It’s not just the blog I’ve abandoned recently, it’s the whole internet thing. I just became frustrated with sitting in front of a screen most evenings doing nothing productive, so instead I’ve been spending some time away from my desk doing… nothing productive. Good to give the brain a rest though, you don’t realise how stressed you’ve been until you allow yourself some time to chill out.
Here’s what’s been going on since I last posted (in no particular order):
We went to the Firegathing festival, which basically involved pitching a tent in strong wind, spending the best part of an hour pumping up an inflatable mattress with a cheap foot pump with a big hole in it, hanging around with a load of stoned vegetarian hippies for the weekend, helping to pull several cars out of a waterlogged field as they were leaving to go home, and then disassembling our tent in pouring rain before departing ourselves. Oh, and there were bands too - favourite performances came from The Hat, and Bunty vs Chickenshit, both of whom we saw at the Brighton Festival during the previous week. Unfortunately our flat doesn’t provide much space to dry a damp tent, so we spent the whole of the next week clambering over the flysheet every time we needed to use the bathroom.
I damaged my coccyx (or something near it; I’m still not sure exactly what happened to me), possibly by sitting funny on a hard floor one evening. I was in agony throughout the night and had to sleep on the sofa to give some support to my lower back, and was completely unable to lift myself from the sofa the next morning. I discovered that kneeling on the floor with your face near the ground and your bottom in the air is a good position to relieve pain to an injured coccyx, but it’s just not that practical in public. Painkillers helped me through the day and by the following evening I was moving normally again (maybe I freed a trapped nerve while the Ibuprofen and Paracetamol were doing their jobs) but I still get the occasional twinge of pain.
I learned that trigonometry does actually have a use in real life, and that it’s not just something they added to the National Curriculum to punish small children. Iestyn was re-learning it for something he was doing in Flash which I didn’t really understand.
Another failed keep-fit attempt - I finally got on the rowing machine; I managed 5 minute sessions on 5 consecutive mornings… and then I wore myself out with work and other things and couldn’t face getting up that extra half an hour early in the mornings any more. I’m also taking cod liver oil capsules for the pain in my knees, but I keep forgetting to take them.
The scaffolding finally came down from around our part of the building. Now I can have my bedroom windows and curtains open at night again to let the fresh air and morning light in. I was living in fear of strange men strolling past my 6th floor window at inopportune moments.
I’ve re-potted most of the plants on my balcony to give their roots a bit more space - the herbs are thriving, and the hebe has flowered!
Two friends have had babies.
Iestyn has given his resignation from Littleloud; he’s got a couple of weeks left with them before he faces the big wide world as a freelancer for the first time.
I’ve been watching the World Cup, obviously giving my support to both the French and English teams. Both are through to the last 8, and both play their quarter-final games on Saturday - which happens to be the day before my birthday, so any plans to celebrate will come second to plans to watch the footie.