July

 

Life has been busy but I'm still not sure how more than a month went by! Getting ready to leave my job is taking a lot of thought and planning and leaving the NHS after being there for 19 years brings up many memories and feelings. There has been so much colour and drama and most of it I can't talk about or only with care because it's not just my business, it's other people's.

We had our first holiday in a long time. Well Peter's life is a holiday but what I mean is we actually went somewhere together. The Berlingo had made it through another MOT - not without a fair amount of work, but I honestly thought it would be worse than it was - and it drove better when I got it back than it has for months. Maybe 6 months.  We headed west to see my sister. Looking at old photos I think it's possible that I've not been across since 2009. Where did all that time go? My nephew Donald has sprung up from thigh height to much bigger than me, and full of fun. The younger one, Sorley, was monosyllabic. I didn't like visitors in the house when I was young either. I do want to know what's going on in that young mind but you can't force these things.

How far do you think I ran while I was away? 3 miles. Well it's been so hot and I had a bit of a heel injury. Why push and push and push for nothing? I think too much computer time is taking a toll on me. I've had a sore shoulder for months now and I finally thought I should do something about it. I came across Pete Egoscue and his books somewhere. He says we all have terrible posture and that's what eventually causes our chronic joint and back problems. It doesn't start out that way. We build a fantastic core by crawling and learning to raise our heads and turn over  and eventually getting onto our feet - but after that the rot sets in. We sit around on our arses and we don't challenge ourselves and we get all out of kilter and sooner or later something must go. I've been doing his exercises for shoulders out of one of his books - it might be Free yourself from Chronic Pain - and I still have some of the pain, but it's much better. 

His wider message is that we need to use our bodies - if we don't, we'll lose function. I try to get by on running but I don't do much else! I was better when I worked in the hospital because I had to run around all day and move things and make beds and all that, but much of my work now is sitting at a desk, more so since the pandemic. Working from home I'd nearly stopped cycling at all. And I hardly walk anywhere. So at the moment I'm making an effort to re-engage with the world physically.

Maybe I'll write my blog more. I've been missing it. The trouble is, so many things build up that there's too much to say so you end up saying nothing. Nice to see you anyway. I'll try and write more in August.