Day 884

Day 884...

We had a gentle start to the day and with a coffee inside us we headed out on our early(ish) morning walk but today we had a destination ahead of us. We walked the 2.2 miles over to 'The Cowshed', a local cafe, in 43 minutes to meet up with my brother and his wife for breakfast.

We had a lovely cooked breakfast, a couple of coffees and a couple of hours of catching up and a good old chat. Amazingly the return walk (the exact same route as we'd taken to get there) was also completed in 43 minutes and according to my activity tracker I achieved 70 minutes of 'fat burning' exercise - get in!

On our return home it was time for another coffee and an afternoon of getting a few odd jobs done. While I jumped online and did a little shopping Simon spent the time getting productive with his 3D printer.

I've ordered a soda stream because we are fed up of not being able to buy sparkling water and figured a small investment now would save us in the long run plus we'll be using less plastic. We also ordered a couple of wooden shelves for our study/craft room so that I can display my recently bought Disney Funko Pop figures. And I updated our grocery shopping order for collection tomorrow, although I am getting more and more unhappy with the service as more and more items seem to be unavailable. I just don't understand why staples like eggs and mushrooms are not available; shopping is an annoyingly necessary activity and this just makes it even more so.

We have also signed ourselves up to one of our Star Wars troops for a few weeks time. It has been awhile since our last troop as we couldn't get back out there until Simon's broken wrist was out of its cast; no way his stormtrooper armour would have fitted over that! So it's great to know that we have a date on the calendar and can look forward to getting back out there with our fellow cosplayers.

Simon's afternoon has been spent recalibrating his 3D printer after he'd had a failed print earlier in the week. He'd been attempting to print a large model in one very long print (about 3 days long) but had suffered a blockage in the extruder! Sounds painful I know, but basically the filament that feeds through to create the print had just jammed. So once it had been cleared Simon decided to recalibrate the printer and with the help of a YouTube video was able to get everything dialled in and working as best as it could. He has also decided to not risk a long print and so instead has 'sliced' the model into much smaller pieces, although once all the pieces have been printed they will require some assembly!

While Simon got all technical with the printer I kept things a lot simpler and moved some jigsaw pieces around.

And that was Saturday. See you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 876

Day 876...

We have had yet another glorious day with clear blue skies, sunshine and high temperatures. Whilst we started our day with a walk it was a little different to normal. We set off later than normal as about half way round Simon and I parted ways...Simon headed off home while I continued on. My destination was a local cafe called 'The Cowshed' so that I could meet up with a friend for coffee.

The walk over was 2.6 miles which I completed in 49 minutes, while the walk back was a little shorter at 2.3 miles in 42 minutes. It was lovely to catch-up over coffee and lovely to be blessed with such a beautiful day although by the time I got home just before lunch I was rather sweaty to say the least!!

A few photos from my walk this morning...

And of course had to get one of the Alpacas....

I arrived home to a couple of parcels...

Not only had the Funko Stitch arrived so that I now have a complete set of the Funko PeopleMover figures...

...but we also received our new Kindle Paperwhite along with a wireless charging dock and case. Consequently this afternoon I took a little time to set everything up which was super easy as I just had to login to the Kindle app on my phone and hey presto everything synced up and it was ready to use.

Mid-afternoon my very good friend, and podcast co-host, Michelle stopped by for a cuppa on her journey down South. She was making her way to her hotel for the evening before she embarks on her journey tomorrow to Orlando, Florida. Yep Michelle is going to Walt Disney World and she also has a Disney cruise booked to round out her vacation. Although things are proving a little stressful as the airline has decided to move her and her friends seats around so they are no longer sitting together despite having paid extra to reserve their seats. Plus she also had to upload proof of her vaccination to the Disney Cruise Line as they will only allow fully vaccinated guests to board providing they have also tested negative 48 hours prior to boarding. This is another level of stress for Michelle as she has to figure out how to get tested and get the test uploaded prior to her cruise while being in a foreign country who follow different rules and protocols to us in the UK.

I really do think it is time that we drop all these silly rules that are still in place for a virus that is now no worse than the flu and is endemic within society. We need to get some common sense and go back to how things were before and adopt a sensible approach...if you are ill stay home - simples! This is how it should have always been and for the majority of people it was. There is no point making yourself do something or go somewhere when you are feeling rough...take the time off, rest and you will be back on your feet ten times quicker than if you soldier on as you will then find yourself in a worse state.

What we need to be doing is educating people about looking after themselves, getting them to be as healthy as they can possibly be so that if a cold or a flu does come along they are in their best shape to deal with it. Unfortunately the cynic in me says that is not a profitable approach. If people eat well and exercise well then how will big food make their profits and if people are fit and healthy then how do big pharma get rich? So in turn why should those of us that do the best we can with our diet and fitness be penalised because the majority choose not to?

And in my attempt to look after myself we finished the day with a gym workout and although it was still very hot there was actually quite a nice breeze and so most of my workout was done outside. Tonight I was concentrating on arms and shoulders.

See you all tomorrow.

xx

Day 856 & Day 857 - The Weekend

Day 856...Saturday

With Molly and Dan visiting for the weekend I have deliberately left writing my blog until they had returned home as I wanted to be able to spend as much time with them as possible.

So our Saturday morning started with a walk, but today we were accompanied by Molly and Dan and also Ethan. It was a proper family outing as we walked the 2.4 miles over the fields to a local cafe called The Cowshed. It took us just 45 minutes to get over there and we had the pleasure of meeting horses, alpacas and very friendly dogs along the way.

But we had good reason for making the walk as we took advantage of a very yummy cooked breakfast in a lovely setting. Although the day had started a little grey the sun decided to make an appearance and it was great to be sat outside enjoying the weather, the food and the great company.

We took a little longer walk back clocking up 3.2 miles in 59 minutes. It was great to be able to have 'the kids' with us and introduce them to the places that we walk and have talked about to them, and whilst Molly had been on some of these walks before Ethan had not. 

The remainder of the day was spent at home chatting and catching up with each other, drinking coffee, eating food and just generally having a very relaxed and chilled time.

Day 857...Sunday

In a change to our normal routine we decided to have breakfast before we did anything else. Simon and I were up and about a little later than normal and enjoying a coffee before we decided what the order of the day should be. Once Molly and Dan appeared we decided to get breakfast under way while they nipped out to get some petrol in their car ready for the journey home later today. With petrol costing so much at the moment and them living 3 hours away we have helped them out by paying for a tank of fuel for them...we simply couldn't expect them to visit when the cost is so high at the moment, without helping out a little.

We did still manage our morning walk but it was after breakfast and we were accompanied by Molly and Dan. We did one of our standard walks of 2.3 miles in 47 minutes, it was a little grey out and a tad windy but still really quite warm.

By early afternoon Molly and Dan were on their way home; it is always lovely to have them visit but always makes me realise just how much I miss Molly. She would normally be my partner in crime; helping me out with odd jobs, someone to chat with when the boys start getting all techy and nerdy and good company for whenever shopping was involved! But as much as I miss her I know that she is happy living with Dan by the seaside and all I ever want for her, and for Ethan, is for them to be happy and content and living their lives the way they want being the best possible version of themselves.

This afternoon Simon did a little tinkering around with the 3D printer as he wanted to re-design and re-print a couple of pieces for additions to his R2D2. With the printer set off printing we popped out to our favourite Starbucks for a coffee and for the car to visit the adjacent jet wash! It was the first time Simon has been able to drive the car since breaking his wrist and as a result the first time the car has been washed since then too!

Back home and it was more 3D printing for Simon along with a little video capture. We have re-discovered our digital video camera and having charged it up Simon decided to take it out with us yesterday and do a little filming as a test. So this afternoon he has been busy taking the video and editing it and so while I type the video is 'rendering out' and we will find out whether or not the camera will be worth using going forward. Whilst mobile phones are great for capturing photos and video the available memory can soon fill up and so having this compact camera might be the way forward, especially for when we are off doing new things and visiting places.

And with that I shall see you tomorrow.
xx