Well, it has been quite a day.

Fortunately the horrible ache in my side has finally dissipated, but I feel pretty drained as a result. I have no idea what it was, but I hope it never comes back!

It was very exciting to get back on the bikes this morning after missing last week because of Don’s GP appointment. It was fun and lovely, but holy goodness some people need to learn how to use shared paths! Amusingly I was mentally composing a ranty blog post about bad path users when I swerved and almost collided with an oncoming bike – so I’ll include myself on that list.

It’s a public holiday next week and we’re hoping to get out for another epic ride. I’m very glad I persisted with learning how to ride again – it’s a really excellent couplesish activity.

xxx

In other exercisely news, about a month ago I signed up for a pilates for running class which was originally supposed to be this afternoon, but fortunately it was rescheduled for 30 April.

I say fortunately because since yesterday morning I’ve had a really dreadful, quite intense dull ache in my right side between my hips and ribs (not appendix as that is long gone). Paracetamol mostly takes the edge off, so the ride was manageable, but I’ve been in a lot of discomfort.

TheInformationSuperhighway suggests this might be my gall bladder – let’s hope instead that I just ate something that disagreed with me. If no better by Monday it will be off to SuperHappyFunGP.

So mostly I laid about with a heat pack for the afternoon reading War and Peace (now at 51%!) and then had a lovely nap. After this I made tiramisu (first time) for Joan’s advance birthday celebrations tomorrow – she’s requested kitschy Italian as a theme. I do like this new tradition of the home celebration for birthdays.

I call this one “sunrise through clean windows”

The ravenous kitties woke me up very early as usual this morning. I am remarkably chill about being woken up before 5am every day – they’re really very lucky they’re completely adorable. I’m sure I’ll become accustomed to this at some point.

Perhaps it is an age thing or a very little alcohol thing, but I am much more relaxed about a lot of stuff. Driving in insane traffic, waiting in terrible queues, dealing with minor crises is all no problem.

But I’d be very well pleased if I could apply this zen to other areas of my life – like SML. ARGH! Admittedly everything is going rather well, though Bobs can verge toward the despotic on some occasions, and the doddering dad who forgets people’s names and things you’ve told him 75 times on others.

If I hear him ascribe my ideas to Knut one more time I won’t be responsible for my actions. The most ludicrous example off this was when Bobs made Knut and I watch a video of a Scottish comedian and then grilled us about who it sounded like. Knut said, “it sounds like X, but it’s not exactly because of the accent” Me: “yeah, it’s more like the cadence that makes them sound the same” and we all agreed that it was. More chatter for a couple of minutes about accents in general then Bobs says, “yes, it’s the cadence, just as Knut says”.

He does this about pretty much everything, but I can deal with all of his idiosyncrasies if this sweet <vague blogging> sweet job </vague blogging> comes off.

Last Friday I treated myself to a new pair of runners (brooks adrenaline GTS16) after I realised that my current pair were probably getting a little tired. My old lady body does not cope at all well with aged running shoes.

I tried on a bunch of different pairs and different brands, but all roads led back to Brooks. The adrenalines are a little heavier, have a slightly greater heel-toe drop and are more solid than the pure cadence which has been my go-to running shoe up to now.

Holy!Goodness! They were so very good to run in! I was so thrilled I ran two days in a row. Last run was 3.22km, next will be 3.54 – I really need to work my routine somehow so I make myself get out in the morning. But so far, all is good.

xxx

HOWEVER, I have been experiencing some ankle pain – yes, in the same spot as last time. But I’m pretty convinced it had nothing to do with running, because the timing was completely off. I find it kind of hard to believe that you’d experience the onset of pain 3-4 days after a run.

I think it might have something to do with my usual walking shoes. I walk about an hour a day in them and I hadn’t quite realised how loose they were. Honestly, you could fit another ankle in there.

So now I’m using my old runners as walking shoes and things are feeling improved. And of course I look completely and utterly glamorous while doing so.

Don’s GP thought it might me a good idea for him to buy a blood pressure monitor to keep an eye things.

I love a new toy! And of course I’m making everyone measure their blood pressure and heart rate and checking mine at every opportunity.

Fortunately, mine is peachy, as evidenced by the green lights. Heart rate can get a little on the high-ish side though. I should probably keep an eye on that.

Don though – yellow lights all the way. Fortunately due to the medication, it’s now gradually moving toward the lower side of yellow.

This old person caper is full of excitement.

view from the bedroom

I think Don was inspired by my hanging** over the edge of the building on Saturday to remove ferns, because he decided he’d hang** out the other side of ThePalace(OfLove) and wash our incredibly filthy bedroom windows on Sunday.

He removed the fly screen to gain access, so I naturally took the opportunity to capture the rather nice view, unimpeded by screen or filth.

I think this is the second time the exterior bedroom windows have been cleaned in the almost four years (4! how did that happen so fast?) that we’ve lived here. In our defence, it is a really challenging job and one ends up with quite a lot of bruises for the effort.

Our crazy dream is to replace the current window with something easier to clean and with a much more wide expanse of glass. I don’t even want to think how much that would cost (there would be a crane involved for a start).

Realistically, we’ll be lucky to have even cleaned the thing again by 2019.

** more like a quite big stretch with feet firmly planted on the floor (though there was a bit where I grabbed

We (and the neighbours) have a bunch of ferns invading the mortar in the facade of our building. We’ve all mostly been avoiding dealing with it because it will require a huge amount of 4 storey high scaffolding, council approval and permits and highly-paid professionals to repoint / remortar.

I was getting kind of tired of seeing them growing and spreading so decided to take (interim) measures into my own hands over the weekend.

I constructed a fern-removal device from a broom-stick, duct tape and paint scraper then hung over the top balcony and attacked what I could reach – being super careful to be on the lookout for passers-by.

I removed quite a lot:

But I’d estimate that a similar volume still remains attached to the wall. I either need a longer stick, to employ Don’s greater height and very long arms or to hang out Bessie’s windows. And to get some herbicide. bastards.

They’ll definitely grow back, but hopefully in a less Giant way. I’ll repeat until we can all sort ourselves out to do it properly – so I reckon a regular task for the next 20 years.

As I mentioned in the previous post, yesterday afternoon Don, Bessie and I (and 37,000 other people) headed out to the watch the ducks play.

It was a pretty lovely evening:

And afterward they had kick to kick! For the uninitiated, this is where pretty much everyone in the crowd goes onto the playing field after an AFL match to kick balls around – hundreds of footballs fly everywhere, it is complete mayhem, but totally fun. It happens maybe only once or twice a year, so it is one of those things you must do (we didn’t have a ball, so we didn’t actually kick, just ducked a lot).

hallowed turf

xxx

Bessie was off to see a play with friends afterward and Don and I ended up at 4fourteen for dinner.

The food was brilliant – especially the colcannon, and the marrow, and the salmon, oh and the lamb ribs. That does sound like a terrifying amount of food, but fear not, they were small share plates.

About 1/2 way through our meal the empty table next to us was filled by three pretty odious media types (two males, one female) – it was all air kisses and “darling”s. They were really, really, really into themselves – one was talking about recently being approached at the gym by a photographer who wanted to capture his amazing eyes, and there was loads of stuff of similar ilk. It was pretty amusing in an eye-rolly kind of way.

I realised as we were leaving that the one with the eyes was a newsreader on one of the government-owned networks – who we’d always considered being really grounded and down to earth. That illusion has been rather shattered – and his eyes aren’t even really that great.

xxx

Despite sharing a bottle of wine with Don and expecting awful sleep and possibly a hangover, I woke up full of energy, felt wonderful and my morning list contained no stresses or worries!

I was cheerful even after I smashed my phone screen when opening the door on the top balcony.

ooops

Perhaps I just need to drink more often? Yeah, no – we all know that is absolutely the last thing I should be doing! But good to know I can do the occasional dinner without being completely wiped out.

Just back from the footy with Don and Bessie (Joe/Frank was working), followed by a hot date with Don.

I am rather full of really excellent food and wine and VERY ready for a nice sleep. Though I expect because of the wine I’ll be wide awake at around 3am – I may well see you then.

I’m still ploughing through War and Peace – a little further on than the photo suggests, just about to start book 5, chapter 11: “god’s folk” at Bald Hills). Allegedly 10hours 40min to go – which is longer than it was 3 days ago. How reading time on the kindle is calculated is rather a mystery – it is pretty generally incorrect, especially with longer books.

I’m so absorbed that I’ve had it on my desk at SML and occasionally have surreptitiously read a paragraph or two during the day.

So far I have learned several interesting facts, among which is that you could send your unsatisfactory serfs to Siberia. I had always assumed this started with political dissidents under communism! Also I was very surprised <semi spoiler> to learn that the cult of aprons, white gloves and funny handshakes was even a thing in Russia.

But if I get nothing else out of reading this book, it has been completely worth it just to have discovered the word cunctator.

You’d better believe I’m using it (and its variants) at every possible opportunity.