This Week I….

Ah, the grand return to weekly updates. I’m sure in future these will be regarded as a document of life in our era, much like Samuel Pepys, or other diarists of which I can think of none right now.

I must say this is a spectacularly exciting week to write up. I pretty much did nothing. I didn’t even go to the pub. I did have breakfast in a new cafe, but I forgot to take a photo of my food like a proper blogger as I’m not back in the swing of this lark yet.

But still. This is what excitement occurred. This week I…..

Set a new PB

A few weeks ago my orthopaedic consultant tentatively agreed I could try running again. I mean, HE said cushioned on a treadmill, but I hate treadmills with a passion, so I HEARD “wear good shoes and take it slow”

So I’ve started Couch to 5k. It’s really hard! How did I used to run Half Marathons? It’s absurd!

Anyway, after I limped round my 8 minutes of running in 30 minutes with a bright red face I checked my watch and it claimed I’d set a new fastest mile for myself.

I’m guessing it only takes the last year into account or something. But it felt good anyway.

Heard sad news

You may have heard of Deborah James. Or Dame Deborah James.

On Instagram she was known as BowelBabe. She had stage 4 bowel cancer, but she was known outside the cancer club that I am apparently now in as she wrote a column for the Sun and appeared on lots of TV like Lorraine and other morning things I don’t watch.

She’d been on palliative care (this is about making you comfortable, rather than prolonging life) and this week she sadly passed away.

She was bloody amazing, and had so much energy. In her last few weeks she raised over £7 million for charity. Which just sounds exhausting when I can’t even be bothered to go read my gas meter.

If you would like to donate to the BowelBabe fund you can do so here. You can also buy a Rebellious Hope t-shirt.

Made myself dinner

I did warn you this was an exciting week, right?

Mr Gem went for an overnight walk/camping trip on Wednesday, so I was home alone for the evening. So I made myself a very nice dinner, and drank some very nice alcohol free fizzy wine.

I put pretty lights on and everything, it’s nice to have dinner feel like a treat.

Those of you who like an alcohol free alternative sometimes, the wine was this one from Dry Drinker. If you don’t really have a sweet tooth a lot of alcohol free wines can taste a little sweet, I chose this one because it was only 1.5g sugar, compared to 5 or 6 in some others. This meant it was a bit more tart and felt like a much better wine substitute.

Hated a Yoga class

In my attempts to get moving and regain what strength and flexibility I can, I’ve been going to yoga classes. But I’ve been deliberately picking the ones at the gym that seem nice and slow and relaxed, like Yin Yoga and Restorative Yoga.

On Friday I went to a class called Restorative Yoga. But the regular teacher wasn’t there, and the lady covering, who was very nice, normally teaches “fitness yoga”. So while the class wasn’t CRAZY challenging, she did seem to have managed to put together a whole class of poses that I cannot do with a broken lumbar spine.

I have no flexibility in my hips and lower back, so I can’t reach my feet. Seated forward folds and twists are particularly tough as I can barely sit up straight. So after 30 minutes of seated forward folds and twists I was feeling a bit grumpy.

It was also insanely hot, apparently relaxing yoga means turning the air con off, so everyone else was pleasantly warm, but my overheating self had sweat dripping in her ears.

Yeah. No one’s fault, but I rode my bike home grumpy.

And then I cancelled Pilates the next day as I was blooming exhausted. I think I over did it a bit this week.

Had a visit from Mr Rat

So, a couple of weeks ago there was a rat in my house. I was home alone, heard noises, went to check it out and surprised a rat behind the bookshelf. It ran away. I called Mr Gem who was not at home, he said “what do you want me to do?” And I said “I don’t know, I just felt like I ought to tell someone there was a rat in the house”.

I hunted, did not see or hear it, so assumed it had gone outside.

Then yesterday morning I saw it run across the floor again and freaked out. We pulled everything out and could not find it. But we did find a hole in the floorboards which might be where Mr Bastard Uninvited rat is coming from. So we put a board over it and hopefully that’ll be the end of it. Little git.

Watched Stranger Things

The last 2 episodes (they’re over an hour and a half and an two hours and twenty minutes long, they’re films)

Oh my. Have you watched it yet? This series was excellent. So excellent, and I cried and sat with my mouth open for about an hour.

And there you have it. Another week in my life. I’ll try and do something exciting next week like mess up my shopping order or win the lottery.

How was your week?