again? already?
After all the charging around over the last few weeks it’s finally time for settling down into at least a semblence of cosy normality (give or take the odd bit of excitement) and what better time for some R&R than a birthday – yay! I think last weekend’s Iceland delivery was probably the actual highlight, but then a visit from anybody bearing bake-at-home Greggs and a Black Forest is always going to take some beating, especially for somebody now inching from their mid- into their late- forties. God, I love being middle aged.
As has become something of a tradition, this years’ birthday element is palladium; according to Wikipedia a
‘rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself named after the epithet of the Greek goddess Athena, acquired by her when she slew Pallas. Palladium, platinum, rhodium, ruthenium, iridium and osmium form a group of elements referred to as the platinum group metals (PGMs). These have similar chemical properties, but palladium has the lowest melting point and is the least dense of them’.
So not only is my corresponding atomic number named for a Greek goddess (and an extremely cool one), I am also officially the least dense *preens*. Until next year, at least.
The year so far – such as it is twenty two days in, anyway – has been lots of fun and whilst I’m definitely enjoying the current peace, tranquility and even the chilly temperatures now that the brighter days are here, the last minute extension to my first London trip of 2019 was a blast and despite a brief hiatus which involved a repack, a move across town and another unpack (on top of the necessary repack-unpack involved in the Going Home process) well worth the slightly fraught last minute rehash, especially since it found me some lovely new visitors who brought with them radio station, running route and restaurant recommendations, amongst other things not starting with R.
The next trip is creeping up fast and once again it will be slightly longer than usual; I will be arriving on the Saturday afternoon instead of the Sunday advertised and whilst I wouldn’t normally be pointing this out in public, the plan is to head straight for my nice, quiet Pimlico digs rather than bump around the usual budget pods (as much as I love them) and prepare properly for this years’ London Winter Run first thing on the Sunday morning. When I say ‘prepare’ I mean ‘panic’, since I am still far too fat after Christmas and I haven’t done anywhere near enough much running – those who remember the Vitality 10K in May (and the fact I got all the way round at all remains nothing short of a miracle) will also remember that whilst I’m certainly enthusiastic, I’m not actually very good at this type of thing and the advent of bake-at-home Gregg’s has not done anything to help that. Damn you, Iceland.
Fortunately, I have some further inspiration for putting down the fork – new photos! Some will remember I spent a lovely weekend over at the Titanic Spa near Huddersfield and wound up with some fabulous pictures courtesy of my friend KimberlyC (and vice versa); we’ve been planning a repeat ever since and finally settled on next week – yay! This does mean that I’ll be temporarily off grid between Wednesday and Friday lunchtime, but fingers crossed we’ll wind up plenty to be going on with and a bit of a refresh and an update is always good for waking things up. I can’t guarantee I’ll get any fit to post up between getting back and heading off again, but I’ll do my best – promise.
The birthday-themed entry has been running on fumes for a while, so this weeks’ Song Of the Week is a longstanding, albeit none too birthday-y, personal favourite instead, specifically the hastily Spotified one which accompanied my recent 8am realisation (and switching off of the radio alarm in abject horror) that unless I could work out an alternative and fast, I was going to have to get used to waking up with Lauren Laverne instead of Shaun Keaveny – for the love of God, no. Why, 6Music, why? Thankfully the new(ish) BBC Sounds app swiftly put a stop to it with some of the evening stuff I always miss, and after a few days of getting used to each other I think Marc Riley will do fine provided I manage to keep an eye on the time. Even I’m not sharp enough to perfectly match 8 o’clock last night with 8 o’clock this morning, although you never know with a bit of practice.
I also remember queuing with my friend Colin to buy OK Computer back in 1997 outside the much-missed Andy’s Records (where Bodycare is now in the Brunswick Centre, and which was the only place who were happy to order all the things I’d hurriedly scratched the names of down on paper while listening to John Peel of an evening) then spending the rest of the week listening to it on a loop, which was what people did back in the day when they got new records. I am forty six now, don’t forget.
More soon, and pictures too! A relaxing day and some birthday haggis beckons later, which will do nothing at all for the fitness levels but plenty for everything else.
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