to have one’s ear pulled by the emperor was considered the greatest honour and mark of favour at the french court

Thanks to the plane trip to Melbourne, I’m now 64% through War and Peace. According to the kindle I have 7 hours and 3 minutes remaining – a fact I view with suspicion because about 114 hours ago it told me I had 9 hours remaining.

I’m delighting in the very lengthy chapter titles which would be really maddening if you’re into suspense.

I’m still book-marking the occasional delightful phrase, which I should really get out of the device. I lost dozens of glorious Miss Silver quotations and all fabulously unusual words I’d flagged from PD James novels when the old kindle died his sad death. Digital is definitely my preferred reading medium, but I’m definitely all about the paper for note-taking and retaining for reference.

I’m using my not inconsiderable stubbornness and positive thinking to ward off what feels like it could be a cold. Really I could do with 7+ hours snuggled up in bed to wrap up this project!

50before50: #6 – 100 proper push-ups in a row (real halfway point)

In Melbourne after lunch on Sunday, we went for a wee stroll around the fitzroy gardens. While strolling I stepped on one of those bumpy “non-slip” tiles embedded in the foothpath (apparently properly called tactile ground surface indicators), which contrary to its purpose was as slippery … as a very slippery thing. My left foot slid out from under me and I elegantly did the splits. Well this is how I remember it, Don may have other ideas.

I ended up with quite the souvenier:

Ouch!

All of this brusing prevented me from doing the knees part of my 100 pushups, so I have just been going ahead with the regular kind and today I hit the halfway point!

Who would ever have thought I could do 50 pushups? Woo hoo!

Sharp-eyed people may note that I’ve missed a few days here and there. This particularly happens if I have a ride or a run (or am having a mini-holiday). I’m really making an effort to stop skipping days because with this sort of volume, it gets harder to pick up where I left off.

I also let my mental mini-holiday mode last longer than it should have, so was drinking wine after work on the non-fast days last week and snacking way too much last week. I didn’t notice any difference until I realised I was slacking off on the morning exercise, but it really hit home on the Saturday morning bike ride. I wasn’t hung over in the least, but I definitely didn’t have the boundless energy I usually do – it was tough!

I think my fitness goals are not at all compatible with regular boozing. So it was quickly back on the wagon.

Also challenging on Saturday’s ride was the temperature. It was around 13-15oC when we left, so I wore my normal riding clothes and the jacket I wear for running when it is cold. This is what I’d normally wear to run in similar conditions. Holy!Goodness! It was absolutely freezing! My hands were so, so cold – they were red and icy and I could barely move them.

The InformationSuperhighway is now delivering me some more appropriate cycling attire.