Well, what an exhausting day it’s been! I don’t know why, but starting from this morning, when I went for my first treadmilling of the day – it was all I could do to finish the 18+ minutes that I’ve set myself! I felt exhausted after only about six or seven minutes… That first walk of the day is always the hardest – hardest to get motivated, hardest to get my legs moving properly… (I’m quite sure my legs think that they’re still asleep in bed, having a nightmare about mindlessly churning away on the treadmill! It wouldn’t surprise me – that about sums up how I feel every morning when I get on that contraption! 😉 ) It wasn’t helped by the facts (plural!) that Julian was fretting, wanting to get going for his walk, Paul was supposed to be arriving at 7.30, I hadn’t brushed my teeth or got myself dressed – and then it all got mucked up. I decided to get dressed anyway, and to brush my teeth and do my treadmill walk after Paul had arrived, and Julian set out on his morning amble. Before I’d even finished getting dressed he was back again, saying that he’d just had a message from Paul saying that he’d be late – it’d be an 8.00am start this morning! Julian went back to the rest of his walk, I flung on the rest of my clothes and revised my plan of action – I had just enough time to do my walk before Paul arrived, so I raced into the treadmill room, and put on my three layers of socks. Would you believe that because I was in a hurry, those ruddy damn socks got twisted up every which-way, and wouldn’t cooperate with me? Of course you would! It’s par for the course for me! Anyway, finally socked up and on the treadmill, I tried to go as fast as I could – not that I thought I could squish 18 minutes worth of walking into 15 minutes or anything – I just felt that I had to hurry… and of course the faster I went, the more my legs protested – not that I paid any attention to them! I had the ideal opportunity to have my walk in peace and quiet, too – no jack-hammering, no “bzzzzz” of drill or electric saw, which always muddles up my counting (“was that 21, or 31 I was up to? Better start again! 1, 2, 3…”) but I was so busy watching my watch, trying to guess whether I’d be finished by the time Paul arrived, or whether Julian would be back before 8.00 am, so that he could let Paul in, or whether Paul would arrive earlier than 8.00 am and beat both of us! I needn’t have worried – Julian got back before eight, I finished my walk slightly before that – and Paul arrived at 8.15 am! It was altogether a totally unsatisfactory walk this morning! Only one bathroom between us doesn’t help matters, either! If I get into the bathroom first, I feel guilty because I’m hogging his bathroom, and if he gets in there first, I’m panic-stricken that someone will come to the door and I’m not dressed! Stupid, really, but I never pretended not to be neurotic and paranoid! 😉 We had to leave here at about a quarter past eleven to be sure of getting to Doncaster by noon, and we had a bit of shopping to do after I’d been to the hairdresser – Julian needed a new pair of sneakers (walking shoes!) as his old ones had holes in the tops of their toes which let the water in if it rained, I wanted to get an el-cheapo pair of some sort of scuffs that I could just jam my feet into if I wanted to go outside and harvest any vegetables, or something – we had to pick up the Dry Cleaning which hadn’t been ready the other day (and still wasn’t! Their machine is still broken!) and I also wanted to get one pair of size 14 undergarments, to see if they’d fit, before buying more. Miracles still happen, because I managed to get myself ready with ten minutes to spare, then, off we went. I wasn’t looking forward to doing all of the above over at Doncaster, and then coming home and having to go straight off on my next treadmill-a-thon, so I asked Julian if he thought that my walking all over the place at Doncaster, instead of using the wheelchair, would be a rough equivalent to 18 minutes on the treadmill. After some thought, and a lot of discussion, he decreed that it probably would be. We did bring the chair, but left it in the car, and with the aid of Nedleana*, I did walk! The length and breadth of Doncaster Shoppingtown (plus a bit!) And you know what gave me the most trouble? Not my back… not my feet or ankles, as one might have presumed, no….. It was the weight of my handbag! I’ve got to find out what’s weighing it down so much, and whatever it is, get rid of it! (…unless it’s my Kindle, of course! 😉 ) Yes, the weight of my handbag, and… my neck! When I told Julian this he was most intrigued “Your neck?! How? Why!?”, he asked me. I replied through gritted teeth “Holding my head up high enough to see where I’m going!” I suffer from a sort-of curvature of the spine, which means that when I walk, I’m mainly looking at the ground… this is fine, around the house, or for short distances where you don’t have to dodge and weave your way through crowds of unobservant people, such as one finds in a busy shopping centre – in the wheelchair, you’re looking straight ahead because you’re sitting down and your spine is more-or-less straight, so it’s not a problem, but walking? I got such a sore neck this afternoon… (Winter shakes her head, almost in disbelief) However! We got everything done! Julian got his shoes, I got my scuffs and a pair of size 14 undergarments, to see if they fit, and I think I might have discovered a new favourite perfume! 🙂 For years and years and years, my very favourite perfume was Opium, by Yves Saint Laurent, then I discovered Cinnabar, by Estée Lauder, and it’s been my favourite for several years now. Today I spotted a new perfume by Yves Saint Laurent – Black Opium! and it’s what can only be described as “yummy”, though I wouldn’t recommend drinking it! (but your breath would smell divine, wouldn’t it – until you died from fragrance poisoning, I suppose! 😉 ) No, it’s a beautiful new perfume, and I’d love to get some for Christmas – or our wedding anniversary, coming up next month (hint! hint! 😉 )

So when we got home this afternoon, it wasn’t as late as I’d thought it would be and I asked Julian if perhaps I should do my treadmilling, after all – but he said “No!”, so I didn’t. (please don’t get the impression that I’m a good, obedient little hausfrau, because I can assure you all, I’m not! Well-l-l, not always, anyway 😉 ) Instead, I settled down to doing a bit more tidying up on the shards – but I kept falling asleep! Even now, coffee’s the only thing keeping me awake to write this, and I still have my evening “Walkies” to do in about half an hour!

Weigh-in this morning. Now that I’ve seen Dr. Y. my wretched weight is going down! Not that I’m not pleased about it, I am! I am! I went down another two points this morning, from 68.2kg to 68.0kg, which is nearly half a kilo in two days! (“Why couldn’t it have been last week!”, wails Winter in frustration!) Still, we’ll see what happens tomorrow morning, after all this walking today! (the obvious answer is, of course, “nothing!”, but since when has “the obvious” ever applied to me?! 😉 )

I was about to say “I don’t think anything in particualr is happening tomorrow – I have one last shard to clean up, and then I can begin the Great Guild Bank Invasion (muhahahahaha!) but then I thought “Oh no!”, because you do all realise what tomorrow is, don’t you?! Apart from being a Friday? It’s a Friday the 13th! Thank goodness we’re not going anywhere! Thank goodness that Flipper is grey and white, and not black! (actually, black cats are supposed to bring good luck! It’s white cats that are supposed to be unlucky, or “bad” – though I’ve never heard of a “bad” cat – naughty, perhaps, or even mischievous, mean, spiteful, malicious… but never “bad“! 🙂 ) So I want all of you out there to take particular care tomorrow – no walking under ladders, opening umbrellas indoors, or breaking mirrors! Promise?! Good! Anway, that’s about all I have for you again this evening – don’t forget to drop in again tomorrow night, to find out how my weight went, whether I was still able to hobble around after all the walking I will have done today, and how my bathroom is progressing – as well as any other exciting and interesting things that happened during the day! Until then, please bee good, and bee careful – you all know why! 🙂 don’t forget that sometimes even the smallest decision can make the greatest impact in your life, and remember to take care of yourselves, to drive carefully, and to keep warm – or cool – depending on the weather… but most importantly (especially tomorrow!) remember to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂

*Nedleana – my walking stick! I call her “Nedleana” because like “Ned” Kelly, it holds you up, and “leana” because I “lean” on it, and it has the feminine “a” ending because, well, I am a female! 🙂