A Busy Work Week and a Visit to Yorkshire - W/E 14th September 2024

This week started with an earlier than usual shift at work on Sunday. I had to take the bus to work, which is rare for me, because OH needed the car to go to a cycle race. I was scheduled to work from 11.30am until 6pm, so I got up early, got ready for work, did a few jobs, made a packed lunch and headed off up the road with LB, who was also heading to work, and caught the bus in.

I was working in a different role to what I thought I would be when I got there, but it was the same role I'd been doing for the whole of the week, so at least it was familiar. It was busy too, with lots of people out shopping. It almost feels like London has filled back up again, with everyone coming back at the end of the summer holidays.

I have to admit, I do like September and October. I used to love going back to school as a child and being born in the autumn, I definitely feel an affinity with the season. I just love it, regardless of what the weather is like. It's my favourite season.

As I left work, there was a heavy rain shower. OH came to pick me up in the car and then brought in a takeaway for supper as a treat. He'd finished laying the decking boards after getting back from his race, so the garden looked a lot better.  The boards still need to be painted with preservative, but it's nice having them back in place again.  It makes going out in the garden a lot easier.

Here's a picture:

As working Sundays go, it was a pretty good one.

On Monday morning, I dropped LB off at the station to go back to her flat. There was a crowd of people outside and it transpired that the trains weren't running due to some sort of incident on the line. Luckily, I'd hung around and waited and was able to run her back home. As a consequence, she decided not to go back to the flat after all, as she was working locally the following day and going out in the evening and would go from home, despite having few clothes left at home to wear.

After dropping LB home, I decided to head out of town for a few hours shopping, to pick up a few things that we needed. I love my Monday's shopping out of town. It's just nice to get out and about sometimes, and preferably on days when it's not very busy.

When I got back, I had time to make some lunch and chill for a couple of hours before getting ready for work.  LB, meanwhile, got ready and headed out to meet some friends for a birthday celebration.

Work tonight, was very different. I was put on a new to me section that is very busy and quite demanding. I'd only worked on there once before, months ago. Anyway, I had to help out elsewhere for an hour or so and got quite behind with my own section, so I was up against it to get finished in time. I did get help from some colleagues thankfully, without which I would have struggled. I was shattered by the time I left to come home.

On Tuesday, I was booked into my usual class the gym again. LB headed into work and I headed to the gym around the same time. LB was going straight back to her flat from work, so we said our goodbyes in the morning. It's been lovely to have here home for a long weekend. She did get some good news before she left in that her reduced student loan had been increased slightly due to an additional application I made. Better than nothing.

My class at the gym was okay. I felt much better this week than I had the week before. When I got home, we needed to book some accommodation in Yorkshire, as we were planning to pay a visit to OH's parents for a couple of nights. We'd not been back to Yorkshire together since the family wedding we attended at the end of May. (OH had gone alone a few weeks ago on his bike) I was looking forward to getting out of London for a few days. A change of scenery can be very therapeutic and after a really busy and eventful summer, especially the last couple of weeks, I felt like I really needed a break. 

I had one more shift to work on Tuesday night, so I just got my head down and worked through it.

On Wednesday, we got packed up and headed up north for a couple of nights. OH had an appointment in the morning, so I managed to squeeze in a quick visit to the allotment to harvest before we set off. It was midday before we were able to get on our way, but we had a good journey up and got there around 3.30pm and spent the rest of the afternoon at OH's parents.

We had booked into a local hotel on this visit. It's not one we've stayed at before as it isn't dog friendly, so it wasn't on our radar, but now it is. It was quite close to where OH's parents live and it also had a gym and swimming pool, so we made sure to pack our gym and swimming gear.

After leaving OH's parents, we headed back there and booked ourselves into a Power Pump class, followed by a short session in the gym, a swim in the pool and a little sit in the sauna. It felt so lovely to be able to do these things where we were staying and was well worth paying a little extra to make our stay a bit more of a relaxing break. We then had supper in the bar, whilst OH watched the cricket. My only complaint was the pillows on the bed. They were way too firm for me and I didn't sleep hardly at all. If we stay here again, I'll definitely bring one from home.

On Thursday, we were up early and headed to a nearby Aldi to get some porridge/granola and fruit for breakfast. We then came back, ate that in our room and I headed to the pool for an aqua aerobic class, whilst OH did a Pilates class.  My class was good. Far more energetic than I expected and I followed up with a swim and a sit in the jacuzzi pool. It felt like we were really enjoying life. Sad I know. We then showered and headed back to OH's parents for the day. 

Whilst OH stayed there to spend time with his dad, I headed out for an hour or so to a few places I like to visit whilst I am in Yorkshire, one of which was the local tip shop, where I managed to bag some more cast iron weights for my barbell, some lighter ones this time, which I don't currently have, so that I can increase the weight more incrementally. These cost just £5 and were a bargain, so I was very happy to find them.

I also like to pay a visit to my parents grave and put some flowers on their grave and clean it up a bit, as it tends to get covered in grass cuttings through the year. I always feel better for doing this. In the evening, I'd arranged to meet my sister and her husband at a local pub for supper and it was lovely to see them and catch up with all their news. The food was good too.

I managed to sleep much better on Thursday night, so felt much more refreshed. We didn't use the gym or facilities on Friday morning, instead we packed up and checked out and headed back to OH's parents, as we had to leave quite early due to the fact I was working in the evening and had to get back to London for 5pm. We spent a couple more hours with them and then set off. Unfortunately the A1, the main route back to London, was completely closed southbound, which entailed a huge cross country detour, but we still got home in good time for me to get to work.

Work was okay, but I was very happy to get to the end of the shift and get home and relax. It had been a long day. LB was home when I got there, as she was working the next day, so it was lovely to see her again too.

On Saturday, I was looking forward to a relaxing day, before working at 5pm, but I got a message from work asking me to go in at 1pm. OH was out most of the day cycling, LB was at work and then going back to her flat, so I agreed to go in early. 

I did need to drop some things off at a local Zero Waste Event though, so I set off to do that. Unfortunately, the venue was virtually unreachable, as they'd made no traffic zones all around it. I couldn't even get close enough and may have even incurred a fine in trying to do so. I was not happy. Why stage an event somewhere it is virtually impossibly to reach? It has really annoyed me. I'll just have to wait and see if I do get a ticket. It will make it a very expensive donation that didn't even happen. I ended up taking the stuff to a charity donation drop off bin around the corner from my house and may make it a habit to do that in the future.

Anyway, I had lunch, got ready and went to work. It was a long day at work, punctuated by a break and working in two different areas, but I was glad to get home, knowing I had the day off the next day.

It's been a very busy week this week, but fitting in a visit to Yorkshire was long overdue, so it has felt like we did achieve something this week.