Random Stuff

Note: When I say ‘today’ below I mean ‘yesterday’. I typed this last night, but failed to post it!

On Topic

I had wanted to set out early today for a ‘long’ walk. Mick interjected with the reality of a dozen chores and errands which had to be completed. So, I got up especially early to rush through those chores and errands and just after lunch we were ready for the walk.

Unexcitingly, we chose the Chase again, as (apparently) had the whole world and his wife. Our usually quiet car park was full, but strangely, except for a handful of people seen in the vicinity of the car park, elsewhere it was unusually quiet.

The snow started about five miles into the walk and by six miles it was coming down fast and heavy.

At mile 8 I decided that I was a fair-weather walker (or, more precisely, that I don’t like walking when there’s heavy snow falling) and called for an abandonment of the intended final 4 miles.

Even so, after the blazing pace we had set I got back to the (now almost deserted) car park feeling decidedly exercised.

Although there weren’t many people around, there was plenty of evidence of activity earlier in the week, not only by the compacted snow on the paths, but moreover by the many huge snow-balls and snow men. It’s not a good picture (someone forgot the camera…), but this was the best set of snow-things. The one on the left was in the shape of a big rabbit with a little bunny in front of it.

The Chores

More interesting than our umpteenth repetition of one of our Chase training walks was my first chore of the morning – to make Mick his birthday cakes, ready for him to take to work tomorrow.

It’s not his birthday until later in the week, but as we’re away next weekend, the cakes (ridiculously rich chocolate ones) needed to be made today.

It is the most fantastically unhealthy recipe, but my, it does taste good! I did sneak myself a corner as I cut it up, and immediately put on another two pounds.

The Goggles

Mick accused me of being exceptionally grumpy last night, and grumpy I was. We need our ski-goggles next weekend, and having found that they weren’t where I thought they were the grumpiness mounted as I conducted a fruitless search of all of the other places they could have be secreted.

I really don’t like losing things; moreover when they are imminently needed and not cheaply replaced.

There was only one other place that I could think that they could be, and that was in the snowboard bag. The problem was that, having concluded that our snow-boarding days are over, we gave away that snowboard bag, together with its contents, a couple of months ago. 

Fortunately, the recipient of the kit was Mick’s brother and a quick phone call this morning told us that the goggles were indeed inadvertently given away. Ooops.

They have, however, now been reclaimed and hopefully Royal Mail will help us out by getting them back to us in time for next weekend.

New Kit and Employment

Our weekly walk occurred in the poor weather of today because in the stunning weather of yesterday we opted to pop over to Cotswold Outdoor in Birmingham. Mick was disappointed by the available stock (or more precisely, he was disappointed that they didn’t stock a number of things that he particularly wanted to fondle). I was disappointed that I haven’t got the pennies for any of the nice things that I wanted.

I did splash out (in Snow & Rock) on a pair of Powerstretch tights, in the hope of keeping on the right side of freezing during our activities next weekend, but everything else was resisted.

Job hunting starts in earnest tomorrow – I need kit-tokens!

(Monday update: True to my word, I spent most of the day searching for jobs and even applied for some of them. Fingers crossed.)