The Weekend

Thank you for the comments on yesterday's questions and answers.

I think Storm Dennis was playing with my head. I spent most of Saturday thinking it was Sunday so ended up wishing my brother a happy birthday one day early ... at least I remembered!

The storm didn't seem too bad to start with so I was intending to walk over to the canal, just five minutes away, to take some photos from the shelter of the bridge but I bumped into a neighbour and stopped for a chat ... in the rain! By the time we'd finished the wind had picked up so I abandoned the walk and closed the door against the weather. Indoors, I just had a pottering sort of weekend. 

The storm picked up throughout Saturday but Sunday during the day was wind free until it returned with a vengeance for part of the evening. It's the noise that gets to me and I find that I am continually tensing my muscles, so end up feeling tired even though I'm not doing anything. I woke on Sunday morning to find that one fence panel had blown down. It was still in my garden and will stay there until it can be put back - the garden is still secure as the neighbour's garden wraps around mine. We share ownership of this fence so will share the cost of the repair, although there's a possibility that he may be able to do it himself. One of my big terracotta pots has a large chunk gouged out of the side so I will want to replace that at some stage. However, considering how bad it was, I think I'm lucky that the damage was relatively light.

I spent quite a lot of Sunday looking on YouTube for ideas for exercises. Divers and Sundry recommended Dr Jo's channel and I like the look of her knee strengthening videos, so will start with those. I'm also looking for a beginner yoga or an improve your flexibility video but so far no luck in finding one I thought I'd be able to stick to.

I had an email about the U3A family history group to tell me that the two existing groups are full but she has added my name to the waiting list and is anticipating starting a third group in the summer. I just have to hope it'll be on a day that fits in with all my other plans. Most of the family history groups I've looked at meet to talk about their research based on a given topic, e.g. an ancestor in the military, but this group has a different approach. It meets in the Wilts Family History Centre and uses the centre's resources to continue with actual research. The blurb about the group say they pool ideas to help members break through the tricky bits of research that everyone experiences from time to time. Actually doing the research appeals to me so I hope enough people are interested.

I had to get up early today as it's the black box collection (glass, tins and paper) and it was too windy to put it out last night - I had visions of the contents spread throughout the Close which is exactly what happened to some of the other houses.  It's  half term so there is no teaching today but choir is on as usual. I need to do some housework and return a top for a refund, but that's all I have on the must-do list. I'm delaying food shopping for a few days while I review my meal plan as I'm debating whether to attempt low carb eating to see if that will kick start the weight loss. I'm dithering because, while I think it will help, I am currently in a cycle of having lots of migraines and eating a higher carb food has always been an effective way of bringing an attack to an end. I don't know how reducing carbs overall will affect me, hence the dithering. I may phone the nutritionist at the surgery for advice as she may well have a better suggestion for me to try.

I'm also looking ahead to Lent, thinking of what I can do this year. I've already decided on a donation of 40 items to the local food bank and think I will declutter 40 items, just because it needs to be done and it will spur me on to complete it. I'm planning to give something up for Lent as well but I'm dithering as to what. Have you noticed there is a lot of dithering going on at the moment? My initial though was to give up coffee but I've done that before. I don't eat a lot of sweets and never drink alcohol so they're both non-starters, but am thinking maybe bread or TV, or both. I still have a few days to decide.