New Year's Resolutions

Picking the 20 best photos from my walk on Bamford Edge with Vicky on Sunday afternoon has been murder. There were just so many gorgeous shots. The conditions could not have been more beautiful out there. Thick powdery snow, sunshine and blue blue sky. Heaven indeed. But quite hard work too!!

The view from New Road towards Win Hill

Shelagh not that impressed with the deep snow, cold on her belly!!

I love the apricot sunlight on the snow... wish I could be out there tomorrow as it's meant to be sunny. I was trying to wangle working from home but can't push my luck!

Minty gamely trying to romp in the 20 inch deep snow. She could only manage for a little while before she had to go back to clambering on her belly in our footsteps!

My friend Vicky thigh deep - we had been to the gym that morning too so our legs were burning after 3 hours in the snow but we both agreed we would not have missed it for the world!

Ahem, sometimes it got deeper - she really was in up to her waist there. I fell in too but wasn't wearing waterproof trousers like Vicky so couldn't wait around while she got the camera out - just too cold!

The lovely village of Bamford.

I love the sculpted snow on the rocky edges there; it was dazzling in the sunshine.

Ladybower Reservoir

No footprints in front of us!! This pathway through the wood was magical too. The trees were all sessile oaks so very contorted and mysterious looking and every twig had a thick riming of snow or ice.

The view back up to the Edge where we had been walking, we were very tired but happy by now.

God it's cold today!! I don't mean outside, I mean sitting here in the offices of this cash-strapped Council! We are all bundled up to the eyeballs in fleeces, scarves, gloves and extra jumpers and still, my fingers are icy, my feet are beginning to go numb and my cheeks are distinctly frosty. It makes it very hard to concentrate on your work I can tell you!

I was pretty proud of myself though - managed to make myself stomp through the snow and ice to the leisure centre and go swimming! It felt rather counter-intuitive leaving the cold to go and get wet but, once in the pool it was nice and toasty warm and there was hardly anyone there (unsurprisingly).

The stupid thing is, if I had worked from home like I did yesterday in the worst of the weather, which my bosses think is dangerous and an excuse not to do your work, I would have been warm and cozy and much more productive. My internet connection works fine, I have loads of work I could quite happily achieve at home; the dogs would be happy; I would be safe and would not have risked myself and my car on the roads and I would not be contributing to climate change in my gas guzzling but very necessary 4x4!! Sigh.....

It was -11 degrees in the car this morning....that is a mite chilly by English standards!

So, where am I? New Year's resolutions?

I don't normally make them to be honest but I feel the need to try and be more accountable and efficient in both my diet and exercise but also in my personal life. So, they're not really resolutions as such, more like targets and actions.

• Weight:
  Target - drop a stone and a half by April and then maintain that loss for the rest of the year
  Action - reinstate daily weigh-ins, weight and smily face chart and healthy eating regime; continue 5 or 6 times weekly exercise including swimming, gym, personal training, walking and home workouts.
  As an aside, I'm considering getting a Wii Fit; has anyone got one and can let me know whether it's any good??
  
• Exercise:
  Target - Complete a mini triathlon, preferably "The Hilly One" in Hathersage
  Action - Continue to protect my foot and the plantar fascitis; continue to cycle and swim in the meantime; continue to lose weight which will help when I get back to running training, hopefully in March/April
  
• Personal:
  Target - Re-organise our mortgages; update D's pension arangements; instigate better saving plan; claim back everything we're entitled to reclaim (it's free money dammit!!)
  Actions - Set aside an hour each night to do filing and home admin, write home "to do" list as I do at work; treat home admin as work and attack it in the same vein; set small daily and weekly targets to get through the main actions.
  
  
• Fun:
  Target - Do a photography course to learn to get much more out of my camera.
  Action - When new camera arrives, send DSLR off for service and repair; book course in Edale if appropriate or research other weekend courses; buy DSLR book on Amazon (as an aside, can anyone recommend a book?) I'm not very good at working things out on my own, like books and courses for new info to "stick".

That'll have to do for now - had better get on with making my new charts and doing the home admin!! I feel better though, having set some targets and actions.