Let’s see how things go from here…
Jabbed 2
Posted: Mon 24 May, 2021 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Health Leave a comment »On Friday, I got my second Covid vaccination jab. It wasn’t supposed to happen ’til 1st June, but as I live in the perineum between two hotspots of new-variant Covid increases, I’d decided to bring it forward a couple of weeks. (And obviously was allowed to do so via the NHS system)
As with last time, the entire process was quick and efficient, and went really well. The biggest downside was that the nurse managed to stick the needle right into a clump of muscle tissue/fibres, which hurt a bit more than the usual one. “Oh yes, I did see it twitch”, she said afterwards when I commented on it.
Not, of course, that it matters a damn. If that’s the worst of what happens to me, I’m pretty fine with that.
Interestingly, this time I’ve had absolutely no side-effects at all – not even a sore arm. And again, I’m not complaining about that at all. It’s just it’s a bit odd, considering how many people seem to suffer those side-effects.
And it also triggers that little paranoid part of my brain that says “Well, if you’ve not even had any soreness, how do you know it’s worked, eh?”. Which is bloody ridiculous, but still a thought process that’s been happening.
Anyway, it’s all done now – unless the PowerClowns decide we need a booster jab in the autumn/winter, of course. But for now it’s done, and I am (or at least I will be) as protected as it’s possible to be. Of course, that won’t stop me from wearing masks and so on – I think they’re going to be here for a while still – but it is good to know I’m doing what I can.
Jabbed
Posted: Wed 17 March, 2021 Filed under: Domestic, Health Leave a comment »Yesterday, I got my first dose of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine.
It was an impressive piece of organisation (which is how you can tell it was sod-all to do with national Government) – i got to the vaccination centre at 8:55 for my 9am appointment, went straight through, giving necessary information and so on, sat down, got the jab, and was out again by 9:05.
Interestingly, I didn’t have to do the expected sit-and-wait for 15 minutes to check I didn’t have any kind of allergic reaction. I assume it was because I’d answered no to the questions “Are you on any other medication” and “Have you ever had an allergic reaction” – I know others on the same day in different locations still had to sit and wait – but no explanation was actually given.
Happily, twenty-four hours on, I’ve had no reactions of side effects at all to the first jab, which makes me fairly optimistic for things.
Obviously there’s still a way to go – there’s another three weeks before this dose is supposed to be fully effective, and my second dose is on 1st June. Even so, that means that by the end of June I’ll be as protected as possible.
Alone vs Lonely
Posted: Sun 22 November, 2020 Filed under: Domestic, Health, I Don't Understand, Lockdown, Mental Health, People, Thoughts 1 Comment »With the current Covid stuff, I’ve found it interesting to see how it has affected a range of people.
One of the big complaints about it is how the lockdowns have made so many people realise how lonely they are, along with the damage it’s done to those social norms and events.
Truly, this isn’t something I can empathise with. I’ve never really lived close to any of my friends – they’re scattered all over the place – so I’m absolutely used to being on my own in any particular area. So I’m alone, but I’m never lonely.
Alongside that, I don’t know, I simply don’t feel those things. I’m happy on my own, and always have been. Being sociable is my “not normal“, being on my own is the default position.
In all of that, I recognise that I’m “lucky“. I’ve come through this year OK, with far less damage than most people have suffered – whether that’s realising their lives are more lonely than they thought, being ill (or watching others being ill), or just seeing things change so much and feeling insecure because everything “normal” has suddenly tilted beyond recognition.
I sort-of understand that desire for everything to “go back to how it was“, but to me even that still carries a fair degree of self-delusion. Things have changed, and it’s (to me) far easier and smarter to embrace those changes and make progress with them (I hate the expression “the new normal”, but that’s what this is – even with vaccines and so on, there’ll still be major changes for the forseeable future)
I don’t know what 2021’s going to bring – although I don’t think it’s going to be a positive year – but I’m pretty sure I’ll get through it, same as I have this year. And all I can do is hope that the same is true for those I give a sod about.
Six Months In, and No Real End In Sight
Posted: Sun 27 September, 2020 Filed under: Covid, Domestic, Health, People, Thoughts Leave a comment »This week, it’s been six months since Lockdown was announced. And in the same week, they’ve announced that the newest set of rules/laws/guidelines/guesswork are likely to apply for at least the next six months.
I wish I could say I was surprised. But I’m just not.
I don’t honestly think things will go back to “how they were”. Things will change – things have already changed – and they won’t go back to what they were. I fucking hate the expression “the new normal”, but it’s true, that’s what we’re going through, and we’re still finding our way through it, figuring out how things will be.
All the people-pleasing crap about a vaccine/cure for Covid is just that – crap. We might end up with the equivalent of the flu jab for Covid – might – but it will just be a defence. Even the flu ‘jab is just guesswork, a prediction based on what flu strains were around two years ago. Even those who’ve had the jab can still end up getting flu.
I don’t know all that the future will bring. I don’t even know how things will look in six months time – and nor does anyone else.
All any of us can really do is keep ourselves safe, and hope everyone else is doing the same thing. Other than that, it’ll just be a case of “we’ll see”.
Archery Return
Posted: Wed 5 August, 2020 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Health, Introspective, Personality, Thoughts Leave a comment »Back in March, I wrote about my starting to get back into archery after way too long – it’d been a decade or more since I last went, and this year I found a local(ish) club and went through their ‘beginners’ process (for insurance purposes etc.) before getting my bow checked over and slightly updated. In a spectacularly piss-awful piece of timing, I got that done on the same day that lockdown was announced. Bugger.
Fortunately, the club has its own field, so it’s been possible to use it during the lockdown. I had to sort out a first induction meeting (to establish that I knew their rules and so on) and get my membership card, and from there I’ve been able to go on a regular basis.
So far, I’ve been for eleven sessions, and enjoyed pretty much all of them – last week’s one was less good, but that was just weather and environment being a bastard, plus a healthy dose of hubris from having had a really good session the week before, and it all just clustered up into a shitfest.
As it turns out, it seems I’m generally OK at the whole thing. I’ve been taking my time, building up my strength and stamina through the sessions, rather than aiming to be super-competitive or anything.
The thing for me is that I’m good enough. As with a lot of things, I find I don’t have the obsessive side of things, so I lack that desire to do everything exactly the same way, that push for perfection and rigid routine. Indeed, the people who are like that bore and annoy me. I’m doing this primarily for fun – I like the challenge of getting things right and doing well – and it’s another way of building up my strength and stamina, which is fine with me. But no, I don’t think I’ll ever be at the high end of the club’s score table and so on, because I get to the point of “That’ll do”, and it’s enough for me.
But I’ll keep on going, and see how things go.
Healthy Figures
Posted: Mon 29 June, 2020 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Getting Old(er), Health, Thoughts, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »I said a while ago that I’d write this, and then never got round to it. (I also thought I’d written it before, but a couple of searches didn’t find anything. Which is odd.)
Anyway. Back at the start of 2018, I did my semi-regular checkup visit at the local GP, which all worked out as “fairly healthy in general“. As usual, the main ‘problem’ was that I’m significantly heavier than I “should” be. So I asked for help from the GP, asked what they could do or suggest. And the response? “Oh, you’re not obese enough to get NHS treatment“. Well OK, that’s about as helpful as a kick in the cock.
So, being me, I pushed for some referrals – I already wanted to lose weight, but that kind of attitude really steamed my piss, and I wanted to get some better figures and find out more about what was going on. I’ve been logging my food intake for years now, and also keeping track of what I walk and so on, so I knew beforehand that my usual calorie intake was around the recommended 2,500 a day mark (albeit with some days/weekends of excess) and I walk an average of at least 10,000 steps a day.
First, I got a referral to Slimming World – and the less said about that, the better. An unremittingly negative and unhelpful experience all round.
I also got a referral to the Dietician service at Bedford Hospital, which wasn’t much more positive, but did end up with some good connections and results.
With the service, we tried a set of calorie-reduction diet plans, none of which worked. However, through it I also got a connection to the Uni of Beds’ Sport Science department, where I was able to (finally) get one of the tests done that I really wanted – an RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) test, to establish what level of energy I’m actually burning. RMR is basically a measure of the calories the body burns if it’s simply laying in bed doing nothing. No food intake, no exertion at all. It took about an hour to run from start to finish, and then a couple of weeks to crunch the data and produce a report.
So. My RMR is 2,800 calories a day – even if I just laid in bed and did sod all, I’d need more calories than the recommended 2,500 a day. Taking into account calories for digestion, as well as exertion, It’s likely I’m burning around 4,000 a day. (As it turns out, I did write about BMR/RMR – ten years ago!)
On the downside, this information never really sank in with the Dietician. They kept on insisting that eating less had to result in losing weight. And in all honesty, it should – but didn’t. Looking at the figures, I’m already taking in less than I’m expending, and dropping the intake simply widened the gap even further. All it did was leave me even more tired, and seriously grouchy.
It ended up with a bit of an argument as my sense of humour finally failed, I wrote a full bulleted list of what was happening (with all the information from above) and why I suspected things weren’t working. That actually finished things fairly positively, although they didn’t have any better suggestions once we were outside the standard answers.
Also along the way, I ended up joining a local group called “Gutless” for overweight men. It consisted of two hours a week, one of food education, and one of physical exercise and workouts. For me, I didn’t learn much from the food education, but the training was positive, and started me doing more than I had. And since the Gutless course finished, we’ve maintained the exercise routine with the same trainer, which has also remained positive.
All told, I feel happier with how things are – if nothing else, my health record contains the whole list of things tried from the Dietician, and the RMR figures from the Uni of Beds. It means that when the GP tries their “you’re overweight” thing again, they can see what’s been tried.
However, I don’t really know what the answer is. My food intake has stayed much the same (and some of those weekends of excess actually make me lose weight) and I do more, with the extra workouts twice a week, and the archery I’ve recently re-taken up as well as maintaining the walking I do. I’m far, far stronger than I was, my shape is better, my stamina is fearsome, and I feel far healthier – but somehow, my weight hasn’t actually changed in a good decade, no matter what I do.
I’d like to lose more some – it’s just that still, everything I try isn’t working. I think that at some point I’ll have to go back and get more data and ideas, but really I don’t yet even know the right questions to ask.
I’ll figure it out one day, I’m sure.
Lockdown – Health and Resilience
Posted: Wed 17 June, 2020 Filed under: Change, Domestic, Food, Health, Lockdown, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »Over the last twelve weeks, it’s been interesting hearing that a lot of people have put weight on, mainly through a lack of available exercise opportunities, and generally eating loads of crap food while “working” from home.
I’m happy to say that hasn’t been the case here – in some ways that’s really bloody annoying, and in others I find it quite reassuring.
My food intake hasn’t really changed – for obvious reasons, my restaurant visits and occasional weekends of excess haven’t been happening. (Although they’ve never really affected me either) But I’ve not ended up eating a load of junk – the cake, biscuits and crisps that a lot of people seem to have been going for in a big way – which also probably helps balance things out.
However, I’ve also not been exercising anywhere near as much. (This has been intentional, as I’ll explain in a bit) Over the last two years I’ve been taking a member of a local fitness group at least twice a week, as well as my own workout routines, fairly epic weekend walks and activities, and averaging well over 10,000 steps a day.
As a result of that lack of exercise, all logic dictates that I should’ve put on weight, with maintaining my intake but not burning off anywhere near as much as usual. But it’s not been the case – throughout this lockdown, my weight has varied by only about a kilo either way.
The reason I chose to stop doing the workouts and so on was to see what happened – again, logic would dictate that I’d have gained weight, and I wanted to find out. I did a lot of work in 2018 to find things that worked for me (and failed on all scores, but came out with more information and hard data/figures) although it looks like I haven’t actually written about that whole thing here. (so that’s something else I can write at some point soon)
It’s frustrating, because I’d love to find an easy answer for losing weight. It’s reassuring, because it does also show that whatever I’m doing is suiting my body – the fact that nothing has really changed shows that. Swings and rounadbouts, and all that jazz.
LockDown – Getting On
Posted: Mon 27 April, 2020 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Lockdown, Single Life, Thoughts, Weight Loss Leave a comment »It’s been a strange couple of months, with all the Coronavirus stuff, and the resultant lockdown. At the time of writing, we’ve completed five full weeks, and it’s looking like there’s still at least another couple of weeks of it to go (at a bare minimum)
All told, I’ve actually done OK (so far, so far) with the whole thing, and it hasn’t affected me too badly – indeed, for the most part my daily life hasn’t changed all that much.
A lot of people have found it tough to be on their own (or in a very restricted domestic situation) and they definitely have my sympathies, but for me it’s been much the same as usual. Indeed, the whole thing has really just proved to me that – for me – it was right to go back to being single, and staying that way. (That one might end up being a larger post in the fullness of time)
Additionally, a lot of people seem to have had real issues with shopping, panic-buying and the like – and again, so far I’ve been pretty lucky, and been able to get things done without running out of anything. (That’ll definitely be a bigger future post) There have been things where I’ve changed the supplier, or found a different method on-line, but so far there’s been nothing I’ve run out of (or even short of)
My health’s been fine, and so far there’ve been no signs of picking up the virus or anything. I’ve slacked off a bit on the whole exercise thing – although I’m still doing some, it’s just nowhere near what I was doing – and in a fit of irony, I actually lost a small amount of weight as a result. (Yeah, my body chemistry is still epically fucked) But I’m also not snacking and nibbling – which again seems to be a lot of people’s coping mechanism – so in general things are pretty good.
Even work-wise I’ve been lucky and most of my stuff is keeping on going. Obviously that might change with time, but for now it’s all still stable, and going well. And there’s a couple of new projects coming in as well, which should (I hope) make things easier as well.
So all-in-all things are good here. And I know that makes me ridiculously fortunate, and far, far luckier than many others.
Bow Time
Posted: Sun 29 March, 2020 Filed under: 2019/20, Change, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Getting Out More, Health, Looking Back, Norfolk, Thoughts Leave a comment »Decades ago, I used to be highly into archery, and enjoyed it a lot, including shooting up to County level.
Then life got in the way for a while, until I was reminded (15 years ago now) that I enjoyed it when we went to Center Parcs that I went and sorted out a bow and so on and started to get back into it again, and then life got in the way again.
I’d kept the bow and so on, even though I wasn’t doing the archery, and kept on looking for local(ish) archery clubs whose schedules worked with my own. (This is actually a lot harder than you’d think – most of them are on school grounds or similar, so only open specific evenings, and usually ones where I was already doing stuff)
Anyway, about a month ago now, I found a semi-local (within about 30-40 minutes drive) club that has an outdoor range which is open to use seven days a week, which does suit me. But before I could join properly, I had to do their beginner’s course, in order to prove I could use a bow safely.
I did that a couple of weeks back, and again really enjoyed myself.
The final step was to get my bow properly checked out and serviced (it’s not been fired in eight years, I wasn’t going to try it without getting it inspected!) and that happened a week ago on Friday at a place I’d been recommended to use. Again that was a really good – if not cheap – experience, and by the end of my time there, I was grouping my arrows (at a shorter indoor range) within the space one gets if you circle fingers into an OK gesture.
I filled in, signed and sent off the membership forms the following day, so now I’m just waiting to get my confirmation and card.
All told, I’m generally feeling pretty optimistic about it, and looking forward to seeing how things go.
Quiet
Posted: Sat 28 March, 2020 Filed under: D4D™, Domestic, Health Leave a comment »A lot has changed in the last month – not really for me personally, but for the world. As a result, I haven’t felt much like writing, but while I’m here and not doing much, I thought I’d at least update a bit, catch up on some posts, some thoughts and braindumps along the way.
But regardless of that, I’m still here.
A Quieter January
Posted: Sun 26 January, 2020 Filed under: 2019/20, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Old(er), Getting Organised, Health Leave a comment »Back in December I said about planning to have things being quieter and calmer in 2020, and I’m working on it. But it’s decidedly odd in some ways.
Each weekend of January has had a day “off”, where I’m not doing as much. I usually prefer to at least get out and do something (even if, like today, ‘something’ is just going to the cinema to see stuff) but there’ve even been a couple where I didn’t leave the house – and they definitely felt weird.
It’s actually something that is – for me – very hard to do. It’s taking time to think of it as being “OK” to have days like these. What makes it harder is that I’m physically used to being out and doing stuff – the days of doing Not Much actually leave me feeling achy, tired and grouchy. I honestly don’t yet know how long it’ll take for that to stop happening, or at least get easier.
I’m still working on it though. February is currently planned to be similar – I’ve only got one weekend where there are things booked for both days. So we’ll see how things have progressed in that time, and whether I’m doing better on Not Much days than I currently am…
Slightly Clobbered
Posted: Fri 13 September, 2019 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Single Life Leave a comment »The last month here seems to have been a parade of minor health complaints, and it’s been more than a bit annoying.
This time last month I got stung by that poxy wasp, and that’s only just healed. Because it was right in the crook of my elbow, it kept on opening up with every movement of my arm, so it’s scarred up a bit more than I’m happy with. Still, there we go, that’s life.
The weekend after that, I was spectacularly unwell – and no-one needs the details of it, but it wasn’t fun.
Then over the start of September, while also doing the whole Meatopia thing, I’d picked up a summer cold. Again nothing epic, but it hit me hard during the week once Meatopia was over.
This week, I managed to slightly bugger up my back – again, nothing major, just the muscles around the lower back rather than the spine itself. Not that that stops it from hurting like a twat every time I stood up, of course! It’s easing off again now, at the end of the week, which is at least some kind of positive.
Individually, nothing has been significant – but when it’s all combined, I’m just feeling a bit run-down. Let’s hope it gets better from here on.
Summer Cold
Posted: Mon 2 September, 2019 Filed under: Domestic, Health Leave a comment »All through last week, I’ve been dealing with what appears to be a summer cold, and not a nice one.
No idea where or how I picked it up, but it’s been bloody unpleasant – almost verging on the feel of tonsilitis a couple of times.
It seems to be on the wane again now, thank god. It’s been a week of feeling like absolute rubbish (and also while doing a lot of the idiot walking for Meatopia and so on) so it’ll be good to be back to normal.
Small Wins – Suited
Posted: Mon 22 April, 2019 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Health, People, Thoughts, Weight Loss Leave a comment »As part of the “generally busy” of the last few weeks, I was asked to attend a funeral/cremation for the father of a friend of mine. As the dresscode was described as “formal” I opted for my much-loved three-piece suit that I got made in Cambridge. Turns out, that suit is exactly 12 years old (I took delivery of it at the start of April 2007)
Anyway, when I tried it on, I was really pleased to find that it still fits just fine – the most I had to do was brush the dust off it, as I haven’t worn it that much in the last few years.
So basically, I’m taking it as a small win that actually I haven’t changed size/weight/dimensions over that 12 year period. I know I’m still overweight and blah blah blah, but it’s been utterly consistent for over a decade, which I’m pretty happy with. I know there have been fluctuations over that time, but this current state certainly appears to be my default.
And I’m OK with that.
Slump
Posted: Wed 17 April, 2019 Filed under: Bankruptcy, Change, D4D™, Depression, Domestic, Getting Organised, Health, Insomnia, Rebuilding, Thoughts 1 Comment »Things have been quiet on D4D of late. Basically, I’m in a bit of a slump, and at the moment I’m not quite sure how to get out of it.
There’s a lot of reasons behind it, but mainly it’s down to an overbearing feeling of stagnation, or being a bit bogged down. I’m used to having change in my life, and at the moment it’s not really there. Some of that is inertia, some of it is still the final stages from the bankruptcy process and some of it is the current state of things. But it all adds up to an overall sludge – and while I know I want things to change, I also don’t quite know what I want to do next, or where I want to be.
Domestically, I’ve been in this house for seven years. That’s by far the longest I’ve been in any one place since I left the family home. I was looking at moving last year when the tenancy came up, but that was only just after the bankruptcy finished, and I didn’t want to push things while it was still showing up on credit checks and the like. So I’m thinking about it for this year – but there’s also nowhere that’s dragging me, nowhere that I’ve been and thought “OK, this is where I want/need to be”, and it’s all a bit up in the air. There’s still time, though.
Workwise, I’ve been working on the same project for more than three years. (Probably closer to 4, all told) And while we’ve got a lot done, there still feels like no end in sight (things keep on being added in to it, or stuff is more complex than initially expected) which doesn’t help. I like contracting in general for exactly this – that each contract is finite – even though they can (and usually do) get extended, they still have an end date where I can say “Nope, I’m done”. This one is open-ended, and it’s feeling more and more like a proper job and blah blah.
Outside of those two things, there’s so much doubt about what’s going on in the UK – with Brexit being delayed even further, it’s left everything in limbo again, of not knowing what’ll happen with it, and what’ll happen with jobs, economy and so on if and when it happens. I can’t deny, that all contributes to the current sense of stagnation.
I’m not depressed – well, no more than usual – and I’m still getting out and getting other stuff done. It’s just that I’ve not got the time or energy for anything extra. I wish I did, but I don’t.
I’m going to keep on working on it, though. I know I need a couple of new projects to be getting on with – but I also need to find the motivation to get it going. That’s where the stagnation is really hurting – I know I need and want to change, but right now the drive to change things is also being blocked.
I’ll figure it out, I know – I always do, and always have done. And hopefully it won’t take too much longer to turn the corner.
Poorly Sick (part two)
Posted: Mon 4 February, 2019 Filed under: Day Trips, Domestic, Driving, Getting Out More, Gigs, Health, Single Life, Stupidity, Travel Leave a comment »Last week’s “Poorly Sick” has continued on for the last week – although also not helped by my own general idiocy.
On the Tuesday, while coughing my lungs out (mmm, tasty) I drove up to Manchester to see friends, and then go with them to see Massive Attack at the Manchester Arena. And then drove home afterwards, like a friggin’ lunatic. By the time I got back – Wednesday morning, 2:30am – I’d twatted my ribs with the coughing I’d done, and felt fairly rough.
Wednesday was spent at home feeling ropy (while also getting enough work done to keep people happy) and Thursday I was on-site down in Chesham. I was feeling shitty enough there (and cold enough, the office being ridiculously cold) that I left at lunchtime and came home to thaw out.
Friday was also quiet, spent mainly at home.
Saturday was a trip to London to meet another friend and see “When we have sufficiently tortured each other” at the National Theatre (Spoiler : Don’t bother, it’s cobblers)
And then Sunday was another daft day-trip, this time down to the edge of Somerset to see other friends. And back home the same day, getting back at midnight on the dot.
So yeah, a week of being comprensively unwell while still being daft.
Hopefully things are back to a more even keel this week, but time will tell.
Poorly Sick
Posted: Mon 28 January, 2019 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Health, Travel Leave a comment »It’s that time of year again, where I pick up a cold/flu bug and feel like crap. I think it’s just a cold, although last night I was shivering in bed while also being roastingly hot, so who the hell knows.
Of course, it’s also in a week where I’m stupidly busy and doing a bundle of driving. So that’ll be fun.
Anyway, we’ll see how it goes, and hopefully I’ll feel better before long.
In the meantime, bleurgh.
Ten Years Back
Posted: Mon 14 January, 2019 Filed under: D4D™, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Looking Back, Memory, Norfolk, Sleep - or lack thereof, Thoughts, Weight Loss 1 Comment »This weekend there’s been a bit of a “ten years ago” meme going round social media, and while I won’t get involved (mainly because I don’t do photos of me, let alone photos of me from a decade ago) it did make me go back to the archives here and have a look at what was going on. Which was quite interesting (to me, anyway)
Ten years ago, I was still with Herself, we were in the Norfolk house, and sleeping abysmally while also sick as chuff with a chest infection of sorts. So, some things never change. I was working in a local-government job I hated – and the post about that was exactly ten years ago today – and generally doing OK.
I did also find a post about my weight – and again, not much has changed. I’ve lost a bit of weight since then – which I’m happy with – but all told it’s really stayed pretty stable. (There’s another post back in Jan 2005 about the same thing, with similar figures to where I’m at now)
Of course, there have been a lot of changes in that ten years, but it’s also interesting to see what’s stayed much the same…
Closing The Year
Posted: Mon 31 December, 2018 Filed under: 2017/18, 2018/19, Bankruptcy, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Looking Back, Rebuilding, Reviews(ish), Single Life, Thoughts, Travel, Weight Loss Leave a comment »And so we’re at the end of 2018. And as such, it seems apt that the last post of the year should be a quick assessment and overview.
All told, it’s been a good – and busy – year.
There’s been more travel than usual, with that week in Toronto to add into the bargain.
There’s been more work, but also more fun times, trips out, meals, etc.
I’ve been doing a lot of work on weight-loss which has ultimately ended up not doing much – but I have more knowledge, more figures, and the steps I’ve taken have improved my health, strength, stamina, and resilience. They’ve just done sod-all to lose actual weight. But I’m OK with that, and it’s something I’ll continue to work on.
On the downside, I’m ending the year with a bit more debt than I’d like. It’s nothing earth-shattering, nor even major. A fair chunk of it is for tickets for things in 2019, of which another decent chunk is owed to me by others for their tickets. But all the same, it’s more than I’d like it to be.
However, in a fit of progress and being grown up, it’s also now all in one place, with zero-interest ’til 2022, and it’ll be done by the end of 2019. I could do it even quicker if I wanted – and I may do so – but it’s all under control, and I’m OK with it.
There are, as always, things I haven’t done – no matter the good intentions, they just haven’t happened. I’ll continue to work towards those things, and I’m going to write more about that tomorrow.
All told, it’s been a positive year, and I’m feeling pretty good at the end of it.
Endurance
Posted: Fri 21 December, 2018 Filed under: Domestic, Health, People, Thoughts 2 Comments »The “Weekend Reading” posts by Gordon are one of my regular sources of interesting stuff – I know I’ll usually find something interesting there that I haven’t found/seen myself.
A few weeks back, he added a link to this story of endurance (and absolute lunacy) which I found fascinating.
Gary Cantrell clanged a bell at 6:40 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 20, signaling 70 runners to jog off into the woods on his farm in Tennessee. They had an hour to complete a 4.1667-mile loop trail. Easy. Most of the group finished with 15 minutes to spare. The bell clanged again at 7:40 a.m., and they ran it again. And at 8:40 a.m., and 9:40 a.m., and every hour after that until, one by one, they quit. There was no known finish line. The race went on, day and night, until the bell clanged and only one runner answered.
I find myself hugely in awe of people like these – the determination to keep going, at the cost of just about everything, until they simply can’t do any more. I know my own endurance isn’t bad (well, at least in the context of general humanity) and that I can keep on going for a decent amount of time. While I’d never do a challenge like the Backyard Ultra, it’s not the walking/running that would destroy me, it’d be the time spent stopped each hour. If I’m walking (or working, driving, whatever) I can keep on going for as long as necessary. But when I stop, I stop. Restarting is (for me) far, far harder.
Regardless though, the entire concept of running four miles each hour, every hour, without a break – that’s awesome.
A Very Foodie Week
Posted: Wed 14 November, 2018 Filed under: 2018/19, Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Health, Solo Dining, Travel, Weight Loss 3 Comments »It’s become a bit of a tradition for me to make my birthday into a bit of a foodie thing, since starting off the whole “Eating on my own” thing with the Michelin-starred restaurants a couple of years back.
This year I’d taken the week off and booked a week in Northumberland, which made it even more fun.
So this year my actual birthday meal (well, the day after, but it counted) was at L’Enclume. One heck of a drive across-country – two and a half hours each way – but still better than the five hours each way it would be from home.
Then during the week was an evening at House of Tides – which I love, and rarely miss taking the opportunity to go to when I’m in the North-East.
And finally, while I was in Manchester I visited a very new place, Mana, because it sounded interesting. (And it was!)
So it’s been a foodie week, and very enjoyable. But I might need to walk a lot over the coming week or so to make up for it…
Nasturtia
Posted: Tue 13 November, 2018 Filed under: Domestic, Food, Getting Old(er), Health, Single Life, Solo Dining, Thoughts, Travel 2 Comments »So far this week, I have been Unwell. It was very similar to the episode in February where I was also spectacularly Unwell – thankfully this time wasn’t as bad, but it’s still been no fun. Well, I say it’s been better, whereas actually it’s been just as nasty, but in different ways – and I’ve been more prepared this time to deal with the warning signs early.
In February I wasn’t sure what had caused it – I’d had a meal at a (now closed) Michelin-starred restaurant, and was pretty certain that it wasn’t food-poisoning in any way that I recognised. This weekend was the same, no real idea of causation – although I’d had another couple of spectacular meals in the preceding days.
However, there’s only been a couple of common ingredients through the various meals, and with the whole set of symptoms being so similar, they’re what I’m looking at in particular. (And this is also where it’s really useful to have taken photos of the stuff I’ve eaten, to be able to use them for reference on stuff like this)
The conclusion I’m being drawn to is that I have a *really* unpleasant reaction to either nasturtiums or marigolds. It takes about 24-36 hours to kick in, and then yeah, no fun at all. In the case of this week, the lunch I had in Manchester on Saturday was very heavy in nasturtium garnishes, and I think that’s what triggered everything. And looking at WebMD (via a Google search) I found that nasturtium can cause stomach upsets (look in the “side effects” tab) – which is one nice term for what’s affected me on both occasions.
I may at some point decide to experiment a bit, by trying another meal with nasturtium garnishes and see if the results are the same – but it’s not something I’m going to be eager to do.
In the meantime, it’s not an allergic reaction – and I’ll never be dramatic enough as to claim it as one – but at the same time I think it’s going to be something I might need to start mentioning to restaurants when I book in. Which sucks, but when all’s said and done, it could be a lot worse. And at least I’ve now got a fairly good idea of what’s going on.
2018/19 – What’s the Plan?
Posted: Tue 6 November, 2018 Filed under: 2018/19, Business, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Getting Out More, Health, Single Life, Thoughts Leave a comment »As has become traditional round here, it’s time for a list of what I’m aiming for and hoping to do in the coming year. Some will be familiar (because I keep starting and not finishing) but I’m also hoping to get rid of a couple that never really happen, and maybe add a couple to replace them.
- Keep on working on losing weight.
This one is a long-term thing, and one I’ve written about before. For me, it’s a struggle – I’ve worked with a number of resources this year so far, and feel better-informed than I was, but there’s still a long way to go. If nothing else, this year so far has eliminated a lot of options and bullshit. - Keep on improving fitness/health
Linked to losing weight, I’ve had more success with this one over the last 12 months, but there’s still stuff to do and improve. - Continue doing the stuff I enjoy
Various bits here – but basically, do stuff I want to. Not as a “fear of missing out” (“FOMO”) thing, but just as in “I really want to see/do [x]” and doing so. (This is, of course, in direct contrast to ‘doing less’ in the list below, so it’s a bit of a balancing act!) - Be more sociable
I’ve realised this year that I’ve been utterly crap with seeing friends – I’ve been doing a lot of stuff, but at the same time it hasn’t been overly sociable, hasn’t involved going to see friends at all. And that needs sorting.
I’m getting rid of some of the longer-running goals. They’re still things I want to work on – I’m not giving up on the plans, just on the having them as goals – but it affects me more when I see my ongoing failure to complete/do/start them year on year.
So I’ll note them here as reminders, but they’re not part of the main “What I’m aiming for” list. See if it works better for me as advisories, rather than as targets/goals. And those reminders are…
- Writing
I want to do more writing – I’ve got the ideas, but it’s finding the time, inclination and drive to get them actually going. I hope to schedule more in – I’ve also invested in some tools that should allow me to do so – but we’ll see. - Business plans
As with the writing, I’ve got the ideas, but need to allocate time and energy to getting them to work. In some cases I’m frustrated by time, in others by funding for getting them how I want them. We’ll just have to see how things go. - Doing Less
This is kind-of related to the above two – if I could sort my brain out so that ‘doing less’ was better, then I’d hopefully have more time to spend on the writing and business ideas. - Plan Better
And the final one, which controls all of the others – make better plans, notes, and be better organised.
Gutless
Posted: Wed 17 October, 2018 Filed under: 2017/18, Cynicism, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Health, Milton Keynes, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »As part of my whole weight/fitness thing, I’ve been going once a week to a programme called Gutless for the last twelve weeks.
It’s been an interesting programme, basically one two hour evening session a week, which consists of one hour of physical exercise, and one of information and chat about food and nutrition.
For me, the exercise has been of more use and interest than the food and nutrition stuff (as I learned more for exercise techniques etc. than I did for the food/nutrition) but it’s all been a generally positive programme.
As with other things I’ve been trying this year, it hasn’t been as successful as I’d have hoped – for me, at least – but in general it appears to have worked well for the other members of the group.
For me, it’s given me extra ideas and stuff to do, as well as knowledge of better workouts and so on, I’ll take that knowledge and go forwards with it as well, so it has been a positive process.
I’m glad I’ve done the course – and the workout/exercise side is going to be continuing on as a separate programme we’ve worked out with the instructor from the programme – and we’ll see how things work out going forwards.
All told, I’m happy with how it’s been. I’d be happier if the weight loss had been better and so on, but I know that it’s also helped me make other positive changes, and right now that’ll do me.
Labelling
Posted: Fri 5 October, 2018 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Food, Getting Organised, Health, I Don't Understand, People Leave a comment »This week, I’ve found myself actually shocked by the news stories about Pret a Manger and their labelling – and more relevantly, the whole story about the death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who suffered an allergic reaction to unlabelled sesame in a Pret sandwich.
The inquest into Natasha’s death was this week – she died two years ago – which is why it’s been in the news this week.
It turns out that the UK’s Food Regulations 2014 have an exception that allows freshly handmade, non pre-packaged food to not be individually labelled – which is the loophole that allowed Pret to get away with not labelling each sandwich individually. To me, that’s disgraceful. The loophole was (understandably) intended for small sandwich bars etc. to not be constrained by huge amounts of red tape. It’s not intended for large commercial efforts. (Although of course they’ve taken advantage of it)
Even worse, Natasha isn’t even the first person to have died as a result of this mis-labelling or lack of information.
All told though, two things in the whole sorry story left me utterly gobsmacked and despairing of people and corporations.
The first was how badly the staff on the flight handled Natasha’s allergic reaction. The doctor who attended to her wasn’t made aware of all the equipment on the plane, and also that “because Natasha went into cardiac arrest as the plane was landing, it would have been unsafe to retrieve the defibrillator from the back of the plane, where it was stored, while Natasha was being tended to at the front” (that quote is from the Guardian story) I mean really, for fuck’s sake, how robotic and uncaring do you have to be, to go “Nope, I’m not going to get that, we’ve got to be prepared for landing the plane”?
The second thing – and to me, the worst – is the timescales involved. Pret a Manger knew about this issue when Natasha died. Two years ago. Yet it’s only now, once the coroner has finished the inquest, that they say “We’ll look at changing our labels“. That’s two years where they’ve known about the problem, and have done nothing. I wonder what the reaction would/will be if someone else turns out to have died for the same reason within that time.
I assume there’s been some corporate legal bullshit going on that says that if they changed the labels before the inquest, they’d be acknowledging they were liable, or some such. Thing is, they were – and are – liable. If the labels had been in place, she wouldn’t have taken that sandwich, and wouldn’t have died. How on earth can that be anything other than being responsible for her death?
Slow Days
Posted: Wed 26 September, 2018 Filed under: Domestic, Food, Getting Organised, Health, Single Life, Thoughts 3 Comments »This month, I’ve come to the conclusion that taking days off (or even having days of doing Not Much) are actually bad for my health. (Note : This post is slightly tongue-in-cheek)
I know I’m renowned for keeping on going, for doing lots of idiot stuff all the time and staying busy. I do also regularly think that I’m doing too much, and need to slow down a bit. However, when I do so, I get massively hit with illness and general ill health.
The weekend before last, I took a day off, doing very little (still maintaining my step count, but not much else) which was much needed. However, that kind of day lets me relax, and my resistance becomes massively lowered – so this time I went down with a stinking rotten cold that hit me like a hammer. which lasted into this week.
This weekend, I did very very little on the Sunday (after a significantly hectic week) and came out of it with the start of a gout attack (happily now faded) and a whole set of aching bones, and an even worse night than usual.
The gout in particular was absolutely my own fault, due to the excesses of the weekend and the fact I hadn’t really planned of prepared for it at all in the ways I normally would. I’ve been able to recover from it quickly this time, because I do know what works and what I need to do.
But all told, I’m pretty sure that days off are just bad things for me.
[NOTE : I actually do know I should slow down more so that things aren’t quite as hyper and exhausting in general. It’s just that I’m incredibly bad at doing so, and this year’s showing no real signs of letting up on that score)
More (and Less) Walking
Posted: Mon 24 September, 2018 Filed under: 2017/18, Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Getting Organised, Health, London, Thoughts, Travel, Weigh Less Leave a comment »The weekend just past is the one where I was supposed to be doing that walked Night Marathon in London. I failed to complete it last year (as I’ve written about elsewhere) and this year didn’t start it – primarily because I just hadn’t been able to get in the practice and preparation that would’ve made it easily doable, so I’d made the decision to not take it on at the last minute.
So it should’ve been this weekend that I did it, and as it turns out, I’m actually quite glad I made that decision. First and foremost, the weather was vile, and doing it while being cold and wet really doesn’t appeal.
Additionally, I’ve picked up a vicious cold (I really should stop having quiet days – they totally kill me) and been feeling rougher than a badger’s backside. To top it off, this week also involved a couple of foodie events (although I’d have rethought at least one of those if I’d still been doing the walk)
All told, I’m still (mostly) happy with the choice to not do the walk this year. I’m annoyed with myself for having let the time slip past, and for not doing the training and preparation I could have done. But there we go, I didn’t do them, and while I probably could have just rocked up and completed it, I wanted to be better prepared this time.
I’m signed up to do next year’s one though, so we’ll see how we go from here to there. And if I don’t do that one either, then I’ll most likely sack off trying again.
Friends and Family
Posted: Mon 20 August, 2018 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Domestic, Health, Thoughts 4 Comments »A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the dumb-ass “Would you recommend this hospital to your friends and family” survey that I received. Between here and Facebook, I received a number of comments from friends saying “Yeah, we keep getting those as well”.
So I complained to the hospital about it, and how stupid it was as a question, and how ill-thought-out it was.
Turns out, this question is that this is the “Friends and Family Test“, which is the NHS’ major/primary metric on what people think of their hospital visit.
According to the NHS, it’s “an important feedback tool that supports the fundamental principle that people who use NHS services should have the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience. Listening to the views of patients and staff helps identify what is working well, what can be improved and how.“
Of course, that’s still garbage, because the question has absolutely nothing to do with what can be improved, or how the actual visit/appointment was. So it’s all a bit pointless.
So it’s worth knowing that if you are someone who gets a lot of these surveys, you can talk to the PALS department of your hospital and get taken off the survey list.
And finally, if you think it’s a dumb-ass question and a pointless survey, it’s worth registering a complaint with the hospital about the survey. The only way they’re going to learn it’s shit is if enough people keep telling them it’s shit.
Gym Thoughts
Posted: Fri 17 August, 2018 Filed under: 2017/18, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Thoughts, Weigh Less, Weight Loss 2 Comments »Following on from earlier posts this week, I’m back to figuring out a gym routine, what works for me, and what will keep me going. (If anything does)
At the moment I’m working first on “just” getting into the habit of going. Without that, it’s far too easy to give up again, so it’s my first goal. It’s hard work, because I simply never feel that endorphin-rush that most people talk about when it comes to gyms and heavy exercise. That makes everything tougher, because the “rewards” I get for going are only statistical – reduced weight (hopefully) and improved strength (which I can track and see in an app or spreadsheet) with none of that emotional/hormonal/endorphinal backup.
Initially, I’m using a gym that’s very close to my office – even fewer possible excuses than usual! On my first visits, I’m not hugely taken with the place, but we’ll see how things go. It’s different to other ones I’ve been to, which may also account for my current feelings, but time will tell on whether I stick with it.
There is another gym that’s easy to access from my office – but it’s about a mile away. It’s the one I was using before, and is one of the new breed of “always open” gyms. (And also cheaper than the current one, but that’s less relevant) I don’t know which one I’ll end up using, but for now it’s more about the routine, the habit, than anything gym-specific.
Ideally, once I’ve established myself a routine/habit, I’ll be able to work on a decent exercise regime as well. (I’ll be doing that from the start, of course, but the routine is the key) I’ll be keeping track of that on the Fitocracy app (or some other equivalent, but I’ve used Fitocracy before)
For now, it’s all just a process, and I’m planning to work on it alongside other things (which will be written about elsewhere/elsewhen) so we’ll see how it goes.
Despite the evidence of this week’s posts, I’m not going to become some kind of gym/health/fitness obsessive – but there’ll be other posts on the subject over the next few months, as I see how things go…
Weaker
Posted: Wed 15 August, 2018 Filed under: 2017/18, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Thoughts, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »Before I made my decision to not do the Shine Night Marathon this year, I was working on losing weight and improving fitness. (That’s another set of posts for later on, though)
There’s some stuff that has taken a long time to happen, and one of those things was getting my arse back into the gym. I stopped going nearly three years ago (October 2015, according to my Fitocracy tracking) because I wasn’t enjoying it or feeling any particular benefits, and I didn’t really regret stopping. I haven’t been paying all that time without using it – I’m not insane! – although I did start a new membership a couple of months back, as part of the process of getting back into it. I just hadn’t actually been in. *cough*
With some other changes in the last week, I finally darkened the door of a gym again this week, to see how I do with it.
And as it turns out, it was OK. Not perfect – although I’m not going to judge on that, because it was just the first visit, and still a learning experience. So I’ll continue to see how it goes, and aim to get back into some kind of routine with it all.
What is interesting though – and is purely a facet of those records with Fitocracy – is how much strength I’ve lost in that three years. For example, when I left the previous one, I was able to do leg-presses at 325lb for 5 series of 50 repetitions. (Yes, my legs are/were monstrous. I know) On my first visit back, I was only able to do 110lbs for 4 series of 20 repetitions. That’s a massive reduction in strength (I can’t even work out the percentage drop)
[Updated : I’m also a massive fucking idiot. Turns out, the weights in the new gym are in Kg, not Lbs. So I’m still weaker than I was, but a lot better than I thought I was doing. That 110lbs? Well, 110kg = 240lbs. Still less than before – but I’m happier with things again now]
I will see how it all goes, and it’ll be interesting to see what progress I make, both with the gym stuff, and the other odds and sods that are going on at the same time.
Decisions
Posted: Mon 13 August, 2018 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Introspective, London, Thoughts Leave a comment »Last year, I signed up for (and started) Cancer Research’s Shine Night Walk in London. I didn’t complete it – various odds and sods conspired to make it impossible without sustaining a lot of damage – and signed up for this year’s one, at the end of September 2018.
I should have been out doing preparation for the last three to six months. Instead, I’m out of shape – with the heat we’ve had this year I haven’t felt at all able to sensibly get out and do the distance walks. I can still beast a seven or eight mile walk with no problems, but the marathon is three or four times that figure.
Right now, it’s five weeks away, so there’s not even any realistic chance I’d have of being properly prepared for it, either.
So I’ve made the decision – I’m not going to go through with it this year. It’s something I do want to do and complete, but trying to do it this year would again likely result in more damage than benefits.
I probably *could* do it – and complete it – but I’d be running the risk of hurting myself in the process, and I’ve done enough of that over the last couple of years.
It’s incredibly annoying, and I’m really pissed off about it – but also I’m acknowledging that it’s the most sensible option for now.
Next year, on the other hand…
Satisfaction
Posted: Wed 8 August, 2018 Filed under: Customer Services, Cynicism, Domestic, Getting Organised, Health, Thoughts, Weirdness 5 Comments »Yesterday, I had a (non-urgent, outpatients) appointment at my local hospital. All went well, and I’ll be returning occasionally over the next few months. Which is all as expected.
What was less expected was a text message today from the hospital, containing a “Patient Satisfaction” survey.
The first question? “Would you recommend this hospital to your friends and family?“, and a set of five options for the likelihood of doing such a thing.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I really don’t recommend that my friends or family visit a hospital. Certainly when none of them are even in that hospital’s catchment area.
What kind of cretin comes up with this shit? Even more relevantly, what kind of cretin approves this shit?
And if I’d been – for example – visiting the Oncology department (I wasn’t) for treatment, I wonder if I would have received the same survey?
Summer Cold
Posted: Wed 1 August, 2018 Filed under: Domestic, Health, London 1 Comment »Over the last week, I’ve had another beast of a summer cold. Entirely my own fault, having knackered myself significantly at the Ministry concert (long day in the sun, then an excessively hot gig, leading to a hefty dollop of dehydration and burnout) which weakened all my usual defences. Absolutely standard idiocy in my world, I’m used to it.
So it spent a fair amount of last week gestating, and came into proper being on Friday, and was at its worst on the Sunday.
On the Monday, I woke up at my normal time, and my entire body just went “Nope, sod off, going back to sleep”, and did so for another four hours. (In fairness, I’d also slept abysmally up ’til that point, so it was understandable) It made me late for work, but as that’s a moveable feast anyway, it wasn’t anything traumatic.
That sleep definitely helped sort things out – it’s still ongoing, but I’m definitely over the worst of it now.
As always, this is what happens when I slow things down…
Bourdain
Posted: Mon 11 June, 2018 Filed under: D4D™, Depression, Domestic, Health, Mental Health, News, People, Thoughts Leave a comment »Last week, I was as surprised as everyone else to hear that the chef Anthony Bourdain had committed suicide.
Bourdain was a huge influence on the catering world – you only have to read the many obituaries (including this one) to see the influence he had, and the respect in which he was held.
Depression and suicide are bastards. They make you think you’re not worth anything, make you think the world won’t miss you, make you insignificant. They’re lying bastards.
Twitter and Facebook have been full of people expressing shock, and making depression and mental health a subject to speak about, to help remove the stigma around it all, and make more people aware of how prevalent these things really are.
If nothing else good comes out of the deaths of celebrities, then at least it’s making people talk, making mental health normalised and spoken about. And that can’t be a bad legacy really, can it?
Aging – Making Improvements
Posted: Mon 16 April, 2018 Filed under: 2017/18, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Single Life, Thoughts, Weigh Less, Weight Loss 3 Comments »Following on from my general feelings of being flattened and feeling old, I’ve also been doing some stuff to try and alleviate it a bit, or at least to give myself better information.
The first part of that was a general health review, a visit to the GP to get basic information, as well as booking myself in to get blood tests and so on. (I try to do that every couple of years, as there’s a family history of stuff like underactive thyroid, type two diabetes, heart issues and the like.) As usual, that all came back fine.
The blood-tests were more of a pain in the arse – mainly because I live right on the border of two health authorities, and my surgery refers me to the authority that’s not the one for where I work. So it took me a couple of weeks before I could be bothered to go that way and get them done. But again, once it was done and I’d bothered rinnging up to get my results, everything was fine there too. A couple of figures that aren’t perfect, but everything’s still well within acceptable range of ‘normal’. Which is enough for me. I’ll probably work on them a bit, but it’s nothing that’s even important, let alone urgent.
As usual, they all say I’m too heavy – file under “Sherlock, Shit, No” – but then when they see the figures, and the speeds/distances I usually walk at, they seem to worry less. I’m still working on losing some again, but it does somewhat lessen the urgency when they pretty much shrug and go “Oh, OK”…
Following on from that, I got the aforementioned eye-test, which was also positive. Small changes, but nothing major, and the optician said that my eyes are a lot healthier than those of most people who have similar levels of vision correction to me.
Oh, she also worried me by telling me that people with my level of vision correction are at risk of detached retinas – something that has never been said to me before! – but that mine were OK. (I mentioned this to my parents last weekend, and they added to it by saying ‘Yeah, there’s a family history of doing that, too”) So that’s been great, being told all of a sudden about a potential future health issue I wasn’t even aware of. Joys.
Anyway, all told I’m actually doing OK. Now if I could just get my brain to follow the same path, things would be wunderbar…
Aging
Posted: Wed 11 April, 2018 Filed under: 2017/18, D4D™, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Introspective, Thoughts, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »One of the reasons (I think) for the current phase of my feeling somewhat flattened is relating to me feeling a bit old currently.
That’s not as in “Oh my God, I’m old” and so on, it’s more just some realisations that I’m no longer the age I am in my self-image. Mentally – and many would say emotionally – I’m nowhere near 46. But this year so far I’ve been feeling older – the fun stuff like new aches, just generally feeling rougher than I have previously. It’s all just a bit wearing, no fun at all, and quite demoralising.
Alongside that, over the first three months I put on some weight, which wouldn’t then easily shift in the usual ways I use. Also quite demoralising.
The final bit of the jigsaw was getting an eye test a couple of weeks back. While the prescription hasn’t changed much, it’s changed enough, and we’re looking at my next set of glasses being varifocals. So yeah, I’m feeling a bit old at the moment.
I’m working on it – and that’ll be a follow-up post to this one – but at least I am working on it, and so far that feeling of being flattened is at least lessening as a result.
Sugar Tax
Posted: Mon 9 April, 2018 Filed under: Advertising, Change, Cynicism, Diet Coke, Domestic, Food, Health, Marketing, Politics, Thoughts 2 Comments »On Friday, the UK introduced a “Sugar Tax” on sweet drinks, purportedly to help reduce childhood obesity. Will it work? Personally, I doubt it.
There’s a few reasons – first and foremost, that a lot of manufacturers have already chosen to reduce the sugar levels in their drinks to put them into lower rates for the sugar tax.
Connected to that, diet and zero-calorie versions of most of those drinks have been available for years. If people haven’t chosen to swap by now, will paying 10p extra make them change? Probably not. There’s not even a really visible price difference – at least two of the shop chains I use regularly have upped the price on all the drinks, not just the sugary ones, which also defeats the object. If there were a visible difference ( “I can buy 500ml of the sugary one for £1.50, or the diet one for £1.35, so I’ll save money”) then it might work, but without that, I don’t see that there’s a real driver to force the change.
Alongside that, I *personally* have a problem with government telling me how to be healthy, and attempting to enforce that. I have the same issue when it comes to smoking, the way government encourages people to stop smoking, while also getting massive amounts of income from the tax and duty on cigarettes. (This also applies for alcohol, telling people to drink less while getting the income from the tax and duty, and so on and so on)
I also suspect that there’s a lot more damage done by the ‘invisibly’ sweet drinks – the bizarre creamy milky super-sweet concoctions from Starbucks, Caffe Nero, Costa et al – which now seem to be far more prevalent than sweet fizzy drinks. I suspect there’s a lot more of the obesity blame that can be laid on the coffee culture now than can be laid at the soft-drinks industry. I’m not even sure that the coffee chains are being hit by the sugar tax – I haven’t seen any mention of it being on anything except the soft-drinks industry.
It’ll be interesting to see the results – although of course the government will always claim it to have been a massive success, even when it’s a clusterfuck of monumental proportions – but I really don’t expect to see it have any positive effects on reducing obesity, whether in children or adults.
Low on Steps – Followup
Posted: Wed 7 March, 2018 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Out More, Health, Thoughts 1 Comment »Following on from my “back to normal” post on Monday, things have worked out somewhat differently.
I somehow managed to twist my back and put it out – something to do with slipping a step while avoiding treading on a cat on a staircase, I’m pretty sure – which means that things are a bit more painful than I’d been expecting.
I still managed to get in the walking target on Monday, and utterly failed yesterday. Today’s looking like it’ll be OK, and I’m sure I’ll manage for the rest of the week.
Thankfully, it’s not (so far as I can tell) a major issue, more that a couple of muscles are properly clenched and not doing me any favours. Initially it hurts like a bastard as I walk, and then eases off. That first phase lasts about five minutes, and hurts enough that it’s making my hips and pelvis hurt because I’m obviously walking differently and clenching different muscles.
Then it eases off. I’m aware of it still, and not walking at my usual speed, but it’s all tolerable and so on.
Even so, though, fucking OW.
Low on Steps
Posted: Mon 5 March, 2018 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Out More, Health Leave a comment »Last week was a very quiet one, mainly because of the weather. While I aim for breaking 10,000 steps a day, I wasn’t going to do that while it was ridiculously snowy, icy, and slippery (well, ridiculously for the UK, anyway) Instead, I ended up averaging about 7,000 a day.
Thankfully, we’ve now thawed out for the most part – it’s been surprising to see just how much the temperature has flipped over the weekend, from -5ºC on Friday through to 5°C on Saturday and 8/9°C on Sunday, which has meant that just about all the snow disappeared at quite a speed!
That should mean I’ll be able to get back to normal levels of walking this week, and then a London visit will boost things even further. (That one’s going to be interesting, and something I’ll almost certainly write more about next week)
March is a ridiculously busy month for me, what with one thing and another. That should also help with getting me back to “normal”…
Slightly Explodo
Posted: Fri 9 February, 2018 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Single Life Leave a comment »This week has been an oddly distrubed one in some ways, which has ended up meaning it’s all felt a bit disconnected and weird.
Back on Monday, I drove home from the on-site office feeling rough, heartburn-y and so on, which wasn’t overly pleasant. I assumed I’d had too much caffeine or something.
But no. As it turned out, it was the start of a fairly unpleasant dose of food poisoning (so far as I can tell) By seven I was sweating and knew I was unwell, and by half seven I’d barfed my stomach out. Still rough, I went back downstairs, and basically passed out – which has happened before when I’m seriously unwell, so that in itself isn’t a massive concern. (It’s still not great, don’t get me wrong – but it’s not a “fuck, I need to get to the hospital” type of event like it might be elsewhere) I didn’t come round in a good state at all (and I’m not giving the details on that one, don’t worry) and still shivering and feeling rotten. By half nine I was in bed, and didn’t get up ’til eight the next day. To be honest, that’s always the biggest sign for me that I’ve been really bad, when I ended up sleeping like that.
Since then, I’ve been on the mend. Tuesday was pretty much a write-off, although I did get some stuff done, appointments fulfilled and so on, but didn’t go to the cinema screening I had booked for the evening. The rest of the week has been a bit calmer as a result, and I still don’t feel 100%, but I’m a lot closer to it than I was at the start of the week…
Health Check
Posted: Mon 22 January, 2018 Filed under: Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »It’s been about two years since I last darkened the door of my GP for a health check, so a couple of weeks ago, I made the appointment. That day was today.
I’ve done about half the stuff for now – I apparently now need to go to the local hospital in order to get blood tests done, among other things – but everything so far is apparently ‘very good’, and even ‘puts a lot of our patients to shame’. I’ll take that, to be honest.
- Blood pressure hasn’t changed, and is 130/80. Slightly high (according to charts I’ve then looked at since) but well within acceptable limits
- Blood sugar was perfectly fine – on a “random” check (I had eaten within the time-span, so couldn’t do a fasting blood-sugar etc.) it came back as 7, so the proper fasting one should be lower, and well within limits
- No idea on pulse-rate, but the nurse said it was absolutely fine, so again, I’m happy enough with that.
- Weight, as always, is too high. I’m still working on it, and getting a couple of referrals to other departments to see what they say, or can help with.
So, we’ll see how it goes with the other stuff – I’ll get it lined up to be done this week – but for now I’m feeling pretty content with where things are.
Nailed
Posted: Mon 8 January, 2018 Filed under: Domestic, Health Leave a comment »My feet have a long history of being pretty unpleasant – and last year’s stuff didn’t help. However, let’s be honest, most people’s feet are pretty skanky in some way or other – it really is just degrees of mankiness, rather than it being something noteworthy. (Safe to say, I will never understand people who have a foot fetish, and particularly one for toes. *shudder*)
Anyway, in this particular case, it’s toenails that are the issue. The ones on my little toes have always been weird and tiny (which is a genetic hand-me-down from my mum, hers are exactly the same) but quite loose in some ways too, so I’ve pulled them out on a few occasions. (I can imagine some people wincing already. It’s only going to get worse, I warn you now) I’m used to that happening, and it doesn’t freak me out any more. (I assume it did on the first couple of times it happened, but I don’t recall them)
Last night, though, I noticed that a big patch of nail on one of my big toes had gone all pale and loose and weird, not in a way I’d seen before. So, me being me, I had a bit of an investigate, and it turned out that the whole big patch was loose, and just waiting to come off. A bit of a pull, and there it went, a good half of the nail, all at once.
Fortunately, it appears to have been replaced with new nail underneath – it’s not hurting, there’s no soreness or anything. It’s just… kinda gross.
So I thought I’d share. (But don’t worry, you’re not getting pictures) You’re welcome. 🙂
Retribution
Posted: Wed 13 December, 2017 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »As usual, my body has reacted negatively to the enforced day off on Sunday.
It’s no surprise – I’ve said before, any time I actually stop, I relax, and any illnesses that have been hanging around take the opportunity to pop in for a visit.
This time, it appears to be the start of a heavy cold. Nothing major, nothing that’ll stop me from the daftness of the next couple of weeks, but annoying all the same.
Among other things, I know that it’s another sign I’ve been doing too much, with little to no recovery time. As with everything else, that’s neither a surprise, nor news.
I’ll be fine, and all is good. One of those things, and it’ll all sort itself out over the Festering Season. In the mean time, I’ll be a bit snotty and a bit under the weather. But I’ll get through, as always.
Snowbound
Posted: Mon 11 December, 2017 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Health, London, M1, Milton Keynes, Thoughts, Weather Leave a comment »Yesterday, the weather effectively enforced a day off for me, doing nothing outside. Nothing major, but we had a fair amount (for the UK) of snow overnight, which led to lots of issues with accidents, blocked roads, etc. etc. For my own village, the two main roads out were completely blocked – one by a jack-knifed lorry, and the other just by drivers failing to get up the hills.
So technically it wasn’t the weather itself, so much as the sheer number of people who can’t bloody drive in snow. But still, day off.
In honesty, it was much needed. As I’ve said before, I’ve been ridiculously busy for the last two years – I’ve just counted up, and I’ve had stuff booked in for 48 weeks of 2017 (I’ve counted up til the end of the month) and even on those four ‘free’ ones I was still doing stuff – and December hadn’t provided any real change in that. That’s nothing short of barmy.
So anyway, I’d spent Saturday in London with a mix of food and theatre stuff, so it’s not like it’s been a write-off of a weekend, or anything like that. But a day of doing sod-all – barely going outside, catching up on recorded TV etc., doing some reading, etc. etc. – was definitely A Good Plan.
Whether I feel better for it is still to be determined, but regardless, it was a good day.
Back To Walking
Posted: Wed 22 November, 2017 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Health, London, Thoughts Leave a comment »One thing that was good about my London trip over the weekend was that it was the first decent walks I’d had since I stuffed up my feet around the walking Marathon.
Since then, I’ve taken it a bit easier – I’ve still been walking a lot, but in much smaller distances than usual. But at some point I had to get back into it, and this weekend seemed as good a time as any. I knew the routes I’d be taking, and all the stuff I wanted to do – plus I was prepared.
So on the way to Taste, I purposefully took the Tube a couple of stations further than I usually would, so that the first walk back would be three miles instead of the usual five. I was back to wearing the newest walking boots, and everything was fine for the three mile walk. Even with my intention to ‘take it slow’ I was back to pretty much my standard speed and so on, and that was successful.
On the way back – a different route, as I was heading to central London – for another three miler, it was much harder. Miles five and six, in particular, hurt bits of my feet still.
Fortunately, I had a backup plan, and it all worked out fine. I had a lot of time to kill once I got to central London, so I ended up using that time, getting the tube back up to where I’d parked the car, changed my boots and socks, and then headed back to the same place.
All told, I covered 12 miles on Saturday. My feet got sore, but there was no damage. That’s definitely a win. And once I’d changed boots, it was all fine again.
I do think that the boots haven’t helped – it’s not just that they’re still not properly worn-in, but also there are design differences between the new and old ones that rub in all the wrong places. I think I’m going to have to look at some other alternatives, different boots and talking to retailers and so on that actually know what they’re doing.
Annoying on the score of the boots, but all told I’m happy with how things are going.
Already Taken
Posted: Wed 8 November, 2017 Filed under: 2017/18, Art, Depression, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Sculpture, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »This morning I came across something that sounded really interesting – Yorkshire Sculpture Park are doing a “Room to Breathe : Four walks in four seasons” event, walking and talking around the park, similar to outdoor/walking therapy.
(Facebook event details here, which includes the dates and so on)
Then I looked on my phone at my diary. Oh cock.
So… despite the event being on four different dates through 2018 (right through to September) I’ve already got stuff booked in on each of them. All four, already taken. *sigh*
You know when I said that one of my targets for 2017/18 was to ‘do less’? Yeah, look how that’s already working out…
803
Posted: Mon 6 November, 2017 Filed under: 2017/18, Change, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Thoughts, Weigh Less Leave a comment »Yesterday, I got an email from Runkeeper, the app I use for tracking most of my walks.
According to them, in the last year I’ve tracked 803 miles – which isn’t bad, but does still “only” total an average of 2.2 miles per day for the year.
So I did OK (and I’m aware that there’s a lot that Runkeeper doesn’t track, for a number of reasons) but still, I know I can do much better than that…
Come this time next year, it’ll be interesting to see whether I have done more or less than this year’s 803…
Challenge, as they say, accepted.
2016/17 – What Happened ?
Posted: Sat 4 November, 2017 Filed under: 2016/17, Bankruptcy, D4D™, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Getting Old(er), Getting Organised, Health, Introspective, Rebuilding, Single Life, Thoughts Leave a comment »So, a year ago I listed the following as the plans for 2016/17…
- Continue rebuilding the finances, and keep boosting the savings
- Exercise, improve health, lose weight
- Complete September’s walking marathon – ideally in under seven hours. (My target is more ambitious than that, but I’ll be happy with 7 hours)
- Write more. (And ideally complete/publish some)
- Do more of the ideas around my own business
- Get out less. Ideally, some kind of middle-ground between being ultra-quiet/sensible, and the idiocy of the last year
- Look more at some political ideas, and see how that goes. (This one’s the random ‘maybe’ one, I don’t know if anything will happen with it or not)
How did it go?
- Finances : Yeah, not bad. Not at the totals I wanted to be at (which is a familiar theme) but I did what I wanted to, so I’m happy with that one
- Health : Less so. I haven’t gained any weight, but nor have I lost much. Good intentions have been undermined by an utter failure on Number 6, and life getting in the way of things
- Walking Marathon : Failed utterly, as I’ve wittered about at length. But I’m already signed up for the 2018 one…
- Write more : Failed utterly. There are ideas, but as with Health, I’ve been abysmal at doing less, so yeah. Bugger.
- Own Business : Kinda. I’ve written out more of the plans, got some ideas in code, and been looking at other stuff. But actually done? Nope.
- Get Out Less : Also an utter failure. I’ve been out loads, and in many ways have kept even busier than I did in 2015/16 – less Michelin-starred restaurants, but more things
- Politics : Looked at the ideas, but in the current political climate of Brexit and so on, getting involved on that score strikes me as…. less than wise.
So what’s on the list for 2017/18? Well, we’ll cover that tomorrow…
Repeatedly Breaking – an Update
Posted: Mon 16 October, 2017 Filed under: Domestic, Food, Health, Single Life, Thoughts, Weirdness Leave a comment »Following on from Friday’s post about the pain I was getting in my ankle and leg, it all sorted itself out over the weekend.
From the speed of the recovery – going from walking with serious pain and limping at 9am to being able to walk fine, with just residual soreness by 2pm – I suspect that it was some kind of reaction to something I’d eaten, rather than a ‘proper’ muscle or tendon strain.
I’ve had gout attacks before – although I haven’t written about them here (or at least, not using the word ‘gout’!) – affecting the big toe on my left foot. They’re usually related to a food reaction, that I’ve either eaten or drunk something to levels that aggravate things. Some of those things are ‘standard’ – too much beef and ham, for example – and some are downright weird – such as swapping my usual Diet Coke for something like Sprite Zero. That’s what triggered my first attack, back while I was still in Norfolk.
Last week’s one, though, was different. Similar levels of pain – but on a slightly greater scale, as it was my ankle joint rather than a toe, and thus there was a lot more that hurt. I don’t honestly know whether it was gout but in an ankle, or whether it was something gout-esque. Regardless, it bloody hurt. It felt more like it was muscle/ligament-based than joint-based, but I simply don’t know enough.
I’m pretty sure of what triggered it this time, so I might research it a bit more, and try things out a bit. But doing so would, by definition, result in more pain, so that’s currently not striking me as a great idea. Frankly, I’ve had enough of hurting for the moment, so I’m firstly hoping for just a few weeks where I don’t get any more shit to deal with.
It won’t happen, but hey, a boy can dream.
Repeatedly Breaking
Posted: Fri 13 October, 2017 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »I don’t know why, but at the moment I seem to keep on getting damage to myself, and particularly to my feet.
While all the wreckage from excessive walking recently now appears to have healed, this week I’ve instead done something stupid (and remarkably painful) to the achilles tendon and/or calf muscle of one leg. What’s annoying is that I have no idea what I’ve actually done, or how.
Instead, it just hurts – particularly when I stand, and even more when I walk down stairs. It eases up as I walk on it, but not enough to actually be pain-free. It just lessens off a bit.
I’m hoping that it’ll ease off for the weekend – right now, though, all it’s doing is making me swear even more than usual.
Fancy Footwork
Posted: Fri 6 October, 2017 Filed under: 2016/17, 2017 Inspirations, 2017/18, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, London, Single Life Leave a comment »[Caution : Contains a post about semi-manky feet.]
Following on from my foot woes two weeks ago, yesterday I went to a podiatrist to find out what the hell had gone wrong, and what could be done to fix it.
Happily, while the damage is unpleasant (you know that when even a podiatrist says “Oooh, that looks nasty” – fuck being someone who has to look at feet fot a living. *boak*) it’s not long-term or massively serious.
Indeed, what it looks like is that basically the whole ball of both feet was covered by a layer of corns and calluses. That was, in general, fine. However, when I damaged them at the end of August, the blisters disrupted a lot of them. And the healing process added a layer of hard (but effectively brittle) skin over the corns and callouses. So the walking in the marathon attempt split that brittle skin completely, reopened the mostly-healed underlying wounds, and generally made things a whole lot of Not Fun.
So yesterday she spent time taking off the layers of corn and callus, which has left them a bit sore and raw, but also feeling a lot better.
I’ve also got a treatment plan for improving my feet and hopefully not getting a recurrence of the same problem. But if they do recur, I’ve also got the plan in place for going back, getting them sorted again, and establishing a timeline for how long it takes to happen.
All told, I feel pretty positive about it all. There are a couple of other smaller foot issues that I’ll be working on sorting out at the same time, but the primary problem appears to have been sorted.
It’s also been a far more optimistic resolution than I’d been expecting – I’d had visions of needing two or three months worth of treatments, but thankfully that now doesn’t seem to be the case.
I’m still going to try and take more care of my feet, and carry on finding out more about what I need to do for next September’s re-attempt at that Marathon distance…
Marathonic
Posted: Mon 25 September, 2017 Filed under: 2016/17, 2017/18, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, London, Travel, Walking, Weigh Less Leave a comment »[Apologies to anyone who’s already read a similar post on Facebook!]
So – Saturday night was the night of the Shine Walking Marathon. As I’ve said before, I knew it was likely that I might run (well, walk) into problems this time, because of other stuff that’s happened over the last six weeks or so, both with new boots (and resultant blisters) and the initial damage from the walk on National Burger Day.
So I wasn’t fully optimistic about the day, but also I wasn’t going to duck out without at least trying. I still wanted to complete it if I possibly could, but I was also prepared to back out if it got too much.
And as it turned out, that’s what happened. Annoyingly, it was the damage from that first walk, which didn’t take long to reblister, swell with blood, and then burst/split. Indeed, it happened within the first three miles. After that, I still did another three, but it was hurting enough that I decided to stop before it became even more serious.
I’m still really disappointed in myself for having bailed – although everyone else I know has effectively told me to not be so bloody stupid – and narked that Life threw so many obstacles and hindrances at me in the last six weeks.
Of course, I’ve now signed up for next year’s one, so I’ll be working on sorting myself out and repairing all the damage over the next three months, and getting properly prepared for it.
Farce about Ace
Posted: Wed 20 September, 2017 Filed under: 2016/17, Charitable, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, London, Thoughts, Walking Leave a comment »In my standard way, I’m doing some things in the wrong order over the next few weeks.
As I’ve said before, on Saturday night I’ll be doing the Shine London Night Walk, which will be interesting, to say the least. I really don’t know at the moment what to expect, and it’s preying on my mind a bit (actually more than a bit, but there we go, not long now) as to how well I’ll actually do.
Once that’s done, and whatever recovery process is under way, I’m also going to be taking myself to a chiropodist/podiatrist, and getting the problem areas of my feet sorted out. And that’s what’s backwards.
Of course, If I’d had any sense (or done any real preparation or organisation) I’d have been doing the “sorting out of feet” well before it was time to walk 26-and-a-bit miles on them. But I left it too late – and in fairness, it’s only in the last month that I’ve been experiencing any real pains or problems with my feet. But fixing the issues now would result in greater problems by the weekend, so there we go, backwards organisation it is.
In fairness, this way will probably kind of be in the same vein as the whole [x] Anonymous thing, of having hit rock bottom and the only way being up. If I present my feet to the chiropodist/podiatrist in the expected post-Marathon semi-knackered state, that should be the worst they can be. Which will mean that only good things can result in the treatment.
Well, that’s the ‘plan’, anyway. Only time will tell how it handles first contacts with reality…
Healing Heels
Posted: Mon 11 September, 2017 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Health, London, Thoughts, Travel, Walking Leave a comment »Over the last three weeks, I’ve managed to damage and hurt my feet more than I have in the previous year or more. And it’s all preceding a walking marathon at the end of September, so it’s been a little bit stressful.
It all started (as I wrote at the time) with an ill-fated walk to National Burger Day, during which I discovered I’d destroyed the insoles of my current walking boots.
New boots obtained, I wore them and tested them on the 3rd September, with walking to and around Meatopia, then going on to do a concert in them. All told, I was on my feet – in new boots – for 16 or 17 hours, and while I didn’t actively damage myself on that one, I was definitely hurting by the end of it, and changing shoes to drive home was a joy.
Then over this weekend just gone, I went back to London and did an eight-mile walk – but with different socks. And because of that, I ended up with a huge and red-raw blister on one heel.
I’m done now on distance walks until the actual event at the end of the month – so everything will be healed up and fine by then.
As it is, though, right now my confidence is at a low about completing the marathon. Events (and boots) have conspired against me somewhat, and I’m just trying to decide on my best options at the moment, whether to go with my old (and broken in) boots with new replacement insoles, or stick with the new boots and decent walking socks. Honestly, I don’t know which will be best.
I’ll still be going, and I’ll be doing my best. I’m still 75-85% certain I’ll complete the course. But if I’m in danger of causing myself serious harm, I’m going to stop and not complete it. I’ll do my best, but not at the expense of serious damage.
And if I do drop out, I’ll sign up to do next year’s one instead, and be better prepared for that.
Broken
Posted: Fri 8 September, 2017 Filed under: 2016/17, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, London, Thoughts Leave a comment »In what’s becoming a bit of a theme this year, I broke myself a bit last weekend, and the recovery from it has taken a while.
On Saturday, as written about previously, I went to Tobacco Dock in Wapping to attend Meatopia, and then a concert in the evening. It was a day that I knew was going to be silly, and I’d prepared as much as possible for it.
The plan was…
- Drive down to North London, park up, and get the Tube down to Euston
- Drop off a bag at Euston’s Left Luggage office, to collect on my way back
- Walk the five to six miles from Euston to Tobacco Dock.
- Go to Meatopia, eat lots, walk lots, etc. etc.
- Walk back to Euston, get my bag, get changed
- Head up to Camden (by Tube or foot, depending on timings)
- Meet other friends there, have some food, then go to the concert
- All done, walk back to Camden Town, get the Tube up to where I was parked
- Drive home.
And it actually all pretty much worked out. I ended up getting a Tube back to Euston – although we still walked from Tobacco Dock to Tower Bridge, and then from Euston Square to Euston – and didn’t get changed ’til I was at my destination in Camden, but that was the only real difference.
By the end of the day, I’d been on my feet – in new boots – for about sixteen hours, and it’s fair to say that I was sore and tired. Indeed, I changed my plans for the following day, and spent it as a quiet one, rather than doing a similar walk by going back to Meatopia for Day Two.
And after that, I kind of crashed, in my usual way. By Monday I was in the throes of an evil cold – not flu or man-flu, just a cold, but enough to leave me feeling like shit. Colds and chest-infections are my weak-point, they’re always the sign that I’ve hit my limits – and when I stop after being busy for a long period, they’re always what I go down with.
So this week has been spent working through a whole hail of sore throat, phlegmy chest, and generally feeling like hammered shit. I’ll be fine, and it’s on the wane now, but still, it doesn’t make for a fun time.
Lightly Battered
Posted: Mon 28 August, 2017 Filed under: 1BEM, Domestic, Food, Health, London, People, Stupidity, Thoughts, Travel, Walking Leave a comment »On Thursday, I walked with friends to the National Burger Day event, and slightly broke myself along the way.
The walk (from Euston to Canada Square) should be about 5 miles. However, it’s not a location I’ve walked to before, and I hadn’t prepared properly for doing so, so I made a couple of mistakes. We were going in generally the correct direction, just by a less-direct route than it could/should have been.
Additionally, it was a bloody warm day, I hadn’t got any water with me, and (as it turned out) my walking boots were pretty much dead, so I ended up knackered, hot, sore, and (by the end) pretty dehydrated. Which also added to the mistakes in the route-finding and map-reading. All told, that walk ended up being just under 8 miles. So yes, definitely not my finest day, by a long chalk.
When we eventually got to the pub we’d planned to stop at, I was – not to put too fine a point on it – fucked. I drank two and a half litres of water just while we sat there. That’s never a good sign. (Also, it turns out that my hands swell when I’m dehydrated, which is kind of odd, but good to know for future reference)
We still did the event, and it was OK – but there wasn’t anything that massively stood out for me, to be honest. As a result, I think there’s going to be some changes for me going forwards, but that’s going to be a post for another day, when I’ve thought about it some more. Change is afoot, to be sure.
When we were done, we decided to get the Tube back to Euston, and home. Much more sensible. And once I got home, taking off the boots and finding just how twatted my feet were was… interesting, and not entirely pleasant.
I’d say I’ll use it as a learning experience, and never do the same thing again, but we all know that’s not true, and that at some point in the future I’ll do something equally stupid. Or more so.
Saturday – Slow
Posted: Wed 16 August, 2017 Filed under: Charm School, Cynicism, D4D™, Domestic, Health, London, People, Sweary, Thoughts, Travel 1 Comment »While I was walking in London two weekends ago, I posted a ranty bith on Facebook, asking
HOW DO PEOPLE LIVE, WALK AND THINK SO FUCKING SLOWLY, FOR CHRIST’S SAKE?!?!?
To which Gordon asked how I live with being so irrationally angry to others. The answer to that ended up as a bit of a rant, but was still absolutely true, and I thought I’d add it here as well, rather than losing it to the vagaries of Facebook.
That answer was this…
In fairness, my friend, if any of them had any awareness of what was around them, I’d be fine.
I fully acknowledge I walk a buttload faster than most people, and think/move/avoid at similar pace. I take on at least 90-95% of the responsibilities for getting out the way, and for understanding/accepting that difference.
All I ask – well, hope for – is for people to have the ability to see this fast-moving juggernaut of a human being, AND NOT WALK AT ME.
Fair enough, I’m enough of a fat bastard that I obviously create a gravity well and people just fall at me. I get that, I accept it. But they could make a bit of sodding effort.
It’s not even like I’m hard to see. But still these motherfuckers walk at me, stop in my path, decide to suddenly stop and take selfies (which is how I’ll end up on fucking Crimewatch, I just know it) or just look me dead in the eye, stop, and see what I’ll do, like they’re expecting me to slam into them.
So yeah, if there were even a smidge of acknowledgement, avoidance, observation, or even just a conscious fucking thought, I’d be fine.
But no. None of it. So you get the rants.
All told, it was a bit of a throwback to the D4D of old…
On Being A Cretin
Posted: Wed 7 June, 2017 Filed under: 1BEM, Customer Services, Do More, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Milton Keynes, People, Stupidity, Weigh Less Leave a comment »With life taking several turns over the last year, I’d given up a bit on going to the gym. OK, I’d given up on it a lot. So I’d put my membership on hiatus, paying a small maintenance fee rather than the full monthly amount. (Because while I’m definitely an idiot, as will be shown shortly, I’m not a complete idiot) It meant I wouldn’t have to pay a re-joining fee etc., and could reactivate things really easily once I was back to being in the mood for it.
Last month, I decided I wanted to get back to going. Again, a number of reasons, but mainly just realising I wanted to do more, as well as some preparation for my idiot event in September – of which more later.
So I went to the PureGym website, logged in, and reactivated my membership. Oddly, I had to pay a joining fee again, but I thought I’d just not read the terms and conditions properly, and it’s not a huge amount, so there we go. The proper payment comes out of my bank about a week later, and all good. Job done, I’m going back to the gym from June 1st.
Come June 1st, I look at my bank account, and there’s that maintenance charge again. Weird. Maybe it’s connected to that billing cock-up where I paid a joining fee.
So I call PureGym, to try and find what’s going on. They tell me that the Direct Debit reference I’ve given them isn’t connecting to any of their records, so they’ll need more information from the bank, to know where that DD started, where it’s going etc. Annoying, but indicative that a significant cock-up has occurred.
I ring the bank, and speak to someone there. Let’s cancel that under the DD guarantee, here’s the details, it’s a Direct Debit for The Gym… And a light goes on in my head. I’m a cretin.
For whatever reason, I’ve got “PureGym” in my head as the one I’m going to. (And it’s one I was a member of, in two different locations) Only that’s not the one I’m using. I’m using “The Gym”, and that’s where the maintenance payment’s come from. So I’ve re-joined a gym I don’t want, and not restarted the membership of the gym I do want. For fuck’s sake.
The lady at the bank (having laughed) reinstated the DD for the Gym, and re-paid the money to them that’d gone out that day. Then I went back to PureGym, explained that I’m a complete idiot, what had happened, and asked if it was possible to get my money and joining fee back from them. No problem if not, we’d class it as an idiot tax, but if possible it’d be great.
And they did. It’s not a standard thing, but I’d not used the gym, it was still on the first full day of “membership”, and – I suspect most importantly – I’d admitted it was entirely my fault, and that I’m a moron. (It also made them laugh, which is fine)
All told, I got lucky in many ways. I’m lucky that (in general) my bank are pretty good on this stuff. I’m lucky that both gyms in question are month-to-month ones rather than contracts. I’m lucky that the people in both cases were nice, and obviously far more used to people shouting and swearing, and making out it’s all Their fault.
I’ve not lost anything (except some self-respect) and it’s all worked out. But man alive, do I feel like an absolute cretin.
On Dealing With FitBit
Posted: Fri 2 June, 2017 Filed under: 1BEM, Customer Services, Domestic, Health, Stupidity, Thoughts Leave a comment »This week, I was unlucky enough to have to try and deal with FitBit‘s idiotic e-commerce system. I’ve had a Fitbit for several years now (well, two or three devices over that time, but all Fitbit devices) and the strap on the current one is getting a bit ropy, so I wanted to order a new one.
The ordering part is… OK, I suppose. Then we get to entering addresses. It tells me that it can’t validate my preferred delivery address at all, and won’t progress the order any further. Not “Would you like to add this address to the system?” or “Please confirm the details, and we’ll accept your word for it that you know where the hell you work“. Just point-blank ‘Computer says No‘ dead-end. So far, so unhelpful.
In fairness, that should’ve been the warning sign. But I carried on. Rather than delivering to my office, I’ll set it to deliver to home. That’s OK, except for the standard “Royal Mail PAF says this address should be in [nearest city], so do you want to use that, or the info you’ve entered”. I’m used to that – it’s ridiculous, but it’s PAF, so I’m used to it, and it’s not going to change.
Enter in the card details, all well and good. Do the ‘Verified By Visa’ bag-o’-shite verification, and complete the transaction. Get the email saying “It’s on its way”. Happy day, job done.
Or so I thought…
Half an hour later, I get another email. “There’s a problem with this transaction”, saying that either…
- The billing address provided doesn’t match the address on file with your financial institution (No, it matches fine)
- Your financial institution denied the charge for unspecified reasons (OK, maybe)
- Your financial institution denied the charge due to insufficient funds (Nope, definitely not)
- Your financial institution doesn’t recognise Fitbit.com as a vendor (that sounds like cock to me)
I call the card company. Nope, all fine, not even a declined transaction. And “doesn’t recognise the vendor” is a bag of cock. To quote them, “If it were for ISIS-Iraq.com, we might be blocking it, but not standard stuff”
I call FitBit, who are *massively* incompetent, unable to understand basic English, and can only “resubmit the transaction”. Can’t change the card details, just ‘resubmit it’.
“OK sir, that’s gone through fine, so you’ll get a confirmation in a minute”
“Has it actually gone through the card company this time?”
“Yes, it’s gone through fine”
“What’s the transaction authorisation code?”
“We don’t know yet, it hasn’t gone to the bank”
“……”
So…. Fitbit, these <sarcasm>masters of eCommerce</sarcasm>, don’t do the card transactions immediately. They cache them, for some fuckforsaken reason. And no-one knows ’til then what’ll happen.
When I checked the resubmitted one, the phone cretin had also decided to change the address for billing and delivery to the PAF-recommended one (without even asking) so I ended up talking to them again, they edited the order, and ‘confirmed the transaction’ again (i.e. re-submitted it, and played wait’n’see with the cards)
That failed too, unsurprisingly. Same email, you need to speak to us, same list of possible reasons. Card company re-confirms that absolutely nothing has touched the account – they’ve had a 1p pre-authorisation amount go through, which verifies the card details, but after that, nothing else has been received by them at all.
In the end, I’ve called Fitbit (again!) and just cancelled the order. There’s better and quicker ways to do this. Hell, I can get a pikey knock-off strap through Amazon for a tenth of the price, and it’d be delivered tomorrow.
The really telling thing though, for me, was that when I cancelled the order, there’s not even a process for it. No questions about why I want to cancel, no attempt to keep the order, nothing. Just “OK, that’s cancelled. You’ll get an email telling you so”. That tells you everything you need to know about whether a company gives a shit or not.
Weekend Walking
Posted: Wed 31 May, 2017 Filed under: Day Trips, Domestic, Health, London, Single Life, Theatre, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »On Saturday, I went into London – primarily to see Don Juan in Soho again, as I’d booked a ticket for myself, and then my friends booked theirs for a couple of weeks earlier. If I hadn’t enjoyed it when I saw it with them, I’d have given up the ticket or whatever, but I did like it, so I was OK with seeing it twice.
This time though, I wasn’t going to be drinking beforehand. Among other things, there were some bits of the play I was hazy on, or couldn’t get to gel with the rest of it, so that was another reason to see it again. Instead, it was a nice day, so I decided to go for a bit of a walk.
And, because I’m an idiot of world-shattering proportions, I came pretty close to breaking myself. I didn’t, but it came closer than usual to happening.
I hadn’t accounted for a couple of things – primarily, the sun and temperature. London on Saturday was bloody hot, and sunny. Me being me, I hadn’t really made any plans or preparations, I’d just got a route in mind, I’d got my boots on, and walked it. Two hours, and 7½ miles later, I was pretty knackered.
Because of the warmth, I also noticed that the plane trees along a lot of the route were chucking out something that affected the back of my throat, and made it harder to breathe – not life-threatening by any stretch, just harder work than usual – which made it all more tiring.
Having now read that Wikipedia page, I’m more sure of this – the quote
However, it has a number of problems in urban use, most notably the short, stiff hairs shed by the young leaves and the dispersing seeds; these are an irritant if breathed in, and can exacerbate breathing difficulties for people with asthma.
seems to confirm my theory somewhat.
By the time I’d got to the Albert Memorial, I was pretty much stuffed, and also thinking I’d probably been in the sun for longer than I should’ve been. But by then, well, I was on the ‘final straight’ so I kept on going, just at a slightly slower pace.
I did OK though, and was then more sensible once I’d got to my intended destination, by opting to sit downstairs in the shade, drink lots of water, and generally take some time out. From there, it was a simple short stroll to the theatre, and once the play was done, I closed the circle of that route, and walked back up to Euston.
Once I was home, I was properly knackered, and my legs were more sore than I’d have expected as well. But happily it all recovered overnight and was fine, so I’m happy with what I did – I just could’ve been more sensible about the entire bloody thing. I suppose that “being sensible” might actually happen one day, rather than only ever occurring to me in hindsight, but well, we’ll see.
Blood Lines
Posted: Fri 12 May, 2017 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »Way back in the dark ages, I used to get nose-bleeds on a regular basis. I’ve still no idea why they used to happen, but eventually they got fairly well sorted by dint of getting the inside of my nose cauterised with silver nitrate. (And believe me, that hurts like an absolute motherfucker)
After that, for a long time I’d get nose-bleeds when I was in the presence of aerosolised lemon scents. All I had to do was walk into a room where someone had sprayed a lemon scent, and bang, blood everywhere. Again though, that hasn’t happened in a fair while – I assume that the chemical makeup of those scents has been changed, and it now doesn’t affect me in the same way.
Regardless, I haven’t had a decent nose-bleed in years. (Which I’m happy about, don’t get me wrong)
Until yesterday. Sat in a cafe, eating my lunch, and bosh, nose-bleed. No warning, no reason, just a goodly flow of blood.
Since then, I’ve had two three more. I assume that whatever triggered the first has weakened something so it’s all a bit more fragile at the moment. I’ll see how things go today and over the weekend, but if they keep on coming, I might have to pay a visit to the GP…
Doing Less, Doing More
Posted: Wed 3 May, 2017 Filed under: 2016/17, Charitable, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, London, Weigh Less Leave a comment »After this coming weekend, life calms down a bit once more. (I know, it’s a recurring theme) From here, I’ve got fewer weekends with stuff already booked – at least until September, which is already idiotic. (Of which more later, or in a future post)
However, that doesn’t mean I’ll not be doing much.
Come the end of September, I’ll be walking a marathon distance, and I want to have an equivalent distance already under my belt by then, along with some other practice/training walks building up to it. I did a half-marathon distance back in October, but then haven’t done anywhere near as much since, and I’m aware that I really should have done. Oops, as they say.
So in the run-up to the end of September, that’s (part of) what I’m going to be doing. Taking some time, some days out, doing a shitload of walking. It won’t all be London-based, although the majority will be.
I know I could easily just rock up on the day and complete the course – but I do want to at least appear to be taking it more seriously than that.
Changing Routines
Posted: Mon 1 May, 2017 Filed under: 2016/17, Do More, Domestic, Health, Weigh Less Leave a comment »Of late, I’ve noticed that I’d been getting a bit complacent about exercise, walking and the like. I’ve still been doing it, and meeting my targets, but it had all got a bit easy, always making my target.
Since getting the Fitbit, my daily target has been 5,000 steps – about half of the recommended (but completely arbitrary) 10,000, but a daily target I could live with, and that was feasible with my work, commute etc.
Some days have been harder than others along the way, but I was always getting at least five out of seven where I’d reach my target, and some of those would absolutely beast the total, so I’d average around 60,000 steps a week.
This year, though, I’ve noticed that 5,000 step target has been easy – I haven’t missed a day this year so far. I also ended up not doing as much – if I’d done that 5,000 by the end of the working day, I didn’t do much in the evening.
So last week, I upped the target, this time to 7,500. It’s still doable, but does require me to do more. (Logically enough)
The only downside of this is that, because Fitbit have written abysmal code, the app can only handle one step target – so it’s updated all my targets since Day One to 7,500 – which means I’ve got a lot more missed days than I did have before I upped it. In short, this is known as Bollocks.
But hey ho, it means I’m doing more and walking more, and that can’t be a bad thing.
10,000
Posted: Thu 23 February, 2017 Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Cynicism, Domestic, Health, Laziness, People, Thoughts Leave a comment »Over the last couple of days, there’s been some coverage about an American scientist (which seems to be a pretty endangered species in the Age Of Trump) claiming that fitness trackers and pedometers are pretty arbitrary, and not necessarily the best way to go.
Which, I think it’s fair to say, we can file under “Sherlock, Shit, No”.
Of course that 10,000 steps a day advice is arbitrary. Even the figure tells you it’s arbitrary – those nice round numbers for ‘ideals’ simply don’t occur that often in reality.
Hager claimed the 10,000 steps target dated back to a 1960s Japanese study that showed there were health benefits for men who burned at least 2,000 calories per week through exercise – roughly equivalent to 10,000 steps each day. An early pedometer was known as the manpo-kei, which means “10,000-step meter” in Japanese.
Really, if anyone is taking anything from these devices as gospel truth, they’re a fucking moron. At best, these devices are indicators.
The heartrate monitor is well known to not be accurate – but so long as it’s fairly consistent per user/wearer, it’s a decent-enough indicator of where you stand. And if it suddenly dropped to reporting 10bpm (or 200bpm) then anyone vaguely sensible would take themselves to a GP for a proper check.
The same’s true for the sleep monitor (which I do use). It’s not gospel truth. But it’s a decent-enough indicator of awake vs. disturbed ‘sleep vs. actual REM sleep. Do I believe it innately? Hell no. But does it consistently show me my bad nights vs. less-bad ones? (I’m yet to have a good night’s sleep) Yes.
And if you can’t rely on those indicators, why would you rely on the step monitor? Simple, you wouldn’t. Can you game it and mess figures simply by swinging your arms more? Yep. But what’s the point of doing that, unless all you’re interested in is attaining that arbitrary [x],000 steps in a day? The only benefit in that is you, and you’re just cheating yourself.
However, it does make for a useful indicator, and a reminder to actually move more. I can understand (kinda) why people make these things into targets, but really all that’s important is being more active. And that’s what counts.
Knocked Down
Posted: Tue 21 February, 2017 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Health, Stupidity, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »After the events of last week, I pretty much exhausted myself – as evidenced by the fact that since then I’ve been dealing with a heavy cold and nascent chest infection. It started up on the evening of the Thursday, once we were back from the Fat Duck. (Of which more in other post, most likely)
As usual, basically it all kicked in once I’d stopped. It’s pretty standard with me – I can keep on going for as long as I have to, and then once I’m done, it’ll all catch up and whack me with a hammer.
I was rough on the Friday, and the Saturday was the worst, although I hadn’t realised how bad it was until too late. I’d been at the parents and doing some other stuff, and started to drive home. I’d not been feeling great, but it was only once I was driving that I knew it wasn’t good. I’d burned myself out completely, and all I could do was just get home and that was it.
For the first time in at least a decade (and that’s something else I’ll come back to in another post) I found myself thinking that I wished I’d got someone else around, someone to call on, so I could get home safely. It didn’t happen, of course, so I just got on with the task in hand, and got myself home.
I’m truly not proud of it, of having carried on and done the dumb thing instead of pulling into a layby or whatever and having a sleep. I did get home, and did so safely, with no problems. But that was, to be honest, more by luck than judgement. I honestly can’t remember at least half the drive, but I know that if anything had gone awry, I’d have remembered it, so that’s kind-of sort-of reassuring in some warped way.
I effectively took Sunday off after that, changed all my plans so I could do as close to sod-all as I’d let myself do, and it was needed.
It’s all on the mend now, but man, that weekend was really no fun at all.
What’s The Plan?
Posted: Sun 1 January, 2017 Filed under: 2016/17, Business, Do More, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Resolutions, Thoughts, Weigh Less, Write More Leave a comment »And here we are, at the start of 2017. Didn’t that come round quickly?
As with previous years, I don’t really make resolutions. It’s all pretty arbitrary, the whole resolutions thing, so I usually choose to make plans from one birthday to the next, rather than the whole “January 1st is for new starts” cobblers.
This year, I’ve got some plans for 2017 as a whole though – although they’re not much different to what I’d laid out back in November. However, in my head, I’ve laid some of these down as being “this year” instead. I don’t quite know why, but it’ll work for me.
So – what are they? Well, in no particular order…
- Finances
- Add a significant amount into the savings
- Work
- Figure out what comes next after the current contract (I’m sure that’ll happen at some point in the coming year)
- Learn some new stuff, because why not?
- Launch at least one of the projects that’ve been in my head for way too long
- Writing
- Complete at least one of the screenplay ideas I’ve started in 2016
- and then figure out what the hell to do with it/them
- Complete a book idea I’ve got, and publish it (for Kindle)
- Health
- Lose weight (I’ve put some on over the Festering Season, and want to lose that, plus a bit more)
- Do some training/practice walks for that walking marathon in September
- and then complete it on the day
And really that’s it. There might be a couple of other projects along the way, but that’s the main objectives, all in one place.
Whether or not they happen, I don’t know. (Obviously, as we’re only on Day One) But I’m going to give it a damn good go.
Restorative
Posted: Tue 22 November, 2016 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Old(er), Health, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »Looking back over the weekend, and the twatted ankle, I do find it interesting that whatever I’m doing (or have done) to myself, I still appear to be lucky enough and healthy enough to repair and heal pretty quickly.
Considering that I fit with no-one’s image of a fit person, and that I’m also capable of doing 13-15 mile walks in a day with no further ill effects, that all makes me a lot happier than it maybe should.
Of course, if I were less of an idiot, and more open to allowing small injuries/damage to put a stop to plans, I’d probably heal up even quicker, but that’s not likely to happen any time soon.
Maybe it’ll change as I get older, but for now, I’m pretty content with how things stand.
Damage, Stupidity, and Repair. (And food)
Posted: Mon 21 November, 2016 Filed under: Domestic, Food, Health, London, People, Thoughts, Travel 1 Comment »Just before the weekend, either Thursday or Friday, I twisted my ankle. Nothing major, nothing broken – but painful, and a joyous shade of purple by the Saturday morning. I’ve no idea what I actually did to it – there was no noteworthy twist, trip, or knock, but I’d obviously done something stupid to it.
However, because I’m a massive idiot, I wasn’t going to let something like that stop me from doing the stuff I had planned for the weekend.
So on Saturday I took the train down to London in order to go to Taste London‘s Festive Edition, down at Tobacco Dock. I went earlier than usual, because – again, despite that slightly twatted ankle – I was planning to walk from Euston to Tobacco Dock, meet friends, go round the event, and then decide what I’d do from there.
The walk went surprisingly well, made a decent time – albeit a bit slower than usual, for obvious reasons.
I got there hugely early, which meant I was at the front of the queue, but that’s fine. Met up with friends, covered the whole of the Taste Festival, and had a good time.
And then, because I’m still a massive idiot, we walked back from Tobacco Dock, first to The Alchemist on Bevis Marks, near the Gherkin, for a couple of cocktails (they’re brilliant, hugely creative, and decently priced – for anywhere, rather than ‘reasonable for London’) and then on to Honest Burgers at Tottenham Court Road before getting back to Euston. All told, somewhere around 13 miles of walking on a still-stuffed ankle. By the end of it, my leg was extremely sore, but it was well worth it.
On the Sunday, I had a quieter day planned – out in the evening, but nothing planned for the day. So I took it a bit easier, did a load of domestic stuff, but without doing a lot of walking. The leg and ankle were still sore, so I didn’t want to exacerbate the damage any further.
Then in the late afternoon/early evening, over to friends, and thence to Northampton for food at a place they’d recommended and like (Sol Y Luna in Northampton) for epic tapas and then a couple of drinks at The Olde England pub before heading to their and then home.
So it was a pretty epic weekend of food, with added twattery and pain.
And this morning, when I no longer need to do a load of walking, of course the ankle is now pretty much back to normal. Of course…
2015/16 – What Happened?
Posted: Fri 4 November, 2016 Filed under: 2015/16, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Weight Loss Leave a comment »In a D4D™-traditional way, it’s time to look over the last year and make ready for the next year.
- Continue rebuilding finances.
- Continue with health/exercise/weight-loss stuff
- Write more
- Develop more things based around my own business
- Get out more
How did it go?
Rebuilding Finances
That was doing OK – well, still is – but took a bit of a hit with having to buy a new (to me) car last month. Until then, I’d more than doubled the savings from where they were last year, but for now they’re roughly where they were. A bit more than then, but not as much as I’d have liked. But there’s other reasons for that, which we’ll get to later…
Continuing Health/Exercise/Weight-loss
Again, I did OK on this. The health and exercise has kept up, although I haven’t been visiting the gym. Weight-wise, I lost some, then put it on, then lost it again, so again I’m back to pretty much where I was. I’d like to have lost more, but I can understand why I haven’t (and there’ve been some other insights this year that I’ll take into next year) Next year has its own challenges, with that walking Marathon next September.
Write More
I’ve been doing more writing, but they’re more works-in-progress than completed items. I’m still aiming to get more done, and that’s part of the plan for next year. Having taken one proper ‘retreat’ weekend last month, I think I’ll do more of them next year and hopefully come out with some finished pieces by the end of it.
Develop more things within my own business
Not quite so successful. I’ve laid a lot of the ground work for the coming year, and some of the stuff I’ve written for other projects will translate into the next phase, but no, most of the focus has been on paying clients. Particularly the main one, where the work has continued for much, much longer than I’d expected.
Get out more
Well, this one’s definitely been the success of this year. In fact, it’s the whole “going out” thing that’s put the mockers on the other things – particularly the savings and the weight loss! I think it’s actually gone to the other extreme, in that there haven’t been many weekends this year where I’ve not been out and about. I know that a lot of that, as I’ve said before, has been about having disposable income again for the first time in about a decade. That’s ended up with a bit of an over-reaction, but sanity and normality will return in 2016/17
Summary
All told, it’s been a good year. I’m pleased with most of it, although there are some bits I would’ve liked to do better, or differently in hindsight. But yeah, a good year.
Infected
Posted: Thu 3 November, 2016 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Single Life Leave a comment »Following on from last week’s hectic efforts, this week I’ve been walloped by a cough and cold that’s left me feeling rotten and run down.
I’m still doing all my normal stuff, of course, but evenings have definitely been quieter (and much needed) while coughing and sneezing enough to disturb the cats.
I’m not really surprised it’s happened – indeed, I’m more surprised that it hasn’t happened a lot earlier in the year. But what with messing around with my body clock (thanks, Daylight Saving) and slowing down just a bit after an exceptionally busy couple of months, it was always likely for something to hit me when resistance was low.
It would be nice for it to have dissipated by the weekend, as there’s a lot of food and stuff going on, but I’m not sure that’ll be the case. It won’t stop anything from happening, it’s just annoying.
13.1
Posted: Sun 23 October, 2016 Filed under: 2015/16, 2016/17, Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, London, Travel, Weigh Less Leave a comment »A while back, I laid out one of my main targets for next year, to do the Shine Nightwalk Marathon. And because of that, I also set myself the “lesser” challenge of walking a half-marathon, as a proof that I was at least capable of it.
I wanted to prove – as much to myself as to anyone else – that I could walk that 13.1 miles in a reasonable time, not fall apart by doing so (or afterwards) and really just that it was doable. I also wanted to be get a rough outline of how long it would take, to give myself a feasible target time come September.
Yesterday, with sod-all planning or training, I went down to London (might as well do the trial in the same kind of place as the actual event, after all) and did it.
It wasn’t as fast as I’d hoped for, but at the same time it was about what I expected. There’s still stuff to be done, and I’ll be working on all of it – more walks etc., better distances and better times – but for a first attempt, I’m pleased with how it went.
All told, I ended up walking about 15 miles in the end – as the map shows, the 13.1 miles took me so far, but I’d mis-judged things a bit, as I’d aimed for it be a lot closer to my destination at Euston station. Instead, I was a couple of miles away, so ended up still walking those miles back to Euston as well. (As has been said before, I’m a bloody idiot on occasion)
I’m less sure now that I’ll be able to do it in my intended six hour target, but an eight-hour will be certainly be doable, with seven being (I think) realistic, and I’ll be happy with that, although I’ll continue to aim towards the lower times and see how I do. I slowed down significantly after about 8 or 9 miles, which was partly being tired, but also partly being held up by lots of slow-moving people.
I hurt a lot less than expected afterwards, too. Sore feet and some muscle aching in my legs, but that’s about it.
I’m pleased that I’ve done it, and that I’ve proved to myself I can do the full thing. I know the full thing is still double that distance, and that it’s still a big thing to complete, but I do feel more confident now that it’s something I can do.
Booked in Advance
Posted: Thu 20 October, 2016 Filed under: 1BEM, 2016/17, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »Considering that I’m planning on a quieter year in 2017 without quite so many busy weekends, is it a good or bad thing that I’ve already got two things booked in for September 2017?
And of course, me being me, they’re both on the same weekend.
I suspect I may just be an irredeemable idiot.
2016’s Smaller Target
Posted: Thu 1 September, 2016 Filed under: 2015/16, 2016/17, Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, London, Thoughts, Travel, Weigh Less Leave a comment »Following on from my decision about next year, and doing the Shine Moonlight Marathon (which is a much better name than the Night Walk, IMHO) I’ve also set myself a smaller challenge for completion by the end of 2016.
You guessed it, I’m going to walk a half-marathon distance. Not sponsored or owt (although if I do it, I might just chuck some money Cancer Research’s way anyway) but a bit of a reality check, a “can I do this?”. I know the answer to that is “yes”, but it’ll be interesting to have some quantifiable evidence of it before I plunge into doing the full 26-and-a-bit miles.
I’ve certainly done days with more than 13 miles of walking, so this plan should be utterly doable. Indeed, it might even be easier than usual, if it’s done in one dollop rather than two 5-ish mile walks interspersed with breaks, food, stopping/starting, standing in queues etc. I don’t know – and that’s why I want to find out.
It’ll also hopefully give me a rough outline of the time to aim for on the full event. I’ve got a target time in mind, but again want to check whether that’s even vaguely feasible when faced with reality.
I’ll write more about it once it’s been done, but it’s definitely a goal for now…
2017’s Big Target
Posted: Tue 30 August, 2016 Filed under: Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, London, Thoughts, Travel, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »This year, I’ve missed out on having a big thing to aim at. (Oooer, missus) The last couple of years, I’ve done Marie Curie’s “Walk to Remember”, an evening 10km walk around a random local-ish stately home, which have been fun, and suited me really well. However, this year they decided to not organise them.
I did sign up this year for the challenge to climb the stairs of the Gherkin in London, but I ended up chickening out of it in the fact of saner voices and already-dodgy knees (No, not dodgyknees the Greek philosopher)
Anyway, although I’ve been doing a lot of walking this year, I’ve missed having a target, a thing to aim for at some point. So I’ve pretty much decided on what my plan will be for 2017. It’s a big one, so there’ll actually be some preparation in the meantime.
So – my challenge for 2017 will be Shine’s Night Walk – an overnight walk of marathon distance in Central London. That’s 26.25 miles, or 41 km, so it’s significantly longer than the distances I usually walk. I can (and do) easily cover 20km in a day when I’m in London or whatever, but I will be aiming at doing more (and longer) walks between now and then, getting used to the durations and distances. I’m pretty sure I could do the walk right now, but I think I’d hurt quite a bit the day after, and I don’t want that to be the case in a year’s time.
So yes, that’s the plan. I can’t sign up for it yet (this year’s one hasn’t been done yet) but will do as soon as I can. In the meantime, I can start getting my ass in gear, now I’ve got a plan in mind.
Eating Well For Less
Posted: Mon 22 August, 2016 Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Brands, Cynicism, Domestic, Finances, Food, Health, Laziness, People, Shopping, Television, Thoughts Leave a comment »Over the last few weeks, I’ve been watching the BBC’s “Eat Well For Less” series. It’s an interesting concept, helping people with their eating habits (and more accurately, their spending on food) by removing all the labelling and branding from food in people’s houses, removing all the prejudices etc. around their food spending. They replace expensive branded stuff with ‘own-brand’ or cheaper alternatives (and in some cases with more expensive, but better/healthier options) and also leaving some things alone. Additionally, they help people with recipes for their favourite meals, rather than buying pre-packaged and so on.
A lot of it is insanely annoying, but the core information is (in my opinion) worth it, for both the families on the programme, and people watching it.
But oh Dear God, those families are fucking pathetic. There’s lots of preconceptions about brands being preferred “because they wouldn’t be so popular if they weren’t the best” and so on, which drives me crackers.
The most recent one tonight, though, drove me crackers. One family member had been diagnosed as coeliac, and had spent six years eating salads he hated. Six. Fucking. Years. How does anyone end up eating stuff they don’t like for six bloody years? There’s no logic in it that I can see – unless they haven’t done any enquiries or research about what’s got gluten in and so on?
In this case they were buying loads of pre-packaged food – and I get that more, because they were so worried about cross-contaminating from their foods to his, and making him ill – but with no thoughts or understanding. I think the peak point for me was buying pre-packaged “gluten-free” rice, not understanding that all rice is gluten-free, in the name of Jesus H Pant-shitting Christ.
So yeah, it’s been an interesting series, but Holy DogEggs, some people are fucking lazy/stupid/pathetic*.
(* Delete as applicable)
Speed Walking
Posted: Wed 29 June, 2016 Filed under: Charm School, Day Trips, Health, London, People, Public Transport, Thoughts, Travel 1 Comment »With last week’s time in London, I did a lot of walking (as usual)
On the conference days, I was getting in to London early (before the main rush hour kicked in) and then had the option to grab a tube down to Charing Cross and walk from there to the venue, or say sod it, and walk the whole thing from Euston to Westminster. (And then back in the evening, of course)
The first day, I opted for the Tube down, so I was there in plenty of time. That was easy, and once we were done for the day I walked back up, feeling the need for movement, having been sat for 95% of the day – I needed that walk! For the second day, I walked down in the morning, and back up once we were done. And finally, on the Saturday I walked down, but grabbed the tube back up to Euston, as it was late and I didn’t fancy waiting for the final Train of the Damned.
But on each of those longer walks, I kept finding myself thinking about other people, and just how slow they are. And wondering just how people manage to live so slowly.
I walk fast, I know. Well, to me I walk at normal speed, and everyone else is just Slow – but I know that really means I walk fast! I consistently average at least 4mph – even when I think I’m dawdling along, knowing I’ve got plenty of time. Indeed, when I think I’m dawdling and going slow, I tend to be walking even faster than usual. But that’s just another weirdness of self-perception.
Regardless though, most people are just Slower. In pace, but also in reaction times – even when they look directly at me, they don’t seem to realise the speed I’m going, and still drift out in front of me, or just stop to do something else, or whatever. It’s amazing in many ways – not least that they’ve definitely got no concept of momentum and inertia, of what’ll happen if I do decide to keep going, and walk into them rather than permanently being the one to avoid, dodge, and get out of their way. By any stretch of the imagination, I’m a FMFB and could easily damage just about any of them, simply through colliding at speed.
Anyway, it always surprises me a bit, just how slow the people around me are. It gets tiring to keep on avoiding people, swerving and carving through crowds of slower people who don’t even realise I’m blasting through until I’m already past, staying aware of everything around me (including traffic when I have to go into the gutter to get past a whole pavement-width crowd of plodders) and all the possibilities.
It makes me wonder just what my speed would be in empty streets, to be honest. Although I do also speed up when I get annoyed by people, so it’s possible it would stay about the same.
Anyway, it meant I did a lot of walking over the last week, which is never a bad thing.
Illness and Self-sufficiency
Posted: Mon 20 June, 2016 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, Health, Introspective, Single Life, Thoughts Leave a comment »While I was ill last week, it occurred to me – I had a fair amount of time to contemplate things, after all – that really it’s one of the few times where I’m less good at being self-reliant.
Being unwell and alone is, frankly, No Fun at all. I think the only times in the last four-or-more years that I’ve wished I weren’t single, when I’ve thought “It would be nice to have someone” have been when I’ve been ill. Not even to be nursed, or anything pathetic like that, but just someone to be there and vaguely sympathetic.
Hell, I’m not even good at being ill, or being cared for when I am ill. It’s just a shitty time for being on one’s own.
And really, that’s no good reason for a relationship, or for stopping being single, is it?
Climbing The Gherkin (Not)
Posted: Sun 19 June, 2016 Filed under: Charitable, Health, London, Thoughts Leave a comment »Today was the day I was supposed to be doing the NSPCC’s Gherkin Climb – walking up the 1,000+ steps of the Gherkin building.
For a number of reasons – not least that period of food poisoning over the week – I ended up not doing it.
I had reservations anyway, as I wrote about before, and had pretty much chickened out of doing it already, but the food poisoning sealed the deal.
The event was well attended though, I’m pleased to say – and some of the times achieved for climbing the Gherkin are pretty impressive – the quickest ascent being a gobsmacking 4minutes 31 seconds. That really is going some.
Squelchy
Posted: Sun 19 June, 2016 Filed under: Charm School, Domestic, Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »It’s been another quiet week round here – mainly because of a truly vicious dose of self-inflicted food-poisoning. Admittedly, some of that is also because I’ve pretty much given up on daily updates/posts these days – but for purposes of this post, it’s the food-poisoning.
It’s my own fault – the chicken I’d cooked for the proper time etc. turned out to be slightly less done than it should’ve been, and I tempted the gods of shit and puke by thinking “Oh well, I’ve eaten some of it already, I’m sure I’ll be fine”. Oh how wrong I was.
Wednesday evening I was at a tech event, and felt rotten. I left early, went home, and was in bed by half-eight. It wasn’t a great night, with the combination of regular wake-ups due to sharp belly-ache, and ended up puking what felt like half my body weight at about 4am.
Thursday was pretty much a write-off, and found me hugely sleepy. And, safe to say, squelchy.
That situation hung around through Friday, although I was doing better until the evening when we had a real resurgence through into Saturday morning.
Since then, it’s been improving – I was out on Saturday anyway, and Immodiummed myself to the eyeballs, and got through that event, came home, and squelched again.
Thankfully, today has been better, with no incidents to report – we may actually be through it now. I certainly hope so – this week’s a busy one, and I can do without being incapacitated for any of it!
Heavy Mileage
Posted: Sun 3 April, 2016 Filed under: Day Trips, Domestic, Health, London, Stupidity, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »This weekend’s been a busy one, what with one thing and another.
Saturday was supposed to be quiet – because Sunday was already planned with a day-trip to Reading and had other stuff going on – but I wanted to do something. So, being an idiot, I opted for a day-trip to London, primarily to see the Wildlife Photographer of the Year photos at the Natural History Museum, which I hadn’t been to in at least twenty years.
The idiot part is primarily that I decided to walk there – from Euston to Natural History Museum. And back. That’s 7km each way, plus whatever else I wanted to do. I just thought “well, I can do 5km easily, so the other 2km will be easy” – forgetting that 2km is another mile-and-a-bit.
Of course, I managed it, and I enjoyed the exhibition – but I’d miscalculated a few other things along the way. I’d not realised that it was in the school holidays, and I didn’t think there’d be so many people and children going to a museum on the first really decent warm/sunny day of the year.
So, having walked there, it was then a case of moving slowly through a 40-minute queue to get in to the place, which did an excellent job of reminding me why I’ve never wanted children. The exhibition itself was good – but by then I didn’t want to spend too much more time in the area, there were just too many people and spawn around.
That decision made – and having acknowledged that I was rather more knackered than I’d expected – I opted for walking back to Euston (see, I said I was an idiot) rather than the extra bit of walking I’d planned, to go back to the South Bank as well. That’ll wait ’til I’m next in London, which is only a couple of weeks away anyway.
Another 7km did pretty much stuff me, though – I can’t deny it.
All told, Saturday involved walking no less than 21km (slightly over 13 miles) – and I knew I was planning to walk a fair bit more on Sunday (of which more in another post) which made it all even sillier.
It was a good day, and I’m glad I did it, but yeah, Saturday night was pretty painful. I just won’t learn…
2016 Q1
Posted: Fri 1 April, 2016 Filed under: 2015/16, Business, Car Repairs, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, London, Stupidity, Thoughts, Travel, Weigh Less, Weight Loss, Write More Leave a comment »So here we are, in April already. A quarter of the year gone.
The first three months have been fairly awkward and problematic in some ways, but all told it’s still been a success – although in some ways it’s been a case of looking at grey clouds and finding a silver lining. Work and so on have stayed stable, it’s just other non-work stuff that hasn’t gone as well.
The worst (or at least most frustrating) part has been the car – thankfully that now appears to be sorted, but it’s been an expensive quarter, with repeated re-visits to the garage, along with replacement parts and so on.
I did have plans for writing more and so on, but they haven’t materialised. I’ve done a couple of things and started with some ideas and the like, but the intended plan hasn’t happened. Hopefully the next three months will let me write more, if I’ve got the time and inspiration.
Health-wise, I’ve slacked off a lot on going to the gym and so on. I’ve had a bundle of colds and coughs throughout the last few months, and every time I’ve thought “Ok, that’s finally gone”, I’ve picked up another one. That’s not been fun, but there we go. Admittedly, a lack of gymmage hasn’t resulted in any weight gains – everything has stayed in exactly the same place it was while I was going to the gym regularly. That’s been another thing that’s not helped on the motivational front – if it’s not making any difference one way or t’other, it becomes less important to go.
I do need to get back to it, and doing other stuff as well – because I’m a loon, and have just signed up to the NSPCC’s challenge to walk/run (OK, walk) up the 38 floors of the Gherkin on Sunday 19th June. I must be fucking barmy. This is the kind of thing that happens when Marie Curie aren’t doing their 10km walks. I blame them. 🙂 That’s in ten weeks time, so I need to do some stuff pretty quickly…
Anyway, it’s been an interesting first three months of the year. There’s some interesting challenges coming up – not least that bloody Gherkin challenge – in the next three months, and I just hope it’s a bit more positively motivated than the first three have been.
Time will tell…
No 10k
Posted: Wed 23 March, 2016 Filed under: Charitable, Day Trips, Do More, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Thoughts, Travel, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »Over the last couple of years, I’ve been getting involved in doing some small fundraising for Marie Curie Cancer Trust, mainly through doing their 10km walks, the “Walk to Remember”, and raising some cash through that. (At the same time, being a fat bloke who can walk 10k in less than 100 mins is something that makes me happy)
It’s a fun event, involving walking round a planned route at a stately home on a Summer evening – it’s been thoroughly enjoyable as a way to spend a couple of hours, plus travelling etc. and meant I raised an amount of money that’s not epic by their standards, but was pretty good by mine – and better than nothing, or doing sod all.
They’re emphatically non-competitive, you don’t get issued with numbers etc., you don’t get timed (you can, of course, time yourself) and it’s aimed at being a walk rather than a run/job – which also suits me just fine. I’m built for comfort, not speed (although again, I can do fast-moving fat bloke pretty damn well!) but I do cover the route at speed, while enjoying it.
Having looked this weekend, it turns out that they’re not doing these walks this year at all. That is, to say the least, a bit disappointing. I’m not sure yet whether to look at doing something else – well, I will definitely be doing longer walks and so on anyway, but it was nice to be fundraising at the same time – or what this year.
Time will tell. But it’s a bit of a bugger that this one won’t be being done.
27
Posted: Tue 22 March, 2016 Filed under: Charitable, Health, Sport, Thoughts Leave a comment »I’m not a massive fan of Sport Relief – although I do prefer it to shite like Comic Relief and Children-in-Need – but regardless of any of that, I have to say that Eddie Izzard’s achievement of running 27 marathons in 27 days (including two on the final day, as he’d missed one early on) is nothing short of amazing.
That he’s also raised more than £1.35million is also seriously noteworthy.
That’s not to belittle the fundraising efforts of anyone else, as I’d rather see anyone raise £50 than nothing. Regardless though, the sheer madness of saying “I’m going to run 27 marathons in four weeks” – and then manage to do it – is a gobsmacking and noteworthy effort.
Doing Nothing
Posted: Sun 20 March, 2016 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Health, House Work, Introspective, Single Life, Thoughts Leave a comment »This weekend was the closest I’ve come in a long time to doing nothing – it’s something I am *really* bad at, which I’m coming to terms with.
I try and keep busy on weekends, go out and do stuff, get things done, and that suits me. But I still get to the point (like recently) where I’ve been constantly busy and occupied for so damn long, it feels like I’m completely burned out and I need that down-time, a weekend or two where I don’t do much.
As has been observed before, I’ve been pretty much booked solid since about October, so I really needed a quiet time where I vegetated a bit, caught up on some of the more domestic things, and generally did a bit of recuperation. And that was the plan this weekend – I had some stuff I wanted to do (buying the trees, seeing a film, organising house stuff, ironing etc.) but the rest was meant to be downtime.
That plan was successful, I can’t deny. I did get all the planned stuff done, and I used a lot of downtime.
But it gets to now, 10pmish on Sunday, and I feel kind of guilty, kind of lazy. I know it’s been needed, and I mainly feel better for having not done much – but simultaneously, I feel like it’s been a bit of a waste.
It’s safe to say, I think, that I am phenomenally bad at doing nothing…
Blistered
Posted: Fri 12 February, 2016 Filed under: Day Trips, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Health, Single Life, Solo Dining, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »This week, I went to a restaurant that insisted on a certain level of dress-code. Nothing too epic, thankfully, but it turned out my standard footwear (Cat boots) wouldn’t have been allowed in, so I needed to buy some new dress shoes, or at least thin-soled ‘smart’ shoes.
It was semi-short notice, so I didn’t have the chance to wear them in properly – and I knew it would cause issues.
I managed to plan most of it so I didn’t have to walk as far as I normally would’ve done (had I been allowed to wear my normal, comfortable shoes) and I’m glad I did, because I still ended up with a sod-load of blisters along the way.
Weirdly, both my little toes ended up blistered, and I’m really not sure how that happened. The worst one is on one heel, about the size of a 50p piece. On that one, thank God for Compeed – their blister plasters are creepy as chuff, but bloody hell, do they work.
I know they’ll all heal up this week – it’s just a massive pain in the tits while they’re around. Such is life.
(And no, the meal wasn’t really worth the hassle of new shoes and blistered feet. Sad, but true – it was good, but not brilliant, which is galling when it’s a place that’s so highly rated all round)
Health Check
Posted: Tue 19 January, 2016 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »A couple of weeks ago, I got a letter from my local GP, asking me to go in for an “NHS Health Check”. It was a bit annoying, as the accompanying leaflet said that my surgery ‘needed to update their records as I hadn’t been in for so long’ and so on. Considering I was in there for a check in November 2014, that was kind of worrying – implying that my records weren’t up to date and so on.
Anyway, they then called me up to chase getting an appointment, and today I went in. It wasn’t anything special, but still, always good to know what’s going on.
It turns out that what they meant was that this Health Check thing needs records less than three months old – which is understandable, things can change in that time. But it would’ve been good if their own bumf had actually said so, rather than implying that the record-keeping at the surgery was bad.
Still, onwards and upwards.
The Health Check is basically a quick check of the key figures: weight, blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and the like, as well as various health factors (smoking, drinking, activity etc.) and comes out with a ‘risk’ factor at the end of it.
All told, the figures came out pretty well :
- blood pressure was fine at 130/80,
- blood sugar was fine – although I can’t remember the exact figure, it was well within acceptable limits
- cholesterol came in at 4.5 (anything under 5 is regarded as ‘good’) with ‘good’ cholesterol of 1.8
- weight is still ‘too high’, but has kept on coming down, so *shrug*
The final “risk factor” figure was 4 – which supposedly means I have a 4% risk of suffering a heart attack in the next ten years. They’re happy with anything under 10, so I shouldn’t need to darken the surgery’s door on that score for a while.
Obviously I’m going to keep on working on losing weight, and being healthier/fitter, but having a quick summary like that is good for pointing out that I’m not doing too bad, and could be doing one hell of a lot worse than I am. I can live with that, to be fair.
Run Down
Posted: Fri 8 January, 2016 Filed under: Domestic, Festering Season, Health, Single Life 1 Comment »The first week of 2016 has been quiet round here, mainly because my health took a bit of a kicking.
Over the Festering Season I’d developed a cough/cold that was annoying and persistent, but was fading out as we went into the New Year.
Then this week, it looks (on current evidence) like I got a dose of food poisoning from the meal on New Years’ Eve. Nothing major, but enough to debilitate, with a reduced level of sleep (and when you sleep as badly as I do, that’s relevant) and knock-on effects.
The food poisoning has been reported back to the restaurant, by the way, and we’re going through that process.
That’s pretty much gone now, thankfully.
What I’m left with is another vile hacking cough/cold – which I’m keeping an eye on, to make sure it doesn’t turn nasty and infected, as some of them do with me – and just feeling ropy, with weird aches and twinges elsewhere.
None of it’s serious, none of it has stopped me from working. It’s all just a bit annoying.
Still, onwards and upwards, and all that rot.
Solsticial
Posted: Mon 21 December, 2015 Filed under: Depression, Festering Season, Health, SAD, Weather Leave a comment »Happily, today is the Winter Solstice for 2015 – the shortest day, the longest night. (technically it’s tomorrow at 4.20am, but traditionally it’s today, the 21st, so I’m sticking with that)
From here, the days get longer – and that’s always a good thing. I suspect the impact of it will be lessened this year, as we’ve had such a stunningly warm December anyway, whereas the impact is always greater when November and December have been consistently grey and crap.
The day’s won’t feel longer it for a while – the increase is only seconds until at least the new year – but just knowing that it’s happening is A Good Thing.
And once the Festering Season is over and done with, it’s all improvements from there.
Slowdown
Posted: Mon 7 December, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Old(er), Health, M1 Leave a comment »Having had an utterly chaotic and busy three months – I’ve covered 1,500 miles just in the last month – things are finally calming down.
This weekend spent in Manchester was my last full weekend away ’til mid-February, although I still have a number of things booked in for days, and a couple of busy weekends doing lots of stuff, at least I’ll be back home in between for each one.
This is definitely A Good Thing.
Snotty
Posted: Fri 27 November, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Health Leave a comment »This week has been a harder one than usual, due to feeling rougher than a badger’s backside in wintertime. I’ve not been seriously ill – it’s been a heavy cold at worst, but it’s just hit me.
I think it’s been incubating since the weekend in Durham, where I got spectacularly wet and cold, and it all kicked in just in time for last weekend’s London trip. I know by the time I’d walked back to Barbican to pick up the car, I was pretty much shattered (which isn’t the normal state of things for having walked 15km) and Sunday was spent doing as little as possible as a result.
On Monday I was nothing short of a snot-fountain, but it had eased up a bit on Tuesday, and has been improving since.
I’m not normally one for popping pills for a cold, but in this case it was all sat in my sinuses, so I ended up breaking the back of it with hefty doses of Sudafed – and for once it’s worked pretty well.
I’m just about back to normal now (or at least my version of normal, before anyone else says it) so that’s counting as a win. But it’s not been a fun week all told.
Decaffeinating
Posted: Mon 9 November, 2015 Filed under: 2015/16, Diet Coke, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Health, Sleep - or lack thereof, Thoughts, Weirdness 1 Comment »As people should have gathered, I’m currently doing a bundle of plans for the coming year, as well as continuing to make changes to my general life, health, fitness and so on.
One of those changes is – yet again – cutting down a lot on my caffeine intake, and seeing how things go.
My caffeine intake is highly cyclic, I cut it down (and sometimes out) for a while, and then it slowly goes back up again. And lo, another cycle continues.
Anyway, this time round I’m working on it again, and so far it’s fairly successful. I’m drinking a lot more water, and the Diet Coke intake is commensurately much, much lower.
What’s annoying, though, is that even with a massively reduced intake, it hasn’t affected my insomnia at all. It’s annoying because just about every person who has ever pointed out I drink too much Diet Coke (or caffeine in any other format) has said it explains my insomnia.
But nope, even when I’m just drinking water – and have been for a couple of weeks – my sleep is still atrocious. Indeed, sometimes even worse than usual.
It really is bloody annoying.
2015/16 – Health and Weight
Posted: Sat 7 November, 2015 Filed under: 2015/16, Change, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Thoughts, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »Over the last year, I’ve worked on both health and weight with some success – albeit not as much as I’d have liked to.
A lot of the actual progress has happened over the last three or four months, once I’d changed gyms to one that was better located to fit in with my times and work life. That’s enabled me to go more often and more regularly, which has helped things immensely.
As a result, I’ve definitely lost inches, and gained muscle mass. That’s meant that I’ve pretty much stayed at the same weight – although it’s started coming off properly in the last month or so – which I suppose is good, if frustrating.
The plan for the coming year is likely to be more of the same. Some of it will depend on what happens for the next contract, and wherever I’m based at that point. If I’m based in London and commuting by train, the gym will still be perfectly placed. If I’m going to be based somewhere else, I’ll have to reassess and see what works.
Ideally, I’d like to lose a couple of stone over the next 12 months. That’s a feasible goal, assuming I can maintain the progress of the last few months, and keep doing more as I go on.
My other target/plan – albeit one that’s slightly less achievable – is to do another of the Marie Curie 10Km walks, and to do it in 60-70 minutes. That’s pushing it – although I’ve done other, shorted walks at that kind of pace, so it’s also feasible. It just might require a bit more training than the last two have…
Stasis – Weight and Health
Posted: Wed 16 September, 2015 Filed under: 2014/15, Change, Cynicism, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Thoughts, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »It seems to be the season for stasis – and for thinking about it, which is kind of odd. But there we go.
Anyway, one of my goals for this year was to lose more weight – I lost two stone in 2014, and wanted to do a similar thing this year.
Well, that hasn’t happened.
(At this point I know I have to remind myself that there’s still three-and-a-bit months to go of the year, blah blah – but still, two stone in three months is less-than-likely)
It’s annoying in some ways, but in others it’s been an interesting process.
I have definitely, and visibly, lost inches. My strength and muscle have improved significantly, particularly since getting to do regular gym visits. But the weight has stayed the same.
In general, I’m OK with that. I know I’ve improved, and have reduced body fat by about 20% (although there’s a way to go still) over the last eighteen months. I know I can beast through a 10Km walk in 100mins (an average speed of 6Kph) and I’m content with that. I know I can also do more on weight machines at the gym than the majority of the other users I see.
There’s still a good way to go – I’ve got my own targets, both short- and long-term, and I hope to get there. But I know I’ve made progress, I can see it and I can feel it.
I do wish that those bloody scales would show it though. I step on most mornings, so I know it’s not some weird coincidence that only sees me measure when I’m that weight. It varies by a pound or two either way – but that’s it.
I suppose I should be happy that my body is in some kind of balance/stasis, that it’s managing to replace fat with denser (note, not heavier, just denser – that’s a bugbear that I’ll write about some other time) muscle in a balanced way. And in most ways I’m content with it, with knowing there are changes that just don’t show on the scales.
But I’d still like to actually weigh less…
Shoe Issues
Posted: Mon 24 August, 2015 Filed under: 1BEM, Charm School, Customer Services, Domestic, Getting Old(er), Health, Milton Keynes, Stupidity Leave a comment »Since doing the 10km walk for Marie Curie, my feet have been having some issues, which have been no fun.
In the preparation for the walk, my feet had gained some hard skin areas, which – like a twat – I’d picked apart. To stop them from hurting or getting worse on the walk, I put on a couple of blister plasters – whose glue melted off during the walk, and actually caused the blisters I ended up with. Oops.
The blisters cleared up and healed quickly, but left some weaker spots of skin, which have then been a bit of an issue.
Basically, the Cat boots I’ve had this year haven’t been anywhere near as good as usual, and the lining had dissolved in places – again, causing blisters in the bits that rubbed, and those weaker spots of skin. Because I’d bought them from Schuh, I was able to take them back to the store, and they’ve exchanged them for a new pair without question – which is pretty stunning customer service, in my opinion. However, because they’d died, I had worn an older pair for the day – and that exacerbated the problem tenfold.
Because I’m an idiot – so I’d walked a lot in those old, old boots, with their worse wear. I didn’t think anything of it ’til the end of the day, when I got home – at which point I had blood-filled blisters on blisters. Pretty skanky, and very sore. As a result, yesterday I spent the day doing amazingly little, and just giving my feet some recovery time. Which seems to have been a fairly good plan, all things considered. I didn’t even do half my normal walking for the day – which I feel bad about, but at least it was for a vaguely good reason.
All this has been within a couple of weeks – it’ll all heal, but it’s been a painful time because of my own stupidity (and some ropy build quality along the way).
So really this post is just a reminder to future me to not be such a fucking idiot, and to take more damn care of my own feet.
And that’s it.
Marie Curie 10k
Posted: Sun 9 August, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Weight Loss Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I did my second 10km “Walk to Remember” for Marie Curie. Last year it was at Boughton House in Northamptonshire, this time it was at Blenheim Palace.
I like the setup for these walks – it’s done on a summer evening, no numbers or rankings, you just go and do the walk. I’m interested in how I do, and some comparisons, but I’m also happy to just get it done. They do some other stuff afterwards, but that’s never been of much interest for me, so I don’t bother.
Last year, I did the 10km route in 1hr 51 – still not bad – and enjoyed it, but I did want to do better this year.
Safe to say, I managed to do so…
Walk track and times for Blenheim Palace
I came in within the first 20 people, so I was pretty chuffed all round. I’d started off in the middle of the crowd, but within the first kilometer I was up at the front – and stayed there for the rest of it. Some of the people I’d overtaken came back past me (I’d particularly narked one person who was very ‘professional walker’ by overtaking them and staying ahead for a good few kilometres)
Anyway, it was a good day, and I really enjoyed it again. My feet hurt a bit today, but nothing traumatic, and it’s all good.
Into August
Posted: Wed 5 August, 2015 Filed under: Bankruptcy, Change, D4D™, Domestic, Driving, Finances, Getting Organised, Health, Introspective, Looking Back, Thoughts, Weirdness Leave a comment »Somehow, we’re into August already. The year’s racing by (as usual) and here we are. August.
August is a funny (as in ‘odd’, not as in ‘ho ho’) month for me – for some reason it’s always been rather more eventful than others. It seems to be generally a month of change for me, in ways both negative and positive.
It’s definitely the month I get twitchy about, more than any other. I’m sure that’s because my parents first pointed out what a consistently change-laden month it was (which may have also gone some way to making it a bit more self-fulfilling) but I try to not focus on it. By that, I mean that I don’t consciously go “oh, I’ll do that in August”. August just seems to happen.
As examples…
- D4D™ got started in August. Not intentionally (well obviously it got started intentionally) in August – that was just when everything came together for it to happen
- My bankruptcy was in August. Again, that’s just when it came about.
- I finally passed my driving test in August.
- I’ve had *lots* of job changes in August, contracts ending and so on.
This time round, it looks (so far) like things will be a lot calmer.
I was a bit twitchy, as my current work contract had an end date next week – and even though I was 99% sure it would extend again, there’s always that “But it’s August, and thus could bite me on the bum” nagging doubt. However, it’s been confirmed this week that it’ll extend again, through to October (which will mean I’ve been doing this one for a year) so that’s all good.
To the best of my knowledge I’ll be staying in the current house for at least another year. That’s the plan (and renewal isn’t ’til November, so not a concern) and I see no current reason to change it.
There’s currently nothing else of major import and change looking like it’ll happen. I’ve got stuff planned for the month, but nothing change-laden. All the same, during August I’ll be…
- Doing a 10Km sponsored walk for Marie Curie
- Seeing Benedict Cumberbatch in Hamlet (a happy surprise instance, brought about by a friend of a friend not being able to go)
- Possibly another London visit, or alternative Day Trip
- Sorting out (renewing) car insurance again
And there’s a bundle of other stuff as well, alongside the weekly working normality.
So with any luck, this August won’t be too eventful and change-laden. We’ll see.
Easing Up
Posted: Thu 23 July, 2015 Filed under: 2014/15, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Thoughts, Weigh Less Leave a comment »As regular readers will know, I’ve been working fairly hard over the last eighteen months when it comes to weight loss.
In 2014, I’d lost two stone, and I was planning (hoping) to do the same this year, which would get me to something close to where I want to be.
However, this year it’s not gone all that well. (And yes, I know we’re only halfway through the year, there’s still time to sort things) I’ve stayed around the same place weight-wise, although I’ve been doing a lot more – both more walking, and also getting back to going to the gym.
As a result, my health and fitness are improving significantly, but the weight is staying the same.
I know there’s a load of guff spoken about muscle being heavier than fat, and all that, but I’ve still been finding it pretty demoralising to do a load of work, walking, or working out, then step on the scales and see the same figures there, week after week.
So – I’m not giving up, but I am easing off on checking my weight. I can feel the changes, and see the differences in measurements etc. (although I haven’t recorded the measurements themselves) and that’ll do me for now.
Reducing Available Excuses
Posted: Fri 3 July, 2015 Filed under: 2014/15, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »Over the last month, I’ve been getting back into going to the gym. At first it’s been more about just adding it in to my regular routine – and that’s been fairly successful, I’m pleased to say. I do intend to go through things with a personal trainer and so on, figure out what my goals and targets should realistically be (and there’s some other parts to that too, but more of those at another time) but for now it’s been more about just going, doing some stuff there, and just getting it back into my normal day.
With the exception of last week – where I’d twatted my foot (again) enough that it was painful to walk on, let alone do any serious exercise/workout/walking – it’s worked out fairly well, and I got in at least twice a week.
This week, with the foot back to being OK (or at least OK enough) I was back to going, even though I really wasn’t in the mood, and frankly I was too fucking hot to want to go. But I still went.
My philosophy at the moment is to go when I don’t want to, when the conditions are crap – too wet, too windy, too hot, too whatever – to make sure that I’ve no excuses on normal days. The only time where excuses are allowed are when I’m hurting, and it’ll affect them (and possibly make them worse) by going. That’s it.
So having been on the hottest day of the year, I’ve no real excuses any more when “it’s too hot”. Yes, it’s definitely not nice (and an extra change of clothes was a very good plan!) but it got done, and I can’t make that excuse. (I was actually surprised by how few people were in the gym on that day – I assume ‘It’s too hot to work out’ had an effect on that, too)
So – making progress. We’ll see how things work out from here…
Getting Back In The Saddle
Posted: Sat 6 June, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Milton Keynes, Thoughts, Weigh Less Leave a comment »Following on from this week’s ‘Heavy Thoughts‘, I’m aiming on getting myself back into more exercise and so on.
Among those plans, I’m heading back to a gym – and it’s another new one.
I signed up with one in Milton Keynes (MK) earlier this year, thinking that it would be a good plan due to working in MK four days a week. However, it didn’t work with everything else – it was a bit in the wrong direction, and a ballbag to get to. It didn’t fit with how things were working for me, so I wasn’t going.
As a result, I cancelled it – no point carrying on paying for something that’s not being used, just because of good intentions, after all. Thankfully it was one of the newer no-contract gyms, so wasn’t any great issue.
This week I’ve signed up with a different one (but still contract-free, and actually cheaper still than the previous one) and went for the first time as well. It’s closer to my office, allbeit still a decent walk, and means I can park near the office as usual – I get in early anyway, to avoid rush-hour traffic – and walk down to the gym, then walk back and get to work.
I’ve not chosen the best time to do this – this week and next are chaotically busy with other stuff as well, so I’m not in the MK office as much as usual. Initially though, it’s aiming to get me into going again, and getting into a routine for doing so.
And from there, we’ll see how it all goes. I’m optimistic for the moment, but time is more likely to tell.
Heavy Thoughts
Posted: Wed 3 June, 2015 Filed under: 2015/16, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Getting Organised, Health, Introspective, Thoughts, Weigh Less 1 Comment »Last year I did pretty well when it comes to weight loss, dropping two stones over the year. (It was actually a bit more, but then went up again towards the year end) The plan this year is/was to do more of the same, and lose a similar amount of weight.
So far, that’s not gone well. It stayed pretty stable through January to April, and then May was – for unknown reasons – really bad. Basically, I had a real desire for sugar, coupled with a lot of idiot days, journeys, activities and meals. It felt pretty non-stop, and for whatever reason from that, my brain/body wanted sweet stuff.
When I weighed myself on Monday, I’d put on nearly a stone, which has really annoyed me. I’ve been pleased with the weight loss, so putting some back on is a bit of a setback.
But it’s only a setback, not a major issue. From here on things are a bit calmer again – although saying that I’ve still got weekend trips to Oxford, Manchester and London coming up – and I’ll reduce that sugar intake again. That has, I think, been the main trigger for weight gain.
I’m going to get back to doing some other stuff too, and seeing how things go. But that’s the plan, and I’m not changing my goal for the year. I just have to work a bit harder than expected to get there…
Make Up Your Damn Mind
Posted: Wed 29 April, 2015 Filed under: 1BEM, Advertising, Cynicism, Domestic, Food, Health, Thoughts, Weirdness Leave a comment »While shopping this morning, I looked at “Glaceau Vitamin Water“. Not for any intention of buying, just out of interest (I got a promo thingy for it, so thought I’d look).
The labelling is….. interesting.
Zero or not?
So… “Zero Calories”, but 100ml contains 1.5 calories, and 500ml contains 8calories.
All told, that makes it a pretty interesting interpretation of “zero”…
Resurgence Of Ills
Posted: Tue 21 April, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »Late last week, and into this, the lung-crap made a bit of a revisit.
It’s nowhere near as bad as the full-on Bronchitis of a couple of months back, but it’s been noticeable, with the cough and the lumps of coughed-up green. Over the weekend I did wonder if I was going to have to make a return visit to my GP – not that I wanted to – because of the breathing issues and crackles in the lungs again, but for now that seems to have receded again.
I’m actually feeling OK, and pretty healthy – which makes it even more annoying that this crap keeps on coming back round.
It’s back on the wane now, thankfully. I just hope I don’t get battered by a third round of it.
Changing Temperatures
Posted: Sun 29 March, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Weirdness Leave a comment »One of my family traits is that we all run warm – I’m rarely cold, my dad was infamous for having gone into a new office, turned off the heating on his first day and not re-activating it for five years ’til he left. I don’t know why we’re like it, but we are.
At night I’d sleep outside the quilt for the most part, because I was too warm otherwise.
This last year though, I’ve noticed a change.
I bought a quilt with a slightly lesser tog – 10.5 instead of 13 – but now I tend to sleep under the quilt rather than around it, or outside it completely.
It’s not anything that’s got a point – just something odd, that I’ve noticed changing.
Flat (Again)
Posted: Fri 20 March, 2015 Filed under: 2015 vs 2014, Cynicism, Depression, Domestic, Finances, Health, SAD, Thoughts Leave a comment »It’s all been a bit quiet chez D4D™ – but I’m OK. The Bronchitis is pretty much gone, bar the odd cough – so that’s good.
I do still feel quite drained and flattened by it all, though – and I think that’s what’s finally coming through this week. I have to keep remembering that it’s only ten days since I finished the antibiotics, and that I’m still fighting off the remnants.
While this year’s been pretty good so far – and how the chuff are we nearly in April, for goodness’ sake? – it’s also been pretty manically busy with work and life, and I suspect that’s having a knock-on effect as well.
Basically, I’m tired, demotivated and just a bit flat. I really can’t be arsed – particularly with work. I’m still plodding through, but it’s an effort. Sleep is always an issue with me, but I am beginning to wonder if depression isn’t rearing it’s ugly head.
I don’t think it’s depression – but then, that’s what people say when they’re depressed. It’s not at vicious levels or anything, but I’m aware that I’m just all a bit Meh. Herself used to note that I was OK in Winter because I know I get hit by SAD , and so prepare myself for it – which means I’m less affected by it. However, then Spring comes along with longer days and more sunlight, and I relax, expecting to be doing better, and get sledgehammered by depression again when I’m not prepared for it instead. I don’t know if that’s valid – but it’s something that’s been bouncing round my head a bit this month.
I’m going to see how things go though. The current work situation only has three weeks left to run, at which point I’ve booked a break anyway. (Up to Edinburgh for a very chilled long weekend) Then we’ll see how things progress from there, I think.
At worst, at least I’m aware and conscious of it all, and will deal with it if necessary. At best, it’ll ease up once the current work stuff is dealt with, and things can progress again from there.
At the same time, I’m aware that I’m in a pretty decent situation and life is looking up, so maybe I’m more just worrying about stuff, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Time (as always) will tell.
Bronchosaurus
Posted: Mon 9 March, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »Sorry, couldn’t resist the punning title.
Health-wise, things are much improved now that I’m coming to the end of the course of antibiotics. It’s still not 100%, but all of the really rough stuff is gone, so I’m happy with that all round.
It did hit me hard though – all of last week I was in bed by 10pm, which is pretty much a novelty of epic proportions. I didn’t sleep any better – which didn’t help – but I was just wiped out by everything.
Still, things seem to be on the way up again. I’ll keep an eye on it this week, and just see how everything goes. And really, that’s all you can ask for, isn’t it?
GP Revisit
Posted: Wed 4 March, 2015 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, Health Leave a comment »Having been to see my GP – well, my GP Surgery, as I don’t appear to have an actual named GP, and the surgery is locum-tastic – on Thursday with the onset of something unpleasant, and having been told “It’s a cold, take paracetamol – or Neurofen if you must“, nothing improved. I know, you’re as shocked and surprised as I was(n’t)
Monday, as usual, was spent on-site with one of my work clients, and things were pretty unpleasant with lots of coughing and so on. The icing on the cake was on the way home, driving at 70 in the outside lane of the M1, when a coughing fit hit, including a lump that triggered the gag reflex. Believe me, that all focuses the mind somewhat! (I’m fine, and nothing was harmed/damaged or had any negative outcomes, but yeah, not much fun all the same)
As a result, on Tuesday (yesterday) I went back to the GP Surgery to find out more.
This time, with a different GP/locum, it was a different story. He could hear how bad my breathing was, and checked not just breathing/chest with stethoscope, but also temperature, and heart-beat and blood oxygen levels.
And of course it’s not ‘just a cold’ – I wouldn’t have bothered the buggers for a cold – and now turns out to be Acute Bronchitis, with a side-order of sinus infection. So I’m on a mega-dose of antibiotics and firm instructions that if they haven’t started working by Friday morning, to go back in immediately, not waiting ’til after the weekend.
So we’ll see how that all works out. But it’s good to know that it’s all rather more than “just a cold” – although it would’ve been nicer if that’d been picked up last week…
Sick Day
Posted: Thu 26 February, 2015 Filed under: Customer Services, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Health, People, Weirdness Leave a comment »Following on from yesterday’s post, last night was vile. I won’t go into details – safe just to say it was bad.
Anyway, as a result of that, I took the decision that I’d take today as a sick day, as I wanted to visit the GP (among other things) and generally Not Do Much. Which was a mistake.
The GP – as usual – was fucking useless. Having waited 90 minutes to see the incompetent git, I was in the room for less than five minutes. I explained that I’d spent most of the night with an insanely sore throat – to the degree that I thought it might end up being tonsilitis – , and coughing up big green lumps. He checked my throat and decided that it wasn’t tonsilitis. Fair enough – I know fuck-all, so I bow to their supposed knowledge. But at the same time, despite being told I’d coughed up a ton of crap, he still didn’t bother to check my chest at all – something you’d think would be pretty elementary.
And the final verdict? “Nothing I can do, take some paracetamol, and maybe Neurofen if you feel the need”. That was it. Useless shyster bastards. (And yes, there’s another complaint in with the practice manager)
After that, I went back home, still feeling like shit – only also feeling annoyed. Never a good stage in the day.
Within half an hour, there was a crunch of noise outside, the sound of plastic and so on getting splattered down the road. It didn’t sound promising – and I had a nagging feeling…
Yep, a driver had managed to smash off the door mirror of my car – which was all parked up, in the same place it usually is. Oh fuck.
In fairness, she’d stopped, and was seeing what had happened. I know any number of people wouldn’t have even slowed down, let alone made an effort. So you know, fair play on that score. She was a very new driver, had misjudged the width of her car while another one was coming the other way, and smack. It could’ve been so much worse – so, so much worse – and she was properly upset.
I spoke to my Saab garage, and got a price for the replacement mirror, and we exchanged details. I showed them where I lived, and all was well. A bit later, her dad came round – in a good way! – and we discussed it, that she was a new driver, and if we did this through insurance, it’d hit her very hard, for something that really wasn’t worth that much money. I’m fine with that – I’m not going to penalise the poor girl for something, when she didn’t even have to stop – and I think it’ll all work out by people dealing with it as adults.
And so I’ve ended up, on my day at home and feeling crap, going over to the Saab garage, getting things sorted – and as it turned out, actually getting a replacement mirror far, far cheaper than I expected. Basically, they’d got a silver car that they were stripping for parts, and I got the mirror. The colour isn’t a precise match, but I don’t give a shit about that.
The full replacement should’ve cost £300, with labour etc. on top of that. The swapped part has cost me £100 including labour, and took less than an hour from start to finish. I can’t deny, I’m pleased with that, and well chuffed with the garage – they’ve always been good with me, as has been shown by what they’ve done today.
It’s all worked out OK – but for a day doing nothing, it really hasn’t been all that successful…
Exercise More, Feel Worse
Posted: Wed 25 February, 2015 Filed under: 2014/15, Cynicism, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Old(er), Health, Sweary, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »The last few days have been somewhat sore.
As I’ve said before, I’ve been doing more walking with the new office location etc. Despite that (or, in my cynicism, because of it) on Saturday my back wrenched. Simply bending over to pick up a pen, and pop, gone. Ow, Ow, Fucking Ow.
It’s not as bad as it could’ve been – but is still bloody sore. Oddly, a decent walk seems to help loosen things, but the first bit of that walk hurts like fuck.
And things could be worse. I could have a cold/cough, that wracks the spine every time it happens.
Oh yes, I’ve got that too. Thanks life, health, and general body stuff. You unutterable bastard.
Hopefully it’ll all wear off before too long. In the meantime, safe to say that I feel like shit.
In the meantime, this losing weight and getting healthy (or at least healthier) crap isn’t all it’s knocked up to be, I tell you.
Walking Week
Posted: Sun 8 February, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Weight Loss Leave a comment »This week has been my best week of walking/steps in a while, and I’ve covered 44km (just under 27½ miles) – which I’m pretty pleased about, needless to say.
It’s mainly been facilitated by a weekend with a lot of walking – Friday with a couple of village circuits, plus some stuff in Milton Keynes around going to the cinema, Saturday with a lot more Milton Keynes walking between tasks (haircut, bank, office paperwork, and other stuff) and today a big dollop of walking while revisiting a couple of places I used to live. Indeed, just today has covered 11km all told.
So yes, a good week for getting out a bit – although in other ways it’s been a lot flatter and less motivated. But more on that another time.
A Measured Year
Posted: Sun 1 February, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Old(er), Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss 2 Comments »Oddly enough, while I was writing about the new Fitbit ChargeHR, I got an email from Fitbit about my activities of the last 12 months.
According to them (and who am I to argue?) in the last twelve months I’ve walked a total of 873 miles, through 1,763,045 steps. That’s not bad, for someone who didn’t/doesn’t get out as much as I should…
That adds up to an average of just under 2½ miles walked every day, just over 4,800 steps a day.
OK, it’s not the recommended 10,000 steps a day – but that wasn’t really my goal in the first year (or possibly even the second). However you look at it, 10,000 steps is a lot, coming in at around 6 miles a day. But it is better than I did the previous year (due to being more aware of it, and more determined to get out more) and I’m happy with where it’s at. I know plenty of others will say “Is that all?”, but that’s fine too – it gives me plenty of options.
So I’m happy – and it’s also good to know those details, rather than just thinking I’ve walked more etc. And this year’s target will be to comfortably beat those totals. Maybe 1,000 miles in a year? Who knows.
Fitbit ChargeHR
Posted: Sat 31 January, 2015 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Old(er), Getting Organised, Health, Technology, Thoughts, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »Over the last year or so, I’ve been using the FitBit Flex wristband to keep track of my daily steps, sleep statistics and so on. I’ve been generally impressed with its ease of use and so on, as well as the integration/communication with the FitBit App.
As it worked out, the only thing I wasn’t too impressed with was the strap itself – in that year-ish, I got through two straps, and had just ordered a replacement for the second. That’s not ideal, and is something of a design flaw. (I’ve let them know about it, so we’ll see what happens)
At the time I got it, I was a bit annoyed by a perceived lack of functionality within the Flex, so I was interested to see that they’ve released some more wearable things with more functionality – the Charge, ChargeHR and Surge (which is almost a smart-watch in its own right) – and I ended up getting a new ChargeHR.
Because I’m exercising more and so on, I was wanting a device to track heart-rate and so on as well, and the ChargeHR does that. I don’t need the full functionality of the Surge (plus I didn’t want to be taking myself up to that price point) but this one does pretty much what I want, particularly in combination with the phone.
The strap on this is a bit more obtrusive than that of the Flex – I can feel it as I’m typing this, for example – but all told I’m so far impressed with the device. And it has some of the extra things I wrote about a year back – and the Surge has built-in GPS as well, which was another.
It’s interesting seeing how these devices improve over time. It’d still be nice to see more innovation, but at least they’re doing more, and still maintaining a decent battery life and so on.
I’ve only had it a couple of days so far, but will probably write more about the ChargeHR in a couple of months’ time, as I’m more used to it.
Ick – Temperature Control
Posted: Thu 8 January, 2015 Filed under: D4D™, Domestic, Health Leave a comment »One of the weirdest things about the batch of illness I’ve had this week was how much it messed with my body’s temperature. In some ways it almost went feverish, with extremes (or at least wider-than-normal ranges) of temperature from hot to cold.
It’s something I’ve had issues with before – although usually as a reaction to ridiculous stress-levels – where I overheat, and end up sleeping for about 18 hours. It’s been a long time since I had one of those episodes, thankfully. But each time I’ve had one, the verdict has been to take some paracetamol, which apparently helps to reduce core temperature. (That’s only on reported understanding, don’t quote me on it)
Anyway, this last couple of days I’ve been running hot enough that I wondered whether I might end up sleeping 18 hours again, but this time it hasn’t happened like that.
I don’t think there’s any real point of information on this, it’s just me dumping my brain onto a keyboard again.
Ick
Posted: Wed 7 January, 2015 Filed under: D4D™, Domestic, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »There’s not been much written here this week so far – and that’s for a fairly good reason. I’ve been unwell. Not man-flu, nor anything life-changing etc., but just unwell.
More dramatic souls would probably attribute it to food-poisoning, but I’m not so sure. It’s just been a generally unpleasant bug – thankfully no puking, but all the other usual effects.
It started Sunday night, and lasted ’til this morning – and in that time, I lost half a stone. Today has been more about gentle recovery, letting things come back to a semi-even keel.
I’m tired, and feel horrifically unproductive, but OK. It’s just that it all meant I had priorities other than writing. Mainly getting to the facilities in time…
Health Figures
Posted: Sun 4 January, 2015 Filed under: 2014/15, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Thoughts, Weigh Less, Weight Loss 1 Comment »Back in December I got a number of blood tests as part of the whole “keeping track of things” when it comes to my health. It’s not hypochondria – my family history has a number of fun things including heart issues, diabetes and malfunctioning thyroid glands, so it’s worth getting checked every so often.
Annoyingly, the only information I had about the results was an insanely basic “don’t worry, your heart stuff’s OK” auto-letter from the GP. Nothing about the other figures which were of more interest and/or relevance.
I had made an appointment for last Monday to find out more. Also annoying, as it was something like three weeks between blood-results and appointment, but I figure that if there’s anything important they’d have let me know sooner. And then I forgot the bloody appointment, and the phone’s “reminder” went off an hour after the appointment.
So on Friday I popped in to the GP surgery – they do an ‘open surgery’ a couple of times a week – and got to see a GP.
As it turns out, the figures are actually fine, which I’m pleased about.
My cholesterol level is 4, my blood-sugar 4.5. These are, apparently, great – and the cholesterol level has dropped significantly over the last year. Apparently my thyroid/thyroxin level is fine – although I do find that GPs don’t tend to explain any of this shit in ways that mean anyone can look at other information. I’ve got the actual figure, but I failed to get the reference values, so I don’t have any further information about where my figures sit in the general scale of things.
Apparently though, there is currently only a 4% chance of my developing heart-related issues in the next ten years. Now obviously I’m aware that Fate, Destiny and the Gods are capricious bastards at the best of times, but as these things go, I can live with that 4% chance.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m resting on those figures, or assuming that all’s good so I don’t have to worry. I’m still working on improving my health and so on, and intend to keep on doing so. But at least I’m starting from an OK position for the time being.
Life Is Loud
Posted: Thu 27 November, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »A long time ago (six years, no less) I wrote in fairly comprehensive detail about ear-wax buildup, and how the brain copes with blocked-up hearing.
I’d had my ears re-done in the interim – I know there was one time in Norfolk at least – but it’s improved and I hadn’t needed to have it done again since at least moving to this house. I reckon it’s about four years since it last needed doing.
But lo, the time was upon me once again – one ear’s been bad for a while, and the other was well on its way – and being a bit more pro-active than in the post six years ago, I got myself booked in before both were completely shagged.
Today was the day, and all is done now. It wasn’t as bad as it has been before – but it was still pretty grim. (And let’s face it, blocked ears are never going to be less than grim)
As always, it amazes me how much the brain rebalances things, and accomodates for these issues as the happen. It’s incredible – but in some ways it doesn’t actually help, because you don’t recognise how bad things have become until it’s all been fixed and is back to normal.
It’ll settle down again, but right now, wow, Life is loud.
Cursory
Posted: Sun 16 November, 2014 Filed under: Cynicism, Domestic, Health, Weigh Less Leave a comment »So, the checkup at the GPs was OK, as far as it went. Although in my opinion, it didn’t go anywhere near far enough.
Bear in mind, I haven’t been there for two years. I have a family history of numerous medical issues, including circulatory stuff (angina, heart attacks, high blood pressure etc.) as well as various body chemistry stuff – thyroid, diabetes and the like.
So you’d think the GP would’ve at least done the stethoscope thing, wouldn’t you? But no. Walk in, get my weight and blood pressure taken, and have to push to even get a blood test (although it is getting done)
All told, the most cursory ‘check-up’ I’ve ever had. And to top it off, it was delayed by half an hour, too. Not even an apology.
It’s fair to say, there’s a complaint in with the practice manager…
Checking Up
Posted: Tue 11 November, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Health, Weight Loss Leave a comment »This afternoon, I’m off to visit the GP. Not for anything major, just a checkup.
It’s been two years since I last darkened the door of my local GP. I try to visit GPs as infrequently as possible, they’re not my favourite place, and I’m not a fan of wasting the resources that there are.
However, I know my family history, and I want to make sure that any of those issues are caught early. So there we go, booked in for a check-up.
If nothing else, it’ll be useful to know blood-pressure etc., considering the weight loss this year, and see how all those things are going.
After that, we’ll see.
Cutting Down (Again)
Posted: Mon 6 October, 2014 Filed under: Diet Coke, Domestic, Food, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »While I’m off and job-hunting, one of my little side-projects is to (yet again) cut down on my intake of Diet Coke. It seems it’s a regular(ish) cycle with me, although I have cut it down significantly anyway from where it all was a few years ago.
As it is, I’m down to one 500ml bottle a day. It’ll vary again over time, but I’m quite happy with where it stands.
10km
Posted: Mon 15 September, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, People, Thoughts, Weigh Less Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I took part in a 10km (6 mile) walk to raise funds for Marie Curie cancer care. They’d done it as an evening thing, round a local(ish) stately home. In my case, that meant Boughton House, near Kettering in Northamptonshire.
As it was, I just fancied doing it – it seemed like a fun alternative to the whole ‘fun run’ (an oxymoron if ever I heard one) and just something I wanted to do, so I signed up ages back, and did some (very minimal) fundraising with friends via Facebook. I raised enough to be able to do the walk, so there we go.
In the meantime, life conspired to make sure I had no practice or ‘training’ whatsoever – with the icing on the cake being the fact that my decent walking boots fell apart the night before the walk. Ain’t life grand? Still, it wasn’t a major issue – I walk everywhere in boots anyway, so sod it, just use my everyday ones. At least I know I won’t get blisters!
Fortunately, Saturday evening was dry – the limit of my preparation was a vaguely waterproof jacket (well, more fleece than anything) but by halfway round I was sweating like a perv in a playground, so it got taken off and carried the rest of the way.
I wasn’t really in the mood to be sociable, so didn’t actually speak to anyone else on the walk. Chatted briefly to some of the marshals, but nothing else. I was doing it more for the walk, the fundraising, and just to be doing it – plus plenty of time for thinking/planning, of which more another time. I could’ve strangled a few people – particularly the dog-walkers, with their extendy-leads that conspire to try and trip people at every opportunity – but for once I was fairly mellow. Mind you, one of ’em nearly ended up with a boot up the arse.
All told, I did the 10km in 1hr 50 mins, which I was really quite pleased with. It wasn’t super-quick, but at the same time I was also surprised by how many people took a lot longer to do it. It wasn’t competitive: no names, numbers, or times, but it was still interesting. I didn’t set out to be first, or to do a blistering time, but managed to end up in the first third of finishers, if not the first quarter. Which surprised me, but anyway.
And then just the drive home. I could’ve stayed for some kind of concert and fireworks, but again, I wasn’t really in the mood.
More importantly, I was quite chuffed that I’d done it, and while my feet were sore afterwards there’s been no lasting pain, blisters, or anything. All told – and bearing in mind how little preparation I’d managed to do – it went pretty damn well.
Who knows, I might even do it again next year. After all, I’ve a time (and financial) target to beat now…
Going Round in Circles
Posted: Mon 25 August, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Health, M25 Leave a comment »Yesterday I did – yet another – circumnavigation of the M25 in one day. It’s quite a childish thing, allbeit not something I do on a whim, but sometimes it amuses me. The main difference this time was that I did it anti-clockwise, which for some reason I do less often.
Yesterday was a drive from home to parents in Oxford, collect them and drive them to Dover (they’re off on a holiday) and then back round to the M1 to go home. It also involved a trip into the office – that’s a post for another time – so all told I covered about 350 miles in the day.
Anyway, all well and good, and I’m still alive. Just currently snowed with work-related stuff, hence the paucity of postings here.
Stone Down
Posted: Fri 11 July, 2014 Filed under: 2013/14, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Old(er), Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »In other news, I’ve now lost a stone in weight this year.
That puts me on a weirdly OCD number (ending with two zeroes) although still at the high-end of “Functioning fat fucker”, with a way to go.
I’m happy with the progress though. I’d like it to be quicker (wouldn’t we all?) but at least it’s progress.
Creativity Locked
Posted: Thu 29 May, 2014 Filed under: Depression, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Insomnia, Project 42, SAD, Words, Writing Leave a comment »Over the last couple of months, my creative side has felt like it’s completely locked up. I don’t particularly know why – although I suspect it’s linked to feeling constantly tired, burned out, and unwell.
After this weekend, I’m making some changes again – mainly employment stuff (of which a bit more tomorrow) but also a few life-based things.
With the new job, I’m aiming to limit myself to work-based stuff just in work hours. With the last couple of jobs they’ve been coming home with me, and it’s been sitting in my head. I suspect that’s been a mistake. It’s certainly put me in a position where a lot of the time I don’t even want to look at a computer while I’m at home – although again that may be down to also feeling depressingly run-down – so I’m currently hoping that if I limit myself a bit more workwise, I might have the time and inclination to do other stuff when I’m back at home.
It could also be that I’m going through a bit of a depression dump. It wouldn’t be the first time that I get affected like that once the days have started getting longer. I can deal with – and fight – the seasonal depression of long nights and grey days, but once the days get longer I lower my guard, lower my resistance, and sometimes it just hits hard for a while.
I’m hoping I’ll find some ways to reset myself a bit over the next couple of weeks, but we’ll see.
Progress
Posted: Wed 7 May, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Old(er), Health Leave a comment »For the first time in about ten days, I can breathe clearly today. This is A Good Thing.
For the first time in about a month, I can also move without twinges of the muscles in my back, and without wincing. This is A Joy.
I do wonder if I’m not a bit run-down at the moment – things seem to be taking longer to repair than usual, and to be slightly more fragile than they have been.
Or maybe, as BW said a while back, I’m just getting old(er). Not Old old, but approaching middle-age, and all that rot.
I don’t know – I’ll see what happens over the rest of this year. I’m hoping for things to be a bit calmer (although my calm is most people’s ‘chaotic’, as we all well know) but we’ll see.
Slow Progress
Posted: Sun 20 April, 2014 Filed under: 2013/14, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Health, Project 42, Weigh Less 4 Comments »This year, as I’ve said before (and on many occasions) I’ve been working at getting more exercise, with an aim of losing some weight, improving health, and all that standard crap. At the same time I’ve been keeping track of food intake and so on, which has been interesting rather than overly useful.
I’ve been doing fairly well for a start- I’m tending to average walking about 3-4 miles a day, including at least a mile round the village every day. I started off just making sure I did it even on days when I wasn’t in the mood, or when the weather was vile (and lord knows we’ve had plenty of those so far this year) so that I could establish it as routine, and thus have even less excuse when the weather was good.
It’s slow-going though – which I’m not happy about. I’m eating less than the ‘recommended’ calorie count, and I’m doing more exercise. But weight has stayed fairly stable. As it is, I’ve lost half a stone this year – which is better than it could be, but it’s still hard to monitor when it takes so sodding long.
This week has been different, because of stuffing my back last weekend (which is improving, but still insanely sore in the morning) I made the decision to lay off the walking etc. as much. It’s about halved from the usual, and I’ll actually be glad to get back to it.
Anyway, there’s been progress, it’s just been ridiculously slow. Next step, once I’m back to not hurting (pardon the pun) will be to get back on my bike again and do more work on that score as well. Maybe that’ll help things progress. We’ll see.
Back Down
Posted: Mon 14 April, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Health Leave a comment »Over the weekend, I somehow wrecked my back. I don’t know quite what happened, but yesterday was seriously painful.
I think that I somehow did something stupid – moved in a strange way, or slept in a weird position – because I do recall being vaguely awake and feeling something ‘wrong’ in my back. But then I went back to sleep.
It was OK again in the morning, a bit sore but nothing to write home about. But then I went off for a walk (which I try to do on a regular basis, building up exercise routines and so on) and this time it was down to the local wildlife centre – about 3 miles all told, which isn’t that much. But while there I sat on one of their picnic tables to read my book. I reckon I must’ve been leaning forward over the table for a period of time.
And the return journey was painful, the muscles in my lower back definitely hurting in style. I still walked home, but it hurt a lot more than the first half had.
Over the rest of the day, it got worse, to the point I wasn’t wanting to bend down or anything. I hoped that a hot shower/soak of the muscles would help, but no. I hoped that sleep last night would ease it up, but no. Still exceptionally sore this morning.
It’s eased off a bit today, but time will tell. There’s a good portion of the day remaining, after all. We’ll see. But in the meantime, bloody hell that was sore…
Flickering
Posted: Tue 4 March, 2014 Filed under: Commuting, Cyclists, Driving, Health, People, Stupidity, Technology, Weirdness Leave a comment »As I’m now working in Cambridge, I’m seeing a lot more cyclists. And a question occurred to me…
If a cyclist has one of those flashing/strobing LED cycle-lamps at a high-flash-rate, and they ride towards a driver prone to epilepsy through strobing (which isn’t something one would normally/usually expect to encounter while driving) who is responsible for any damages etc. should that driver suffer a fit at the wheel?
I’ve seen four or five cyclists already with these super-bright LED lamps set to a *very* high strobe rate, and it just made me wonder…
Fitbit Flex – Sleepy Time
Posted: Thu 20 February, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Insomnia, Project 42, Reviews(ish), Sleep - or lack thereof, Technology Leave a comment »Carrying on from yesterday’s post, I’m writing a bit about how I’m doing with the Fitbit Flex, a wristband pedometer and sleep monitor. Today it’s more about the sleep monitoring that the Flex does.
As with the pedometer side, the sleep monitoring can be a useful tool, but it’s not something to rely on absolutely.
The sleep monitoring is activated manually (which is usually OK, but could be a pain in the ass on occasion) and also needs to be manually deactivated – which is more of a pig, because if you forget, it screws the figures. It would be nice to have some automatic deactivation in there, although I suspect that the variables for it are pretty wobbly.
Based – I assume – on movement during the night, the Flex can report on “Sleep”, “Disturbed Sleep” and “Awake”. “Sleep” is – again, I assume – when the sleeper is motionless, as REM sleep paralyses the body. (which is why most people don’t sleepwalk, or do anything else physical that they’re dreaming about) “Disturbed Sleep” is when the sleeper is moving about. I’ve no idea how it discerns “Awake” though – it pegs my awake-in-bed time as ‘disturbed sleep’- so I assume that “Awake” means “Registered as sleeping, but actually walking around”. As such, the categories are a bit rough, but at least provide an illustration of sleep quality – or lack thereof.
One thing I do find affects me though is actually looking at the results. (Which is a bit meta and ‘chaos theory’, but bear with me) It’s one thing to feel like you’ve had a bad night, but it’s another one entirely to know it with the readings from the Flex. And yes, I could ‘leave it’ til later, but damn it, I’m interested. However, it does make me feel more tired, more justified in being tired, with that knowledge of “Oh yeah, but I had a crap night”. Seeing the information makes me aware of that crap night, and does affect how I feel during the day. (Similar to how reading a horoscope first thing can sometimes subconsciously direct you towards doing the things ‘predicted’)
It is interesting though. It’s proven that I usually actually get by on 3.5-4 hours sleep per night most of the time, and that it’s really only when I’m on sub-three-hours that I feel shockingly bad. I have good nights (rare), bad nights (common) and very bad nights (thankfully not quite as common as I’d thought)
I’ll keep on using the Flex for this – as I’ve said, it’s a useful indicator, if nothing else. Whether I continue to be aware of the timings or not, bearing in mind how much that knowledge affects me, remains to be seen.
Fitbit Flex – Taking Steps
Posted: Wed 19 February, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Project 42, Reviews(ish), Technology, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »It’s now been a couple of months since I got the Fitbit Flex, and it’s been pretty interesting. I didn’t buy it to boost my fitness, or any of that other rot – I just wanted to see how much I do walk on any given day, keep track of it, and also to look at how I sleep. (which I’ve written about before)
The sleep monitoring is quite useful – although I do wonder about how it affects me subliminally. (of which more later in the week)
For the walking / pedometer, it shows I’m currently walking about 3 miles a day. Not brilliant – but equally, not at all bad. I started this year with the intention of getting out and walking more, and getting into a routine of doing so. (This actually started back in November-ish, but has been more fixed since January) I try to make sure I walk around the village (a decent mile loop) most days – although I still sometimes fail to do so when the weather is truly vile – as well as walking more when I go to the local cinema etc.
The Flex helps me keep track of that, and it’s been useful. There is a certain satisfaction when it buzzes away on my wrist, letting me know that the daily target (currently set at 5,000 steps a day, approx 2.5 miles) has been achieved. And weirdly it does get into your head – I find myself thinking “Oh, well if I park there, it’s a longer distance to get to the shop/cinema/whatever, I’ll be closer to that target” and similar.
If nothing else, it’s a useful tool for just keeping track of exercise through the days and weeks – but also as a minor kick-up-the-arse for actually getting out and walking more.
Convergence
Posted: Sun 12 January, 2014 Filed under: Change, Design, Geeky, Health, Technology, Thoughts 1 Comment »Since getting the FitBit Flex, I’ve been thinking a lot about technology, innovation, and devices.
Why?
Because actually, despite being useful, the Flex feels something like a backwards step. Despite it still doing a number of things, it’s nowhere near as advanced as it could (and should) be.
Yes, this one device – worn on a strap on the wrist – can detect/monitor motion, whether that be steps, or motion during sleep. It can communicate via Bluetooth with my phone. But really that’s about it. It’s not got GPS to show where I’ve been, it’s not got a display for showing time, heart-rate, or anything else. In essence, it’s a pretty dumb device.
How has this happened? I remember back in the late 80s and early 90s when Casio were bringing out watches galore, and they could do so much more than the Flex. Casio’s corporate history is amazing for the number of innovations and firsts. Their first databank watch was made in January 1984, their first watch with GPS was released in June 1999. Within that time they certainly made watches with thermometers, weather predictions, heartrates, and many others.
So why are we now in some ways less advanced than these watches of 20-odd years ago? Why can’t my Flex also display the time, or be able to monitor my heartrate? Casio did it 20 years ago – it just seems bizarre that we can’t get one device to do all that now.
Monitoring Sleep
Posted: Thu 9 January, 2014 Filed under: 2013/14, Domestic, Dreaming, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Insomnia, Project 42, Sleep - or lack thereof, Technology Leave a comment »Over the years, I’ve kind of got used to sleeping really badly – although I’d still like to know the causes, and whether it really is as bad as I think/feel it is.
The reason I’m not sure is because – as I think I’ve said before – according to partners, sometimes I’ll have slept through the night, but woken up and been convinced I’ve had a bad night. Yes, I apparently manage to dream that I’m waking up and having a bad night. And yes, that is really really fucked-up, however you look at it.
Anyway, as part of the whole ‘weighing less’ part of this year, I was also wanting to monitor (or at least better monitor) my activity, steps-per-day and the like. So I’ve ended up ordering a FitBit Flex which should let me keep an eye on all of that at once. It’ll also integrate with a couple of other apps on the phone etc., which will make for some interesting reading over time. The only downside is that I’d have liked one that also allows me to check/monitor heart-rate (and really, why can’t you get a wearable wristband device that’ll do that? It can’t be that difficult, surely?) but there just isn’t anything like that around at the moment. The closest would be the Pulse from Withings – but that doesn’t do the integration stuff, and doesn’t keep track of heartbeat in the way that I wanted.
I’m not relying on it, or assuming it’ll be the thing that changes everything for me – but it should at least answer some questions, particularly about how I sleep. And that at least will be interesting, and make it worth what I’ve paid. Anything else is a bonus, really.
Pillows
Posted: Fri 3 January, 2014 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Health, Insomnia 1 Comment »I snore – always have, likely always will. I hate it, but it’s one of those things. Maybe it’ll change as and when I lose some weight, but honestly, I’m not convinced.
Anyway, over the years I’ve always had firm pillows on the bed, and tend to sleep with my neck crunched as high as possible. Some of it’s to do with reducing snoring (i.e. rather than sleeping laying on my back etc.) but also it’s just how I’m now comfortable. Basically, the higher and more solid the pillows, the better.
When I moved into the new house, I got some new pillows, and went for the hefty memory-foam ones. I thought they’d be great. Oh wow, was I wrong. While it was OK when going to bed, the memory foam would mould itself into the strangest shapes, and be generally really unpleasant by halfway through the night, which would mean I woke up and had to move the pillows, change them round, or just generally do something to them. I assume my head gets hot in the night, meaning the foam moves and loses support, or something. Anyway, vile.
I’ve stuck with them for a fair while – probably for too long, if I’m honest – but they haven’t improved, and I never got used to them. But Lord knows, I’ve tried.
After Christmas, I finally gave in and bought some new ones – at long last. Overfilled, firm, but not memory foam. Wow, what a difference. I mean, I still wake up during the night and so on – insomnia is business as usual – but at least I’m not fighting weird and solidly squelchy pillows. This makes me happy.
(And yes, I know, this is likely to be of no interest to anyone else. I don’t care)
Lazy
Posted: Thu 28 November, 2013 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Introspective, People, Personality, Public Transport, Shopping, Thoughts, Travel Leave a comment »Over the years, one thing I’ve said many times is that in some ways I’m lazy. (And it’s true – plus I’m almost certainly lazy in many, many ways) However, in some circumstances my laziness actually results in extra effort/work.
Technically and pedantically I know it’s not laziness per se, it’s more a “can’t be arsed to wait” aspect which probably also matches up to something else I’ll be writing this week.
Anyway, as an example of this, I say I’m lazy when I can’t be bothered to wait for a bus or a tram/train (particularly when I lived in Manchester) on short journeys, so I’d rather walk. I simply don’t get why people would wait for a tram from Piccadilly station down to Piccadilly Gardens (or indeed really any tram stop in Manchester) when you can walk it in the time it takes for the bus/tram to arrive.
When I go shopping, I can’t be arsed to wait for a parking space right next to the shops. I’ll park further away in the car park, walk in, get what I need, and leave. If it’s been a quick shop, I’m sometimes in and out while the same damn car waits for a space right next to the store.
Indeed in general I can’t be arsed with hunting for parking spaces right next to where I’m going. I’m just as happy parking further away where there’s plenty of spaces and just, you know, walking a bit further.
But then, I’m lazy like that.
Bunged Up
Posted: Sat 2 November, 2013 Filed under: Domestic, Health Leave a comment »This week has been less fun than usual, due to being heavily bunged up and feeling generally rotten due to a cold. No, not ‘flu, man-‘flu, or any other version. Just a cold.
And on a total tangent, what is the proper punctuation for flu? Technically it’s short for influenza, so should be written ‘flu’, or ‘flu., but I think ‘flu or flu is generally acceptable…
Anyway, yeah, just generally been feeling a bit crap, under the weather and snotty. As a result, this weekend is likely to involve less activity, and just spend some time recuperating. That’s the plan, anyway.
Widow
Posted: Thu 24 October, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Daily Mail, Health, Media, News, People, Stupidity, Weirdness Leave a comment »This year’s symptom of the media Silly Season appears to be the “False Widow” spider, which is the UK’s most venomous spider, but is also nowhere near as poisonous/bad/evil as it’s been portrayed, along with the resultant hysteria.
For whatever reason though, it’s been all over the news, with hysterical coverage about people who’ve been bitten “and nearly died“. Of course, it’s hard to gauge how near-to-death anyone was when they actually survived – I could say I “nearly died” anytime I cough, sneeze, or have a particularly strenuous dump.
The latest ridiculously hysterical reaction was the closure of a school in the Forest of Dean because of ‘an infestation’ of false widows (for fuck’s sake)
Now yes, I’m quite sure the bite hurts – and that there are a tiny minority of people who react badly to said bites, in the same way that there’s a small selection of people who react badly to wasp stings, peanuts etc. But it’s a tiny minority who get bitten at all (most just introduce spider to literature anyway) and an even tinier minority therein who react in such a way. But if you read the media, they’re everywhere, and everyone’s being bitten.
I know, I know, it’s always been thus with the media – compare any hysterical theme story with people you actually know, and you’ll find that most of them are stories that only happen to a tiny minority. Supposedly it’s that fact that makes the stories “news”, but that hype then blows it all out of proportion/sanity, leaving idiots people with the impression it’s happening everywhere.
Sometimes I wish the media would just shut the fuck up about stupid hype-ridden hyperbolic stories, and (in an ideal world) allow people to get on with their lives without this hysterical bullshit constantly going on.
Wavering – Updated
Posted: Wed 23 October, 2013 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Old(er), Gigs, Health, Insomnia, Music 3 Comments »Following on from yesterday’s post about my – well, my subconscious’s – wavering about going to the Peter Gabriel gig at the O2.
I didn’t go. I wanted to, I intended to.
I got home, had some lunch, had tons of time, felt like crap and had a quick nap. Not common, but not unusual.
I woke up five hours later, just as the concert was due to start. I’m about 75-90 minutes drive from the O2.
Piss.
GP Hours
Posted: Wed 2 October, 2013 Filed under: Domestic, Health, News, Thoughts Leave a comment »In the news yesterday, there was a lot of talk about the Prime Minister’s speech suggesting that GP hours should be expanded to 8am-8pm and operating seven days a week.
Personally, I think this is a good idea – or at least some semblance of it. I don’t necessarily think they need to be open seven days a week – although, thinking about it, how long can it be ’til Tesco et al start having GP surgeries within their supermarkets? But simply being open for longer/better hours, and (ideally) on a Saturday would make a massive difference to most people, I suspect.
Currently, my own GP is open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday. That’s only useful if
- You’re unemployed, or based at home (whether home-working or raising a family)
- You work in the same location
For me – and for most working inhabitants of the village – using that GP means taking time off work for a simple GP visit. That’s unacceptable. If I were on medication (like when I was on anti-depressants a few years back) then I’d have to take time off every so often for a re-checkup. Fortunately, I was with a different GP at the time – the one in Norfolk ended up doing longer days (7am to 8pm I think) which made things a lot easier. (Of course, having made a pain in the arse of myself with the practice manager also helped, and meant that things got sorted a lot quicker anyway)
Basically, it doesn’t (in my opinion) need to go from one extreme to the other – but simply recognising the needs of the community that deal with each GP would make life one hell of a lot easier all round. Simply opening six days a week instead of five, and/or longer hours would be enough.
Of course, the other major difference/improvement would be to hire good receptionists who make appointments, rather than trying to find out what you’ve got for no good reason. It’d also be beneficial to have decent systems/methods in place that don’t mean the only free appointments are taken by 9.05 on any given day, and appointments for non-urgent enquiries can be made more than a week in advance…
But hey, what would I know?
2013 Phase 3 : One week in
Posted: Mon 16 September, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Food, Getting Old(er), Health, Weigh Less 6 Comments »So, as I wrote a week ago, I made some minor(ish) changes to lifestyle last Monday. Obviously it’s only a week in, but I thought I’d write a wee bit about what’s happened in that week. I’m trying to get back into routines and patterns on these things, so I know that a week is kind of short, but if I’ve done it for one, I can do it for more.
The changes were
- Cutting out bread completely
- Eating better while at work (i.e. no sandwiches, in particular)
- Walking/cycling more
And so far things have been OK, I’m pleased to say.
I’ve had no bread at all – although I’ve not cut out pasta or other wheaty products as such – and honestly I’ve felt no change, and seen no changes or results. I’m going to keep on with it for a while more though.
I’ve certainly eaten better at work, mainly through getting back to eating stuff I’ve made at home and taking that in, rather than paying for it on a daily basis. I do need to find a balance here still, because as a contractor, it’s better for tax purposes (don’t ask) to buy something each day.
Exercise has been the big one. I’ve been out on the bike five times, and covered fifteen miles, there being a rather nice little three-mile circuit from home that works well for me. My times have dropped noticeably already – I’m using the Strava app on the phone to track things – and we’ll see how it goes. My leg muscles in particular hurt like buggery on a couple of occasions, which isn’t surprising considering that the last time I was cycling properly was in 2005 when I worked at CrapCo. But I’ll get better, get fitter, get faster. That’s the plan, anyway.
More importantly though, I’m quite enjoying it at the moment. I’m hoping to get into the routine before the nights draw in and the weather gets worse, so that then I’ll have even fewer excuses for not going. I have missed a couple of days this week- one through vile weather, another through being busy doing other stuff – but I can live with a five-out-of-seven plan for the moment.
All told, it’s all looking fairly positive.
2013 Phase Three
Posted: Mon 9 September, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Domestic, Health, Weigh Less Leave a comment »This time last week I wrote about starting the final third of 2013, and what I wanted to be working on with that. Part of that project/phase is to be healthier, and ideally weigh less too.
Because of the change in working location, I’ve had to stop my membership of the gym in Luton, where I was working before. There’s no point in my having a gym that’s 30 minutes away in the wrong direction, and that thus I now wouldn’t be using at all.
I may sign up for a gym in Milton Keynes, as I’m there a lot more often, but I don’t know yet, and I don’t need to decide right now.
What I am doing right now is
- Cutting out bread for a while, to see what happens. I’ve never really done this before, so it’ll be interesting regardless.
- Related to one, changing some of the stuff I have while at work, lunches and the like.
- Getting out and walking/cycling more. I went out for a short cycle ride yesterday for the first time in *cough* years, 3 miles in 20 minutes, and I’m hoping that’ll improve pretty quickly.
All told, it can be summed up as “Eat less/better/differently, exercise more.” Whether things will change or not remains to be seen – after all, things only really started yesterday, so there’s some time to be taken yet.
The plan is just to get into a routine on this stuff for the moment, see how it all goes. I’ve got the plan in my head, but we’ll see how things work out when the real world gets its ass involved.
Diet and Health
Posted: Tue 3 September, 2013 Filed under: Domestic, Food, Health, Thoughts Leave a comment »Over the last six weeks, the quality of my food intake dropped quite significantly. It wasn’t a descent into Junk Food Hell or anything like, but I did eat more junk-type stuff than usual, for one reason or another.
The primary reason was related to doing idiot hours on the short-term contract. It wasn’t unknown to leave the house at 6am and not get back ’til 10pm or later. And honestly once it got to that point in time, I couldn’t then be chuffed to cook something vaguely decent. Hell, half the time I had to persuade myself to eat anything at all, which is never a good state to be in.
As a result, I did have more takeaways and so on than usual. not to excess, but definitely more than I usually do.
It hasn’t affected me particularly – I haven’t gained weight etc. – but it’s another of those slopes I don’t really want to get on. I’m aware of it, and I think that’s a good thing – it means it’s not yet the norm, and I don’t want it to be. It’s incredibly easy to be lazy, and it’s harder work to not be, so I don’t want to start heading down the easy route too much. With the new job being (so far) a lot saner, I think I’ll be OK on cutting it all back, and that’s certainly the plan now, getting back into cooking properly and not just taking the easy option.
Mind you, there is a small matter of going to Meatopia this weekend – but I don’t think that really qualifies as junk food anyway!
Bitten to Shit
Posted: Wed 21 August, 2013 Filed under: Domestic, Health Leave a comment »Over the last two days, I don’t know what the hell kind of flying bug has been attacking me, but it’s had a noticeable effect.
I suspect it’s a horsefly (again) – I’ve had similar reactions before, but in this case I’ve been bitten four times on one shoulder, which is driving me crazy. There’s a couple of other similar ones elsewhere (one on my elbow, one on my leg) and all six have swollen up with an allergic reaction (I assume) which has left me with hard lumps around the bites. My sodding shoulder looks like it could be a bit-part on Hunchback of Notre Dame
I’ve dosed myself up with anti-histamines, and taken some of the annoyance away with an aloe vera gel, but all the same, chuff me it’s annoying.
Body-Image and Vanity
Posted: Thu 1 August, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, Cynicism, Health, People, Television, Thoughts, Weight Loss 1 Comment »On Channel4 this week there was a really good documentary(ish) with Alex Brooker about male body image, called “My Perfect Body”
It’s interesting to see how the perception of men’s bodies has changed over the last few years, and particularly a lot of men’s self-perception of their bodies, and particularly the assertions that a man isn’t ‘successful’ if they’re overweight, don’t have a six-pack stomach, etc. etc. In a lot of ways I think the programme was right, that a lot of men do ‘value’ themselves by way of their bodies, and that this is (at least to a degree) related to advertising/marketing, and those images of male perfection.
The other interesting side to it was about male vanity, and the surge in male grooming, ‘metrosexuality’, and even how male groups react to each others bodies; the basic answer being that men are (in many ways) bitchier to their friends than women are to their friends.
Personally, the whole vanity thing isn’t something I’ve ever been prone to. Yes, I currently want to lose some weight – but that’s more for health reasons and the like, rather than wanting to be thin/’successful’/’desireable’ and all that pap. Realistically, I’ll never be some 14-stone super-fitty, and honestly I don’t want to be.
I find it fascinating how the whole ‘group think’ perception seems to work, but I’m pretty immune to it. I wonder sometimes if that’s because I’ve never really had a whole group of male mates, and never been inculcated into that type of setup. I don’t know.
I’m not going to worry about it – part of my whole self-image/self-perception is probably more easily described as “This is me. Like it, don’t like it. Your choice”. In general, I’ve always found that seems to be a fairly healthy self-image, and it certainly causes me a lot less stress than a lot of people in the documentary…
Tour de France 100
Posted: Tue 2 July, 2013 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Television Leave a comment »Once again, it’s Tour de France time, and this one is the 100th race.
I’ve written about TdF before, but as always I’m just in awe of the people riding in it. Just taking part is a mind-boggling endeavour, let alone the achievement of winning the damn thing.
As always, it’s the final bits of each stage that I find truly gobsmacking – that these cyclists have already been cycling for three or four hours, up mountains etc., and still finish the stage with a sprint finish. I find that just awesome, and I can’t honestly think of another sport – or even really any other cycling event – where that happens. It’s not just endurance, it’s that mental and physical strength, the determination, and the pure physicality of that final surge, I think it’s amazing.
Ongoing Reductions
Posted: Mon 24 June, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Diet Coke, Domestic, Getting Organised, Health Leave a comment »Since last November I’ve been cutting down on my intake of Diet Coke, and doing OK on it. I’ve written about before, and will no doubt write about it again in the future.
We’re now six full months into 2013, and I’ve kept the intake down. It’s not zero – I don’t want it to be – but in general it’s about a quarter to a third of what it used to be, if not less. I’m still quite proud of that reduction, and of keeping the reduction going. My water intake has increased significantly as a result too, which is also supposedly a good thing – it’s certainly doing its thing to keep my kidneys in working order!
I still have good days and bad days – but less bad days than I used to – but overall I think it’s fair to say that the reduction might just be here to stay. Time will tell of course, but I think this is the longest sustained cut-down I’ve had in years.
January Progress
Posted: Mon 4 February, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, D4D™, Diet Coke, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss, Write More, Writing Leave a comment »Back at the end of 2012, I said I’d got two main plans for this year,
- Weigh less
- Write more
So, one month in, where do we stand?
On Point One, I’ve lost half a stone. Obviously that’s not insignificant, but there’s a long way to go still.
As part of it, I’ve been keeping a food diary for the last month, which has been interesting. It’s allowed me to keep track of what I’m eating and illustrate any bad foods (or even bad days) although it’s shown more that the intake side is lower than it should be. (I’m averaging about 1600 a day, from current evidence)
As I’ve written before, I’ve also had the health MOT this month : blood pressure, cholesterol, thyroid, blood sugar, the lot. It’s all come through OK, so that’s another thing.
And, of course, I’ve cut down my intake of Diet Coke significantly. It’s still got a small way to go if I’m to cut it out completely, but it’s still massively reduced from where it was.
Now it’s a case of upping the exercise levels as part of that project point.
For Point Two, I’ve managed to do some writing, although not as much as I’d hoped. I’ve got a short story mostly done, which I want to get completed in the next few days. I’ve also been writing a new idea, and that’s currently about a fifth of the way through it. Again, it’s something I’m working on, and it’s already better than it was last year, but there’s a long way to go.
Still though, it’s been a good start to the year.
Diet Coke – Progress
Posted: Fri 18 January, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Diet Coke, Domestic, Getting Organised, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss 1 Comment »A while back, I started cutting down on my intake of Diet Coke, and I have to say, so far it’s going pretty well. It’s been a bit turbulent, and while I halved it when I started back in November, by mid-December it was back to normal. I properly dropped it again once I was on leave over Christmas, and it’s been kept down for near on a month now.
I’d decided that I wasn’t going to cut it all the way out – or at least not immediately – and opted instead for a phased withdrawal. It’s a drink I like drinking, so I don’t know that I’ll cut it all the way out.
Anyway, so far I’ve done pretty well. I’m down to about one-third of what I was drinking, and I’ve replaced the majority of the intake with water, which is supposed to be a better alternative. (I’m not yet convinced – I don’t feel masses better for it, it’s – frankly – fucking boring, and it makes me piss like a horse)
I’m pleased with how I’m doing – I have good days with even less intake, and I have shit days where I have more, but most importantly, even on the shit days I’m drinking no more than half the Diet Coke I was doing.
It’s not been part of the weight loss plan – the calorific intake wasn’t that high, even when the intake was high – but it’s part of the general plan for this year, regardless.
There’s still a way to go – but I’m happy with where things stand for now.
Embarassing Fat Bodies
Posted: Wed 16 January, 2013 Filed under: 1BEM, 2012/13, Cynicism, Food, Health, People, Thoughts, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »Channel 4’s got a new series of “Embarassing Fat Bodies” at the moment, and it’s really annoying me. Not just because of my own ongoing issues with weight-loss, but just because of the people.
I know I’ve a long way to go, that’s a foregone conclusion. As such I’ve probably not got much room to talk, currently. You know what? I really don’t care.
You see, the difference with me is that I’m doing something about it. I’m taking the hints from my body, and I’m doing something about it.
The people on Embarassing Fat Bodies just don’t – or at least haven’t – and it’s like they’re waiting for some bloody wizard to come along and wave a wand at them to fix the problem.
One of the people on this week’s programme had a hernia the size of a basketball, a lipoma the size of two footballs, is housebound, and has a BMI of 79. Yes, seventy-fucking-nine! But still she eats – and admits to eating – meals for three or four people.
Another one, 35 stone, BMI of 66 waddled in, having done a food diary, talking about “a bag of crisps”. It turned out that what she meant by that was the huge family-bag size bag of crisps. This is someone who can’t stand, and has brought an office-chair into her kitchen so she can scoot around the kitchen rather than walking around it. But still, a diet of crisps, chocolate, full-fat fizzy drinks.
How long does it take to pick up the hints? If you’re that size, at least cut down what you’re eating, or go for the healthier alternatives!
Again, I’m not perfect, I know. Some of my diet isn’t grand – but my intake is on the low side, not the excesses listed by some of the people on this programme.
GP Results – Thoughts
Posted: Tue 15 January, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Cynicism, Domestic, Food, Getting Organised, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »In some ways I’m quite happy about the GP results – they were a lot better than they had any right to be. In another, I’m almost annoyed, because I can’t deny, I kind of hoped there would be some kind of medical explanation for why I don’t lose weight.
I’ve done the food diary – admittedly only for a week, although I’m going to continue doing it for a while more – and my intake averaged out at 1750 calories, give or take. That’s *low*, my basic maintenance should be around the 2,500 – 3,000 mark, so I should be losing weight quickly and easily. But I’m not. It’s much the same as it has been for ten years, with the exception of losing a stone through Slimming World three or four years back. (Even that was fucked- the time I went with their exact plan, I gained weight)
And now there’s no visible medical reason for it either.
I know I need more exercise, and that’s part of the plan for this year.
But basically, right now, there’s no sodding reason for me to be the size/weight I am. And that pisses me off.
GP Results
Posted: Mon 14 January, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Cynicism, Domestic, Food, Getting Organised, Health, Weigh Less, Weight Loss Leave a comment »So, having (finally) seen the GP this time – only half an hour late, that’s almost early compared to usual – I’ve got the final figures…
- Blood Pressure : 120/80
- Heart rate : 75
- Cholesterol : 5.7
- Thyroid : Normal
- Blood Tests : Normal
Being a pissbag, the GP wouldn’t give me exact figures for the thyroid results etc. – I remain cynical about “normal” until I can check – and refused to give me a referral to the dietician service. Instead I’ve got to see the diabetes nurses next week for diet advice. Because, of course, they’re the ones who know.
Luckily I’m also getting the diet advice from someone else I trust, so it’s not hyper-relevant to get the referral, but I do want the request on my NHS record. I asked for the same thing in Norfolk, and Suffolk, and nothing happened at all. So I’m more serious about it this time round.
Anyway, all told I’m bordering on healthy – with the exception of my BMI and weight, which I still want to work on. Considering the BMI and weight, there’s no way the rest of the figures should be as good as they are. So all told I feel quite positive about things, for once.
I’ve still got bits to work on, obviously – I do want to reduce my weight, and work from there, but knowing that the basics are OK is a big thing too.
GP Follow-up
Posted: Mon 14 January, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Domestic, Health, Weigh Less Leave a comment »This afternoon, I’m back at the GPs, finding out the results of blood tests, and getting the blood-pressure taken. Well, that’s the plan, anyway.
I’ve also asked for a couple of specific tests, as they’re issues that run in the family.
- Blood-sugar (Well, fasting blood sugar) levels for Diabetes
- Thyroid levels – there’s been thyroid issues for at least two prior generations of my family
- Cholesterol – I figured I might as well get this while I’m at it.
I’ve no idea what the results will be, so it’s going to be interesting to see what they are.
Food Diary
Posted: Mon 7 January, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, Domestic, Food, Health, Weigh Less Leave a comment »In the run-up to the start of 2013, I wrote a little bit about the goals (well, they’re more like guidelines) I’ve got for the year. I’m keeping it pretty simple, although there’s lots of other stuff under those main points. For the moment I don’t plan to share the sub-points, because they’re not actually of much use to anyone except me.
Anyway, as part of the “Weigh Less” goal, I’m starting to write a food diary from today. Obviously that’s not all of the plan, but it’s a good starting point for establishing what I’m doing, and what needs to change.
I’ve been lucky enough to be able to do this with the help of Dragon, and to be able to help him with his training for being a PT by doing the initial food diary, analysis and plans with him.
I’m going to see how it all goes, and I’ll write more about it as time goes on.
Along the way, as well as getting results from the GP (including that missing blood-pressure test) over the next couple of weeks, I’ve also invested in some proper weighing scales, including body-fat. Much as I like the idea of them, I didn’t go for one of the Withings or FitBit ones in the end – £100 for scales is a bit much, and while I like the idea of keeping those records and graphs online, I can do the same thing by myself, either locally or on RunKeeper etc. Besides, seeing those updates from other people on Facebook and Twitter pisses me off in the end, so I don’t want to do the same to other people.
Instead, and on a recommendation, I’ve gone for these scales from from Omron, which do everything I want them to.
So – progress is being made. I’ll be interested (and probably depressed) to see the initial figures, but I’m thinking/hoping that they’ll provide me with more impetus for going ahead with the weight loss.
Health Check (Kind of)
Posted: Fri 4 January, 2013 Filed under: Domestic, Health, People | Tags: GP, health 4 Comments »So – how the hell does a GP surgery manage to be no less than 40 minutes late for appointments by 9.40 in the morning? I’d be impressed, if it weren’t for – well – being 40 minutes late.
Even then the full check hasn’t been done – I’ve had the bloods taken to check for Diabetes, Thyroid Levels and Cholesterol, but no blood-pressure test or anything. Supposedly “the receptionist should’ve booked you for a double slot so I could do all that, I don’t have the time to do it all in one slot“.
Of course, that just pissed me off. Other things can cause delays of 40 minutes, but you’re going to just ditch me off because you haven’t got the time? Perhaps it would be easier if you were slightly more organised, and didn’t take half the time I was in there to faff about trying to find things?
So far though, all OK.
I’m now due back in two weeks’ time to find out the results of the blood tests and so on, and at the same time they’ll do my blood-pressure. (Mind you, it’ll likely still be low-normal, which always befuddles the GPs who look at my height/size, and then retake it twice more)
2013
Posted: Tue 1 January, 2013 Filed under: 2012/13, D4D™, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Old(er), Health, Weigh Less 3 Comments »And so – a new year. (Again)
As per many years previously, I don’t really do New Year Resolutions, they’re not my thing.
So my plan for 2013 (as written about very briefly back in November) is pretty simple. It’s not resolutions, just a bit of a plan, and that plan can be summed up thus…
- Weigh less
- Write more.
And that’s it. There’s other stuff along the way, but that’s the two key points, really.
Anyway- have a good one. I certainly hope to do so.
Cutting Down
Posted: Tue 13 November, 2012 Filed under: Domestic, Food, Health 1 Comment »It’s that time again – the one where I work on cutting down my consumption of Diet Coke.
Yeah, I know, *yawn*.
With me, my intake is cyclical, and depends a lot on what else I’m doing. I’ve noticed this time round that I drink more Diet Coke while working than when I’m at home – which sounds pretty logical during the week, but is particularly true on weekends. But even so, I’m aware my consumption levels were rising again.
So yes, it’s time to drop it back down again. I doubt I’ll get down to zero – I might, but I doubt it. I’ll be happy with a sustained reduction, and that’s already started.
Indeed, I’ve already halved my intake. We’ll see how it goes, but it’s an improvement for sure.
Coming Off
Posted: Wed 18 May, 2011 Filed under: Depression, Domestic, Health, Thoughts 7 Comments »Last week, I made the decision to stop taking the Citalopram. It hasn’t done much for me in the year I’ve been taking it – other events have had far more effect on depression, motivation etc. than the anti-depressants have. I’ve also found that they have a nasty levelling side-effect, making me not care more than when I wasn’t taking them. (By that I mean that everything was just same-same in my head, there were no real highs – or, admittedly, lows – and it all became a bit blah, nothing provoking any form of reaction)
Additonally, the anti-depressants just didn’t seem to really work for me. There were still Bad Days on them, but there weren’t really any Good Days- things more levelled out to Just OK Days. (or Blah Days) My motivation didn’t shoot up – indeed most of the time it seemed to be harder to be motivated, because well, what was the point? I wasn’t Depressed, but more Couldn’t Be Bothered.
So, I’ve come off completely them. It’s not the method advised by GPs, but I don’t have the time, tolerance or inclination to do a “gradual withdrawal”. If the withdrawal side-effects were to become really bad (not that I expect them to) then I have a new box ready to be started. But I doubt it’ll be that bad.
Weirdly, the worst time (so far) for being off them seems to be early evening, when my head begins to feel a bit wooly, a bit floaty, not really all that level. It’s not debilitating or unpleasant – just a weird sensation.
I don’t miss the Citalopram.
I don’t know what’s next. I’m going to go back to wanting to do things, and then to trying to find ways to motivate myself to do them. So far that seems to be OK. I’m not perfect – thankfully I’ve never claimed to be – and I do have issues with motivation, or at least Getting Things Done.
I’ll still work on the motivation and so on – I’ve still got the ideas and plans, but need to bring them out into the world – but I don’t think it’s actually necessarily related to depression.
And when all’s said and done, I’d rather have the ups and downs of life, depression and whatever else, instead of the flat day-to-day numbness of Citalopram.
Weighty Considerations
Posted: Sat 16 October, 2010 Filed under: Domestic, Health, Weight Loss 1 Comment »Today I weighed myself for the first time in ages. I didn’t really know what to expect, as it’s been a long time since I’ve done any of the Slimming World stuff or whatever.
Obviously while not expecting much in the way of good news, I was also still hoping I hadn’t put too much on. I know the recent period has been pretty stressed, but still I know I’ve been pretty good on food too.
Anyway, weighed myself and came in at 134Kg. 21 stone 1 pound.
And I’m actually pretty damn pleased with that. It means that even with everything that’s been going on, and with not going to Slimming World or anything else, I’ve kept that weight the same for a year.
So yeah, I’m quite pleased with that. I do want to lose more when things settle down, but right now I’m happy to be just staying the same as before.
Wakefield Struck Off
Posted: Mon 24 May, 2010 Filed under: Health, News, People, Thoughts Leave a comment »Today the GMC has struck off Dr Andrew Wakefield, the doctor whose ‘research’ caused so much of the tension and bad press for the MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella) innoculation jabs, and a purported link to induce autism-related conditions.
The GMC also said Dr Wakefield, who was working at London’s Royal Free Hospital as a gastroenterologist at the time, did not have the ethical approval or relevant qualifications for such tests.
And the panel hearing the case took exception with the way he gathered blood samples. Dr Wakefield paid children £5 for the samples at his son’s birthday party.
It also said Dr Wakefield should have disclosed the fact that he had been paid to advise solicitors acting for parents who believed their children had been harmed by the MMR.
Quite amazing, how this doctor’s research was both so universally accepted as Truth, and was so flawed from the start. That research has caused so many knock-on effects with the increasing incidence of both Measles and Rubella in children whose parents decided not to innoculate them because of the supposed issues.
eScales
Posted: Mon 19 April, 2010 Filed under: Domestic, Geeky, Health, Weight Loss Leave a comment »via Twitter, I came across Withings scales – a set of scales that’s connected to t’Internet. (via wireless network)
I still can’t decide whether it’s a great idea or an incredibly bad one. I love the concept of being able to keep track of your weight, graph it out and monitor it. I hate the idea of it connecting to t’Internet rather than just recording the data on a card for uploading to your own computer. I get the idea of it, but yeah, that connection to t’Internet means I probably wouldn’t want one.
Interesting idea, though.
Antidepressed
Posted: Thu 15 April, 2010 Filed under: 2009/10, Depression, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Health, Introspective, Thoughts, Writing 2 Comments »A couple of weeks back I wrote about making an appointment to see the doctor about depression, lack of motivation, lack of drive etc. etc. I didn’t – and still don’t – want to ask for help, but I know that in my current state I have/had to.
Yesterday was the day of the appointment. 7am and I’m at the doctors. That’s never going to be the start of a good day…
Anyway, I talked through some of the stuff with the GP – who’s extremely wet and wanky, but means well. Better than being completely useless I suppose. But you never really get the impression he could give much of a damn one way or t’other. I suppose that’s one of the risks of being a GP though.
And now I’ve got a prescription for Citalopram, an SSRI anti-depressant. I’m going to take them, and see how things go.
I’m not happy about being on these pills, but I’m at the point where I know that I need something to break the cycle/spiral I’ve got into. This is the first step in that process. Well technically it’s the third step, I suppose- the first one was acknowledging I’m in that cycle at all, and the second was doing something about it by going to the GP.
I don’t like the thought of being reliant on pills or medication – I’m crap at even taking painkillers unless I really need them.
Also I can’t help but wonder what I’ll be like on anti-depressants. I’ve been living with depression for such a long time now, I wonder what changes there’ll be if it’s not around. It’ll be interesting to find out, anyway.