Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

Today is the 4th anniversary of when I completed IRONMAN Copenhagen and so I’ve decided it is finally time to take my wristband off. It’s been me good luck charm throughout my doctorate but as that is long over now as well, it’s time for a change.

As a bonus, I managed to get it off my wrist in one piece using the plastic bag method.

I’ve mostly finished furnishing my new office and am very pleased with how it looks now. It is designed with neurodivergent clients in mind: natural light and smart bulbs that I can control the temperature and intensity of, a three-seater sofa to stretch out on, and a bowl of fidgets. The sideboard arrived last week which was one of the final pieces of the puzzle.

We went to the beach. Filey is a bit rubbish. They don’t have any free public toilets anymore. Sand was okay, though. We made a sandcastle.

Unfortunately, it was high tide at 8am so it was going out most of the day and never came back in while we wer there. Luckily, Little Bear did most of the work.

I’ve been in the process of moving offices just up the road onto Park Square. We’ve been working for the past few weeks on folding chairs and whatever else I had around. But the sofa has not arrived and the lamps arrived shortly after this photo was taken, too. I’m most excited about my bowl of fidgets.

Hyde Park Harriers is 20 years old! To celebrate, we had a do at Headingley Stadium. Thank you to Toby and the organising committee for making it happen. And Beth for the anniversary cupcakes!

We joined PANDAS for some model aeroplane flying. Unfortunately, it was too windy the day Venla was there for her to show us how its done. But I got to have a fly on the Sunday. I managed to do the circuit with stability control on. I also tried it with stability control off, which was really difficult. Not being in the plane, it’s difficult to judge. I don’t think pilots in real planes understand how easy they have it.

I’ve been attending Therapist Cafe Leeds for a while but I decided to venture further afield and visit the Shipley event. As a bonus, it also meant I could tick off Roberts Park parkrun which I completed at a leisurely walk to ensure I wasn’t sweaty. Lovely to meet everyone who attended and hopefully see you again soon.

Wool Fest is an annual festival of wool that takes place at Armley Mills Museum. There are exhibitors telling yarn and knitted items, spinning demonstrations, music and morris dancing.

It’s not as big as Yarndale and the venue gives it a different flavour: you have so much history at the museum, but also does mean a lot of steps and squeezing through tight gaps around the machinery. Even the outside bits were undercover so the rain didn’t stop anything.

When I did Leeds Marathon earlier this month, I decided to treat myself to the VIP experience on the basis that A) it would be a nice welcome home present to myself and B) me eating small finger sandwiches would contribute to valuable research on supporting motor neurone disease.

It was in the Howard Suite which gives you a view of both the rugby field and the cricket ground.

Most of the appeal of all was better availability of toilets. This is a real source of stress for me and has had a big impact on my running so if I can throw some money at it and make the problem go away, that is money well spent. They also provide food before and after the race and somewhere to sit down, although the seating was pretty limited.

I did manage to squeeze in a pastry before the race. There wasn’t much of a lunch buffet after, but they did have some sandwiches and I had a few of those. They had a separate room for baggage with plenty of space, although you could just wander in and out of there so it was less secure than a standard bag drop.

The most challenging part, though, is that with it being in the Howard Suite, these were the stairs we had to navigate. Not ideal after just having run a marathon :D.

Two months ago, our kitchen floor collapsed. There has been a lot of back-and-forth about it, but last week, contractors finally came in to sort it out. When they took the floor up to find out what was going on, they found there was an old rotting floor underneath it, and someone had just built a new floor over the top of it.