Category Archives: Life

Not a good week

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What a week!
I’ve been quietly getting on with my current crafting project (another time) and all my regular jobs. Then Boom! We were hit on Saturday with the devastating news that construction works are to start on the lovely field opposite. We all knew it was coming at some point, and I think we all became a little complacent as our fight to save it has put work off for twelve years. Alas, as I write there is wanton destruction of habitat taking place. The birds are going mad as are we human residents. The housing company are refusing to ring me back so the Council planning department are taking the full brunt of my disgust. After three days of constant chainsaw and woodchipper noise I think I have finally lost my mind. I am absolutely heartbroken and I can’t put in print what I would like to do to the perpetrators of such utter devastation.


To try to take my mind off things a bit, I have volunteered to be an independent observer for some Year 6 SATs tests in school. That’s not a great place to be either at the moment due to financial issues. But the children all behaved well and coped under the pressure. It’s also given me a little quiet time to calm down a bit (I’m not sure quite how long that will last though). I feel a trip to my local sandwich shop is due after this.


In other news, Crafty-Teen has completed a three day expedition for a Bronze Duke of Edinburgh award. Ans as you can probably imagine I have another washing mountain to tackle, I’m glad it wasn’t me camping out in the storms on Sunday night! Our garden pond flooded within an hour. They all seemed to enjoy themselves though, and were well and truly exhausted when they got back.


I had to escape to find some trees last night so made some flapjacks and gate-crashed Ramsbottom Running Club’s social night in Nuttall Park. It was so lovely to be by the river, listening to contented birds and be surrounded by trees. I even did a couple of kms walking. No running for me, just not in the right frame of mind. Hopefully things will start to get better (although I think we have several years of violating noise pollution and dreadful modern box houses for the future). So much for people thinking about the environment and reducing habitat loss!


I have discovered Greatest Hits Radio over the last year and I am hoping that listening to Simon Mayo drivetime will help drown out the chainsaws. It’s a lot to ask, but a bit of calming music may help focus my mind on a bit of therapeutic crafting. Fingers crossed. Hopefully I’ll have managed to have a more crafting post next time.


Happy crafting
x

(ParkRun Heaton Park, time 45:39)

Hello Again!

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Well hello there! it’s been almost a year since I wrote anything on here and it really does seem like forever. I don’t know where the time disappears to these days – it must be my age!

So, what has been going on? As I said, I’m not really sure where the time has gone. I’ve been busy as normal with my regular routines – looking after the house and garden, shopping, cleaning and shopping for my parents. Just the normal sort of life stuff, including mountains of washing (where does it all come from?) I’m also still a governor at my local primary school, although I am trying to step back from this a bit. Having said that, I’m now Vice-Chair, so my plans aren’t quite working out on that front! Ha ha.

One properly new part of my life is becoming a regular at Parkrun. It’s over eighteen months since my first ‘run’ and I am now a firm fixture at Heaton Park on a Saturday morning. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t enjoy the run/walk element of it, but being out in the park is very refreshing and I usually feel better for it a couple of hours latter! I’ve never been a runner, so this is very new for me and I find it incredibly difficult, so much so that my first attempt took over 52 minutes! I’m now able to run some parts of it and I’ve just dipped under 44 minutes 30 seconds. I’ve completed over fifty 5k’s now, mostly at Heaton Park, but there have been a few at other venues when we’re visiting friends and family or just because my other half fancies a different place. It’s been great to meet new people and I’ve also volunteered for a few different roles. Who knew I would enjoy being a course marshal so much!

Work wise, the admin job in Bolton didn’t go any further. They took on someone full-time who had previous experience in commercial property. So I’ve been back on the job hunt for a while. Recently I’ve had a couple of interviews and I’ve just taken the plunge and registered with an agency to do some exam invigilating. My thoughts being it will fit around all my other commitments but also get me back into working outside the house (and with other people). I’ve done all the registration process, DBS checks and an online training course so far. There’s an incredible amount of reading to do before I even get near an exam room. So with exam time looming, I’ve been trying to get all my jobs done at home – mostly washing it seems like. It has included some crafting as well so I’ll sign off with a crafty project and I’ll catch up again soon.

Happy crafting

x