Coasting somewhat

The beautiful Holy Island. It was a lovely day and we saw LOADS! Above the view of the old lime kilms on the mainland shore. Below the ruins of Lindisfarne Priory. I hadn't realised that it was originally built as a smaller scale version of Durham Cathedral. The effort involved in such a project just boggles the mind.
My little family.
It's "Bamburgh Castle" syndrome again. I had to stop myself taking endless photos of the same thing from slightly different angles! I failed miserably.
There were loads of these sheds built out of halved boat hulls. Even the National Trust used them as coat and bag stores up at the castle. Ingenious.
We toured the Priory with the dogs. They particularly enjoyed chasing the Priory cat! I believe the historical aspects of the building may have passed them by.



I thought this wall looked like an alien face....

Then we dropped the dogs back to the car and walked up to the castle for a tour. Mercifully for you you couldn't take photos. It was interesting but not a "real" castle. It was renovated by Lutyens in the early part of the 20th century for his pal Hudson (some rich geezer who bought it on a whim) so much of the military history has been covered over. Still, the Lutyens rooms were beautiful so just about worth the entry fee!





Once again, I'm trying but failing to publish posts on the day I type them up. This was Friday's offering:

'm writing this longhand to be typed up later while sitting in a very dull meeting. 19 people are sitting round a large table strewn with plans and Gant charts discussing the first draft of a masterplan for a large residential development of @330 units, sorry flats and houses (since when did peoples' homes become "units"?). The development is to be built on the site of former housing acquired and then demolished by the Council (don't ask me why - I don't know how bad they were). It all seems to be a colossal repetition of effort but houses are what we need, according to the Government, so houses it is!

Most of the 19 seem to be fascinated by it all - the architects, engineers, traffic consultants, planners (3 different flavours are needed apparently), developers, Affordable Housing Officer, Secure by Design Officer, etc etc I suppose I should be too. The trouble is, it's not really my thing. There are no legal issues as yet. Snoooooze.

In one sense it's interesting to consider the sheer number of issues to be taken into account and the vast number of potential obstacles to bringing forward even a relatively simple development. When you have politicians bandying about demands for hundreds of thousands of new houses to be magicked out of the ether each year, this sort of meeting brings home the reality of the impossibility of meeting such deadlines.

So, it's been helpful to me in a personal sense as it has provided a couple of hours to write (surrepticiously [hmmm...is that spelt right??]) a list of things to be done at home; to ponder various issues; and to plot strategies. I have been keeping half an ear out for points of interest but, honestly, I do NOT need to be here!

I've been feeling a bit out of control on the homefront. Filing, clutter, jobs, doctor's, vet's and dentist's appointments, chores, repairs, things to be sold, discussions to be had etc etc. So the opportunity for a mind dump has been a boon. Usually I keep on top of the majority of things but, once a year or so, I lose the reins and then it's like a runaway carriage racing away from me. I need to wrestle the horses back under control. Now! That sensation of being a bit out of control tends to cause paralysis in me - so I do even LESS than usual rather than more. Blasted chimp!

Hey - I was just called on to say my little piece. 5 minutes of boring everyone else with only 1 other person really involved. We could have dealt with that issue privately over the phone and saved me the effort of attending....sigh......

Anyways, back to life in general:

I had every intention at the start of this week of hurling myself straight back into dieting and exercise. It has not quite worked out like that. I DID go for a run on Wednesday but then had to cancel training on Thursday due to work and couldn't exercise in the evening as we went to see Reginald D Hunter (which was very good - thinking comedy). I played golf this afternoon so that is not bad but I need to do more strenuous exercise ideally. There's still the weekend and Monday to retrieve the situation though.

Foodwise, however, I've been decidedly, half-hearted. I cooked supper for Rich and his brother on Wednesday and, for some reason, added a pavlova (with real cream) to the menu on a whim. I think my thought processes went along the lines of: "I have these meringue baskets in the cupboard, and strawberries and raspberries are half price at the Co-op and this cream needs using up before it goes off and, well, James and Rich will appreciate a dessert for a change...." As you can see, none of these are valid reasons why I had to partake in the pavlova!! I could just as easily have had the fruit with yoghurt for a SW compliant dessert but no - pavlova it was!!

Then today, a colleague had brought in delicious looking homemade cupcakes for someone's birthday. They were the sort that are more icing (piped chocolate/orange ganache to be exact) than cupcake. I took one. I ate it. I felt sick it was so rich. I now regret it. I could just as easily have turned down the cupcake and had a Thorntons choc as a little treat instead.

As it happened, it was not such a disaster as the rich cupcake caused me to totally forget that I hadn't had lunch and go off to play golf without eating! That is soooo not like me! Forget to eat?!

Golf was great. After such a wretched day on Thursday the weather turned gorgeous. We were playing a lovely (and quite hard) course in Rotherham called Sitwell Park with Rich's brother and half-brother. It was a grudge match between us and them. And we won! I didn't play brilliantly on the front 9 but picked up and played the back 9 very well so I was a happy girl!

Sensible-ish supper last night (we were both starving as we'd both forgotten to eat our lunches) and early night due to being absolutely knackered - all that fresh air and exercise just knocked us out, leaving us both snoring on the sofa by about 9'o'clock!

So, this morning I need to implement the sensible stuff. It's going to be tricky as we're going to the footie at lunchtime. Big game (for us) against chesterfield. because we live out in the Peak, lots of our mates profess to be Chessie fans so it is a big game out here, less so in Sheffield itself. Still, there shold be a decent crowd and I hope a Wednesday victory. I have to negotiate the pub and the lure of beer and chips! Wish me luck!

I am contemplating a run this evening but that, realistically is a 50:50 likelihood. Tomorrow will be easier as I have nothing planned.