The Plan

So, Boy Lacer starts nursery tomorrow and the work plan begins, although it might not, Boy Lacer may surgically attach himself to my leg, to quote “Don’t want to say bye bye to mummy at nursery, mummy AND Boy Lacer go to nursery”, actually I wish, they’ve got an amazing Ground Force- esque playground this year (complete with it’s own little herb garden and bamboo plants) and I’d love a go, plus this amazing squishy cold touchy feely stuff in the wet play area, which I swear is addictive and I quite like playing on the smart board to. But no, I will, at some point, have to go home and do some work, or more likely, looking at the state of this place right now, housework. But the plan is thus; on an average week, where I’ll have just over two hours each afternoon, I’ll write in the first hour and craft in the second. The crafting in the second hour will come in quite handy, the last time I had a concerted block of time to write was the first term Girl Lacer was in nursery and Boy Lacer was still handily napping, that term I remember working on my NaNoWriMo ( a not particularly good sci-fi thing) and I used the whole two hours each day for it, so that when it came to pick up time, it was rather hard not to behave like a bear with a sore head, I had been so immersed in my rather gloomy sci-fi world, having to then go out and do the school run was a shock to the system! So hopefully the second hour crafting should bring me back to reality more gently.

Of course though, that’s all very fine on paper, but life gets in the way and I will have to use that time for other stuff to. If anything I need to start running again, I’m getting distinctly lardy and I’m useless at dieting. So running will also have to be fitted in and sometimes if I have a deadline for something that needs crafting, I’ll have to devote more time to that. But all in all I’m hoping for 3000 – 5000 words a week, which is not bad considering for the past month or two it’s been precisely zero. It’s going to be hard going though getting going on something I haven’t touched for months, but I’m hoping 6 or 7 weeks until I’ve finished my first draft.

New Year Review and Resolutions

Ok, now I’ve been reading last year’s resolutions and as I wrote them down I can be a bit more critical about whether I actually made them. This is what I wrote last year on writing.

 

Writing

I’ve been following Susan Hill’s creative writing course on her blog and her last post on the matter for the year was a kind of put up or shut up ultimatum, basically a ‘are you a writer or just somebody who says they want to be a writer?’ and the ultimate thing, what writers do, it submit to be published and that in 2008 has to be my goal. So far in my ‘writing career’ I have submitted unsuccessfully three short stories and three chapters which I’m still waiting to hear on. I am currently working on a children’s picture book idea which needs more research but if I actually got down to doing it wouldn’t actually take that long (it requires some trips to the British Library, so it’s more of a trying to find the time issue), I am also still trying to finish my Egypt project. So those two projects have to take priority in my writing time, no more attempts at short story writing (although I’ll finish my current one that I’ve posted the first half of), I’m not very good at short stories, short stories require a different discipline to writing novels and I prefer writing longer stories. I am also a pragmatist, although I know my chance of making money at this is slim, there is very little money in short stories and alot more money in the commercial fiction I am attracted to. I’m sorry, typing this sounds like I’m trying to ‘debase my art’ or something poncy like that, but I need to make a living, I have a slim hope that I could do it writing but to make a living writing means having to think about money.

I need to plan my time more carefully concerning writing, researching and the all important reading. My experience doing NaNoWriMo this year made me realise that although I may long for all day to write, if I allow myself vast amounts of time I can’t actually write for that long anyway! So I need to stop feeling resentful at the other domestic chores that take my time away, as there is time to do both, I just have to be (and I hate this phrase) more organised about it. Last Autumn I was lucky, Girl Lacer was at nursery and Boy Lacer napped, so I had two hours free each day and what did I do with it? I faffed, that’s what I did. Ok I did use that time to complete a 40 000 word novella during NaNoWriMo, so I guess I did something but I then spent the whole of December recovering! Once Girl Lacer goes back to nursery I will not have the luxury of Boy Lacer napping anymore, as he appears to have grown out of them, so I need to find my time elsewhere and unfortunately I am not an evening person but all I think I need for the moment is an hour each day to read, write or research and that will be progress and my resolution.

 

Ah RIP Susan Hill’s blog, I still miss that, although I have since learnt that she was probably in the minority of writers who don’t feel monumental self doubt about their work and that there’s nothing wrong with monumental self doubt, it doesn’t necessarily mean your work is cr*p.

Well, I didn’t write any more short stories (hooray – I suppose) but I never did find time for the research on the picture book story, the Egypt story is still stuck in research hell and I’ve got myself bogged down on research for my Charles story, see a common theme there?

It was interesting about what I wrote about how given all the time in the world I wouldn’t be able to write all day, I’d forgotten that and the fact that that means technically I have time to do everything else and write. I still fall into the trap of thinking I don’t have hours and hours to spare and therefore I shouldn’t write at all. I need to remember that’s not true.

New Year Resolution 2009: Boy Lacer starts nursery (so five mornings or five afternoons) in September, so that will give me a lot more time, until then I need to stop searching fruitlessly for big chunks of time and concentrate on the smaller gaps. The other writing resolutions is to start carrying round a writers notebook for ideas and to get that first draft done!

On the subject of housework I wrote;

As referenced in my previous resolution I do need to spend more time doing housework and to stop resenting it. I tried Flylady twice last year and it was successful, which annoys me even more know as I know there’s a method out there that works, so I’m annoyed at myself for not doing it. However it is soregimented and that is just not me. I think I need to find my own plan, something that works for me, using some of the tools from Flylady (some of which I still try and do even though I’m officially off the Flywagon). I spend too much time using the fact that we live in a tiny flat as an excuse, we could, in all likelihood will be, here for years, I can not wait until I get that big house I lust after. It is not just me who lives here, my children do to.

At least I didn’t go back on the Flywagon but I do still need to make more of an effort, yes living in this tiny flat is a nightmare but the only possible way we’re moving over the next few years (and years and years) is if the bank forced us out and may that not happen. So no more thinking ‘oh it’ll be better when we’re in a bigger place’ because it ain’t going to happen, so I need to make it better here, so that’s the housework resolution, same year in, year out.

I wrote on the subject of the internet

I need to spend less time on it. I am already fairly controlled with it, I know that there are some sites like Facebook, that if I got into that I’d never be off the computer and I have my messenger off most the time as well but I need to be more controlled, use my time more constructively. However on the other side of the resolution I do resolve to continue blogging! But less time on the internet means more time for housework, writing and the kids, which can only be a good thing.

Ooh, at first glance I did not do well with that as in 2008 I got onto Facebook, however I’m pretty much off that now, the novelty wore off very quickly. I still need to remember not to spend too much time on the internet though.

On money and cooking I wrote;

Money

I’m still learning but I need to be in better control of it.

Cooking

I need to use my vast collection of cookbooks a little more often and to stop relaying on Captain Birds Eye and pasta!

 

Money will be a big issue next year, I have to control it now on an even tighter leash and decide whether my book selling is economically viable. I could do with getting more tuition clients but I’m not sure how easily that will happen with the recession. 

Cooking is a fine line, I need to make sure I plan for recipes that aren’t going to be too expensive and aren’t going to leave unfinished jars etc. that won’t be used. I think in 2009 I need to make my cooking simpler.

And finally on crafting I wrote:

I’ve been getting ’sewing urges’ for a few years now and so far it has totalled up to a nearly completed doodle embroidery, a toy dog for Girl Lacer, a scarf for Boy Lacer and a sewing machine I brought 3 years ago and have so far been too chicken to use. I buy books on how to make your own clothes from a vintage handkerchief or how to make a quilt and I have a collection of baby knitting books which are useless now as both my children are too big, although at the rate it takes me to knit something and with the fact that I would in three years or so like another baby, that maybe I need to start knitting now. So my resolution for next year is to be more crafty, I have the urge to knit my own socks (?!?) and Imust get out that sewing machine

Looking at the things I had made up to the beginning of 2008 is a good feeling because I’ve added so much to that list now. I feel that I’m now reasonably ok at embroidery and I’m starting to develop my own style. My soft toys are much better (not hard when compared to my 2007 efforts). I never did get round to knitting again but that will be this year. Oh and as for the sewing machine, I did get it out, managed to thread it up and it does work but I’m sorely in need of someone showing me how to do it properly, instead of a book, so I’m strongly contemplating lessons in January, as in 2009 I would like to start making my own clothes and furnishings.

Finally one last resolution, which didn’t feature last year, I must start running again, my waistline says so!

Highlights of 2008

I’ve just been reading my highlights of 2007 post and thought I’d do the same this year, I’ve also noticed that one of the things that I was most looking forward to this year (2008) never happened, I wrote back on 31 December 2007 under the category of ‘family highlight’;

Boy Lacer learning to walk at 26 months old after 10 months of physiotherapy. He’s still at this point tottering around and hasn’t caught up with the walking skills of an ‘average’ two year old yet but I’m looking forward to watching him progress even further next year. I can already tell you a highlight of next year, the moment me and Boy Lacer first walk together to pick up Girl Lacer from nursery. Girl Lacer’s nursery / school is literally 5 minutes walk from our house, a two year old should be able to do it (it’s literally at the end of our road) so the day I do the school run without a push chair will be momentous.

That unfortunately has not happened yet (and pushchair number 3 is starting to show signs of breaking gulp, we may have to move up to one of those buggies that are more like little wheelchairs, which I’d quite like not to do), but trying to be positive here, here are my highlights of 2008 (and I’ve added a few more categories).

Family Highlight

Girl Lacer starting school. We are incredibly lucky to be living literally down the road from the perfect school for our little family; with an excellent academic, pastoral and special needs reputation, I try and remind myself that’s why we’re living in our tiny, poky, very expensive flat, when the living in the tiny, poky, very expensive flat gets to me. I can’t believe that Girl Lacer has been in school only a term and she can already read and sound out so many words, we’re really pleased with her progress.

Personal highlight of the year

Managing to make most my gifts this Christmas (excluding the kids and Mr. Lacer) hand made / hand adapted, will definitely be doing that again, although may be starting in June next year! Oh and running my first 10K race in August, me? Run?

Book Highlight(s)

Thanks to 2008 being the first full year of my blog, I can fill you in with the incredibly nerdy fact that I read 49 books in 2008 (34 adult fiction, 8 children’s / young adult fiction and 7 non-fiction), nowhere near as much as some book blogs I read but in my ‘defence’ some of the books I’ve read this year have been real door stoppers, such as finally finishing Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell or somehow managing to get through the  endless running up and down country lanes / train tracks of The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters.

Adult fiction favourite

Looking through the reviews of books I’ve read in 2008 has made me realise how quick reading time goes, I read my first Shardlake in January and have felt like I’ve wanted to read more since, but have yet to do so. One of my favourites this year (it turns out) was Suite Francaise, but I was convinced until checking, that I’d read it in 2007. There are whole lists of books that I feel like I read them just yesterday, yet looking at the dates of the reviews, they were read in the summer. Anyway, honourable mentions include Suite Francaise, The Meaning of Night, The Gargoyle, We Need to Talk about Kevin, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell,  but my favourite book that I read this year (and yes I know it’s been published for ages) is Audrey Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife, I loved that book!

Children’s book highlight

Considering I’ve only read eight children’s / young adult books this year (for myself, not for my kids), I really need to read more, but anyway, my honourable mention goes to The Battle for Gullywith by Susan Hill, which is hopefully making a lot of kids in the library of Girl Lacer’s school, very happy (I ‘won’ the book on condition I donated it to a school afterwards) but this year’s Children’s book highlight for me, goes to The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, which is completely magical and lovely.

Non-fiction highlight

Up until very recently it would have been Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine, pretty heavy going, it goes into Western capitalist theory and although the book was written before the credit crunch (I’d love to see an updated version / new book by Klein on the subject now), I now have a little bit more of an idea what the journalists on Newsnight are going on about when they start waffling on about Keynesian theory. I would also give honourable mentions to Blood River, a journey down the Congo, which is as exciting as any novel and the highly brilliant and useful Stephen King’s On Writing. But definitely my best non-fiction read of the year was Russell T. Davies and Benjamin Cook’s Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale, one very good book indeed! I really must read more non-ficition next year to.

Cook book highlight

None of the books joining my groaning collection this year have really made their mark like my cook book highlight of the year has and this book has been in my collection for years; Tessa Kiros’ Apples for Jam, is the ultimate good food, family cookbook for the credit crunch; simple healthy recipes, that don’t require too many ingredients, I’ve cooked from this frequently this year.

Film / DVD highlight  (criteria – I have had to of watched it first in 2008, it doesn’t necessarily have had to be released in 2008)

Actually one of the first movies I saw this year, it’s stayed stuck in my mind, the very good and very original Cloverfield, watch out New York!

TV highlight

Spooks – it was good even though Rupert Penry Jones was barely in it!

So onto 2009, it wasn’t the best of years this year, our already tight budget getting tighter, just like everyone elses and to top it all off (ok not as serious as the credit crunch) we didn’t even have a proper summer, feels like something was missing there! Looking forward 2009 feels fragile, that is the overwhelming sensation I’m getting, hopefully Mr. Lacer’s job will be ok, his industry has undergone rafts of redundencies since the Millennium and he’s survived them all so far, it’s more that the world doesn’t feel an increasingly very pleasant place. Ok, off to think cheery thoughts now!

Rhetorical question alert: Am I getting too sensible in my old age?

The mother-in-law gave us a bit of a blinder on me and Mr. Lacer this Christmas by being surprisingly generous with the money in the Christmas cards, to such an extent we’ve both been wondering what to do with it, having gotten used to not having much spare cash to spend. So, much of my Christmas has been internet window shopping, with a rather depressing and knackering (ugh shouldn’t have gone out yet) trip to do real life shopping today.  I almost hated having this money burning a hole in my pocket because I knew I had to spend it ‘sensibly’, so what was it going to be? Me and Mr. Lacer had already brought two duvet sets as we needed some new ones with our money but there was some left over. Clothes, books, running stuff, garden stuff? The number of times I’ve filled an online shopping basket and then clicked the x button. But I’ve just done it, I’ve just spent most of my share and I was very sensible, it does rule out the Garmin Forerunner 305 though, which I have been very very close to buying but I was so scared that even spending all that money I would find another excuse not to run, I’ve gone rather hurriedly to the Rocket Gardens site, if anything just to stop me buying the Garmin because we need another season’s worth of vegetables more than I need a portable GPS receiver, there are such free (online) things as maps Mrs. Lacer! So, thanks to the mother-in-law, the next growing season (as long as I and/or the snails don’t kill it all) will be a BIG one. I’ll be (patio) gardening on a much bigger scale (I’ve previously gone for their ‘window box’ garden, except I don’t have window boxes and I think with the size of Rocket’s window box garden, you’d need some very big window boxes, so I’ve already used patio containers), this time I’m going for their Instant Patio Garden with tomatoes, courgettes, two different types of beans, peas, strawberries, spinach and lots and lots and lots of salad plants. It’s meant to be the equivalent of saving almost £300 in the supermarket (that would be two Garmin 305s then plus some change, but I doubt Mr. Lacer would see it that way), I know I won’t be having to buy any food for me, as the only person in this house who eats salad, I’m going to have a lot to get through before it all bolts! Plus on top of the patio garden, I’ve also ordered (and this does feel like cheating a little, because although I don’t have enough space to raise from seed a whole patio vegetable garden, I do have space to raise herbs) an instant herb garden to because last year I really missed having herbs (other than the ones that came in the window box garden before the green fly got them) because I knew I could grow them and therefore I point blank refused to buy them from the supermarket, yet that didn’t actually prompt me enough to start sowing!

It’s been a while since I posted anything about running, advice on Garmin Forerunner 305 needed please

I have been extremely slack with my running, a series of injuries, illnesses and plain old lack of time has meant that I have not run since the Nike+ 10K back at (gulp) the end of August and as my ability to diet is even weaker than my incentive to run, my waistline has been showing it. Now, although I cite injury (including a run in with a clothes drier which still hurts if I kneel on my knee a certain way), illness and time as mitigating factors, I think the one big thing that has been putting me off is that I no longer believe in my current training system. I used the Nike+ system and although I had a sneaky suspicion that it was probably not recording distances very well, the 10K race was the first chance I got to check how accurate it was and I found to my disgust that basically it wasn’t at all accurate and worse it was an inconsistent inaccuracy, I compared my recorded distance at every kilometre marker, sometimes it was minus 0.25km, other times it was minus 0.4km, when I finished the race my sports band said I’d only run 9.2km, so in all that time during training I’d actually been performing better than I thought I was (at least it wasn’t the other way round). So now it’s back to training (supposedly), I feel like what’s the point of using the sports band if it’s not recording accurately and without that “ooh I ran 5k, go on make it 6″ incentive, I’m struggling.

So, much as I’m not in a fit state to run anywhere today, I’ve been checking on the GPS sports watches (as thanks to the mother-in-law I have a bit of spare cash) and it feels rather annoying to be looking at buying another system when I only brought the Nike+ system earlier this year, so if I do buy something new it has to absolutely 100% work. So looking at the various Garmin GPS watches, I can see from the reviews I’ve read that the GPS on anything below the 305 is not much cop unless you live on the Orkney Islands, so what I want to know is this, the Garmin Forerunner 305, the cheapest (ha ha) but according to the reviews most liable to work, does it work? I live in the city but also have access to plenty of woodland to run in, so I do not want to worry about loosing signal. Any comments appreciated.

Girl Lacer’s last day of freedom

 

Tomorrow Girl Lacer starts school and it’s the start of a new phase of life for all of us, things will be quieter round here during the day for a us, Boy Lacer will of course still be here but he and Girl Lacer are such opposites and whereas she can be the life and soul of the party (even if you don’t want to party), Boy Lacer is more of the quiet, introspective sort. But with one child down and actually shock, even two children down two mornings a week, I’ll actually have a bit more space and time, organise my life a little better and get more proper writing time.

 

Girl Lacer’s last day of freedom started off being more about me, I mentioned I’d injured my knee yesterday falling on a metal clothes airer, I had a big cut on top of a big bruise and over the course of yesterday evening it soaked through three large plasters and another one overnight, on top of hurting like hell. So I went to casualty this morning. It was the first Lacer visit to our local A&E which is not bad considering we’ve been here 4 years now, although I had assumed that the likely first family victim visiting A&E would be one of the kids, although actually thinking about it, even pre-kids me and Mr. Lacer had our fair share of visits to our then local A&E at Guys. Anyway I got to A&E, waited quite a bit (even though I was the first one there), got seen, they checked my knee out to make sure nothing was broken (besides the skin) which it wasn’t, after all I’d just managed to limp up the hill to the hospital by myself so I knew it wasn’t that bad. Then they just concluded it was a very bad bruise probably caused by my knee hitting one of the thick metal bars of the airer when I hit the ground, splitting my skin open. So they bandaged it firmly and I limped home. It still hurts on and off like hell (right now as it happens) and it’s still bleeding (starting to leech through the bandage, just thought I’d share). Definitely putting a dampener on the running, now I have a bit more of a stronger idea about what it feels like to be knee-capped.

 

The offending clothes airer, airing some school uniform.

 

 

My poorly knee

 

Got home, Mr. Lacer went on to work, I bummed round on the sofa for most of the morning then took the kids for the day I had planned anyway. Girl Lacer’s last day of freedom was to be a celebration of what we’ve pretty much spent the last five years doing; shopping. When I realised that that was what I thought when I looked back on how me and Girl Lacer have spent the past five years is shopping, I at first thought “Is that it?” but I went for the day anyway.

So I got the kids out of the house; Boy Lacer in the pushchair, Girl Lacer on her scooter with today’s toy of honour, Winnie the Pooh.

As we went down the road, side by side, Girl Lacer pipes up, “I’m a train on this side of the tracks and you’re a train on the other track”.

So we’re playing that game I thought. We stopped off at the green box in the middle of the road to ‘get train tickets’ and then steamed off down the road. Crossing the road we were crossing a train junction and looking out for other trains. Down the road, stopped to say hello to a cat, crossed another road train junction, quick discussion about the traffic counter Girl Lacer had spotted and then down towards the river. Stopped to say hello to another nervous cat who was feeling threatened by a dog leaping about and stopped at the chocolate and fruit machines (ticket machines) to get some pretend chocolate and fruit.

Then off the trains to go to the playground. Girl Lacer as usual (and strangely considering she’s reported as being shy at nursery) made an instant friend who poked round holes together and then I had reluctantly tear her away to go to McDonalds. But first we had to walk along the river to get there, watching the boats and the pigeons and the squirrels. Girl Lacer scooted up and down the empty bandstand with glee and then wandered under the trees staring up at the branches ahead of me whilst I waited for Boy Lacer to catch up from behind.

We sat on the same water feature turned into plastic plant display as we always do when eating a McDonalds and Girl Lacer was as usual the last to finish. Then onto get Boy Lacer some new shoes; is it me or are kids shoes shops the only place where you never ask the price of something? I go in, specially with Boy Lacer, who is difficult to find suitable shoes for and gratefully accept anything suitable they give me and then only find out the price at the till.

After the shoe shop it was onto the supermarket and a ginger biscuit for old times sake.

So, actually I say ‘shopping’ but I see it now more for what it is, just being out and experiencing the world and letting her imagination run with her. We walk alot as a family as I don’t drive and it’s a bit of a walk into town (about half an hour), so it’s not surprising games like trains sprung up, when we’re not playing trains we’re jungle explorers, carefully crossing rivers (roads) keeping an eye out for crocodiles (cars) or we’re taking a whole host of imaginary friends with us along for the trip. As far as imaginary friends have gone we’ve had a busy household with Girl Lacer, it started with a troop of animatronic bears we see every Christmas and Summer at the shopping centre, when she was 2 when they weren’t doing their stint singing every half hourly they were coming with us to the playground, then there was her imaginary friend S, who she did everything with and who just happened to based on her real life best friend S, then there was the cat who we met on our way into town one day, it’s imaginary counterpart then followed us around for weeks making sure we were buying imaginary cat food and then recently there was lion, who we picked up in the supermarket when we found him trying to maul passers-by, he lives with us now and behaves himself if we keep him in a regular supply of human flavoured sweeties.

Living with Girl Lacer’s imagination can be exhausting though, tonight as Mr. Lacer put her to bed she insisted on pretending she was actually at a sleep over at her best friend’s S’s house. So it’ll be good to put that imagination to task on something else and it’s a good school she’s going to so I hope they won’t quash it. 

Her uniform is now hanging on her chest of drawers (I wanted her to wear her pinafore dress and cardigan, so she looks extra cute in her photos tomorrow and so I hung it out, I should have realised and hung out something completely different as of course she had to change it), her bags are packed and I emphasise the multitudity of bags, we have her school bag, her book bag, her pe bag (subject she is looking forward to the most, so unlike me as a kid) and her chair bag (goes over the back of her chair). So bring on tomorrow, just have to do her lunch now. I just hope I can see her go in but it all depends how quickly I can settle Boy Lacer at playgroup.

A tale of two cities . . . (the bad bit)

So, I had a fantastic race and got to see my first concert in five years, that was the good bit, what was the bad bit? Well first, I missed Mr. Lacer, it’s not that much fun racing with no face to look forward to at the finishing line, instead I had to be happy (and it did make me happy, I’m sad) running past the back of Ikea, as we ran through the various back streets, industrial estates and retail parks of Wembley. As I ran through the final kilometre (bless the spectators at the final corner, as we were running they were yelling “The end is just round the corner. You’re nearly there,” which was such music to the ears, as I had no idea where the end was), as I turned that final corner and ran up to the finish line, I literally felt a lump in my throat of happiness and I rang Mr. Lacer twice within five minutes of crossing the line!

But when I really missed him was trying to get home. Now I’m not too timid about wandering round London late at night on my own, I count myself as fairly savvy enough to avoid trouble but that doesn’t necessarily mean I like doing it, specially when I’m not in my own patch and I don’t know Wembley that well. There were still road closures, so I couldn’t get back via the bus stop that I’d arrived on and it took a while to find a bus stop, including one abortive wait at a bus stop where it turned out the bus I was waiting for wasn’t turning up there that night (a notice would have been good). When I finally found a bus stop (remember that thanks to the race and the weather, I was also cold, very wet and tired), I got on the bus, all seemed well, bus stops at a bus stop, all well and good, bus driver gets out of his cab, takes his yellow visibility jacket off, puts his coat on and then puts the visibility jacket back on top, all very well I think, he’s probably cold. But then he gets out of the bus, fag in mouth, without telling us a thing, no automated bus announcements or anything. He wanders around outside for a bit, is he on a fag break or something? Then after a little bit of wandering around he then turns the engine off and disappears! So the passengers are all stuck there (although thankfully he left the back doors open), without a clue what’s going on. Meanwhile another bus (different route but same direction) pulls up behind us and pulls off again and I kick myself that I could have got on it, so I get off the bus (most passengers are still on the bus though) and I wait outside in the cold for another ten minutes for the next bus. Which thankfully took me all the way to my interchange, where my bus to home came quickly afterwards, when I saw that bus, the bus I take pretty much everywhere in day to day life, I could have hugged it!

So I don’t think I’ll be doing the Human Race again unless they change the start time (although it was good running towards the lit arch) as it means it’s difficult for families to come and watch and it’s a nightmare to get home again. The whole wandering around Wembley trying to find a bus and then the bus driver disappearing whilst I was on the bus made me just feel that I was getting too old for wandering round London in the middle of the night, cold and wet. Much as I consider myself a Londoner (lived here for well over ten years now and both sides of my family have roots here), it was one of the first times I questioned whether I could live here for ever. Standing at yet another cold, dark bus stop in an area I didn’t have a clue about, found me fantasising about that small holding Mr. Lacer jokes I want, somewhere within reasonable reach of a city like Cambridge or Oxford (both cities I love), where I can spend my evenings with my family in front of a cosy fire having done nothing more exciting that day than pulling carrots. But I’ve had a busy summer, you wait, give it a month and I’ll be complaining I’m bored!

It was lovely coming home though, specially as Mr. Lacer had been a complete love and completely cleaned the kitchen!