Living and Learning

Minty rolled in something disgusting - I mean really gross and smelly, way worse than her usual foulness. As a result, I was paranoid about her jumping up on any passing walkers so had to call her to me and hold her collar several times, all the time gagging at the stench. She had a big shower with shampoo and everything when she got home, which served her right!! (You can see what she rolled in in this photo...how gross is that??!)


This was the steeeepest part of our walk - Minty was a bit irritating here - bounding up the hill then sitting down and staring at me as if to say "what's the hold-up Mum??"

Look - it wasn't just me; even the mentalist mountain bikers had to carry their bikes up this particular field!!

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We're on the part of Win Hill that overlooks Lose Hill which is the pointy hill in the background of this photo (yes, there really was a battle on the 2 hills, hence the name). It's called Hope Brinks which I think is a great name.

Today has been a pretty good day. I could have done without the incredibly sore and stiff buttocks, back and shoulders from playing squash yesterday but, all in all, a pretty good day.

I slept. And slept some more and really enjoyed my lying in. I needed it. But, even so I was up and about by 9ish and out walking on the hills by 10am. A little later than I wanted to be out but not bad. I chose a 5 mile route which I haven't done before. I've probably walked parts of it before but not that particular route. It was great - really steep to start with, probably a good mile and a half of solid uphill; then level for 2 or 3 miles; and then the final mile was a pleasant downhill.

I really needed that time in the open air, just me and my dogs. I wasn't analysing or thinking much about anything but I was totally, whole heartedly appreciating the countryside and the exercise and the fun of nature, both the scenic side of things and the damn dogs.

There were so many people out and about enjoying the same thing - walking, mountain biking, running, road cycling, parascending, all sorts. It made feel very lucky to live out here.

Food wise, today has been good. I did have a chip butty before the football, but didn't eat all of it and, apart from that, I've eaten very sparingly. I just wanted a day when food was not uppermost in my thinking.

I went to the pub and had a very pleasant couple of hours out with my mates. I ended the evening with Sammy who has been an inveterate smoker for 20 or more years but has recently given up (9 days and counting). We were talking about the cravings and I was passing on the Beck stuff and the wisdom I have gleaned about resisting cravings over however many years that I have had food issues. It made me laugh (somewhat hollowly) when he asked whether it was the same??! It was like he'd never realised that I was going through basically the same things he is going through now when I dieted and then have worked to keep most of the weight off.

This is a man who I have known really well for 15 years. He's known me fat, thinner, very fat, fat, and then all the way through Lighter Life! How can he not know that food is a big issue for me?? But he genuinely didn't until I pointed it out to him in terms that he could understand (ie. in connection with his smoking...). Hey ho....