Early Autumn Goals

Much fail on this list but I'm not mad about it because things were occurring. 

I did not finish an audiobook. I started a new one, Ha-Joon Chang's Economics: A User's Guide that I enjoyed a lot, but strayed from because my brain just wasn't taking it in during my commute. I did start listening to Radio 4 for updates on the midterms, though. American politics is that much more exciting for being somewhat removed from my own life. Also, along with the student protests across Europe and other shifts in government, it feels a little 'spirit of 1968' and I am here for it. 

So anyway. Audiobook listening capacity will return when it can, I'm sure. 

I did not order new curtains. There just wasn't a good moment to go to John Lewis. One day, soon. Although probably not before Christmas because, no to the Mall in Christmas season.

Gym visits. Laughable! I love it when I'm there. Could I get there last term? Not really. Did I go back and attempt to do the same workout I was doing weekly back in the late spring? Yes. Did I pay for this with several days of aching? Also yes. 

I didn't clear the shelves by the fridge. I didn't do it in the summer, either. In fact, they still have the stuff on them in almost exactly the same precarious configuration as when I bought the shelves, 11 months ago. I can't find anything and have forgotten what is there. This week, a cake tin fell off the top in the middle of the night and woke me up and I thought we were being burgled. I think some people might call that karma. 

I didn't decide Easter holiday plans. My friend who moved to China probably has family visiting, though suggested I visit too (no). My skiing BFF has had a crisis and won't be able to come with me. So now I am thinking of taking the train to Seville, with a stopover in Barcelona. 

Books in the Hums toilet may need some unpicking. School is a very old building and a lot of our office and storage spaces used to be cloakrooms, so have toilets at the back. I have three boxes of books in the ones next to the Hums office. I have sorted them out and brought one home. The other two still need to come home, but they need stashing in waterproof boxes in the garage and so I am putting it off because the garage is quite a grim space at the best of times and worse in the winter. So I made that one a sort of completed. 

What should be top of that list is SUBMITTING THE DISSERTATION. The shadow over my life for a whole year finally departed. Results come in next week, eek - I am not ready. I know I will be simultaneously relieved and annoyed if it is only a Pass. But it had exactly as much time as I was able to give to it, so it could not have been better unless I had given up something else. And it will still be a Masters from Oxford, even if it is only a Pass. 

I did my glow swim. 

I skipped the one I booked for the following week because it got cold. This one was on 1st October and I was chilly by the time I finished. I think the following week might have required my wetsuit, not my favourite thing to wear. 

I saw the Last Princesses of the Punjab exhibition at Kensington Palace, as part of my whole weekend off in London. One suffragist and one suffragette - this will play very well with my students. 

I did four hot yogas - getting over the fact it's not bikram and quite enjoying it now. I went to the sauna often. I made mango chutney when the greengrocer had mangoes on 2 for £1.50. I got halfway through Sonja's scarf. 

So a mixed bag, but for good reasons, when you throw that hellish school term into the mix as well. And the list was helpful because it made me do things I might have skipped, like have a weekend off and go to the sauna. So a win, overall, I declare. 

Friday Five: jobs I think about training to do

1. Beautician. I go to a great beautician which is under 5 minutes' walk from my house. I've been going there for over 20 years. They are consistently fully booked a couple of weeks in advance. They teeter on the brink of closing down, though, because most beauticians now want to specialise in just one thing or they prefer working from home. I often consider training so that I could open up the shop for them on Sundays and Mondays, when they're closed, and be a relief person when the staff need time off.

2. Barista. I chat to the owner of a little coffee shop near school often and he has worked mostly 7 days a week for a couple of years now to keep it going. If I could barist (I am verbing that) then I could also be a relief barista, in between being a relief beautician. I'd even do it on a voluntary basis. Also I'd be able to make even better coffee at home. I might even get one of those coffee van concessions and go on the road. 

3. Bus driver. I've very seriously considered getting a PSV licence. It would be very useful to be able to drive minibuses and it would probably help with my fear of driving large vehicles. Also I have this dream that Mr Z and I will retire into the coach industry, becoming a husband and wife coach driving team and touring Europe with the cats in specially-constructed cradles that attach to the windscreen. 

4. Baker. One of my favourite bakeries advertised for a baker recently and I was sad that 'loving baked goods' was not enough of a qualification for me to consider applying. I love being in the kitchen and baking things and experimenting with new flavours, and learning how to do that professionally sounds exciting. It does sound like very hard work, though - lots of early mornings; and I bet, after a while, you get a bit sick of baked goods. That would be sad. 

All Bs, so far...

5. The Witch of Wookey Hole. Ever since I found out this was a real job I have felt an urge to do it. I'm not an actress or a witch but I think I could do a great job of cackling, sneaking around corners and making people jump (I do this anyway), scaring children and general witchery. 

Throwback Thursday

I keep this family picture tucked behind my computer tower. 

This is me with my parents and brother on holiday in America in 1986. I think this picture was taken in Gerlach, Nevada. Father Hand had friends there from when he'd spent time in Nevada supporting the land speed record attempt in ...1983? I was a bit young then, I forget the exact date. 

I have an album of family pictures that I made some time in my teen years but this picture isn't in it. I rescued it from Nanny Hand's flat when she passed away, she had it in a frame. It stirs a complicated memory in me, which is that this was a fun and happy day, we'd had a good time playing with the kids of my dad's friends, my mum had that t-shirt on that we all thought was really fun. Then we had someone take our picture and, at the last minute, I decided to pose like this. Mother Hand told me off. It was something like, '...one nice picture...you always have to show off...' This would explain why I hadn't seen it in so long and why my grandparents had it framed but it wasn't in our family box of pictures. 

I can see why she'd be annoyed, I mean, look at my scrunched up face! But I was having a fun day and I was feeling flouncy, but I wasn't after. 

This may not be true, of course. We are talking 40 years ago and memories are funny things. But I keep it just within eyesight because it is precious to have a picture with Father Hand, with the whole fam in fact. 

Chrysalis term

In case you're new here, I set myself goals for each term of the year and then another set over the summer - so seven in total. They are a mixture of chores and fun things and are mainly to ensure my life doesn't bleed away into an endless cycle of waiting for the weekend and then having decision fatigue and doing essentially nothing until I go back to work. I've to review my term 1 list at some point, I think that will be my Saturday post. 

Anyway, I've decided that this term is going to be one of working on my body, so I'm not setting myself any term goals that are not to do with this bigger goal (apart from nice ones obvs). Some of the weight I lost in 2024 has crept back on since the summer and I need a concerted push over a limited time span to arrest and reverse this trend, mainly because I bought some lovely new winter clothes and they are in danger of being a bit snug, plus I was almost back into some favourite clothes. Also health, etc. Skiing is a mere 14 weeks away.  

So it's a chrysalis term, at the end of which I will emerge like a glorious and well-insulated butterfly. I'm going to record a bit more here than I normally would, for accountability. You seven regular readers and you NaBloPoMo visitors and you 45 LLM-training bots can keep me honest. Here is my plan. I discussed it with the woman I see for PT and she said it needs to be full of things I can achieve so it mostly is:

Eating:

• No bread on weekdays. Not a hardship, I have just told Mr Z not to make any. 
• One sweet treat a week. Not HARD but SAD. But just for six weeks and then it will be the season of sweet treats. 
• Only fruits and vegetables between meals. I have a gigantic fruit bowl on my desk at work so this one is easy. 
• Back to daily tracking - stay within calorie goal over the week. Easy as long as I do the others. 

Movement:

• Four sessions a week. This should not be hard - it is not unusual for me to do four sessions a week already - but I need to make this consistent. Sunday workout. Monday cardio. Wednesday yoga. Thursday PT session. 
• Ten thousand steps on the days I'm not training. This will be hard, but I can always bus to and from school on weekdays and this will help. I can also give up and go do 20 minutes at the gym instead (it all counts). 

Other:

• Sleep. I am going to attempt to go to bed by 10pm on as many nights as I can (it is 10.17, ssshhh). I'll take a weekly average for sleep - averaging 7 hours a night. That allows a little catch up if I have a short night here and there. 
• Sauna. Once a week, every week. 
• Coffee - weekends only. This is mainly so I stop running down to the cafe for a coffee in the school day, which I don't really have time to do and which invariably leads to some kind of snack being purchased at the same time. 

Tuesday Ten

Ten places I want to go 

1. Hawaii. It has moved top of the list, but it is so, so far away. I am considering going on a solo trip at Easter, I have Virgin miles though I expect all their points flights are sold by now. But I am wrestling with liberal angst at the long-haul. 

2. Iran. The only reason this is not top of my list is because I currently can't go there. But it really is top of my list, because if I could choose between Iran and Hawaii, I would choose Iran. There's something about the place that I find fascinating in that old-world, Persian opulence way. There is also meant to be excellent skiing. What's not to like?

3. Some more 'stans. Uzbekistan is doing some good tourism outreach. Also Kyrgystan is supposed to be beautiful. 

4. Eibsee lake, Germany. It popped up on my social media a lot in the summer. It is on my list for next summer. 

5. Slovak Paradise national park. I did not see enough of the Tatras in the summer. A friend gave me a great story about this place and made me very keen. 

6. Mexico. Some cenotes, some Chichen Itza, some margaritas. 

7. The Antarcic. I actually found they are advertising a job down there at the moment and I downloaded the application pack. I reckon I could do that - 4 months on, 6 months off. It would be an easier way of ticking off my final continent. Yeah, 40 month work contract...way easier than, yknow, booking a cruise or something. Way easier. 

8. Tahoe for skiing. I love Tahoe for summer, but I still desperately want to try skiing there. Maybe also Jackson Hole. These are impossible dreams, I've nobody to go with and it is so far away. But a girl can dream. 

9. Brazil - but for waterfalls, not carnival. In general, the wilder bits of South America are quite inviting. 

10. There is a tussle over the 10th slot but I think I am going with Hong Kong/China. Not places I have been particularly interested in going to before, but now I have friends over there, so more reason to go and people who can help me navigate when I get there. 

Before writing this, I revisited my post on this topic from 2016 and there is an even older one from 2010. What have I bumped? From 2010 - Bucharest, Alaska, the Maldives, Santorini. From 2016 - Santorini, Kenya, the Falklands, Split. Probably all these places are still places I would consider going but are less inviting now: Santorini just looks overwhelmingly busy, for example. 

Blue Monday

Wheeling out some old pictures of vivid blue to revive this old theme. This one was taken in the Tunnel des Tuileres in Paris, back in February when Rachael and I stopped overnight on our way to ski in Italy. It's a long pedestrian tunnel that is full of graffiti. There was so much to look at and much of it was very artfully lit. I think this was meant to be the green fairy but it's obviously not green so perhaps I am remembering wrong. 

Though not blue, I had to also include this grumpy cat - one of a triptych of silver cats but my favourite expression. 

2026 Week 44

It has been a good week off, and much needed. There was the necessary work and I did have to cancel one day of plans to meet some deadlines but, in general, it hasn't felt too overwhelming. I do have quite a list for this week but, well, it is what it is. 

On Monday, Mr Z and I went to Calcot Spa for a nice dinner and an overnight stay. We didn't get away for our 20th anniversary in the summer, because he wasn't very well, so it was good to finally mark that with something just the two of us. The hotel even provided a half bottle of champagne and some chocolates. The meal was fabulous. There were two spa areas - one with a steam room and an outdoor hot tub, the other with saunas with a view and outdoor cold plunges. I might have looked up the cost of joining but probably need to admit that 40 minutes' drive is not really close enough. 

Then, on Friday, I went to London for the weekend. I saw Christine Baranski in Hay Fever - Richard E Grant also starred and I had to marvel at my timing, choosing to see this on the same night as the Traitors finale. It was a very funny play and I had booked myself a superb seat, very close to the front, so I could see everything really well. I thought Baranski was exceptional. My favourite line, which I must try to find occasions to use, was, 'Absolute agony I wish I were dead' which was delivered exactly thus, with no punctuation. I decided that Wyndham's Theatre had repainted its safety curtain to feature Christine Baranski, which a later Google confirmed to be true. 

I walked from the theatre to the station over Waterloo Bridge and London was looking delightfully spooky for the night. 

Then I spent Saturday with the niblings, including some trick or treating, and had dinner with Sib. Then a bit more nibling time this morning, during which Lara and I had a good go on the dance mat I bought her about two years ago - glad to see that has survived. All in all, a nice weekend to end the holiday. I'm looking forward to the next visit, which will happen at the end of this term - a nice book end. 

I continued to knit the accordion scarf which, it turns out, is actually called the infinity shawl. I got muddled because it's called accordion stitch, which is basically all stockinette but you change the 'right' side every four rows. I'm onto colour six of ten now. Torn between being very bored of it and not wanting to pick it up, and wanting it to be done so I can see (a) what happens to the yarn when I soak it, as it is Wee Yarns miniballs and they are...I forget. I want to say, spun in oil. They have lanolin still in them. They need a good soak to bloom properly. So anyway, yes, that and (b) how big the shawl will be. I think I am about 100m short of the required yarn but I think it will be wearable anyway. 

I do also keep thinking about what I might knit next, once I've finished this. Too many choices, as always. Currently I fancy a stripey jumper with the copper-flecked 4-ply I bought atWonderwool, but we'll see what the muse calls for when I eventually finish this shawl. 

I have been watching East of Eden this week, which I have enjoyed a lot - so much that I want to spoil it by reading the book synopsis. Or the book. I think it's exciting that Florence Pugh executive produced and starred - I am inferring that this is a character she was very keen to play. And what a character! Obvs it's not over yet but I am not sure I would agree that Steinbeck can write women accurately. Compellingly, though. I also finished off Celebrity Traitors, I didn't quite manage to avoid spoilers but it didn't really ruin the tension of the final, thankfully. 

I finally finished reading Maggie O'Farrell's Land. I had to pause reading it for a bit because there was a hint of something to happen that I really did not want to happen (to these made up characters) and I couldn't face being right; I pretty much was and ended up crying on public transport as I finished it on the coach to London. It was such beautiful writing, as was The Marriage Portrait that I read last year; I suppose it should be Hamnet next. But I went back to the 3rd in the My Brilliant Friend quartet and now that I'm home, I should pick up my library book again...it is good but not gripping. I've resolved it must go back to the library at next renewal, whether I've finished it or not.