George had an inset day to day, so I asked him what he’d like to do. After a little thought he came to this: Go for a walk round Box Hill, then have a picnic lunch looking out at the scenery. Then another little walk, ice cream, look in the shop and then home. Then this afternoon make some chocolate cakes. The cakes are in the oven now, and nearly done. I’ve never seen him concentrate so hard when putting cake mixture into the cake cases. “Can I lick the bowl?” he asked when he’d finished…..well you can hardly say no, because that’s what I do anyway.
Well Mark is now back home from Belfast. He spent the last 6 days over there because he’s written a film with Jon Wright called “Our Robot Overlords”. And they were rehearsing with the kids in the film, and then had their first day of filming on Friday. So it’s all go for the next few months. Mark will be back and forth to Ireland or The Isle of Man. So that’s the exciting news in our household. I’ll keep you posted on how everything is going, but I’ve already asked for a new dress for the film’s premier!!!
If you’ve not realised yet, I’m very competitive, especially with myself. So having done last years 10k Race for Life in 87 minutes, I wanted to beat that score today. Not having a watch with me it was difficult to see how I was getting along, until I came within sight of the finish line. On the train journey up I was thinking that I needed to do 1km is about 8 and a half minutes, and this would put me on target for last year’s time. Before we started we had to do a warm up with this clearly insane person. Doing that amount of exercise at 9am on a saturday morning should not be allowed!! I started with everyone else, but then we slowly stopped and did our own form of exercises. Stretching out the tops of my legs was a priority, none of this jogging business for me. So at 9.30am off we went, the runner first, then the joggers, then finally us walkers. As I passed under the clock it said 2.21. The weather was overcast, but frankly the best weather you could hope for. So off I went, walking to the beat of my music. If a slowish song came on then I changed it to a more brisk one. 1k came into sight and the field started to open up. I started at the very front of the walkers, so I could get a good stride on. Then the km kept going past, before I knew it I was up to 4, and nearly half way. I kept overtaking the joggers that had slowed down, but several times they over took me to run, then went back to walking, and I over took them again. As we rounded the half way point the 5k competitors started to appeared, and it started to get a bit busier round various parts of the course. Members of the general public walked out infront of you, and seemed to be oblivious to what was going on. “Pay attention” I think I muttered a few times, then a kid on a scooter…. Anyway, 8k could be seen, which was good as the tops of my legs started to ache a bit. I wasn’t going to slow down, so ploughed on. Then 9k and the wonderful sign 500m to go. As I came round the final corner I could see the time ahead, and knew I had to take 2 minutes off that. The last 50 meters I ran as I did last year, and I crossed the finish line with the clock saying 1 hour 23 minutes and 53 seconds!! Which means that I did it in….81 minutes and 32 seconds!!! I was so surprised, I never realised I walked that fast. So I walked just over 5 miles per hour, I never knew I could walk that fast. I suppose that’s what happens when you have an inside leg of 33.5 inches.
Finally a huge, massive thank you to everyone who sponsored me, I’ve raised £125 in sponsorship money and £17.50 in Gift Aid. Here’s my page, so you can see…
Now I’d better go and mow the grass, no rest for the wicked xxxxx
Well I spent just over 2 hours planting various plants in Louise’s (my sister in laws) garden. We all got together and sorted out her back garden a while back, and the plants that we put in are doing really well. There are a few holes, so I filled them in today. The bind weed is a huge problem, but I’m sure we can sort it out in time. The kids and I then went to Michelle, my sister and I had a few vegetable plants for her. Mainly brassicas and beans. She’s recently moved into a new house and the garden is smaller, but her greenhouse is up, and she’s got lots of plants in. We had a chat, and then the kids and I joined the rush hour traffic home. After a really busy day and a couple of glasses of red wine, I’m now fine and relaxed. Mark is home tomorrow evening, which I’m so looking forward to, for many reasons. Six nights on my own…what can I say.
Well it’s been a busy morning with one thing and another: Gas man (boiler decided not to turn itself off), Derek to see about replacing our fencing (I put it in 10 years ago and it’s had enough, but I’m not doing it again), and all sorts of things to do in the garden and greenhouse. Now that June is very nearly here (tomorrow is the 1st, yay!) It’s time to start getting all the tender crops ready to go outside. I’ve put a load on the garden table, so next week I’ll take them down the allotment and put them in their final resting places (sounds like a funeral). So far I’ve got a variety of squashes and pumpkins, sunflowers, all the sweetcorn and the chop suey greens. That should keep me busy for a while. Once they’ve gone in, then I’ll get some more out. I’ve got loads of brassicas, so I think that’ll be the next job. I need to get new netting first. Finally I’ve planted my Runner and French beans. I’ve not been putting them off, but just didn’t have room in the greenhouse for them. To be honest with the weather like it is, I don’t think it’ll matter if they’re a bit late. I’ve sown “Wisley Magic”, “Blue Lake” and “Purple Teepee”. Also a very generous plot holder, Chantel, gave me 5 slips of sweet potatoes. I’m not sure where she got them from or what variety they are, but I’ve now put them in soil in a large pot. They’ve been sitting in water since she gave them to me, and have got some lovely roots growing, so I’m hoping that they’ll do well this year. Just before the birds breeding season started, there was pair of robins who kept visiting my garden. I’d not seen them for a while, as they must have been busy with their new brood. However, over the past few days they’ve come back, but I think it’s a parent and a baby. They sat on my fence this morning, and the parent bird was feeding the baby. It was such a beautiful sight. I tried to get the camera ready, but when I came back they’d gone. This afternoon the kids and I are off to my sister in laws to put some more plants in her garden, then it’s home for a good clean.
Well tomorrow is the big day, so I’ve got to get all my things sorted. Must remember my water bottle, race number and sign for the back of my shirt. Thanks you very much to everyone who has already sponsored my, so far I’ve raised £105 and £12.50 in gift aid, which is amazing. If you would still like to sponsor me please click HERE and it’ll take you straight to my sponsor ship page. Early night is due as we’ve got to get up at 7am, to leave for 8am. Mark is now away til saturday evening, so my dear friend Sally is looking after my 2 whilst I walk my 10k. Thank you Sally, you’re a real star xx.
Well George is home, and so has an unearthly stench! He went away on saturday, and so has been away for 5 days. “Did you have a shower or bath?” I enquired. “No” was his reply. Apparently for the whole time he was camping he only washed is hands and face. So as soon as he got in, he was straight in the bath. However, he still smells, so I think another is due before he goes to bed. I’ve now go the enviable task of sorting out all his luggage. From what I’ve seen so far, it’s very wet! How lovely, so you know what I’ll be doing tomorrow. Now he knows why I hate camping so very much. He did have a great time though, but is very, very tired, so I think an early night is due.
As promised for Emily a day of baking. So we started with Chocolate Chip Ice cream (in an ice cream maker), then as we only used the egg yolks for that we had egg whites left, so the only thing to make is meringues. I taught Emily how to pipe properly by using a pastry bag. She’s getting the hang of it, but it’s something quite difficult to master. I used to work in a bakery, so was piping much of the time. It took me a while to master it, but once you’ve got it there’s no looking back. Then after lunch we made some chocolate chip muffins, and when they’re cool, I’ll get her to ice them again using the piping bag. She was going through my utensils draw, and asked what various things were. I do like my gadgets when I’m cooking, anyting to make it more fun. I then popped in the greenhouse and potted up my Sweet Pepper’s “Rainbow Blend”, my “Pilgrim” Butternut Squash, my “Giant and Green” Kohl Rabi, and some “LadyBird Poppies” for my sister in laws garden. Mark sent me a text when I was in the greenhouse, and the beeping my phone made set off my tits chirping. I sent a reply to Mark, and his comment was…”That’s a neat trick if you can pull it off!”. I’ll keep practicing that, and maybe I can show it off at next years Britain’s Got Talent. I bet no one has ever done that before.
Well it’s just the 2 of us at home for a few days. George is at Scout Camp til Wednesday mid afternoon, Mark is in Belfast til late Friday evening, so it just me and Emily at home. It’s very quiet, a little unnervingly so. With such a wonderful day we decided to go to Ham House and Garden today. What a lovely place to walk around and dream that you lived in such a gorgeous house. We went into one room full of paintings of ladies wearing beautiful dresses, and we played the game “What dress would we like to wear”. We decided on 2, the other just looked too puffy and OTT. You have to play a similar game when you go into an art gallery, but this time it’s called “What painting would go well in our living room”. There were also loads of paintings of men in their finery, and we looked to see who we fancied, but to be honest, they all looked like wimps, and more interested in their looks. We took lunch with us, and sat down on a bench and watched the world go buy, we them looked round the gardens and then had an ice cream and came home. Tomorrow is supposed to be rainy, so we’re going to do baking. Emily’s been choosing breakfast, lunch and dinner, and we’ve been sitting in front of the TV eating dinner and watching a film. Last night it was “Kick Ass” and tonight, we’re not sure.
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