Overdue Blog Post - Part Three!

Wow, so I finally have the time and space to get writing again and find myself approaching the end of March having not written anything since early January - whoops!

Luckily for me I have been keeping a diary of sorts and so have a pretty good idea of what I've been up to but am wondering how best to either summarise or move on from my last post. Which I think means this will be more of an overview and perhaps there will be separate posts focusing on some of the happenings over the last few months.

Plus I need to figure out a way to get back into writing more often...perhaps I need to go back to my diary type posts that I did over the preceding couple of years...something to think about!

But let's get back to the job at hand and try and summarise what's been happening of late.

So, where were we...ah yes Christmas! This year (or should that be last year?) was different to our usual routine of years gone by. This was the first Christmas since my dad had passed and that meant the first Christmas for Simon and I without any of our parents and while that brought about its own set of emotions it also meant that we had only ourselves to please. Which meant we were able to mix things up a little!

Molly and Dan were spending Christmas at their home, having spent the previous year with us, so we decided to travel down to see them instead. This resulted in us making the journey to Bournemouth on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas Day) for a few days before returning to celebrate the New Year at home.

I'd realised as we approached Christmas that ordinarily after having the big Christmas Day meal we would make use of any leftover food on Boxing Day...but as we wouldn't be home on Boxing Day this meant a change of plan. As Ethan's birthday is on Christmas Eve we decided to have our big Christmas dinner for his birthday instead and then make Christmas Day a very relaxed affair with presents and leftover food, which worked out beautifully. It was so nice to be able to enjoy the unwrapping of presents and have a very chilled out day as opposed to the usual slaving away in the kitchen! Plus because there was only the three of us it meant that cooking on Christmas Eve wasn't the big ordeal that it would have been compared to previous years. Oh and of course birthday celebrations in this house meant it was Mickey waffle time!

We had a lovely few days in Bournemouth even though the weather was rather soggy. We were able to exchange presents, enjoy some lovely meals, do lots of walking interspersed with coffees and even a little ice skating. Although on this occasion Simon decided to forgo the skating as it was very, very wet and joined me and Ethan in watching Molls and Dan enjoy themselves on the ice.

On the 29th December we travelled home with Molls and Dan making the journey as well so that we had a few days with all of us at home. We were able to make use of the outdoor skating rink in Nottingham that this year had an elevated 'skate path'...

Nottingham's Skate Path, above the Christmas market

...and when I saw 'we' I do of course mean Molls, Dan and Simon. I watched from afar and then went off in search of coffee and a little retail therapy. We saw the New Year in as a family with an array of board games and a lovely 'big' meal on New Years Day.

But by January 3rd the house was very quiet; Molls and Dan had gone back home to Bournemouth and Ethan was back at work. That left Simon and I with a couple of days to get the house back to 'normal' as we embarked on the horrible task of taking down and putting away of all the Christmas decorations; I love all my Christmas 'stuff' and hate having to put it all away. It actually took us about three days to put everything away with the majority being done by yours truly once Simon returned to work.

Well with Christmas and New Year done lets move onto January.

We started to get back into our routine of early morning (and rather chilly) walks followed by our Wim Hof breathing and a little meditation. Cold showers have now become the 'norm' for both Simon and I and these have continued regardless of what we have been up to. Unfortunately after getting back into our stride with the morning walks we had to take a little bit of a break as I suffer with chilblains on my left foot and once aggravated it becomes uncomfortable to walk on for extended periods and only gets worse if my feet get cold. So with a spell of very chilly weather we took a bit of a break from our walks.

Through January I was dealing with the sale of my dads house as we had signed all the necessary paperwork just before Christmas and it was now a case of working with solicitors to get everything done as speedily as possible.

We also started making some headway with our Jedi robes ready for Star Wars Celebration at Easter. And of course when I say 'we' I actually mean Simon, and his focus was on making some leather pouches for our belts to house our mobile phones. He also mastered the technique of metal casting by using pewter to make the buckles for our belts. 

For my part I had to order some different trousers as the fit on the pair I'd originally ordered was a little snug. And then there was an awful lot of research into the correct material to order for the outer cloak...something that was of the right dark brown colour and that was also of a heavy, wool like material. Suffice to say I think I went cross eyed looking at all the different options out there.

By the end of January we had found a local dressmaker that was willing (and excited) to help us with the technical aspect of putting the tunic/tabard section of the robes together. But I think I will go into more detail about our Jedi robes in a separate post!

We tried to get out for our morning walks again when the weather eased but no sooner than we had got back into the routine the weather turned rather cold again so we resigned ourselves to just get out as and when we could.

As we moved through January I was focused on getting more things removed from my dads house in readiness for the sale going through, along with the subsequent organising of Ebay sales. And my involvement with pre-school continued as we looked at the ongoing finances as well as a potential change in charitable status; so lots of research and a fair few meetings over numerous cups of coffee.

Ethan is still trying to find himself a house and we managed a viewing of one, but it was not quite what he was after,  and he had another couple of viewings cancelled at the last minute. First time buyer houses seem to go rather quickly once they get on the market - oh well just got to keep on looking.

And I think that covers January, so I will stop here and get writing the next post!

Day 892 & Day 893

Day 892...Sunday

We had a lovely evening out at our friends anniversary party yesterday...

We don't scrub up too bad!

...and it was great to be able to catch up with people we hadn't seen for way too long!

So, after a slow start to the day we set off on a shortish early morning walk of just 1.8 miles in 36 minutes and stopping to pick blackberries along the way.

We then decided that today would be all about catching up with a few things on our joint 'to do list'. First it was a trip to Lidl simply because we were running out of too many things and I couldn't put it off any longer.

After lunch we got our tattoo ideas finalised into one document that I could then send over to my tattooist. When we see him in a couple of weeks I have two tattoos that I would like doing and Simon also has one planned, so we just needed to commit to what we both wanted. Over the course of the day we have had the 3D printer working hard printing more sections of the model that we are working on which has meant some more clean up of finished prints along with a little 3D modelling work for Simon.

Mid-afternoon we decided to escape the four walls and go out for coffee; a chance to chat and re-connect without distractions.

Back home and I was able to complete my latest jigsaw...

...and Simon was able to make a start on his next piece of digital art.

That was pretty much it for Sunday; a quiet and chilled out sort of day.

Day 893...Monday

Today was a bank holiday which meant that Ethan had the day off from work along with Simon's usual Monday off.

We decided that we would get up and head into Nottingham for a wander and a poke around the shops. So rather than our morning walk over the fields we instead had an urban stroll which ultimately led us to Caffe Nero for coffee. We did cut our walk a little short as it tried to rain at one point and we had no umbrellas or jackets with us, this just meant we got to have coffee sooner.

Around lunchtime we had our first meal of the day which was burgers from Five Guys; as I've previously talked about Five Guys is a great choice for anyone following a keto or low carb lifestyle as you are able to order the burgers without buns. Double bacon cheeseburger with green peppers and mushrooms for me!

Although we had popped into a few shops we came back empty handed as there was nothing that really caught our eyes. But it was simply just nice to be out and about and taking in the sights and sounds of the city.

The remainder of the day saw Simon add the two pieces of R2D2 that he's been working on over the last few weeks. A couple of arms that were missing from behind a couple of the panel doors. They were a little tricky to put into place so I was needed to assist and hold things! I was also able to clean up some more 3D prints...I think I'm getting quite adept at it now! And our new printer is proving to be very reliable and is generating solid prints each time, a definite worth while investment in replacement of the old printer which was slower, smaller and would often run into hiccups!

And to finish off the day we headed down the gym for our first workout of the week. I'm trying to be mindful of my left shoulder and avoid any moves which seem to aggravate it, not sure what I've done to it but I think it just needs some rest before I try and do too much with it. Time will tell!

See you all tomorrow all being well.

xx

 

Day 877

Day 877...

This morning we were up at our normal time as we had promised to play taxi service for Ethan. He had a day out planned with his work at a local paintball centre and he needed to be in Nottingham for 8.45am as they had arranged transport to get everyone to and from the centre.

Once we'd dropped Ethan off we decided that this mornings 'early morning walk' would be an urban one as we set off around Nottingham city centre. We quickly completed 2.4 miles in 43 minutes and ended up at our favourite Caffe Nero for a coffee.

Before we headed for home we had a quick stop by Primark because it would have been rude not to. And whilst there were a couple of Disney items that I was drawn to I decided not to bother as I wasn't 100% sold on them. We also nipped into Holland & Barret, the health food shop, as we wanted to pick up some Konjac noodles; these are low carb noodles, in fact they have zero carbs in them. We'd tried them last week and were pleasantly surprised by them and decided to get a few packets in. It's not something that I would tend to go for but I know that Ethan misses not having noodles or rice when I make a stir-fry so these are a good alternative for us.

Back home and Simon spent a few hours on and off throughout the day getting on with some work. This is not something that he would ordinarily do at a weekend but as they have a deadline fast approaching ahead of  'Gamescom' in Germany towards the end of the month he wanted to put in a few extra hours today. He'd expected his other team mates to also be online but no-one else appeared to be, but as we have a day out planned for tomorrow Simon wanted to get his extra hours done today.

I managed to complete my latest jigsaw and would you believe it I was a piece missing; that is two jigsaws that I have completed one after the other with missing pieces - how weird? 

Missing piece??

Now whether those pieces are hiding somewhere in the living room having got disturbed by having windows open and draughts coming through I don't know - only time will tell I suppose.

I have also been doing a little online searching for a hotel near Molly so that we can visit in a few weeks time. We have a hotel that we have used the last few times and I was hoping to find somewhere different but after searching I was back to our 'usual'. Not only was the cost either comparable or cheaper than others I looked at but it also has free electric vehicle charging points which obviously are a must for us.

It was then time to go and collect a very red, sweaty and knackered Ethan from Nottingham following his day paintballing. Now Ethan is not the most active of people and I think he will be feeling todays efforts for the next few days to come!

Simon has also been working on his next 3D print that will actually be something that we can both appreciate and will be something that we will display in our new study/craft room...I will reveal more as things progress. Suffice to say it's a decent size and at the moment is predicted to take over three and a half days and one kilo of filament!

And with that I think I will stop for the day as I am very hot and sweaty and need to cool down, have some food and watch some RuPauls Drag Race.

See you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 865 & Day 866

Day 865...Monday

Our day started off as normal with our early morning walk and because neither of us are working on a Monday we took a slightly longer 2.4 miles in 46 minutes. It was a lovely start to the day and along our way we even managed to stop and pick some blackberries, as the fields where we walk seem inundated with bushes.

After our walk we were straight back out the door to go and collect the grocery shop. I am trying to keep this bigger shop to once every two weeks or more and use it to stock up on the bulkier items so that in between I can take advantage of my local Lidl for better prices and better quality fresh food.

With all the shopping organised and put away we opted for an early lunch/late breakfast before heading off into Nottingham for the afternoon. This past weekend had not been one of my better ones; my mood was off and I just generally didn't know what to do with myself and so we decided that today we needed to get out of the house for a few hours.

And it was the best thing that we could have done as not only did we get to have a lovely walk in the sunshine around Nottingham but we also got time to spend together. We stopped for coffee at our usual branch of Caffe Nero and the barista there always remembers us and always takes the time to chat which is lovely and as a bonus he always gives us extra 'stamps' on our loyalty app!

I think that the adjustment for me to being 'retired' is probably having a bigger effect on me than I perhaps envisioned...maybe bigger is not the right word, perhaps it should be different. Tuesday to Friday while Simon is working I find that I am occupied predominantly with jobs around the house along with some bigger tasks relating to sorting my dads house and going through both our photos and my dads to get them digitised. I also have the time to do tasks that previously would have had to have been done on an evening or at a weekend. So when we reach our three day weekend I can find myself in a bit of a quandary as to what to do with the time. I'm very aware that the weekend is 'down time' for Simon and that he has things that he wants to do because he doesn't have the time during the remainder of the week so we kind of reach an impasse. 

I want to give Simon the time to do what he wants to do but at the same time I'm unsure as to what I can be doing as I've now done all the 'stuff' during the week and for some reason even though I could carry on with certain tasks I've convinced myself those are 'week day tasks' and not for the weekend! Argh! I've been so used to the make-up of a week being split between work and down time and those lines are now blurred and getting used to that is, it would appear, having a greater impact on me than I sometimes realise.

And then throw into the mix that I am terrible at doing anything 'just for me' and always want to make sure everyone else is doing what they want that I end up either not doing anything or feeling resentful that others have things to do and I don't. Which I know is my own doing and so we go round and round in circles. So not only do I have to realise that doing things for me and me alone is perfectly okay but that everyone else will be perfectly fine!

So as you can probably gather Simon and I had some big conversations this afternoon in an effort to get me out of my own head and recognising that I can do what I want, when I want and how I want and that I am not answerable to anyone for that but me. I think there is also a pressure I perceive that everyone on hearing that I am retired expects me to have 'a plan', that I am off doing something amazing or that I must be wanting a new job or new direction. When actually at the moment all I want is to be home, spend time with Simon and enjoy not having the pressures of work...and yet I somehow feel guilty for wanting those things!

Anyway after a few hours drinking coffee and poking around shops, with nothing bought,we headed home. 

Today I finally received a letter from the solicitors advising that probate has been granted following my dads death and that we can start to move forward on settling the estate. We still have the house to sell but there are other items that can now be distributed. Although it does make me laugh that the solicitors still insist on using typed letters and the postal system when surely email would speed up the whole process. I make a point of always responding to a letter by email! And don't get me started on their apparent reluctance to use bank transfers as a means of moving money around as they prefer to use cheques!! Really?!!

And although it was a little late in the day we decided to have a gym session...we said we would just have a short thirty minutes or so...an hour later we were done! While Simon took the opportunity of being in the garage to take his most recent 3D prints and fill where needed (stinky process involving car body filler!) I grabbed a shower and managed my second two minute cold shower of the day. I then re-set my timer so that tomorrow I'll be on two minutes and thirty seconds.

Day 866

Well the morning was grey but warm and we headed out for our early morning walk of 1.9 miles in 37 minutes, although we did get a little wet about half way round. Despite the weather app on my phone saying there was only a 12% chance of rain we got rained on, and at one point it started to come down quite heavy but we had no umbrella with us and no rain coats. Thankfully it only lasted a few minutes before it eased and stopped completely and by the time we got home our clothes were dry.

My day today has been one of getting a few jobs done around the house; laundry, cleaning, emails etc. We are trading in our old Kindle for a newer version and have taken advantage of Amazon's trade in offerings and so today I was able to package up the old one and drop it off at a UPS collection point. Not only will we get a little cash for the old one but we will also get 20% off a new one - win, win! 

I've also done a little internet surfing ahead of podcast recording tomorrow as I think Michelle and I will be looking forward to some Halloween themed foodie treats coming to Walt Disney World. And as they start their Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Parties in mid-August those items will be available rather soon and if you ask me a little too early for celebrating Halloween!

Towards the end of the afternoon I found a little time to make a start on sorting pieces for my latest jigsaw before I headed down the gym for another workout. A gentler workout this evening with the focus on body weight exercises and as it was quite a warm and muggy evening it was about all I could manage. It did mean that a shower was necessary once I'd finished and this did mean my second cold shower of the day and my second two minutes and thirty seconds!

And with that I will see you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 821 & Day 822 - The Weekend

Day 821...Saturday

It was a relatively early start for a Saturday morning but there was no walk to be had as I was playing taxi driver for the men of the family as they had appointments at the barbers.

Back home and we had a mid-morning breakfast which was slightly earlier than of late for Simon and I. Next on the agenda was to order a new paper shredder as I have a lot of mine and my dads paperwork to go through, sort and re-organise and I know there will be a lot to get rid of. I also had to order some suspension files for the new filing cabinet that I've yet to use. I had ordered some files when we'd bought the cabinet a couple of months ago but unfortunately I'd ordered the wrong size which I didn't discover until this morning - oops!

Simon and I then headed out for a coffee; it was a grey and drizzly day and not overly conducive to going out and about, so we opted to stay dry and hydrated! We stopped by a DIY store on the way home as we wanted to check out some options for putting extra shelves in the new cupboards in our study/craft room.

The day was brought to a close by watching this weeks episode of RuPauls Drag Race All Stars season 7.

Day 822...Sunday...Father's Day

The day started with the giving of gifts from the 'kids' to Simon; Spiderman No Way Home on BluRay, some Deliciously Guilt Free goodies and an on-trend black bracelet.

With just a coffee to fuel us we headed into Nottingham for the day. We needed to exchange a shirt that Simon had bought last weekend as the sleeves were too tight and we also popped into Primark to pick up another pair of jeans for Simon as the ones he'd bought last week were so good he thought he'd get an extra pair. 

We then headed for a coffee before our main reason for visiting Nottingham; to attend Dr Sketchy's. This is a regular life drawing event that makes use of burlesque performers as their models. Hosted by the lovely Scarlett Daggers it is always a great way to pass a few hours on a Sunday afternoon. Although, today we decided that after the first half of the event we'd had enough and decided to head home. Simon was battling with his left hand being a little sore and simply wasn't enjoying the event as much as normal so having enjoyed what we'd done we called it a day and went home.

By the time we arrived home we were feeling a little peckish and so broke our 'fast' with some scrambled egg. This is the longest we have fasted for so far, managing about 21 hours.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Simon doing some of his own personal digital art while I caught up with the online grocery shopping. My brother popped by as we had some paperwork from the solicitors that needed signing so that we can finally get my dad's estate sorted. It is taking them so long and we are beginning to think it would have been quicker if we'd done it all our selves. But we can't change that now we just have to go with the process and hope that the end is in sight.

And that was my weekend...see you tomorrow.
xx

Day 814 & 815 - The Weekend

I decided to write up 'the weekend' as one post as it has been a relatively quiet one.

Day 814 - Saturday...started very slowly and with a coffee to get us going we headed out for a not so early morning walk. We took a slightly different route to normal which turned out to be slightly shorter at just 1.8 miles, in 40 minutes.

After a very late breakfast/early lunch (maybe I should just call it brunch?!) we had an afternoon of catching up with a few bits and pieces. I managed to get all of the cataloguing of items from my dads house complete...finally! One of those jobs that seemed to take way longer than it should because searching the internet to figure out what things are is never as easy as you think it should be. Now I just need to figure out what to do with all the information I've gleaned.

Simon also had the task of replying to a retro game journalist who'd contacted him with some questions for an article all about the good old days of the Amiga, Rick Dangerous and gaming in the late 1980's and early 1990's! Simon managed to find an app that would convert a voice recording into text which meant he didn't have to type all of his responses as typing is a little awkward at the moment with a cast on his left arm!

A very quiet Saturday.

Day 815 - Sunday

We had a very slow start to the day as it was the first time in long while that we had no particular reason to be up and about.

But once we'd had a late breakfast we took off in the direction of Nottingham to have a wander and a mooch about. We had no real focus or intention, simply just thought it would be somewhere different to visit as it's been a few weeks and somewhere that was less likely to trigger Simon's hayfever!

It turned out to be a successful trip as we came away with a couple of t-shirts, a shirt and a pair of jeans for Simon and a t-shirt, dress, jumper and some make-up bits for me. Simon's shirt is unfortunately a little on the tight side over his arms (which he was quite pleased about!) so when we are in Nottingham next weekend (as we have a Dr Sketchy's to attend) we will get it exchanged.

I couldn't resist a walk through Primark and as is the law I came away with a couple of Disney themed purchases...

T-shirt - front

T-shirt - back

Cute dress

The weather was lovely as we wandered about and by the time we headed home we'd walked just over 3.5 miles! So shopping and exercise in one go - win!

It was then back home for coffee and blog writing!

See you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 801

Day 801...

A nice and steady Sunday after yesterday's long day trooping.

As much as we love trooping two days back to back as some of our fellow geeks are doing can take its toll. There is a lot of standing around and holding poses which leaves you with muscle aches in the strangest of places. Simon finds his inner forearm aches from holding his blaster (which is actually quite heavy) as he holds it pretty much in the same position all day. I tend to stand in one position to look like a stern imperial officer, often with arms held behind my back so I find my biceps can ache along with the backs of my legs. My boots still need a bit of wearing in so by the end of the day my feet and ankles had had enough but thankfully today they have felt pretty good.

So we were able to have a much more relaxed start to our day and once we had collected our weekly grocery shop we (okay Simon) had the job of cleaning up and storing away our kit from yesterday.

My kit is straight forward and the only thing I will need to do at some point is to sponge clean the neck of my uniform jacket. Simon on the other hand needed to give his stormtrooper armour a clean and store it back in its storage trunk neatly. We thought a piece of elastic that keeps the shoulder straps in place had been lost but it turned out to have just slipped underneath and out of sight. He then took the opportunity to re-whiten his boots and make a slight repair to his blaster where he'd noticed a section was feeling a little looser than it should. But all in all that was pretty good going for our first troop out in over two years!

This afternoon we were joined by our good friend Michelle as she had driven down to spend a few hours with us before we went out for the evening. We managed to squeeze in a little 2 mile walk before grabbing a bite to eat and heading off into Nottingham.

This was our second weekend of burlesque and cabaret and today we were at The Gilded Merkin held at The Glee Club in Nottingham and produced by, and starring once more, the delightful Scarlett Daggers. Another great show and I cannot recommend highly enough trying one of these nights. Tonight we had traditional burlesque, juggling, fire eating, sword swallowing, comedy burlesque, more comedy and singing!

But it is late and so I will sign off for today and see you tomorrow.
xx

Day 800

Day 800...

And my first official day of 'retirement' and I was looking forward to a slow and steady start to the day but that was not to be.

Today was our first time 'trooping' with our fellow Star Wars geeks since February 2020...for obvious reasons. Although events had started happening a few months back a lot of places had been insisting on tests and masks and we simply refused to go along with anything that wasn't just normal.

We are members of two costuming groups; Joker Squad and East Midlands Garrison and so it is a matter of seeing when either are attending an event and whether that event is something that we are able to get to. Luckily for us today we were trooping with East Midlands Garrison at Em-Con held at the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham which is only a few miles away for us.

So we were up and out the door by 7.50am and were outside the arena by 8.20am to meet up with our Star Wars family.

Arriving at the arena with our East Midlands Garrison family

We had about 20 members of the garrison in attendance today and our first task was to find our changing area and get kitted up for the day.

Star Wars cosplay is not a glamorous life and we often find ourselves allocated some rather interesting locations as our changing area. Today was no exception as it appeared to be an empty storage room with a few chairs and not much else. But we got on with getting kitted up which for me involved transforming into Governor Pryce from the animation series Rebels complete with a black, bob styled wig and for Simon it was Stormtrooper time.

Our day was then spent wandering around the convention, meeting the public and having lots of photos taken, some of which were with a few of the celebrities in attendance!

With 'Hunter' from the TV show Gladiators!

With actor Will Mellors

With actor Nick Frost

A long day but an enjoyable one and one in which we were able to make a lot of people smile as well as raise money for a charity called PASIC which supports families of children who have cancer.

So now it is time for a well earned feet-up in front of the telly!

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 726

Day 726...

Sunday was another steady day and once we had completed the mundane task of fetching our weekly grocery shopping we headed out to Nottingham.

We had a mooch around the shops, stopped for a coffee and paid a visit to an art gallery.

The shopping involved the mandatory visit to Primark which resulted in a couple of Disney (what else?!) purchases...

We also managed to find a new pair of shoes for Simon although buying them proved to be rather tricky. We found them in House of Fraser but when Simon went to find a member of staff to assist him there were none around...absolutely no-one to be found, no-one at cash tills, no-one anywhere! They were obviously not interested in ours, or anyone else's custom! Thankfully the single shoes on display were in his size so he was able to try one on to see how it fit. We had a quick look online and knew we could buy them elsewhere for the same price or maybe a little cheaper. Once home we looked around, ordered a pair and will be able to pick them up from our local Next store tomorrow!

Our visit to Nottingham Contemporary art gallery left us both feeling a tad underwhelmed. In fact I would say that the items for sale in their shop were more interesting than the displays themselves. When we got to the final display and were told we needed to remove our shoes to look around we about-turned and walked out. There was nothing about the display that said to us it was worth walking around in our stocking feet for. A great way to turn people off from experiencing art!

Over the course of the day we have been talking more about what to expect when I walk away from my job at pre-school and what I would like to be doing with my time. At the moment while I am still working trying to think beyond is proving a little tricky and has confirmed that I can struggle to visualise more than a few concepts in my head at once. I can be rather singular focused and unwilling, or unable, to think beyond what I know is happening now and the near future.

I have a habit of organising my brain around what I know has to be done and when that has to be done and as a by product of working in education I visualise my time line in 'term dates'! These are habits that I will need to break myself out of going forward and learn to recognise that I will have the time to discover whatever it is that I want to discover.

Having watched a couple of YouTube videos of late and chatting with Simon I can see that I will need to make myself a list of all those things that I think I would like to try, those things that I haven't until now had the time to devote to trying or those things that I have dismissed as 'I can't do that'. I will have time to experiment and learn new skills and figure out how all that will feed into the next stage of my life. But for now I have to learn to think about what I may like to do, make a list and get excited for what may lay ahead.

See you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 704

Day 704...

Well we have reached the weekend and the start of my half term break and the day that I got out of covid jail. Two negative tests and I'm out! Phew!

And I can only thank my lucky stars that the powers that be deemed it so as I had great plans for today and plans that could now be fulfilled. My favourite band White Lies were playing a small gig in Nottingham as part of their album launch and we had tickets.

The gig was slightly unusual in that it was happening at lunchtime so it was on with the glad rags and off we set for Nottingham. And the day started off great with the delivery of their new album; I'd hoped to get it yesterday as that was release day but none the less it arrived today...and with a signed card as well.

Thankfully it was only a short walk from the car park to Rough Trade record store as the weather was rather unpleasant; wet, cold and windy.

Well the boys did us proud once more, just a short gig of about 8 tracks, including 2 from the new album, to an audience of around 150. They were, as always, brilliant. They are such a great band live and did some fabulous striped back renditions of some of their classic tracks.

The bonus with this gig was that the cost of the ticket included a CD of the album; this now means we have three copies of the new album. Plus there was chance to meet the band (second time for us) and get the album signed. Suffice to say one happy lady today!

Me and Harry!!!!!

We then had a treat of a coffee and cake before heading home to make keto pizza for dinner.

It has been a lovely day and great to be doing something normal once more. Roll on more normality and making plans.

See you tomorrow.

xx

Day 690

Day 690...

An early start to a Saturday morning as both Simon and Ethan were booked in at the barbers for 8am!

This meant a late-ish breakfast once they'd returned before we got ourselves ready to head out. As Molly and Dan were home for the weekend they wanted to pay a visit to the ice rink in Nottingham to get their skates sharpened. Apparently the skate shop within the ice stadium is really good at sharpening skates as they'd tried another location closer to home but the result had not been good!

The last time they'd been home we'd paid a visit to the ice stadium only to find that there was no one working who could sharpen their skates. Thankfully today that was not the case and they were able to leave with freshly sharpened blades.

We spent some time in Nottingham with the obligatory visit to Primark although I left empty handed as the Disney offerings were not that great. But we did manage to meet up with Dan's sister who was also visiting Nottingham this weekend to see her boyfriend who happens to be a student at Nottingham Trent University. So we found a coffee shop, drank a few coffees and sheltered from the wind and the rain.

It was then take-out for an early dinner before an evening in front of the telly.

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 613

Day 613...

The day started off like most Sundays do with a trip to Asda to collect our weekly grocery shop. Slightly infuriating as their app wasn't working properly so I couldn't 'tell them I was on my way' but when we got to the store the colleague on duty recognised us and we seemed to get our shopping before anyone else...obviously pays to be a regular!

After we'd returned home and put all the shopping away we decided to have an afternoon out in Nottingham and popped online to buy ourselves some cinema tickets.

Arriving in the city we were greeted by their annual Christmas market; so nice to see it back as last years had to be cancelled at the eleventh hour, although they haven't got the ice rink as in previous years.

Everywhere looking very festive and busy

We had the obligatory look around Primark and was able to pick up a Christmas present as well as a pair of Disney slip-on sneakers for me. In fact they are the same as the pair I currently have which I use for around the house, so wanted a back-up pair for when they fall apart!

We then went in search of coffee, finding our usual Caffe Nero to pop into, and remarked how much busier it was today than past weekends. On our way back to the car we decided to visit Forbidden Planet, not somewhere we visit that often and was an impromptu decision to do so with the aim being to have a look for possible Christmas presents.

And then I saw the section of Loungefly bags, the large amount of Disney Loungefly bags and then I saw just the cutest one and fell in love with it straight away. I picked it up and then put it back as I just couldn't justify what I deemed to be a frivolous purchase but Simon had other ideas. He insisted that I bought it...I said okay but only as an early birthday present...

How cute?!

We then headed just slightly out of the city centre to a small cinema that has been in existence since 1935. It is a great venue and with prices that are not as steep as the major chains and it was our first time in a cinema in forever. Although to be fair we were never regular cinema goers and only ventured out when something really compelled us...like a Star Wars or a Marvel or maybe a Pixar movie. 

But today it was Ghostbusters Afterlife; we'd seen a few reviews online that were really positive and remarked how much the fans were liking the movie so we decided to give it a go. Both of us are eager to make the most of opportunities to do 'normal' things like this before we are faced, yet again, with more draconian and intrusive measures especially as we hear about more lockdowns across europe along with the horror of vaccine passports and even worse mandated vaccines. But for today we were able to enjoy a little escapism.

And this was a good film, in fact we both absolutely loved it. It respected the original movie and honoured the ethos of films made around the mid 1980's. It was a great ride, it had all the effects you needed, a fabulous cast, it had laughs and it also made us both cry. I would recommend anyone to go see this movie, take some tissues with you and then stay till the very end...the very end of the credits...don't be fooled by the 'post-credit scene' stay a little longer!

And there we have a very enjoyable Sunday. See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 528

Day 528...

Well this Saturday has turned out to be very civilised and a little bit arty!

After a relaxed start to the day we were musing about what to do when Simon remembered about an art exhibition that we were both interested in and so that became our focus for the day.

We headed into Nottingham and headed over to the Surface Gallery which is a non-profit arts collective and their current exhibition is based on 'street art'. Not only was the gallery full of eclectic art based on the principles of street art but it also expanded into the alleyway behind the building with some awesome graffiti artwork.

 ...and the outdoor space...

Just astounding that something can be created on such a large 'canvas' with so much detail. We spent a little while chatting with the staff and discovered a little more about the collective, how they are run and what they are hoping to achieve now that they are able to get back to 'in-person' exhibits. We duly signed up to their mailing list keen to see what they will be doing in the future.

We then had a little poke around a couple of shops looking for some Disney finds but didn't come across anything that was my style which meant it was time for coffee. A couple of coffees later and having put the world to rights we headed home.

Back home and it was time to get some make-up on and decide what to wear ready for friends wedding reception this evening...so rather than sit here typing I better get going!

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 511 - Nottingham Castle

Day 511...

Today we headed off into Nottingham once more but today we had tickets to visit Nottingham Castle.

We arrived ahead of our timed ticket and so stopped for a coffee before heading on our way. As we approached the castle we spotted a small art gallery that had some really interesting pieces that looked like they were created out of resin. As Molly is currently experimenting with different mediums, including resin, we decided to pop in and have a look. 

The space is part of the Nottingham Society of Artists and the gallery is constantly changing providing an exhibition space for artists. The current exhibit is called 'Colour in Motion' by the artist Carole Ellis and we had the chance to chat with Carole and hear about her process and inspiration. She was a lovely lady, very passionate about her art and very much enjoying the chance to display (and sell) her current art collection. We want to take Molly to show her the collection as we feel it would give her the chance to chat with a fellow artist and perhaps pick up some ideas and inspiration herself...fingers crossed we might be able to do that tomorrow.

It was then our pre-booked time to visit the castle, or technically I think it is now a ducal palace! I must have learnt something today...but seriously it was a fascinating place to visit. The castle had been closed the last few years as it underwent a multi-million pound refurbishment, although it had been more than few years since we had last visited as I seem to remember the kids being on the small side!

In fact it was 2005 when we last visited, as I found these photos!!

But we had a lovely time wandering around the grounds and taking in the extensive views over Nottingham city...there's a good reason for building castles and the like upon high as the vantage point is astounding.

We then went inside the castle where there are a number of exhibits. Some are permanent ones which cover the history of Nottingham and specifically the castle, along with Nottingham lace as well as an extensive art gallery. There is also a space which will be used for changing exhibits but which is currently devoted to fashion designer, Paul Smith, who happens to be a  Nottingham local. It was a great exhibit to walk around as it told his story beautifully and uniquely and really impressed upon us not only his skill for fashion design but also the artistry involved. As we were unable to take photos inside the building here are a few more from the outside...

We spent a lovely couple of hours exploring and at just £13 each felt it was really good value for money and somewhere we would be happy to visit again. Before we headed for home we headed instead for a coffee and paid a visit to one of our preferred coffee shops where we were greeted once again with a smile and a chat from the barista who we have gotten to know.

The day was rounded out with taking Molly to and from her kickboxing lesson, with Molly driving us there to get a little more driving experience under her belt.

I will see you all tomorrow.
xx