The Weekend in (not real) Verbs

Debating

Lots of debating happened over #TheDress - pretty much anyone I've come across since Friday has asked me this question. I am well in the gold and white camp. It doesn't change colour for me like it seems to for others, my jaw actually dropped open when I saw a picture of the actual dress. A friend who sees blue and black said to me that she wished she could take out her eyes so that I could see what she sees. As a less violent offering I can show you this photo - these are the colours that I see the dress...

Dog Petting

I went to visit Mum's friend to help her learn how to use her Smartphone. It was every bit as painful as it sounds. But the upside is that I got to see Ozzie with his floppy ear, whom I love very much.

Shopping

Not just any kind of shopping but my particularly favourite kind of shopping. The kind that involves you not actually spending any money. I have some vouchers from Christmas and I ran round Matalan like a whirling dervish trying to pick up as many things as possible. Including this bedding which I came home and put on my bed immediately; a testament to how much I love it because I really hate making the bed.

Seaside-ing

I had an urge to go to the sea whilst I was vaguely near it. Living in the Midlands is nice for access reasons, lots of things aren't too far away, unless you want to get to the sea. Then the sea is far. Very very very very far.

So Mum and I headed to Hornsea for the most typical English visit to the seaside ever in that we ate fish & chips, bundled up against the howling wind and looking at very ominous grey skies.

In other words, it was brilliant.

Fred and Lily-ing

You didn't think I'd forgotten about them did you? Obviously not. Fred and Lily were in true crazy Fred and Lily mode. Just look at the photo of Lily's completely manic face at the prospect of being in the vicinity of crisps and dip. And Fred has a fun new trick - jumping on top of the door and then trying to get you as you walk past into the kitchen.

When they are not being totally mad, they are still mostly fond of relaxing, something which Lily is particularly good at doing...

Betwixtmas 2014

Apparently we call the period between Christmas and New Year, Betwixtmas. I heard it on Radio 1 the other day and I liked it. I can be down with the kids.

Betwixtmas for me started off with some fairly major snow late on Boxing Day night. Not a big deal in itself, and quite exciting for most people, but a bit nervewracking for me as the next day I had to drive to Hull. I haven't driven in the snow/ice before and I would also have with me my Mum aka the World's Worst Passenger.

But we made it to Hull which was good because we had to break these two people out of cat prison aka the cattery.

Betwixtmas is a time for many a Fred and Lily photo to be taken. Pay special attention to the top right photo - Lily was nicely asleep on my knee for ages and when Fred saw this he immediately had to come and sit even closer to me because he is a big fat jealous ginger boy.

Betwixtmas was a time for catching up with friends. Catching up with them from 2pm until gone midnight to be precise. Messy. Although the next morning I discovered that I'd had a very productive shopping trip at Sainsburys. Oh and I took the funniest selfie with Lily ever - why does she look so horrified? Because I chased her all around the kitchen grabbing at her to take that photo...

Betwixtmas is also a time for me to dogsit for a day. Which just involves lying on the sofa watching TV with this pair of idiots. I don't know why they always look so sad in photos, I swear to god they're really happy dogs normally.

Betwixtmas is a time for crocheting things that have no purpose and are for you and you alone. I got Kerry Lord's book for Christmas along with some lovely fancy Tofts Alpaca wool (which is eye wateringly expensive when you're used to buying Stylecraft)

Betwixtmas is a time for sitting on your behind, drinking hot chocolate and reading massive 900 page tomes.

Betwixtmas is a time for starting to get organised and fill your fridge up after you have eaten it bare. Before I went shopping I swear to god all I had in my fridge was a bottle of cider, gherkins, Flora and an out of date yoghurt. I love a bit of batch cooking although it drives me mental that I don't have more space in my freezer. Jamie Oliver's basic stew recipe is a winner every time.

Betwixtmas is a time for surprise presents out of the blue from Apple. I have been the proud owner of a first generation iPod Nano for the last 9 years or so. You might not remember first generation iPods, I think they stopped making them a bazillion years ago.

Anyway the battery on mine gradually just got rubbish and wouldn't retain charge. I put out a random tweet saying I felt sad that my iPod's time had come, and a stranger replied pointing me in the direction of Apple's First Generation iPod Replacement Program. I was absolutely convinced it was a scam that was going to steal everything from me but it turns out it was actually true.

I sent my iPod Nano off and Betwixtmas delivered a brand new, latest, 16BG, iPod Nano. I could not believe it. Finally being cheap and not buying the latest model of anything pays off...



Christmas 2014 could suck it but Betwixtmas 2014 I could get on board with.

Photo an Hour l 11th October 2014

It feels as if this month's Photo an Hour post has come around incredibly quickly, but I think that's just a result of the past month being kind of mental for me and that I've only just got around to posting September's Photo an Hour post.

Pop over to Is That You Darling to see others' posts and to find out the date of the next Photo an Hour day which will be in November and you can join in on Twitter and Instagram using #photoanhour

This was Saturday 11th October 2014...

9am - Woke up with raging hangover from a fairly decent session on the Friday night. Lily didn't mind my probably outrageous breath and sat beside me hoping for toast.

10am - Went to my brother & sister-in-law's house for the morning and played with some brilliant sticky mosaic tiles that were supposedly something my 4 year old niece was supposed to be doing. It was so massively therapeutic I can't even tell you.

11am - One finished creation!

12pm - This is Lucinda, my brother's cat. She has the loudest miaow and purr ever. She comes storming in, yelling her head off and isn't fussed at all about who gives her attention. She's so loving and I want to just pick her up and smoosh her forever.

1pm - My niece was going out in the afternoon for a party so put her party frock on. I need shoes like this. I also need to start wearing hot pink tights with silver sparkly shoes. It's a winner.

2pm - All of us played a very confusing game of Kerplunk! in which the kids seemed to think that when the marbles dropped that meant you won. It actually worked quite well because it meant that I was happy that I didn't have to do badly on purpose to let them win (my most hated part of playing with kids because I'm such a sore loser) and they had a brilliant time every time they did it wrong.

3pm - Back in Hull and a quick trip into town with Mumsie

4pm - The Grand Return of the Missing Bag. The previous day I had gone to Waterstones and bought some lovely things. Mum was looking after the bag and left it on the bus. She was absolutely devastated so I had to play things down but there was a fairly large part of me that wanted to throw myself on the ground and scream. On the way back from town on Saturday we stopped in at lost property to check and it had been handed in. Hurrah!

Kind of. Turned out my "Good Samaritan" had taken some stuff out of the bag and left the books in there. Ah well. Can't get too mad about it...

5pm - Got back home for a cup of tea and a muffin. It was needed. With a hangover like mine on this day it's a wonder I even got this far through the day without collapsing.

6pm - Lily gets down to the important business of foot washing and nail biting.

7pm - Starting to sit down for dinner. Salad + garlic bread + steak + onion rings - the way to make me a very happy person.

8pm - Mum and I were still sat round the table talking when I glanced over and spotted this super creepy Lily sitting and waiting to see if we were finished so she could try and attack our plates.

9pm - Sat down with super cool lounge pants and thick socks and cider and promptly fell asleep in front of Midsomer Murders. Form an orderly queue gentleman...

--------------------------------------

I feel terrible that Fred didn't even get a look in on these photos so here's a bonus Fred picture...

Hull 10k l 2014 l aka A Tale of How my Brain Hates Me

I really really wanted this to be a triumphant post about my recent Hull 10k. You would think that after last year's 10k that wasn't a 10k, this year's run couldn't really be much worse for me.

You would be wrong.

Sometimes I forget that actually I'm not really a very experienced runner. If you discount last year's race, this one would be my third ever 10km. (The first being in Preston in 2012 and then last year's Whipsnade Zoo Stampede with my fellow Stampeder Lucy.)

Training did not go well for this 10km. I was first of all lazy to get started and then was laid up for 2 months in Dec/Jan with a messed up knee. When I started back I just found it nigh on impossible to make any headway. I felt like I wasn't building up any stamina at all and wasn't making the inroads that I thought I would be.

This is the problem with having been able to do something, then being lazy and letting it slip away. You spend a lot of time berating yourself for letting it slip away and the fact that you can't get it back. If you have my brain you will constantly get on at yourself for how you used to be able to do this and now you can't and aren't you a terrible person and what the hell is wrong with you why can't you just do it already.

My brain isn't very nice to me.

Then I got injured again. Then I started back running again. Then I had a very bad run on a very hot day and I cried. Then I got a bad back and couldn't run again.

Then I thought that I might just be getting better. Which was a breakthrough because I was pretty insistent at one point that every time I went out running I was getting worse at it.

Unfortunately it was all a little too late. By the time that the Hull 10k rolled around the furthest I had managed to run without having to stop and walk was 5km and the furthest run I'd completed was 7km.

I knew that it was unlikely that I was going to make it all the way around without walking but I hoped that being in a race situation and the crowds and the fact that Hull is so flat whereas my home turf is more up and down - I harboured a secret feeling very deep down inside me that I might do better than I thought.

I did not.

 Bless me. Taking photos of my kit before the race like a real runner

This race could be a case study in the importance of your brain when it comes to running. Not your lungs. Not your legs. But your brain.

So much of running is about your mind power. And as I've already mentioned I am just not very mentally strong when it comes to running, not strong at all.

The main factors that were my downfall in this race:

1. The fact that I just wasn't ready (kind of a big one)

2. The heat. After all this crappy weather, this was the day that the sun came out and it hit 20 degrees.

3. My brain.

Mostly it was my brain.

I started out and actually for the first 2kms felt pretty good. I was going along quite happily and feeling good about it and then it was like a switch flipped in my brain and I realised how absolutely roasting I was. I overheat anyway when I run, I overheat thinking about heat, running and heat for me are not good combinations. And in fact any time that I have run in heat it has not turned out well at all (remind me to tell you about the time I tried to run 5km in Phoenix....).

"It's too hot. You're too tired. You'll have to stop. It's just too hot."

And I made the fatal error of slowing to a walk just after the 3km mark.

Some people can walk a bit and run a bit and walk a bit. For me, walking is the death knell. I find it so hard to start and even harder to keep going. Any time I try interval training all that happens is the walks get longer and the running gets slower and my brain gets nastier.

I was disciplined and said I was only allowed to walk for 3 minutes. I stuck to it and started running again.

I was walking again just after the 4km mark.

Again I said I was only allowed to walk for 3 minutes and again I started to run again.

About 5.5km I saw my Mum, my lone supporter on this race. It was actually the worst thing. I ran past her got about a further 300m and nearly stopped altogether. I wanted to quit. I didn't see the point in continuing. I had blown it as far as getting a PB was concerned. I had blown it as far as my aim was concerned (I'd wanted to make it to 6km before walking) and as far as my brain was concerned I had blown everything. I was useless. I was shit at running. I couldn't even do this one thing for myself.

It become one massive negative feedback loop on myself. My brain telling me I couldn't do it --> me slowing to a walk --> my brain crowing that I couldn't do it --> and repeat.

To be honest I don't even know why I did keep going - for most of the way between 6km and 7km I'm pretty sure I walked. Then I figured that I was more than half way done and might as well just get on with it and get it over and done with.

Unfortunately around this point my body as well as my brain began to fail. My back started hurting and my legs felt like they were wading through the sea. A sea made up of embarrassment and failings.

I couldn't even run the last 1km and I can always run the last kilometre.

I crossed the finish line and didn't feel anything. I didn't even feel relief that it was over, I just went and collected my goodie bag and made my way to the meeting point to meet up with my Mum. There was no post-run euphoria. Just blankness.

Then I started in on my stupid brain. I was so mad at myself for giving in. If I'd just been stronger and carried on running at that 3km mark I could have made it so much further. Why was I so weak? Why was I not made of stronger stuff?

So basically my brain attacked my brain which attacked me.

I think there were a couple of issues apart from my mental brain problems and the heat (oh the heat!) and the fact that I wasn't ready.

1. I was running on my own. The Person was going to run with me but had to work this weekend so stayed at home whilst I went to Hull on my own. A friend was supposed to be running but dropped out because she was even less prepared than I was.
2. No support. Apart from my Mum there was no-one cheering me on. Even with a crowd of well-wishers along the way, if you know that no-one's really there to wish you on it makes it tough.
3. Nothing to run for. I wasn't doing this for charity, I was doing it for myself. Which is all good and well as long as yourself isn't a mad evil brain that turns on you when you find it gets tough.

I didn't want to tell anyone my time but there's no point not acknowledging it. It was 1:18:46. Hilariously that is basically the same time as the very first 10km I did in Preston which I actually ran. As in ran all of it. I don't even know how I ran that slowly.

In a way that should have made me feel better because hey, I might have walked but that means that when I was running I was running faster than I used to be able to.

Instead my brain said "See you idiot, if you hadn't walked so much you'd have done even better."

I know. I don't know why it's so mean to me.

The t-shirt in the goody bag made me smile. I cannot think of anyone who made less of a big impression on the Hull 10k in 2014. Unless that big impression was the massive stomping footprint that my brain made on myself.

I have thought a lot about whether or not to continue on the running path I'm on. It's not normal to beat yourself up this badly all the time. It's not normal to do exercise and instead of feeling a rush of endorphins, feeling a headrush of shame at how shit you are.

But deep down inside I do know that my brain is wrong. I am not totally shit at running. I do like it and do enjoy it.

So right now I'm saying, never say never....

BEDM Day 7 - May Day Bank Holiday

This latest Bank Holiday saw me back in the Mothership for a weekend of me and Mum time. I'd actually booked the tickets a long time back because I thought I was going out for someone's birthday but sometimes things just don't turn out like you thought they would. But that was fine, it meant more time for me to spend with Mumsie.

I took no crochet with me, just the ridiculously large hardback copy of A Dance with Dragons, the final book in the Song of Ice & Fire series (a.k.a. Game of Thrones). It is just too big that book, but I knew I was finally coming to the end of it and could get through a good chunk of it on the Megabus journey. I started it on 31 March and have been held back from finishing it sooner purely by the literal size of it - it is just physically difficult to lug around with you. Luckily for those reading it in paperback, it has been split into two books - although I can't lie to you, they're still outrageously large.

Speaking of ridiculously large things one of Mum's friends came round to see her with some spare rhubarb from his allotment. Cue Mum walking in with a heavy duty bin liner that she could barely lift. See picture below (Lily is captured for a size reference).

Mum spent a fair portion of my time stewing rhubarb, but there was still a fairly huge pile left so I was dispatched back to the Midlands carrying what felt like half a stone of rhubarb on my back.

Whilst Mum stewed rhubarb, I drank cider, because I know how to roll on a Bank Holiday. I am not a drinker of 'proper' wee-coloured cider. Not at all the time at least. I am mostly a drinker of namby bamby fruit ciders that basically don't taste of alcohol. I feel like I might as well be drinking a bottle of Hooch, so little have my drinking habits changed over the years.

Question - isn't Apple kind of a given flavour when you're drinking cider?

Obviously there was much Fred and Lily time. Lily was uncharacteristically affectionate with me this trip - normally she just loves Mum but I was honoured to have the pleasure of her company on my lap quite a few times. That top right picture is her watching Pillow Talk on Saturday night with me. (If you've never watched it you are missing out.) 

That's Fred yawning by the way. He's not really fierce.

I didn't just stay in, drinking cider, stewing rhubarb and playing with cats though.

We took a wander in to town where I got to admire Queen's Gardens looking flippin' fit in the sunshine with their newly planted beds and I even took a trip to East Park for a run with a friend. We probably did a little bit more walking than we should have done but at least we were out doing something yeah? Let's call it interval training.

And anyway, who cares about the running when you can see a deer like this little baby down below?

It may not have been a heady Bank Holiday, full of boozing and boozing and some more boozing but it was a Bank Holiday full of things I love:

- Cider

- Reading

- Fred and Lily

- Time with Mumsie

- My city looking pretty

(Not in order of importance)

So a little lesson that sometimes in disappointment, nice things can come.

------------------------------------

PS Have you read all the Game of Thrones books? Want to talk about brilliant theories of what might come next if George R R Martin ever gets on with writing another book? TALK TO ME.

PPS I'm not weird, I call her Mumsie because that was what Richard O'Brien used to call his Mumsie on The Crystal Maze. What can I say - I'm a product of the 90s.

Lately...

I know that I need to continue my American Tale at some point (it involves me road-tripping around Arizona and not an adventure seeking mouse unfortunately) but I'm finding it very difficult to get motivated to write these blog posts at the moment. I'm very neglectful and I'm not really sure why.

I took my break from blogging and came back because I definitely felt like I wanted to but for some reason, no matter how many ideas and random words and phrases come bubbling to my mind, getting those out of my fingertips and on to the keyboard is just not happening.

I've decided to ease the pressure off and going for the easiest of easiest posts - one involving photos and one liners.

So. What has been happening lately?

L-R [1] Reading in bed; [2] Accidental flowers; [3] Afternoon drinking; [4] Hungover shopping

Easter has been the perfect blend of time to relax and time to have fun. I do feel like I've spent the past four days or so either drunk or hungover, which I'll be honest with you, is perfectly ok with me.

[1] Festivities for me began on Thursday night, going out for drinks with some work people. Good Friday started off well for me, which basically consists of reading in bed and drinking tea. There's something about reading in bed which feels incredibly decadent to me. No Ferrero Rocher needed thank you - mug of tea and some pages to turn is all I need.

[4] However...whilst hungover I committed the greatest of sins....I went shopping. Big mistake. I needed to get food so sloped off to Tesco to see what I could find. All I needed was lunch, instead I came home with - a candle, a can of Coke, Nivea face-wash, two small packs of sushi, Moroccan cous cous salad, chocolate pretzels, pack of six hot cross buns, sausage roll, massive bag of crisps, a top.

I'm still not entirely sure what happened in there, it's all a blur. Still I got enough food for the rest of the Bank Holiday weekend and the top is nice...

[2] The Person and I headed off to Nottingham on Saturday to spend the night with some friends. I dutifully bought flowers to give to our hosts (my mother would be so proud) which I actually forgot to take with me so we now how some lovely flowers for the house. Winner.

[3] Saturday was the perfect kind of day of afternoon drinking, followed by dinner out and more drinking. Relaxed and happy and laid back. I had some of the strongest cider of my life at The Crafty Crow. Kopparberg it was not.

L-R [5] Spooning gerbils; [6] Amazing reading; [7] Dog walking; [8] Creme Egg bonanza

[5] The gerbils have been as cute as always but lately I've been able to take some megacute (I just invented a word!) photos of them. They have a cottage that they normally sleep in but decided not to bother for a while, instead choosing to make a toilet roll nest in the corner of the gerbilarium. This meant I could take photos of them sleeping. Gerbils sleep on top of one another, entwined around one another, curled up on top of one another, and as this picture shows, spooning each other. Darn their cute little furry heads.

[6] This book is amazing. You should read it. That's all I'll say.

[7] I was on dog and nephew sitting duty. I took Rosie for a walk and we came upon some cows. These cows were initially at the other end of the field and came practically running to this end to stand staring at her. I wasn't sure if they were afraid of her or curious about her but I do know that I still have a healthy fear of cows.

[8] My work is super fun sometimes. Case in point, I get asked to buy everyone Creme Eggs for Easter. People love it when that happens. I am the Candy Lady.

L-R [9] Middle class snacking; [10] The walk towards Wembley; [11] Match in play; [12] Final score

[9], [10], [11] & [12] Luckiest most randomest break ever. I managed to get hold of tickets to the FA Cup Semi Final match at Wembley between Hull City and Sheffield United. Yes they were corporate tickets - boo hiss etc etc. But it was literally impossible to get tickets any other way so I'll take what I'm given and enjoy my non-segregated area of non-football louts thank you very much.

On the train down to London we were very much out of place. Amidst football fans drinking cans of Carlsberg I sat being the very most middle class football fan there was, drinking cocktails from a tin and eating my Graze brownie. Boom.

It was a stressful match. What should have been a fairly easy game for Hull City, as they are two Leagues above Sheffield United, they made incredibly difficult for themselves, going 1-0 down, then equalising, then allowing Sheffield United to score again less than two minutes later, before immediately going into half time. 

Thankfully the half time break was used for head pulling together and Hull City came out the winners. It is not often that I'll get the chance to go to Wembley to watch Hull City and see an eight goal game. It was absolutely amazing, unreal and I can't believe I got to go.

Now need to figure out how to get tickets to the FA Cup Final where Hull City will face Arsenal....

---------------

So there you have it. What have I been doing lately? In summary:

- Gerbils

- Dogs

- Drinking

- Eating

- Reading

- Football

Not bad, my friends, not bad at all.

May Project 365 Round-Up

"Woah. What's going on here then? You can't post a round up of May's Project 365 photos before May's even finished!"

Well yes I bloody can. It's my blog and I'll do what I want to. Especially when I have blogged every. single. day in May and am feeling fatigued and need an easy post.

If today and tomorrow's photos are really amazing, I'll give them a post all of their own, I promise.

May

Clockwise L-R: Blackpool baby yeah; Rosie on a wall; crocheted elephant; Coke bottle with my name on it; Lily cat; Hull 10km that wasn't

26th May - Oh I do like to be beside the seaside! Especially when it involves eating fish and chips, gawping at people, getting accidentally burned, freezing my feet in the Irish Sea and drinking a bucket of gin. Read all about it here.

1st May - Rosie is a funny old one. She doesn't really enjoy being on four legs you know. She can always be found up on her hind legs at the kitchen counters, up on her hind legs asking for a hug, and here, up on her hind legs on the wall that overlooks the castle when I took her for a walk.

13th May - I crocheted an elephant everyone! Aren't I a clever monkey. Not the people who wrote the pattern they're not clever at all, but I am the clever one for following it correctly and producing an elephant. That doesn't stand....but let's not dwell on that.

8th May - "Oooh look at me, I'm all sneery and so sick of seeing Coke bottles with people's names on them" - is something you will hear me say never. I think it was a great idea and it makes me smile and I don't even feel bad about it. Instead I feel bad for the souls who cannot find the joy in anything in life. The one drawback to Coca Cola's idea? People like me who are a bit weird and now can't buy the bottle unless it has either my name on it or someone who is connected to me's name on it. I don't want to drink Amy's bottle of Coke, that's just weird.

18th May - It is hard to get a photo of Lily where she doesn't look either deranged, massively overweight or as if she's descended from bats. It turns out the secret is to take a picture of only head, from side on so you can't see the size of her ears or her crazed eyes. I like to think this is how they take pictures of Kate Moss too - I bet she looks deranged from certain angles too.

19th May - How could I not include this photo? Let us all revel in the delight that was the Hull 10km that actually wasn't a 10km. I've pretty much given up complaining about it now, mostly because I've run out of people that haven't heard the story. However this t-shirt is wonderful - it's a good size it's a nice colour and doesn't make me feel all gross when I run. I'll take my good t-shirt with lies written all over it and go and run a 10km somewhere else thank you very much.

--------------

This is quite the achievement. Not only have I got to the end of May and managed to blog every day - I've also managed to make it 5 months taking photos every day when I actually haven't got a life at the moment. 

High five!

All Project 365 photos can be found here on Flickr. Don't let the new layout throw you out and give you a headache like it did to me.

The time I ran the Hull Almost 10km

Those of you who follow me on Twitter will already be bored of this and I can only apologise to you - you have permission to move on to your next unread blog post.

This weekend I was in Hull to run the Hull 10km, an event run by For All Events who organise a number of 10km runs/swim-a-thons/walks in memory of Jane Tomlinson.

I have been working hard, following Hal's training plan that I spoke about back on BEDM Day 5 and when in Preston the other weekend I went out for an 8.5km run in which I just decided to kind of...well....keep going. And unbelievably to me, I managed to run 10km, which is only the 2nd ever time I've run that distance.

I was overjoyed because I am a bit of a purist and I'm afraid I couldn't say I'd run a 10km if I had actually run some of it and walked some of it. I'm sorry, I just can't. That's cheating as far as I'm concerned.

But I was going to be good. I was pumped up and feeling good. I had friends willing to get out of bed at ridiculous o'clock on a Sunday morning to come and cheer me on. I had a lovely knee support in place. I was feeling nervous, but good.

As I queued up with all the other people I was jiggling about like a maniac and pondering whether or not I really should have had a wee before I set off. So preoccupied was I that I didn't quite hear the first announcement that there was a potential problem on the course.

One of the reasons I really wanted to run this course was not just that it was in my hometown but because it went past some lovely landmarks, including running along the Humber, past The Deep and past the Tidal Barrier and around the Marina.

Unfortunately all this water means that there are bridges and as some kind of insane stroke of bad luck would have it, one of the bridges that we were supposed to cross over was stuck upright. We were told there would be a slight delay to the 9am start and they would let us know more in due course.

The news wasn't good.

The bridge remained stuck upright and the race organisers really had no choice but to shorten the course. We would have to miss the bit over the bridge out and just run a short course.

I was gutted. I've said it a couple of times but I don't think it's possible to express how I was feeling. I was absolutely gutted. All the excitement and all the preparation and all the gearing up for running 10km, gone. Gone in the blink of a broken suspension.

There have been the usual ridiculous people saying the usual ridiculous thing, blaming poor organisation - but that is total nonsense. This was just a case of incredible bad luck. Yes, maybe they should have had a Plan B in place but you can't re-route a race in 10 minutes whether you've planned it or not. (To be fair, they have since said that they will plan an alternative route in the future.)

So I ran the new course. Everyone keeps saying it was 9km and I keep getting increasingly rageful because it was most certainly not 9km. We were diverted around the 5.5km mark and my Endomondo app had me having run 8.7km.

And no. I didn't even run a PB. I don't even have any excuses for that one, I just didn't.

It was the biggest anti-climax ever. I picked up my medal and t-shirt but I don't want to wear them. They say I ran the Hull 10km and I didn't. That is a medal made of lies my friends.

I felt guilty for having dragged my friends and Mum out of their comfy beds and I just felt gutted.

Let's say it again.

GUTTED.

It's hard to explain and there'll be people going "Yeah but you ran 8.5km!" or "Yeah but it was a great experience" and I know they're right and I know I did a big run but when you have psyched yourself up for something and are really looking forward to it, to have it taken away from you is not cool. You do not feel good about having run Almost 10km.

I was in a complete funk yesterday and very sulky and whingey and to anyone who follows me on Twitter I can only apologise. I wanted to punch me in the face too. But I cannot put into words how disappointed I was. I don't get to achieve much in life and I don't have a great deal going for me at the moment - managing to run 10km would just have been a nice thing to have said that I could do.

Onwards and upwards though. At least I've had a good (albeit fricking expensive) training run for the Zoo Stampede in three weeks time and there is no water and therefore no bridges that can get stuck.

And if anyone makes a joke about escaped animals here I will have to hurt you.

------------------------------

I would just like to say that the Run For All team did an excellent job in an incredibly difficult situation. They dealt with the problem quickly and efficiently and in literally the only way in which they could have done. By the time I was home and showered there was an e-mail in my inbox apologising and offering entry into next year's race for £10 - which is an enormous discount and a generous offer considering the problem was due to circumstances out of their control. 

But I'm still gutted.

In case I hadn't got that across.

Bank Holiday - BEDM Day 6

I love May. Two Bank Holidays - what lucky ducks we are.

I had made plans to spend this Bank Holiday up at my sister's and the 2nd down in Preston with The Person although this plan has been slightly ruined due to the fact that The Person's work doesn't let him have the 2nd Bank Holiday in May off, instead giving them two in August.

Idiots.

Anyhoo. This Bank Holiday saw me in my adopted home town, ready to see what delights it had to offer me.

Here's how it went down;

Saturday

My new zebra friend; getting to grips with the Kitchen Aid; Raspberry Bakewell cake; Hull City get promoted to the Premiership; going swimming; BBQ time is here

Saturday was a busy old day for me. I got up early doors to make my way to the gym to go swimming for the first time in absolutely years. I used to love swimming and haven't been in so long, truth to tell I was kind of worried that I'd flounder and drown ungracefully in the pool but I actually managed much better than I expected and I'm definitely going to be making the effort to go again.

I spent most of the day crocheting. Hot on the heels of my crocheted zebra comes....another zebra. I haven't gone totally mad though. This little zebra is going to earn me some money. I was showing someone pictures of the other zebra and they asked if I'd make one for them to give as a present for a new baby that's arrived. Boom. Hurray for amigurumi being so damn quick to make up that I basically managed to do the whole thing in one day. 

It's a good thing I had something to keep me occupied as I was also watching the Hull City vs Cardiff game which would be the match which would determine whether Hull were automatically promoted to the Premiership or forced into the play-offs. I won't go into it but my god it was the most stressful game of football I've ever watched. I actually missed one of the goals due to the fact that I was stood in the kitchen with the fridge door open cutting cheese off the block and shoving it in my mouth. It's how I deal with stress.

I also helped my sister and brother-in-law put together the Mac Daddy of BBQs - probably the less said about the anguish that went into building this thing from a flatpack the better, but it's safe to say we all bear the mental scars.

Sunday

Today's biggest event? Attempting to go out for a long run. It wasn't my greatest success as you can read about in yesterday's post and it's annoying because when I feel like a run hasn't gone that well it just makes me mad for the rest of the day. I'm just a silly person like that.

One thing I do like about my long runs though is that I have decided to reward myself with a post-run smoothie - something to look forward to you know?

I got a recipe for one from a running website but I have been forced to bastardise adapt it so much that it bears little resemblance to the original. The oats are supposed to be wheatgerm. I don't even know what that is, which is a hindrance when you're looking for is in Tesco. There's supposed to be natural yoghurt in there too but I didn't have any so slapped a normal yoghurt in there as a replacement. Who cares? It tastes amazing and the addition of the oats means that it really fills you up.

The rest of the day was filled with total and utter sloth. Beautiful weather, plus the knowledge that there was no work tomorrow meant that I felt free to lie back in the garden alternating between reading and sleeping as the mood took me.

Reading with the blue skies; dandelions, I don't care if they're weeds, they're colour and therefore pretty; Rosie shows me how to properly laze on the Bank Holiday; Blinky uses my bedroom window as another door and heads out over the roof on important cat business; plane returning/leaving from East Midlands Airport; Blinky back from her important cat business.

Monday

My sister and I took to Calke Abbey a National Trust property which is just down the road from us. Our mission was to go to a craft fair which was being held there over the Bank Holiday weekend - craft fair? You mean something potentially interesting happening around here? Yes please.

We went and I spent money. I could have spent a lot more money. But you know what? That's all fodder for another blog post I think.

After wandering round the fair we had a sit down and enjoyed a wonderful past-time of enjoying the sun and passing judgement on what people were wearing in the sun.
e

As close to fashion blogging as I will come now - shoes from M&S (I know right?!); jeans from New Look; people's legs from Other People

I also forgot the word "Weather-vane" and called it a "Wind charm" instead. Not a high point.

Then it was home, to enjoy yet more sunshine. Only for a little bit though. I'm quite the pale Janet and my skin basically bursts into flames when it comes into contact with UV rays. I wasn't alone though. You never are in a house of dogs. Rowan kept me company and I finished Capital by John Lanchester. Should you read it? Why yes, yes you should.

And I'm still here now. Sat in the garden, enjoying the beautiful weather as I know I should be. Although, if I was going to be pernickety I'd say that actually when you're in the shade it's pretty windy and not that warm. Also I can't really see my screen that well so I apologise for any spelling mistakes or garish errors but I'm British - the sun is shining so I'm sitting outside whether it's practical or not.

Bring it second May Bank Holiday - the bar has been raised...

Crazy Cat Lady Part 17: Fred & Lily, The Return

So I went back to the Mothership last week. There were a variety of reasons for doing so but mostly I just missed everyone and everything. I wanted to see my Mum, I admit it, I miss her, I like her. It might not be cool to say but there it is. I also had a friend who was in a play and I wanted to go and support her and I have a friend who's coming out of a long term relationship and I wanted to support her too.

But more than all of that?

I missed the Fred and Lily.

You see I can talk to my Mum on the phone and I can e-mail and text my friends all day long but I can't do that with Fred and Lily. True, I will yell down the phone when I'm talking to Mum but I'm not convinced they know it's me you know.

I could regale you with stories of how awesome they are but surely you knew that already? So maybe I'll just photobomb you all with photos of the pair of them.

I want to squish his FACE.

My sister and nephews were also up at Mum's at the same time which made for a full house. Fred and Lily revel in a full house because it means there's always something to do. Always someone to look at with your head on one side, someone who's willing to play, it's just busy busy busy.

So it means that when everyone left they crashed like a pair of toddlers. I crept upstairs to find Fred like this;

And Lily like this;

I've never known a cat enjoy sleep as much as Lily does. When you look at her sleeping it makes you just want to go to sleep as well because you want to get as much enjoyment out of it as her. Quite often she seems to sleep like a dog, legs all akimbo, or just in weird and wonderful shapes. For example;

I don't even understand how she can get in this shape - I mean her back legs are literally facing the opposite direction to her head. But she digs it. What can I say?

Also the best thing about having cats? They're there when they come home drunk. I decided to have a bit of Hull nightlife when I was back and when I came home it was like double the fun of just coming home normally and being drunk. They came to see me and I told them all about the night and we totally shared my pizza. And I grabbed Lily and squished her for all her worth. As you can see by this photo she loved it.

Ack they're awesome aren't they?

Now I am back home and there are no cats and it sucks balls.

That is all.

The Plan

So it is indeed official. I am for the chop, didn't dodge the bullet, am walking the plank. I'd do some kind of redundancy chant, you know something along the lines of "Gimme a R! Gimme an E!" but it's a really long word and frankly I couldn't find enough that rhymed with it.

To give you a brief overview there are 2 main things you need to know:

1. I am being made redundant.

2. I will be moving to Preston to live with The Person.

Whilst these things may come as a shock to you, they're actually known to me as Contingency Plan A.

Further to one of my previous posts, I think I have found my magic trapdoor out of The Pit. It was quite simply the knowledge of what was going to happen. Even though it was bad news, it was far better knowing that not knowing. Turns out that I'm not so good with the unknown - others may thrive on it, I like a lovely nice plan and a list thank you very much.

You may not have noticed but we're in the middle of a stinking great recession, meaning that there aren't many jobs about. There are especially not many jobs in Hull - we suffer from some of the highest unemployment figures at the best of times, never mind at the moment. The same week that I was made redundant, about 300 people lost their jobs in a Comet call centre and various other companies shed their staff like a snake does its skin.

It was clear to me that the following chain of events would happen to me once I lost my job and stayed in Hull:

1. I wouldn't find another job doing what I'm doing now because it's kind of specialised.

2. I wouldn't be able to afford my rent and carry on living in my lovely shared house.

3. I would end up temping/signing on.

4. Find it very difficult to find the £54 return train fare from Hull to Preston to see The Person

So it kind of felt logical to make the move to Preston and go and live with The Person, I can temp/sign on in Preston and living there would also eliminate the need to pay for the train fare. Plus, you know, I love him and stuff.

And so I'll be leaving my beloved Motherland behind in about one month's time and shacking up in Preston at the end of April (bar sorting out my leaving conditions with my work, who are being arses by the way) and starting a new and slightly terrifying new adventure.

Right. Let's find some boxes.....sigh.

The last thing my camera saw...

It's that time of year again.

Time for Hull Fair.

I don't think there's a person alive (and certainly not an adult) who gets more excited about the fair than me. Unfortunately everyone else has grown up and isn't up for spending hours wandering around and getting chucked around like a ragdoll. Boo to them I say.

I've got 3 trips planned this year over the week or so the fair is on, because I am just that childish. One with the girls, one with an old friend from school and one with The Person who has never experienced the delights the fair has to offer.

This Saturday saw my first trip with the girls which unfortunately coincided with the heavens opening. I'm talking all kinds of rain pouring out of the sky.

To my immense disappointment only a couple of rides were endured before people called off feeling tired, bashed and thoroughly soaked through. I got to be whirled around a wee bit, but only enough to whet my appetite for my next trip tomorrow.

I'm not great at being just spun in round in circles. I can be flung about and go upside down and be thrown in the air without any problems whatsoever, but spinning round and round and round has an unfortunate effect on my brain and consequently stomach.

A couple of my friends however are little daredevils and went on the ultimate spinny roundy ride which is called the Superbowl. Think waltzers, on a platform, which tips in the air and you'll have the gist. My whole life I've wanted to go on it and my whole life I've never dared and this year was no exception.

Through the pouring rain I tried to snap some pictures, but,

Lots of rain + Flashing strobe lights + Spinny machines = crap photos

I did my best however and somewhere in this photo you can see my friends...

The next afternoon I decided I'd have a look at what photos I'd managed to get the night before. I turned my camera on......

....and nothing.

My camera is officially dead.

I'm not sure if it got completely soaked through, or if it got completely bashed about on the last ride we went on, which has left me with an incredibly bruised arm which I can't lift above my head.

Following the advice from some friends my camera has been taken apart and is enjoying a nice rice bath at the moment. Apparently the rice can soak up any excess moisture which might remain, but it's been in there for 24 hours and there's still no joy.

Luckily for me I took out insurance cover when I bought the camera and it's still covered. A quick hunt under my bed uncovered the policy and I'll be taking him in tomorrow to get him replaced.

There was more than a slight panic when I realised the effect this might have on my efforts to complete Project365, but my phone is going to have to substitute for now. I just have to figure out how to upload my photos straights to Flickr. Oh technology.

So the last thing my camera saw?

Aaaaaaah poor thing...