Photo credit to Beth - The beautiful Peak District in all its heathery gorgeousness. Phew!
Beth again - one of the many shots she took trying to capture Minty in her manic mentalism.
Minty somewhat perplexed at having her own personal papparazzo following her around. You'd think she'd be used to it with me but Beth took it to new heights!
See - not just me - another Beth shot of blackberries 
It has been a manic few days and I'm happy to realise that I have a quiet week ahead of me. But, having said that, it's been brilliant too. I've really enjoyed all that I've been up to so not moaning about being tired or disorganised at all. Tired and happy....
Last week, I had a trip up to Newcastle on Wednesday. The Mighty Sheffield Wednesday were playing a league fixture away to Newcastle United. Because Toon had been relegated from the Premiership last season this was always going to be a big fixture for us and we were determined to go even though it fell on a midweek evening....typical.
Anyway, it was great, a mixture of: foodie - swanky lunch at Six on the top floor of the Baltic Mill overlooking the Millennium Bridge and Quayside; cultural - wander through pretentious art galleries which were, strangely, thronged with blokes in Sheffield Wednesday shirts (didn't know us Wednesdayites were so arty!); beer-soaked - pre-match drinks at a city centre pub the size of an aircraft hangar full of Geordies in black and white stripey shirts (we were meeting Jim's cousin so were safe although not wearing our colours); architectural - (I'm reaching here) we were sitting at the very top of the relatively new Sir John Hall Stand which is about 10 storeys' high and pretty impressive - could hardly see the players of course, they were like a crowd of multi-coloured ants running around miles below us but there was a wall of glass to our left and you could see the whole of Newcastle spread out beyond the ground; sporting - the game of course - we lost but it was pretty close and we didn't disgrace ourselves; musical - the singing was fab - we only heard the famed Geordie roar once but it sent shivers down my spine and our little band of 2,800 Sheffielders really sang our hearts out; nightlife - post-match drinking and clubbing (the less said the better - not pretty); and finally multi-ethnic - late night curry in the Bigg Market!!
Thursday was a dash back home, walking the dogs and sorting the house out and then back into Sheffield for the U2 concert. They were playing at the Don Valley stadium and me and my friend Vicky had standing tickets in the open air. On the drive into town it was chucking it down! The rain bouncing off the pavements, it could not been wetter. Another friend who was also going to the concert confidently texted me in the middle of this downpour "don't worry - it never rains at U2". How did he know? With an hour to go the rain stopped, the clouds disappeared and the sunshine came out. It was the most beautiful evening I've seen in a long while. That Bono must be paying off the Big Man I reckon...
It was a good gig - I'm not a major U2 fan although like most of their stuff. Not so keen on the recent material but enjoyed everything else. The set was fantastic but I would have liked to have been able to see the stage - if they can build a huge 4 legged set which changes colour every 2 minutes, could they not make the stage 10 foot taller so everyone on the ground could see them?? Still, most uplifting and very slick. The usual crush getting home of course so didn't get back 'til nearly 1am.
Then Friday, leave work early to tidy up the much-neglected house and make up beds etc as being visited by blog pals! Can't have them wading through inch thick dog fur and assorted clutter, who knows what they might say! The visitation was from London dwellers Peridot and Beth so I had had stern words with the Peak District to do its best and not let me down.
It was great - the weather on Saturday was perfect for the planned long walk - cool but sunny and blue-skyed. The heather was blooming and everything looked gorgeous. Though I say so myself I selected a route which had something for everyone and we walked our little socks off - we were out for 7 hours although did stop for drinks, sandwiches and reviving snacks during that time. We also must have burned off several hundred calories in talking alone!! Diet, food, celeb gossip, shopping, fashion - nothing was out of range.
Peri had brought some sort of magic home-cooked doggie treats for Shelagh and Minty and they fell at her feet in slobbering gratitude. Shelagh especially literally quivered with joy when being fed them and spent the time in between prowling the kitchen casting significant looks at the tin! Minty was her usual thuggish self but very sweet and enyoyed, as ever, having a choice of people to jump on and snog.
Beth earned major kudos for running up to Shatton mast on Sunday morning. Through a minor hangover (a little wine and gin was had) she braved the steepest hill in my area "for the challenge"!! I have run up it but not for a while so was incredibly impressed and inspired. When I get over a small bout of inflammation of the heel (plantar fasciitis) I will tackle it again - promise. I was pleased to note though, that, although she did it - which is amazing, she acknowledged that it was an absolute killer. If it had been a breeze, I would have had to kill myself and probably her first!!
We had such a good time that I hardly noticed missing Sheffield Wednesday thumping Scunthorpe 4 nil....4 nil!! I shed barely a tear at missing what is very likely to be our best game of the season....honest..... Peridot very kindly arranged for England to win the Ashes yesterday as a small compensation, which was good of her.
And - in big news - I have finally dropped some actual weight! I have been sticking at 13.1 forever and, despite feeling thinner and fitting into smaller clothes the scales have not budged. Lb on, lb off....grasshopper...etc But, on Saturday morning - 3 off!! Sunday saw another one go but think that was a bit on the optimistic side so today we're back to 12.12!! The relief. Just goes to show that you have to have patience and that a bit of "forgetting" about diet and just living can do wonders.
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