Monday

Diet

Today was my first day at attempting the 16:8 diet or more simply, the skipping breakfast diet. Skipping breakfast suited me as it gave me longer in bed this morning. I was in no hurry to go to work.

Meetings

My diary for the day had meetings in it, this made a pleasant change from the usual echoing void and meant that I got to sit in a room and chat to other people. The art of those conversations is to ensure that they do not result in extra work for me. On the whole I think I got away with it but I suspect that there are consequences that will result in a lot more work.

Delivery

The delivery we have been waiting for arrived. There were one hundred less units than we expected, and the item wasn’t exactly what we ordered but at least it was here. I spent the afternoon showing the item and getting feedback. The general opinion was that it was too small and not responsive enough.

Chicken

Loved one prepared a chicken schnitzel with a potato salad for dinner this evening. It was tasty but there was far too much salt in the potato salad. I’m not a fan of salt and notice when it is there.

Book

I started reading a book about a month ago, I read the first chapter and put it down. I thought I’d pick it up this evening. I read through the second chapter. I wasn’t impressed with the overall tone of the author. He seemed to have an attitude that he was far superior to the people around him. I found it grating, it reminded me of people arguing that they were travellers and not tourists when in reality they were doing the same thing as the tourists.

Sleep

Tiredness hit me early this evening, so I gave up and went to bed. I have no memory of Loved One coming to bed.

Sunday

Fog

I got up just before the alarm went off and made some tea. I opened the curtains and found that the world had shrunk. Much of it had been engulfed in fog. We headed to the beach though the patchy fog. Today’s swim was going to be different.

Swim

We met out with the others and debated distances. The seal was going to the far jetty, the Long-distance Lady decided on halfway. I decided to swim with the long-distance lady as I was feeling lazy. Although the water was cold, it was appreciably warmer than last week. Winter was on its way out. Apart from a few murky patched the water was surprisingly clear. I could see the bottom for the majority of the swim. We stopped by the tree to start the return leg. Neither of us could see either jetty due to the fog. It was for a very strange swim.

Café

We net up in the café afterwards, no one had organised cake, so the Long-Distance Lady brought a blueberry muffin to make up for it. It wasn’t the same as our usual baking club efforts, but desperate times need desperate measures.

Visit

We dropped into friends on the way home so that they could fill us full of tea and news. We left after we stopped shivering.

Gardening

After devouring a pie that Loved One had prepared in advance, we ventured into the garden to take on the weeds again. This time we decided on a divide and conquer approach. Loved One attached the front garden and I dealt with the back garden. After an hour we had both had enough. We had generated a pile of greenery, but I wasn’t sure that the garden looked much different.

Nap

The mornings activities caught up with me, I needed to lie down in a darkened room. I woke an hour or so later feeling like I’d been asleep. I tried to wash that feeling away in the shower.

Dinner

Loved One prepared a beef stroganoff for tea. It involved a lot of cooking meat and some cream of mushroom soup. She served it on a bed of rice and with some spinach. It was all very tasty and set us up for an evening in front of the television

Film

We selected an animated film to watch this evening. Loved One fell asleep and I half watched it whilst I fiddled around on my computer. Eventually we gave up on the film and went to bed. Loved One was asleep in seconds.

Saturday

Rain

I heard rain outside and that didn’t make me feel inclined to go for a bike ride. The weather forecast wasn’t that good, and I could have quite happily stayed in bed for the whole morning. Loved One looked at eh rain radar and assured me that it was only passing and will have cleared by the time I left the house. I was willing to be convinced as I wanted to go for a ride.

Ride

I was damp when I reached the meeting point but at least the rain that had made me damp had finished. There were four of us there, three regulars and a visitor. The visitor didn’t seem too keen on going on the intended route and suggested something shorter. That suggestion was ignored, and we set off at a gentle, almost pedestrian rate down to the cove. We regrouped at the railway station and the visitor started complaining that this was a “pussy ride”. I thought that that was a bit rich from someone who was hanging at the back and not willing to set the pace. We descended to the cove for the obligatory picture. The visitor started asking about the fastest way home, suggesting that we take a heavily trafficked road instead of the quieter route by the sea. That suggestion was roundly ignored. I took great pleasure watching the visitor select the wrong gear and struggle up the hill. I stayed on the front for most of the way back, so I didn’t have to hear the complaining.

Café

We met up with some of the others in the café. The visitor disappeared for a while an then turned up swaddled in warm clothing, I finished my tea and left. I didn’t need to hear any more of their disparaging comments and general negativity.

Run

I got home, had a cup of tea and decided that now was the time to christen my new running shoes with a short and gentle jog. I did a very small circuit and returned minutes later. I didn’t want to push it as I’m afraid of hurting my feet again and descending into a world of pain. The post run stretching routine lasted longer than the run.

Gardening

The recent combination of rain and sun had helped the garden go greener, but this was mainly by encouraging the plants that we didn’t want there to grow. I spent an hour or so pulling the unwanted ones out of the ground.

Cake

We had to visit the president of the swimming club to discuss some alterations to the club website. I’d had only agreed on the condition that she supplied tea and cake. We went through the web site page by page and I gathered the list of alterations that needed to be done. Without the cake it would have been too much like work. I left with a happy tummy and a book full of notes. I could see a lot of typing in my future.

Film

After dinner we settled on the sofa and watched romantic comedy. It didn’t finish too late, but we felt that it was better to go to bed rather than start watching another film.

Friday

Alarm

I had no intention of cycling this morning, so I happily laid in bed until Loved One’s alarm went off. The alarm failed to rouse Loved One. I wandered into the kitchen and made some tea. Loved One was barely awake when I returned. Last night she had mentioned making breakfast for me this morning, but it was obvious that that wasn’t about to happen. I finished my tea and went back to the kitchen for a couple of slices of fruit toast and another cup of tea.

Weight

There was some chat on the radio this morning about the 16:8 diet. I’d tried it before, and I’d had reasonable results, so I wondered about trying it again. I could tell that Loved One was sceptical.

Bus

Even though I got on the second bus it was reasonably full. I sat next to someone who had noticeably not had a shower for a reasonable amount of time. I toyed with the idea of changing seats, but I felt that this would be a little unkind. I was relived to leave the bus at the next stop.

Work

My diary was, yet again, empty. I had a few things to do but nothing that I could really expand to fill the day. I filed the time by taking a stroll into town at lunchtime to deal with some banking and to pick up some cash. It was nice to see the outside world during the day. There wasn’t much of the afternoon left when I got back, so I make the executive decision to make it even shorter by going home. Many of my colleagues had already left so my leaving didn’t look like anything out of the ordinary.

Decision

Loved One was in two minds about going to swimming this evening and I can easily be dissuaded, but eventually she felt that as we hadn’t been on Wednesday that we should go this evening. We ran the gauntlet of comments from the coach when we arrived. Such things as he missed us last session washed over us. I find that it’s best to let him have his moment rather than try and come up with a witty retort.

Swimming

The session started with far too much individual medley. This meant that I had to deploy my comedy butterfly stroke. I made a reasonable attempt at it but still ended up at the far end of the pool gasping for breath and feeling as if I’d swum a lot further. All the other strokes were done at a reduced pace so that I could get my breathing and heart rate under control. The main body of the session was all about increasing distances of front crawl and decreasing amounts of rest. That was hard work and I may have not stuck quite so rigidly to the shortening rest intervals. The coach complemented me on the progress of my butterfly at the end of the session, he must have been looking at someone else.

Chips

We picked up some chips in the way home, Loved One had made some curry sauce and we had some mushy peas. I was in heaven.

Thursday

Spin

I had laid out all my kit and I had intended to get on the trainer this morning, but I woke feeling weary and with a headache. I felt that and extra half an hour in bed would be a much better option to rid me of the creeping tiredness.

Bus

This morning’s bus was full. There were people standing close to each other and most of the seat were taken. It felt distinctly dangerous in this virus invested world.

Work

There was nothing in my diary for today but my to do list was far longer than I wanted. I spent the morning on a to do reduction plan by trying to knock off the easier items. As is normally the case, some of the seemingly easy items turned out to be a little more complicated. One of them involved a conversation with the lady that wants to control everything. I was hoping for a yes or no answer, I was sorely disappointed.

Reading

I had a long e-mail conversation with a supplier that boiled down to him not reading the documentation that he’d been sent. It wasn’t as if it was a long document. It was one page and all the details he was questioning were at the top. I was amazed that he was even asking the questions.

Counting

My last problem of the day was to resolve the fact that we had ordered 102 items and the supplier had sent 2. After a lot of searching though e-mails and talking to people I was none the wiser. I didn’t feel strong enough to carry on pursuing it so I put it in the too hard pile and left work.

Swimming

I met Loved One at the pool, I was, for once, the first one there. We had decided beforehand that today’s splash about was going to be short and easy. I was worried about the return of the creeping tiredness and Loved One had had a busy day and was feeling tired. We did some slow repeats and I finished the session with a bit of butterfly. According to Loved One it is progressing but there is still a lot to work on. This time I timed a length, just in case I felt the urge to enter a competition (unlikely). It was quicker than I thought it would be, but I won’t be breaking any records any time soon.

Dinner

Loved One had prepared some tofu for dinner from the last of this week’s meal kits. I quite like tofu and this presentation was really good. It was served on a bed of rice, fried with assorted vegetables, and covered in a creamy sauce. I could have easily eaten the whole thing again; it was that nice.

Fiddling

Noe that the last of my photo albums have been completed I have a little bit of head space to deal with a few things that had built up whilst I was occupied with the albums. I fiddled around on the computer, answered e-mails, checked things, go things up to date and generally cleaned up to trail of mess that I’d created. This gave me a tremendous feeling of well-being. I’m sure that my next obsession is just around the corner but until that rears its head I’m going to revel in the freedom.

Wednesday

Spin

I’d forgotten to set the alarm in my sleepy haze last night, so I was woken by Loved One’s alarm half an hour later. It was now far too late to do a session on the bike trainer. This was probably a good thing. I got up and made cups of tea instead. That seemed like a much better use of my time.

Bus

The bus pulled off as I approached the stop, and this gave time for people to gather before the next bus arrived. I notice that two busses were coming at once so after a little pantomime of putting some rubbish in the bin I engineered to be the first on the second bus and guaranteed myself a whole seat to myself. That made me happy and was a good start to the day.

Work

I was weary at work today. Last night’s sleep had gone someway to relieve me of the creeping tiredness but some of it was still lingering. Luckily, I didn’t have anything too taxing to do today. I had a one to one with someone who could be my manager. That was just a general catch up, although I was surprised when he asked how life outside of work was going. That question gave me a chance to talk about my latest swimming obsession, learning butterfly. I had an encounter with she who must control everything as well. I had plenty of time so I could let the rants flow over me and wait until she got round to answering the question I asked. I know I will have to work a lot with her in the future so there is no point in deliberately upsetting her.

Home

I left a little later than normal as I needed to finish a few things off. The knock-on effect was that I had to sit on a full bus. I tried to hold my breath for the journey home, but my lungs are not capable of keeping me going for even half of the current breath holding world record. Loved One had been cooking and the house was full of lovely food smells. She had created a cottage pie that we could heat up after swimming.

Swim

We had a cup of tea and chatted about the day, I was tired and Loved One’s neck hurt, we slowly worked our way to deciding that swimming was probably not the best activity for the evening, something a lot gentler was required.

Admin

I did a little bit of admin and Loved One warmed up the cottage pie.

Film

After dinner we selected a film, snuggled up on the sofa and watched it. Even though it was basically an animated fairy tale it still had parts that made Loved One anxious. I could feel her grip tightening on my hand during those bits.

Call

Mum and Dad had forgotten about us and called after the film instead of the normal time. All I wanted to do was go to bed so I probably wasn’t that engaged with the call.

Tuesday

Spin

Last night’s weather forecast had predicted rain, so I was surprised that it was dry when I woke up. Unusually, the cats didn’t rush into the bedroom when I opened the door. I found them in the lounge looking out of the window. When I turned the light on a large grey cat bolted across the lawn. That must have been what the cats had been watching. I got on the bike trainer and peddled my way through my usual Tuesday session. At some points it felt harder than normal and at others it felt easier. I still had wobbly legs when I got off the bike.

Bus

I opted to get on the second bus using the logic that the first bus will fill and the second would be empty. The logic failed me, this one was rammed full. One or two people were wearing masks. I felt that I should be too. I felt uneasy amongst this many people.

Work

I had things to do today, this was a little bit of a novelty. It was producing some documentation which in itself is a little tedious but at least it gave my day a focus. I had a meeting to addend as well, a meeting in which I managed to sound like I knew what I was talking about. That was a little worrying. It was during that meeting that I found that the other person recruited into the same role as me was having similar issues in understanding the role and more importantly working out who their boss was.

Tiredness

The creeping tiredness started creeping at just after eleven. It started as a little weary and then moved on from there, I was almost asleep by home time. I’d discovered earlier that I’d forgotten to pack my swimming trunks and Loved One had said she would bring them to the pool. I texted Loved One to say that I wasn’t in a fit state to go swimming. I needed an early night; I didn’t need anything that would contribute to the fatigue.

Dinner

Loved One made a chicken and vegetable thing from one of the meal kits that we had had delivered yesterday whilst I sat on the sofa and finished off the last of my 2019 photo albums. This was a task that I thought I would have finished a long time ago but had in reality taken a lot longer than I had anticipated. I felt that I should celebrate somehow but nothing came to mind. I might have the wait until the book actually arrives. I know that the photo albums for this year will take a lot less time.

Sleep

Once the clearing up was done we sat on sofa and watched the telly for a little while. I could feel myself falling asleep. It was a long time before the earliest acceptable time to go to bed, but I didn’t care. I needed sleep.

Monday

Disturbed

I had another night of disturbed sleep, various noises kept waking me up. I didn’t find it amusing. I felt that I was owed a lot of sleep by the time the alarm went off.

Weight

I’d gained a few hundred grams since last week and that wasn’t good news. If all was going to plan, I would have crossed a significant boundary this week. I didn’t and that was rather sad.

Breakfast

Loved One made the tea this morning and brought me breakfast in bed. That was nice and very much appreciated. It went part way to explaining why I was late for work this morning. The other part was a very long shower.

Work

I spent the morning trying to work out what I should be doing. I do this every now and again and usually it proves to be a fruitless exercise. Today’s attempt was no different. As usual it resulted in a list of things that I will ignore but beyond that the picture was fairly hazy.

Lunch

Loved One had arranged a dinner in town with some of her friends and had invited me along. We met at an Italian restaurant. I was the last one to arrive as, unlike the rest, I had a few time constraints. We chatted over dinner about the murky past of the families, more accurately those with families with murky pasts did most of the chatting.

Meeting

The highlight of the afternoon was a productive meeting. These are rare things in my work environment, and they make a refreshing change when they happen.

Dinner

Loved One thought about making a chicken thing for dinner but we were both reasonably full from lunch. We decided on soup instead. It was the sensible option.

Sofa

Having soup meant that there wasn’t much clearing up to do and that was a bonus. We gravitated to the sofa for a relaxing evening. I started work on another photo album and Loved One played games on her computer. The telly warbled on in the background.

Chocolate

I was considering that it was almost an acceptable time to go to bed when Loved One asked me if I would like some chocolate. I didn’t know that there was any chocolate in the house. I usually know these things as it is one of the many barriers to weight loss. Loved One had smuggled some in and hidden it somewhere. It was chocolate with crushed hazelnuts. She gave me three squares; I could easily have eaten a whole bar.

Sleep

We went to bed early; I don’t remember Loved One leaving the bathroom.

Sunday

Sleep

I’d had a very bad night’s sleep. I felt like I’d woken up every hour to various noises around the house. I could have easily stayed in bed this morning.

Swim

There weren’t many standing about for the swim this morning. The Long-Distance Lady was having problems with her shoulders and needed a rest, the Saffa had gone to join a group further down the coast and the rest had been scared off by the weather. I swam with the doctor, we decided that halfway and back was more than enough, The Captain and the Seal went up to the Jetty and back. The water was as cold as I could remember but it was surprisingly clear. This made a lovely change. Loved One joined us about halfway back.

Breakfast

We had booked a table at the café this morning so that we could have a team breakfast. The Long Distance Lady joined us. The Doctor and I went for the big breakfast whilst the others went for lesser options. We had booked the table under the heater, that was a good move.

Nap

We got home at midday and I could feel myself fading. I needed a darkened room so that I could catch up on my sleep. It took seconds for hours to pass.

Hanging

I woke up feeling a little dazed, it took a while for the feeling to pass. Once equilibrium had been restored, I set about my one and only chore of the weekend, hanging the art work. It wasn’t too onerous, but it did involve a long discussion about all the gardening that needed doing. Most of that was put in the “to do next weekend” pile.

Roast

Loved One had invited her sister around for dinner this evening. Loved One had decided on roast lamb with roast vegetables would be the easiest to do. I set about keeping out of the way whilst Loved One made the meal. I knew that if she needed help, she would yell.

Sister

Loved One’s sister arrived on time, which in itself is unusual. We started with some salsa and corn chips and general chat. There was general family news over the roast lamb and roast vegetables, and they finished with some bitching about family members and mutual friend whilst I did the clearing away. All in all, a good family meal.

Sofa

We spend the remains of the evening listening to music and fiddling around on the computer.

Saturday

Lie-in

For the first time in a long time neither of us had to be beholden to the alarm clock on a Saturday morning. We still woke up at the normal time but then luxuriated in the knowledge that getting out of bed was strictly optional. We decided that we needed to leave the house at about eleven and this gave us plenty of time to work through the morning routine of washing and eating. It was nice being lazy.

Visit

Our first stop was with some of Loved One’s old friends. We didn’t deliberately time our visit for lunch time, it just happened that way. We chatted over cups of tea and some ham rolls. Loved One caught up on the comings and goings of mutual acquaintances and I chatted about the depth of the channel in the big lake nearby.

Watching

It was cold and windy with rain coming in from the south. This didn’t bode well for whale watching. We had been told that they like to stay further out to sea in this sort of weather. We stopped at the popular whale watching spots but saw nothing. We had long ago discovered that whale watching is more about staring out to sea than actually seeing whales, so we weren’t too disappointed at not seeing anything.

Centre

We visited the whale watching centre so that we could make some vital purchases and to chat with the staff about any sightings today. It turned out that we had been in all the right places but at the wrong times. That was a little annoying but really of no consequence. We had had a good time regardless.

Pub

We met our sheep farming friends in a pub on the way home. They are always feeding us when we visit so we thought that it was only fair to buy them a meal as we were passing. We mainly ordered fish, the only exception being a schnitzel, and chatted about life, the universe and everything. It was a fun evening.

Art

The pub walls displayed artwork by a local artist. Loved One and I were very taken by the picture of an emu that was on a piece of bark. We felt that it would enhance our home, so we bought it.

Drive

We don’t normally drive home from down south in the dark, but today was and exception. It was quite wonderful to see all the lights of the coastal towns as we drove past.