Some highlights of this Christmas

Christmas 2010

Some of the highlights....

It snowed.  A lot.  I have now totally blown any weather forecasting credibility with B & H.  Whenever we hear on the weather forecast that we're going to expect snow, I always say "it'll never come to anything, it never does these days".  For the second year running, I've been totally wrong......

Becky giving me that precious gift which she made herself at school

Hannah being Hannah!

That silly game of cards when the McRoys came 'round

So lovely and snowy

A delighted Hannah

Rachel

Becky with her artist's model

Christmas 2010

Christmas just wouldn't be right without a candle-lit carol service, once again very moving indeed.  This year's lump-in-the-throat was a rendition of Silent Night.  I couldn't help but be reminded of those stories about soldiers in the First World War singing Silent Night, playing football with the Germans during that brief time when men could just, for a brief time, rise above the evils of the World and accept each other.

We're reminded how Christ came into the world, not as a King in a palace but as a Saviour in a manger. What does Jesus make of all the cards, presents and so on at this time of year?  Probably not much, so let us think of him as a family and look towards Easter to make sense of it all once again.

Our Christmas, once again this year, hasn't gone exactly to plan with us not all being able to be with each other.  Nevertheless all is (mostly) well with the wider family. One of the real bonuses is that we can all take a good rest, for each one of us there is the real need to do that.  For B & H the autumn term always seems long and this was again the same, though I wonder, if they've been more aware this year of how long its been.  It seems so long ago - early September - still summer time really when they started back in their summer dresses and now here we are in the middle of the winter.  Each one of us has just kept going and now we have all mentally stopped and flopped.  The opportunity for us to recharge our batteries is important.  For me, mentally recharging those batteries is important and even now I still have things on my mind from work.  No great worries, just wondering how I will solve this or that issue.

Here we are with Grandma, just starting the Christmas afternoon frenzy of opening presents.  Rachel always tries to string it out for as long as she can, savouring every moment.  The rest of us are simply not patient enough!

It's also a delight to play a few silly games.  This was "chase the ace" an Hannah always going about it in her normal funny, cute way.

As part of helping me relax mentally, I have happily been on a few runs, including about 30 minutes on Christmas morning, and over an hour on the following two days.  It works wonders!  Sometimes I run for a mile or so on a kind of auto-pilot, not really concentrating on the running with my feet just doing what they need to do, while I completely loose myself in though.

I naturally wonder what 2011 will bring.  Almost certainly life will continue to tick over and I'm certainly not seeking anything more.  My challenge continues to be in dealing with the pressures of life and particularly work which links nicely into running as the antidote.  Although it's tough going at times, I know I must carry on.  I need the challenge of doing my job, seeing how it continues to develop.  Again I think I'm the luckiest person there in having a unique job that evolves generally in positive ways.  The more I immerse myself in work, the more I'm likely to stay there and in turn the greater the pressures.  With that is the need to have that escape, that safety valve of getting out thre for a good run.  Cycling this year will also be a part of that as a means of keeping fit.

I remember going through a phase of rising the 13 miles each way to work and my weight almost dropping by the day.  Sometimes I'd even go for a run in the gym after that ride.  I'm out of the habit of cycling but through running I understand more about how my body works.  However, running and cycling appear more inter linked than ever nowadays.  I've taken the plunge and decided to get a Thorn Audax mk3 for 2011....

The kids are getting the message now....

This might look like any ordinary tube of toothpaste having reached the end of its' life.  In many ways that is exactly right and yet to me it represents much more.

For B & H its a little ritual in the morning, after breakfast with "Daddy, please can you squeeeeeze the toothpaste out for me pleeeeease".To them it was a little game to see who would have the last bit of toothpaste.  For days I'd be saying that was it, surely no more and yet they'd persuade me to have another go and to my astonishment, I'd manage to get a little more out.

For me, its all about those little routines that mean so much.  A chance in the day to have some fun within a pretty mundane chore of brushing teeth while we were all in a dreadful rush in dashing off to school, work etc.

It also has come to symbolise our efforts in not wanting to be wasteful; squeezing that very last drop out of something has become a little more important.  Why?  Well, we're in a wasteful world with much extravagance and needless waste.  Waste of resources, money and effort, often at someone else's expense.

Our old sofa, is now no more.

We bought it second hand in about 1997 and we remember our friend Paul helping out with transporting it in his trailer.  Getting it into the sitting room was quite a challenge with almost having to bend it to get it in through the door.  Over the 13 years we've had it, all kind of things have happened to it as B & H have grown up.  When Rachel and I decided it was time to update it, they were quite sad but we all like the replacement.  Such good memories.... when we bought it, tried to get it in, the times when we've pulled it up close to the TV in our make-do cinema

Watercress

Frosty watercress growing in our pond; it all started a few years ago when Rachel said one day "that looks just like watercress" as we sat on the side.

"try tasting it" I suggested.

"Errr no thanks, not my cup of tea"

And so I tasted it and sure enough, watercress it was.  Lots of it, taking over in fact.

Rachel had a while beforehand, planted some cress in a near by pot and all we can guess is that some of those tiny seeds had drifted across and got established before our very eyes.

So it seems that our watercress is really good for us.  Having circulating water helps by means of the pond pump and its always nice in a salad, or as Rachel puts it so nicely, a compost sandwich.


http://www.watercress.co.uk/health/superfood.shtml

Reasons to Run

Ivinghoe Beacon

Physically

• Raised heartbeat - I know it goes much higher than my Doctor recommends.  Looking at him I doubt he's a runner and he certainly doesn't understand why anyone why I want to run saying "it's not as if you're training to be a top class athlete so I don't understand why you want to run"
• Strengthening my bones - there's no way I want to have fragile bones when I'm older
• Strengthening my ligaments, tendons around my ankles when I run over rough ground - when I ran with Dave McRoy in Snowdonia I remember having to work hard keeping balance over that rocky ground
• Weight control - a nice steady 10st 7lbs seems about right
• Better, deeper sleep - this is blissful!  Sometimes I almost seem to know when I'm in a really deep sleep and my body is repairing itself
• Listening to my body breathing, working, being in tune - perhaps this is what people who do yoga talk about
• I am more healthy than I was 20 years ago - I wasn't in bad shape but my diet wasn't very good and I did smoke.  I certainly couldn't run far.

Mentally

• The Runner's High - wow what can I say?  I sometimes feel so elated, so much on top of the world, happy and able to handle anything
• Feel unbeatable
• Problem solving; working through problems - the only snag is not being able to remember what I had worked out
• Seeing things clearly
• Makes me feel alive! Especially if its been raining, or cold or maybe after a really fast fluid kind of run
• I feel great all day if I run early in the morning
• Keeping things in perspective
• De-stressing myself - the main motivation that got me going originally

The joy of it

• Listening to the sound of gravel dancing behind me, following my footsteps
• Listening to the rhythm of my footsteps - almost hypnotic and a great way of maintaining a steady pace
• Listening to music on my ipod - Invitation to the Blues by either Tom Waits (the best) or Jennifer Warnes (pretty good), Young at Heart by the Bluebells
• Being the first to run through the new day - such an immense privilege that is utterly priceless especially when I'm the first to run through the dew covered grass
• The challenge of it - I have only once cut a run short and gone back home early
• The satisfaction of it
• Where does this path lead...?
• Every run is different
• The clouds
• The smells in the woods, the pockets of cool air on a summer's evening
• The different seasons
• Running along the edge of fields and noticing how crops have grown, changed colour
• Running through puddles, feeling the water splash my legs and make my feet wet for a bit

The "tallest" person in Wales

Hannah, tallest person in Wales, Mount Snowdon, October 2010

I was so proud of our girls as we made it to the top of Mount Snowdon.  They were like mountain goats as they clambered effortlessly up the rocky track.

Amazingly, no complaints, just got on and enjoyed the challenge.

Afterwards I asked Becky what she thought of Mount Snowdon.  She said it was nothing like what she's expected.  She went onto explain that she thought it would be a flat landscape with a triangular mountain sticking up, with snow on the top.

Another great day in the Cotwolds

Just about every thing went to plan on this bike ride.  We did this on 10th November 2010.

We arranged to meet at Burford again, a really nice car park, free and the same as the night ride earlier in the year.  The clouds were clearing to allow the sun to shine through just enough for us to feel the warmth when we stopped.  It was pretty cold but Wallie, as ever, thought it was great.

We pedalled off going east from Burford in an anti clockwise circle, arriving back in Burford at around 4.00pm.

It was really funny listening to Wallie talk about bike rides with Angela; the slow speed, the need to constantly stop to put more clothes on or off etc.  We drew comparisons with Rachel frequently announcing "this is definitely the last time I'm going on a bike".

The whole day was such a well needed tonic for work induced stress, something to look forward to, something to get me thinking about other adventures.

Geo Bar Rant

We're trying to do "the right thing" but it's a bit frustrating and sometimes wonder whether it is really worth the bother.  Notwithstanding this, here's a little product review cum rant.

As a family we are being more proactive and making more effort in buying responsibly these days, accepting it will sometimes cost a little more.  For some time we have been buying more organic food and more recently, we have purchased much less meat.  A while back I tried a Geo Bar and really liked it - moist, chewy and very fruity so I thought I'd maybe keep some in stock.

Then today a mail order box arrived, from Goodness Foods, containing quite a variety of foods and the above box of Geo Bars were included.  I was amazed at how light the box felt (pictured) so I opened it and it's obvious why - just look at the tiny size of that bar in relation to the box!  So much packaging is misleading and very unnecessary.  You can see from the above photo that the Geo Bar is roughly half the box and I just can't see the justification for this, or can I?

Costing 37p each or £2.22 for a box of 6, you'd expect to get something fairly substantial for that, wouldn't you?  Why do they do this, how can they possibly justify this?

The actual bars taste fine.  They're quite moist and don't appear to be fragile - staying stuck together very well.  The first ingredient is Glucose Syrup which clearly helps the structure stay together but I wonder if the bar were more substantial, perhaps less syrup would be needed.  There is a nice combination of nuts, wheat, fruit and different flavours available - perhaps I ought to try these for a fuller picture.  For the above bar, the actual ingredient list looks fine from my perspective.  According to the box, the Fairtrade elements amount to 50.8% which isn't bad at all but could certainly be better.  With 142 kcal per bar, that's sufficient fuel for about 2 miles running, again, not too bad.  With only 1.4g of fibre in each bar, perhaps it could do better in that department!

To conclude:

• Taste-wise they're nice
• At 37p they are not cheap
• Fairtrade portion is 50.8%
• Ridiculous packaging
• Healthy

Today, back to work

Just a quickie... went back to work after a week off.  Always get jumpy and nervous beforehand - what's happened, gone wrong?  I always try to delay logging on to the screen of unread emails and today, somewhat fortunately, I had a 10am meeting in Headquarters with my Manager.  Perfect excuse.

I arrived a few minutes early and just as I was walking in my phone bleep saying I had a message.  Tempting as it was to answer, I let it go to voicemail.  Adrian was a little tied up, seeing the HR Manager about the latest round of staff cuts, so the question was whether I would mind waiting a little.

"Fine, no problem" I said "Gives me a chance to deal with some emails"
Why did I say that, the last thing I wanted to do.

Meeting was pleasant, drove back to my office.  Went into town to get my Mother-in-Law's watch from the watchmaker, as it was being repaired.  "Closed on Thursday" said the sign.  How quaint.  How annoying.

After a little more procrastination and a few more excuses, I logged on for a proper look at the 284 emails.  Quite a few could be deleted straight away; daily arrests who's who, car park, central heating pump.  A few could be read and replied instantly, plenty of others will have to wait.

So not too bad.  Phew.  Training event tomorrow.

Came home.  After dinner we all watched a recording of World's Strictest Parents.  Becky likes having strict parents, Hannah understands why she only has Chocolate spread on a Sunday.

All's well.