I'm Reviewing The Situation ....

I posted this on September 10th 2018, about 8 weeks ago, so am looking back at some of the things I said to assess progress ... if any! I'm not scoring to show the status of each category at this stage because every aspect of my life has been affected by the work on the house.

Music - I have decided on the revised approach but haven't actually implemented the changes. Daily playing of either piano or brass will definitely happen but realistically cannot feature in my daily life until the messy work is finished and I can move the things I stored for safety in the music room back to their proper places. When that happens I will be able to reach the piano! The new orchestra idea has been abandoned, mainly because of the need for additional flute practice of the orchestral pieces and I don't want to make that extra commitment. Instead I've decided to try a singing group which meets on a Monday evening - I'll try that in the weeks up to Christmas and see how I get on.

Photography - I contacted the organiser of the local U3A photography group who has confirmed that there are spaces and I'm welcome to join them ... so far, so good.  However, it's not held on the day advertised as the organiser still works, so is held on any day each month when she happens to be free. I don't mind the flexibility of this arrangement and in many ways it suits me, but unfortunately I have had other commitments on the dates they've met so far, leaving me undecided whether this will work for me. It was supposed to be a Thursday event but so far has been held on every other weekday but a Thursday! I'll keep trying and will review after Christmas to see if I need to make other arrangements.

In the meantime I plan to (re)start doing the monthly mini scavenger hunts organised by Kate (I think I did a couple of these when they first started) and the Winter Photo Scavenger Hunt starts on December 1st, Both of these will help to keep me occupied photographically.

Health and Fitness - this aspect of my life is not going too well. I went for the assessment at the gym and made the decision that it wasn't for me. Two of the exercises I 'had' to do were excruciatingly painful at the time of doing the exercise. I only managed a couple of repetitions of each one before I had to stop and was told to just leave them out of the plan they'd devised for me, but when I thought about it at home later, I realised I'd be paying a lot of money every month just to use the treadmill and a chair! So I cancelled and have continued with the walking ... as much as I've been able to do, bearing in mind that the pain from the assessment is still affecting my daily life and is the reason for the x-rays and scans I had yesterday.

I have identified two suitable walking for health groups and am waiting to hear back from one or other of the leaders. The walks are on Wednesday and Thursday mornings and last for approximately 45 minutes. I'm only intending to do one to start with.

Socialising - The first girls night out with Julie and Lauren was successful and we have agreed the date for the next one. I've also mentioned to other friends about doing a film night at home and they are keen but we need to wait until the work is finished so realistically this may not happen until after Christmas. We also discussed the possibility of have a monthly meet up on say the first Monday of the month, always in same place at same time and that people turn up if they can/want to. I think this will definitely happen but is still very much in the discussion stage.

So, some progress made but not as much as I'd have liked. I'm hoping that by the end of November I'll have started the daily music practice, the walking for health, the singing group, and the photography group.

I'm also setting myself five tasks to complete during November. They are all biggish tasks, each taking longer than a day (in total) to complete and are all things that are on my mind but which I don't seem to get round to doing properly.

1. Dispose of old VCRs, DVD players and games consoles
2. Shredding!!
3. Bulk cooking to refill the freezer
4. Finish sorting out band admin and return finished folders to storage room in Town Hall (where we practice)
5. Start checking that everything is removed from the old computers

I'll do a separate update on my 12 things to celebrate my retirement.