Today I've mostly bin...

[LAT]

to MBH: I thought you were up in Sunderland?

or am I being thick again?

[Bunnylump]

I think he means online. Unless he's set up a webcam in my living room. Which is actually a terrifying thought because I'm still in my pyjamas...NOT a good look... (Need to get bathed and hairwashed for party later and couldn't be bothered to get dressed as I was spending the day making cakes!)

[MBH]

[[quickly shuts down webcam feed]]

I am in Sunderland - so I'm obviously talking about the last page of this thread on the Puzzlebrains forum


[Nice PJs Sis ]

[MBH]

Back on site at Sunderland sea-front and the BBC Radio Newcastle morning team (who's show I keep contributing to) have just popped on and interviewed me Great to see them and I can probably be found on some 'listen again' show somewhere.

My plans for looking at the USA puzzles came to nothing yesterday - I'll try again today.

[Bunnylump]

...Having far too much of a life.
Saturday (was that only yesterday?) went to my best friend's 50th birthday party (armed with the purple rabbit cake). Had lots of fun and saw loads of people I haven't seen for years. Got home at 3am. This afternoon, we walked a couple of miles to a 60th birthday do at a pub and met lots of new people, who turned out to be great fun. On the way home we went to another friend's, two of whose "children" have just had birthdays and ended up staying for birthday cake and liqueurs. Tomorrow I'm in to London with some girl friends to finish celebrating Janet's actual birthday...

Think I need to go back to work for a rest!

[MBH]

That sounds brilliant Give Janet a hug from me

[Bunnylump]

Now that would probably make her week. As you know, she has a real soft spot for a Geordie (used to live there herself). I did threaten to ring you up so she could get a "fix" of a "proper" accent...

[pebbles]

On Thursday morning, about 5 am my son and his girlfriend were woken up by roadworks. My son heard a gushing sound on the baby intercom thing they have and rushed into grandson's room. He saw water pouring down the wall and grabbed his son from his cot, then the ceiling started falling in. All their ceilings collapsed and their flat filled with water. Very difficult to describe what happened!

This is due to a water tank that was installed, to a neighour, by the council.

They are now homeless. They are in a hotel until Wednesday.

[Bunnylump]

Oh my goodness, Pebbles! That's awful!! Glad they are all safe though!

[eirian]

that's awful Pebbles. Hope everything is sorted and they are able to return to a restored home soon. Just don't let the Council try to wriggle out of it!
(I say that after my boss (in the Legal Dept of Manchester Council) was asked by the Housing Dept whether we had any responsibility to someone living in an ex-council flat who'd had something very similar happen to them due to contractors who'd done some work in the flat above... I may say, her advice was to ask why on earth they were even asking and to stop trying to escape their responsibilties)

[LAT]

Gosh that's dreadful pebbles! Glad they are safe, but what a nightmare for them! Do keep us posted.

[MBH]

That sounds like a setting for a disaster movie Pebbles - I'm glad to hear everyone is safe and getting day-to-day help. Hope things get sorted out soon for them.

Now that would probably make her week. As you know, she has a real soft spot for a Geordie (used to live there herself). I did threaten to ring you up so she could get a "fix" of a "proper" accent...

If she wants a fix, I'm guessing she's watching the "Geordie Finishing School for Girls" that is on TV at the moment. I don't usually watch these things but I was interested in how the Southern girls would respond to the culture change. The povety I'm sure they could have found a lot closer to home [they ARE very well-off girls], but the mix of natures from North and South looks interesting.

I'm sure Janet can see this one from both sides of the fence (or is that 'ends of the country'). Anyway - it's on iPlayer if she, or anyone else, wants to see it.

[Wulfruna]

On Thursday morning, about 5 am my son and his girlfriend were woken up by roadworks. .

- Just as well that the noise woke them.... but why on earth were roadworks going on at that hour of the morning??

[MBH]

Trying once more to do this 'looking after yourself' thing Another session at the gym.

I've got a six-week membership with a local gym (that has 3 different locations within reach) in the hope of kick-starting my body on the road to health, general fitness, and weight loss. Allegedly (according to government figures, and various calculations) I am 'overweight'. The fact is I know that each time I do get weighed, perhaps twice a year, I'm getting heavier.

So on the first visit I chat with this guy - about half my age and wih a physique that was not created sitting in front of the fire reading books - and he finds out a bit about my background, lifestyle, attitudes (LOL - that bewildred him), and exactly WHY I have no time for gyms or sport or other such activites. He claimed to understand my need to avoid boredom and keep my brain active and thinking during my activities - my past play with martial arts and my dance activities were talked about. His advice to burn fat away as effectively as possible? Bodybuilding YES I understand his point about getting every move exactly right, but I really didn't feel up to explaining to him the difference between 'concentration' and 'thinking'

As my approach is weight loss, it seems I don't need to "go like the clappers" but need to keep my heart rate lower on jobs like wakling uphill (on the treadmill) or walking up the decending set of steps (climbing stairs). Can you hear me snoring? There is one machine I spotted - an exercise bike with it's own TV screen that has a games section. More on this later.

So on Thursday I climbed a hill for 20 minutes then did a 'Body Balance' class that is supposed to combine Tai Chi, Pilates, and Yoga (in a formuleaic approved sequence of moves that doesn't do any of those individual activities justice). It was hard work and showed me just how unfit I've become - but I got through it.

For the next 3 days my body ached from it. Seriously badly. The sort of pain that says "OK - don't know why you did that, but don't do it again!".

Since I've paid my £40 for the 6 weeks I'm going to try and get along at least twice a week, and so on the way home tonight I stopped for an hour that included 10 minutes climbing stairs (29 flights the readout said). Followed by some work on my arms on the weights machines. Then round to the bikes i mentioned where I started myself of slow and steady (hoping to keep the heart rate right) - found the 'games' section - and decided that I wasn't going to stop peddeling until I'd completed one of the 'Easy' level Sudoku puzzles you can do on the screen

It's surprisingly difficult thinking in this way while trying to move. I'm sure I could have done the offered puzzle in a lot less than the 9:48 minutes it took - but I did it and cycled all the way.

Once again I was asked the question afterwards - "But don't you feel better after doing the exercise?".... How many times can I answer "NO!!!"? Whatever this 'Buzz' people talk about is, it does NOT happen within my body. All exercise is for me is damned hard work that leaves me hungry, thirsty, sore, and tired. [Sorry - drifting towards 'Winge' thread].

[giraffe]

I'm with you there MBH

I was a member of a gym for about 18 months after Lally was born. Trying to lose the four stone I put on while expecting. I had lost all my weight from the first two, but this time it wouldn't budge. I tried the gym, but found it boring and was very self conscious. I tried a "beginners step class" where at the third session I walked out in the middle because I have two left feet and kept tripping over the step. I complained at reception about that because there was no way it was beginners. I tried yoga, but the class was too close to schools out and I had to rush to get to school and ened up thoroughly stressed. All my friends who were members of the same gym kept on about the buzz from the exercise, but I never experienced it. I quite enjoyed the aquarobics class and swam quite a lot, but that was about it in the end.

Then I was seriously ill and when I came out of hospital I asked if I should carry on as normal and the consultant said "Well as long as you don't rush off to the gym you should be fine" That was the end of my gym membership!

I would enjoy to try tapdancing, but can't find a daytime class, I could go back to skating, but it's a struggle to find a group that isn't beginners and just going round and round on your own is no fun.

[LAT]

I get subsidised gym membership through work so I do go to one but I confess I don't do very much. The treadmill is OK if there is something interesting on the telly at the time. Otherwise I quite like swimming so I try to go when I need to wash my hair and do it there instead of at home! But I'm not sure if I will keep the membership up when I lose the subsidy.

I have wondered about trying orienteering. Sort of walking with a puzzle to solve.

[Laura]

MBH, do you have an MP3 player or something like that? I've actually managed to be healthy and do lots of walking since January when I bought one, because the boredom factor is removed. I listen to comedy and musicals, but I'm sure you could download audio books or whatever takes your fancy. I can happily plod along for 2 hours and not even notice that I'm walking if I'm listening to something I enjoy.

[gill216]

All exercise is for me is damned hard work that leaves me hungry, thirsty, sore, and tired.

This bit made me laugh. Last year I swam 50 lengths of a pool thsts rioughly half sized every morning for a month. At the end of the month I'd put on 2.5lbs. Why? It made me so hungry I came back and ate a cooked breakfast everyday

[Bunnylump]

I hate gyms with a passion. Full of posey, sweaty, smelly people wearing lycra, where you can't see the world outside, hear the birds singing and have fresh air on your face? No thank you. And nine times out of ten they have that dreadful, mind-numbing "music with a beat and nothing else" going on in the background. Yuk. Tried it, hated it, never again.

...I've bin

Being a proper tourist. Went into London yesterday for Janet's second birthday celebration (you may have gathered that we like to make our birthdays last at least a week... ) with some girl friends. Unfortunately, two of our usual crowd were away (one on holiday and the other currently off representing the UK in the World Dragonboating championships in the mixed over 40s category, but that's another story!!) Nevertheless there were still four of us. We went up on the train (shudder) and got to Trafalgar Square. Had a little wander around then had lunch. got one of those open-topped tourist buses and did the tour of all the sights. It was a boiling hot, sunny day, so it was nice to be able to sit on the top of the bus. The commentary was interesting from the point of view of being told what various buildings were; it was on occasions painfully inaccurate -"very few people were beheaded at the Tower of London" (true),,,"one of which was Catherine of Aragon" (NO!!!), "St Paul's Cathedral was never hit by any bombs during the blitz" (YES it was!).

Next, we went on a river boat and had another commentary from an old chap who was determined to get his own feelings across. For example, he said (and I'm inclined to agree with him) he thought it was a real shame that they had put the Millennium bridge so that it obscured the view through to the steps of the cathedral. However, we did get to look at lots of splendid buildings which you can only really see properly from the river.

Later on, we had a walk through Chinatown and got ourselves a Chinese meal. Afterwards we went to a cocktail bar. We had a lucky break getting home, because we almost missed the last train back. Fortunately, the train was delayed by 16 mins and we managed to catch it OK. (PHEW!!)

So all in all, a nice day out. It's weird, isn't it, that if you live fairly near somewhere you never do the touristy things? I'm only about 30 miles from London but hardly ever go there and had never before "seen the sights" properly.

[Redfraggle]

Gill 50 lengths? I can do one length and one width. My sister got her mile swim badge. I proudly got my 25 metres

MBH - it's really hard to concentrate whilst working out. I dont go to gyms any more because they bore me. But well done for completing the sudoku!