// March 2009
Drowning in Mucus
2008 was, for me, a fairly sickly year. Up until mid-December I rarely seemed not to have a background level cold of some sort, and it was incredibly frustrating – not least because they rarely amounted to anything other than a mild sore throat and a slight sniffle.
I couldn’t even claim man-flu, for God’s sake.
And then, suddenly, it stopped. A slight sore throat reared its head in February but I think that was excessive central heating dryness as it vanished in an hour or so. Other than that I’ve been fit as a fiddle for about three months – even being stuck in a wet forest in Suffolk with three people sniffling and coughing around me didn’t cause anything.
And yet Friday morning one of them hit me and has been developing apace all weekend. The application of Tyrozets in quantity has seen off the throat but my sinuses – always the problem factor – have been dreadful for three days now.
Having today made it to a decent pharmacy, the big guns have been broken out drugswise but I still throb and snuffle and ooze unpleasantly in the nasal region.
The worst thing is that I have to be in work because I’m training. I’m setting up the training room today, and running the course for the next three days.
Great timing, cold. Great timing indeed…
Posted on March 16, 2009 | Filed Under My So-Called Life | 0 Comments
Revenge at Last!
Some of you may remember that in January of last year I was, due to Abbey’s shockingly lax security procedures, subjected to a banking fraud which, due to to Abbey’s shockingly poor internal processes, left me in two months of financial turmoil.
Needless to say, once I’d got access to my cash again I opened a new account with First Direct (in fact I have opened several over time) and manually transferred funds and direct debits etc over to it.
The time has now come to finally close off the old Abbey accounts and I took great pleasure the other week in closing down the savings account. The current account I will do in person tomorrow, but the savings I could do over the phone so I did.
And yesterday I not only recieved confirmation of the closure, but also a cheque for calculated interest which I wasn’t expecting.
What delights me, however, is the fact that – given the account’s been empty for the best part of a year – the cheque cost them more to process and send than its value: £0.09.
The flatmate has told me that I absolutely must deposit it, too. As Abbey aren’t a clearing bank the transaction should cost them about £0.80 on top of what they’ve already lost.
It’s a small and petty piece of revenge I know, but to cost them money for a bit is an opportunity I feel obliged to make the most of.
Posted on March 8, 2009 | Filed Under My So-Called Life | 0 Comments
An Exercise in Moistness
Now, if I had to describe our overall Center Parcs experience in one word, I’d have to choose “wet”. Going in March meant that we were definitely exposed to the risk of the heavens opening, and they did so regularly, meaning that cycling involved flying mud of the like I’ve not seen in years.
But on top of that we also spent more time than might be considered strictly necessary in the subtropical swimming paradise, drinking down 100% of our RDA of chlorinated water, and taking the opportunity to bruise every possible extremity on the walls of the white water rapids.
All of this, I have to say, I have loved.
Now, I’m not a great swimmer – I can just about crawl, tread water and breaststroke to an acceptable degree – but I do love messing about in the water.
Swimming itself, mind, bores me enormously. It doesn’t provide the sort of lengths I’m interested in after all, but add some verticality and splashiness and I’m in heaven.
And, like the gym changing room, such environments are a great leveller. I certainly saw enough sagging fatty flesh to make me feel quite good about myself, but I was also pleasantly surprised to find a great many DILFs and “up and coming young hotties” (as Other Rob puts it) to cause more than a few distracted moments.
Posted on March 7, 2009 | Filed Under Holiday Excess | 0 Comments
I like the birds, me…
Whilst at Center Parcs this week, after arising at a frankly ungodly hour on Tuesday (about 8:00), Chris, Christina and I hauled ourselves off into the village to meet up with the Birds of Prey Experience.
Quite what the experience was to be wasn’t entirely clear, but we were fairly certain it wouldn’t be so much running for cover while they swooped at you, but more of a sort of hold and stroke affair, and so it turned out to be.
It was a fascinating experience, I must say. We were treated to holding three different birds, an owl, kestrel and falcon, and had the latter swoop down to our arms from a tree when tempted down by some raw meat.
I’ve always had slight fascination with these animals, but never seen one up close before, and by God they’re beautiful. Such keen expressions on their faces too – every now and then one would suddenly track some poor sparrow or something across the sky and you’d wonder if it was about to try to go snacking.
They’re oddly light, too. Even the owl, which was about half my height, only weighed in at seven pounds – most of the bulk was feather. This ttill caused my arm to ache a bit after five minutes though, and even at that weight it transpired that most of their prey wouldn’t know much about the impact if the talons hit at 70mph.
I found myself kind of wanting one. If nothing else, the mice would have to think twice about continuing to hang around our flat.
Posted on March 7, 2009 | Filed Under Holiday Excess | 0 Comments
Back to Nature
There are fewer more amazing sights, I think, than arising on a misty morning to find yourself in the middle of a forest with rabbits, squirrels, moorhens and pheasants cavorting and scrambling for your attention.
And yet, with all of this, not to find yourself chilled to the marrow and freezing your tits off.
But that is how I’ve spent the last few mornings; luxuriating, for the most part, in a centrally heated villa in the Elveden Forest Center Parcs for a few days away.
Being outside has definitely been cold, mind, but even so I have relished the change of scene. And even finding ourselves at pretty much the furthest point of the Parc had a benefit in that we had to hire bikes to get anywhere, meaning exercise was kind of enforced really.
Admittedly the saddles on the damn things were the most uncomfortable I’ve ever encountered (I seem to have traded my buttocks in for two blisters) but it does mean that the excessive dining has not taken such a toll as you might expect.
I’ve been feeling quite energetic, all told. I wonder what’s come over me?
Posted on March 6, 2009 | Filed Under Holiday Excess | 0 Comments