Just keep running

Recently I have taken up running. Do not know what really got me started, wanting to get fit and prove to myself I can do it I guess. Started out running/ walking about 3 miles and have steadily been improving. Quite quickly got up to the 10K (6 Miles) mark and was pretty proud of myself.

Last weekend I entered my first race, the Eynsham 10k, I was very chuffed to have finished it in 1h01m56s. Bit gutted to have been so close to the hour, be we can't have everything. I was also quite excited to be in the same race as Thom Yorke, even if he did beat me. Running in a race was fun and much easier than training.

So coming on leaps and bounds in the first few months has spurred me on for greater things. I have never thought I was that fussed about turning thirty and had one aim in life, to have a baby before I'm thirty. Well with going to Cameroon one thing and another that has not panned out so I needed something else to do before thirty (not a whole crazy list , like some people) which turns out to be a marathon.

So we (Joe and I) are booked in to the Brighton half marathon in February and the Paris marathon in April. After this I think I will just be doing 10k's but you never know I might get the marathon bug!!

We will be doing the Paris marathon for the British Heart Foundation, who better for me to support. I am sure fund-raising will commence soon, watch this space. For now I just keep going out 2 or 3 times a week for a nice run with Nik, my personal trainer/ motivator/ running buddy/ crazy friend who does triathlons and will never talk me in to doing one. Up to 13k so almost there for the half marathon - long way to go to prepare for Paris - eek!

The start of a new era

This week saw the start of a new era in the Talbot household...........

.......The Vegetable Box era.

I was so excited last Tuesday morning knowing that by the time I got home from work our first vegetable box would have arrived. I was even more excited at 07:30 when it did arrive and was gutted I had to rush out to work. Picked up a very juicy tasty apple from the box to enjoy with my lunch though.

So we had a wonderful mixture of stuff including a very bizzare looking cauliflower and some delicious red peppers.

The hope is that I will need to go shopping less often and we will get out of our cooking rut and sample some new stuff.

We get to choose what we don't want, carrots was at the top of the list and we see the produce for the next box a week in advance so you can have stuff taken out.

Its great.... next week comes Kale - what on earth do I do with that?

Everybody's gone surfing

Last weekend we had a girly weekend in Croyde, Devon where I had my first try at surfing. I have been body-boarding a few times before but this was my first attempt at surfing. It was really difficult but great fun. Sarah gave us a few lessons in the living room before we left and made it look really easy. Paddle paddle paddle, jump - easy! However once we got out to sea it was no way that easy. Getting out to sea was hard let alone getting on the board and paddling and to even attempt to jump - that was just plain crazy! I did get up on to my knees which was a great achievement. It was hard work and I struggled to carry my board back to the car afterwards, my arms ached for ages.

It was great fun though and with a full wetsuit, boots and gloves it was even quite warm! Planning the next trip.....


After I have a rest that is.....

Photo's care of Kate - Thanks

Beautiful Weekend

For the first time in my working life I work Monday to Friday. This has its pros on cons but one big plus point is having lots of fun weekends. This weekend was just beautiful. Devi and Chris, some good friends of ours came to visit. Saturday morning we went to the Ashmolean museum in Oxford which was great, my highlights being the mummy in the Egyptian section and the huge chocolate cake in the cafe.

We then went on a little boating adventure. Took the car up to the predicted terminus of the trip (The Jollyboat man pub) and wandered down the canal to catch our boat. Stuart and Sarah had hired a narrow boat for the weekend and invited us to join them. We me them at on of the locks not far from where we live. We waited quite a while for them to arrive and had great fun watching people travel through the locks. From 35 year experts to stag and hen parties bashing all the banks.

From Boating trip

Not long after we joined the boat we met some kids fretting about a lost dog. We soon caught up with the little cocker spaniel swimming away in the middle of the canal. We tried to entice it on to the boat but he swam right past. Nik and Joe both jumped on to the bank to go and help. They came back a little while later with a very wet Nik. The dog just kept swimming with no hope of getting to the bank so Nik had no choice but to wade in and get it. Unfortunately he was on his phone at the time - on hold, trying to get some help. So he now has a wet possible dead phone all in the name of being a local hero. The dog was delivered back to its owners and we carried on out merry way to the pub.

From Boating trip

Fun fun fun

On Friday we went to Tom and Aideen's wedding. Tom is one of my best friends from uni who I shared a house with for the whole four years. Tom is also Joe's cousin and we met through him. tom was the best man at our wedding and we love him lots.

So attending his wedding was fab. All my old Uni friends were there (apart from the lovely Laura who is living in Dubai) and all of Joe's lovely family were there.

From Tom and Aid's wedding

Even though it poured with rain pretty much from the moment we arrived it was still a beautiful day. It was quite bizzare having to share my time between some of my closest friends amd my in-laws. I was having great fun but remembering I had to be on my best behaviour at the same time!!! No smooching on the dance floor, what would my Mother-in-law think!

From Tom and Aid's wedding

Aideen looked beautiful and it was a wonderful day. So congratulations to Tom and Aid and thank you for a great day.

From Tom and Aid's wedding

Least Sunny August on record....

.... I was not surprised by the news story that this has been the dullest most miserable August on record. I was quite chuffed to have a nice one day summer on Saturday and was glad I was not working. Oh well lets enjoy Christmas and see what next summer brings.

A tale of two Cows

It has taken a while to arrange my birthday present this year - mostly down to me being indecisive. However with my love of all things cow and cow print when I saw this pouffe I know I had to have it!!! So yesterday I went to buy it and I love my real cow, cow print pouffe. I do feel a little sorry for the cow that helped make it but I am sure he made some tasty steaks at the same time!!



On the theme of cows I have to feel sorry for the curious cow that got its head stuck in a washing machine drum. Poor thing probably looking for some nice tasty food got its head stuck in some junk that someone had thrown away - tut tut.

A blog behind

Ok Ok I know I have not blogged for ages! I am very sorry i have just been sooooo busy. With a new job where I have to go to work 5 days a week there is just no time for blogging. So what have I been up to in the 2 months that has past. The answer is not a lot........ Went to France with the parents and Rich and Clare for a lovely relaxing holiday staying in a fantastic Château and well that's it. Going to work everyday is hard work and means I have no time for fun!

Well at least there is a new photo to look at now!

Kittens

Yesterday Joe and I doubled the size of our family by collecting two kittens. We are now trying to make friends with them and welcome them in to our home. So meet Didimus and Leeloo.

Didimus, named after our great friend in Cameroon is the mostly white one and Leeloo, named after the ultimate being in the 5th element is the mostly black one.

so far they are pretty playful loving their yellow feather thing. Most their time has been spent sitting on out dining chairs, totally ignoring their nice new bed we bought. I think they have been successful in using the litter tray and have found no little surprises yet!

I hope over the next few weeks we will be come best of friends and all have great fun together!

Highest ranking imperial concubine chicken for a short time

We have just spent the last three weeks in china. We covered 2377 miles by night train and saw all the great sights. It is difficult to know where to start telling you about the trip. It was amazing ans we saw so much. We had a brilliant local guide called Frank who kept us well fed and ensured our trip went as smooth as possible. We started out in Hong Kong following a really horrible landing in a grade 3 typhoon. Hong Kong was a crazy city and a good starting point as it fools you in to a false sense of security thinking that being in China cannot be that difficult as so many people speak English! After a few days we moved on the Yangshou, with its beautiful scenery. One of my highlights of the trip was an amazing outdoor performance on the river in Yangshou in the worlds largest natural stage. Directed by the guy who will be doing the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympics. Very difficult to photograph or explain the show it is a amazing performance using lights, the water and natural beauty.

From Yangshou we travelled to the three gorges dam and took a cruise on the Yangtze river which was beautiful. From here we went to X'ian which was my favourite city. With the shops in the Muslim quarter, the Bell and Drum towers and the old city wall. We of course from here took a trip to the terracotta warriors, which were just amazing. Having seen the warriors in the British museum I felt I knew what to expect. Seeing the warriors was absolutely amazing. However I really enjoyed seeing the parts that were newly excavated. The warriors in pieces that are painstakingly put back together by the archaeologists.

From here we went to Shanghai which to be honest is the part of the trip I could give or take. the highlight was the acrobatic show which was fantastic. Then on to Beijing to the Forbidden city, Tiananmen square. The final day was a trip to the Great Wall. Walking along the Great wall was amazing, to think you are stood on a wall built so long ago. The chair lift up and toboggan ride down from the wall was fun too!

We had a really great group which made the trip even more fun. A group of 15 random individuals put together for three weeks could be a disaster but we all got on really well and had great fun. Another highlight was the food, everyday we had a feast chosen for us by Frank. I sampled delights such as tripe, donkey, chicken feet and dog. There were lots of comedy signs where they had translated in to English. One of the best gave the title of this post, it is basically quick fried chicken, In a hotel I came across a sigh saying 'If you have an affair please inform housekeeping'.

A sign of Spring

I have said before that I love spring, it has to be my favourite season or maybe the sunny Summers, oh but Autumn is beautiful. No I think spring, it is the season of new beginnings, the days get longer, it is no longer dark when I get up for work. The weather gets warmer (sometimes) and gardens look green and lush. On Sunday Joe and I went to Kew Gardens to see the final day of the Henry Moore exhibition. I have wanted to go to Kew for a while but did not think Joe would want to (for the record he did say he would have been happy to go with me any time) but when he heard about the exhibition he was keen. As we were in London anyway we went. I loved it. The gardens were so beautiful with all the spring flowers out, having the sculptures dotted around made it even more interesting and the old green houses are just so cool. It was a very relaxing afternoon wondering around the gardens and searching the palm house for plants from Cameroon (of which I did find one!)

So here are a few pictures to enjoy. Followed by the photos as promised of our garden. Not quite as impressive as Kew but nice. Including the pond complete with tadpoles!

Sweet like Chocolate

For Christmas I bought my Mum and Chocolate making experience for 2 and being the cheeky daughter I am invited myself along to make up the 2! We spent the day shopping in Oxford Street before arriving at My Chocolate to start the experience. We were taken in to great kitchen surrounded with chocolate and offered tea or coffee where our Chocolatier introduced some chocolate tasters for us to sample and explained to us the history of chocolate. Then he set about showing us hot to make vanilla cream truffles, dark chocolate caramel fudge, nut brittle and Gianduja.

After this the fun began and we moved in to the cut and dipping room. Here we had a slab of fudge, a slap of Gianduja, some nut brittle, some truffles and some bowls of melted chocolate and various bits to decorate with. And we set about cutting, dipping and decorating our chocolate. We both had great fun getting covered in chocolate and trying really hard not to lick our fingers.

I am not very artistic so my chocolates ended up looking like a mess of chocolate but some people around the table were very talented making very professional looking chocolates. We then got to bag and box up our chocolates and tie ribbons around them and bring them home.

I was very pleased to be able to bring some chocolate to reward my Dad who had spend the whole day obliterating the orange paint in the dining room - thank you so much Dad.

So now I have a rather delicious set of chocolates in the fridge even if they do look rather messy they taste gooooooood!

I shall call it home

So we are in the new house, it all went very smoothly on the day. We had completed by 11:00 out of the old house by noon and the removal men had left by 4. There were no nasty surprises awaiting us apart from the red gloss windowsill and number of wallpaper borders there are which I had totally forgotten about since looking round. Everything is tickety boo, there is even some frog spawn in the pond and some rhubarb in the vegetable patch.

There is quite a bit of decorating to do. The dado has to go along with the stone cladding in the living room. Also the orange walls in the dining room will be the first thing to be changed.

We are loving the French doors out in to the garden, it will be so nice to be able to just step outside in the summer. The garden is huge and fantastic and if it stops raining them I will take my camera outside.

Moving on

So it is all done and packed and tomorrow we move house. I have spent the last week wrestling with boxes trying to get all our stuff packed. 'We don't have much, most of it is still packed from going to Cameroon' I said, oh boy we have so much stuff it is unreal. A car full goes of to the tip courtesy of Joe parents (thanks) and that is a mere drop in the ocean of stuff that we have. How did we ever collect so much stuff, it is amazing and we still have stuff at my parents house to collect after the move - eek! Well tomorrow it will all go in one lorry (I hope) ready to move in to our new house.

I think we have never truly settled in to this house since our return as we knew we would be moving. We have a saying that has come quite common 'in the new house we will................' I wonder how many of those things we will do. I plan to grow vegetables in my new green house which I really hope I fulfil.

Once we have moved we will finally feel ready to open all those boxes from the loft and parents houses to unearth just how much junk we have. Everything mush have a place to live or be trown away - lets see how that goes! Off to Ikea to get more storage stuff me thinks.

Moving is not much fun, we accepted our offer on November and it feels like forever ago. With only two houses in the chain we thought it would be pretty quick but never mind we are almost there. By tomorrow evening I will be a very happy bunny and a celebratory pub dinner is in order I think, especially as we will have no oven we dong have much choice.

We have the rest of our lives to unpack!

Remembering Cameroon

Recently I have been thinking a lot about Cameroon. I often think about Cameroon but recently even more so. The weather is cold and miserable now, in Cameroon it is the peak of the dry season and everyday would be glorious. Genesis and Marceline have just had their second baby (although not actually in Cameroon). Many thoughts have been brought on by Bills return to Cameroon following an unplanned visit to the states. Email conversations as he prepared to return and then when he saw all his friends again. Our friend Didimus has been in hospital following a car accident. All these things makes me wish I too was in Cameroon. Here is a video Bill found based in Buea and in Buea town market. Seeing sights I saw everyday, hearing the voices of the local people, seeing the produce in the market, things that were so familiar and now seam so foreign.



However in recent weeks I have been worried for Cameroon and glad I home in a safe country. The nation has been a nation of riots. Increasing fuel prices started the riots but soon this just became the ignition as the focus turned political as the President wanted to change the constitution so he could try to remain in power. Our peace corp friends were getting ready to be pulled out of the country, are Cameroonian friends had no such luxury and just hid in their homes waiting and hoping it will pass. Running out of food as there was no movement on the roads.

Thankfully it looks like things are settling down and the rioting has ceased but things are not yet completely normal. My heart goes out to Cameroon. I remember you fondly and hope you remain the stable peaceful country I spent a year in.

End of an Era

Neighbours has finished on the BBC. The mighty Australian soap opera.

I have to admit I love neighbours. I know, I know its a sad addiction but it is true. I have been watching it for as long as I remember. Tea was at 5:30 after school so I would gulp down my food in the hope I would catch the last 10 minutes as this was enough to understand the story line! Now I have a cup of tea with Neighbours before cooking dinner as a relaxing end to a busy day.

I will of course follow Neighbours to channel 5 but it is a great loss to the BBC.

We look back and remember Kylie and Jason and the wedding of Scott and Charlene. When Daphne died uttering the words 'I love you Clarkie'. Harold missing presumed dead then returning. Oh the fantastic story lines they have had.

I know the show is pretty rubbish, who am I kidding very rubbish, it is just so addictive and a great way to enjoy a cup of tea.

Everybody needs good Neighbours

Change of scenery

Today I had a change of working scenery and spent some time at a local University teaching student nurses. This is not a full change of job but just a couple of extra hours over and above my full time job.

I had to run a workstation teaching the students how to give injections. In my day we learnt how to give injections by practising on oranges. Oh how times have changes now they have these great manikins with injectable skin and everything. It really reminded me of when I did my first injection 10 years ago. I was so excited, it felt like real nursing being able to give an injection. Do you tell the patient it is your first or not? I go for letting the patient know afterwards or else the thought of the needle will be even worse than normal.Now it is second nature and a daily occurrence. One student was shaking with fear so much I worries she would jab herself drawing up the solution and that is with a dummy, what will it be like for her in placement.

I had fun, it is a nice little earner for extra cash - next time NG feeding tubes.

In Memory

On the 23rd January my Grandpa passed away. Aylmer Astbury reached the grand old age of 90 and he was a great man. I remember my grandpa with great fondness, I have my logical matter of fact mind (or Astburyness as Joe calls it) from him. He was a very clever man and always had an interesting little fact about almost everything. Grandpa could make a joke about almost anything and would fit a witticism in to any conversation.

Grandpa was a man of many talents, great at any form of DIY being able to do anything he put his mind to. A lover of music, cars and sundials to name a few. Grandpa told me the story of his first car - I guess he was barely 17 but probably 16, at boarding school and him and a couple of the boys owned a car they kept hidden in the woods by the school. Grandpa was great for letting us ride around on his back, pictured above is Rich having a ride.

Although Grandpa was diagnosed with Alzheimer's towards the end he knew the answers to the mini mental test better than I did. And to the end of his life remained a clever witty man who was a joy to converse with.

So goodbye Grandpa we will all miss you and remember you forever.

Book review: A Spot of Bother

A while ago I read Mark Haddon's first book, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. Which although was actually a kids book it was very well written about an autistic boy. When I heard he has written a second book I was very keen to read it. This time it is not a kids book but a novel based around a pretty normal dysfunctional family. The book focuses on mental illness and I think is very well written showing how family members think someone is being irrational and does not notice that really they need help until it has gone too far.

It is a very enjoyable funny read with a serious subject matter. In an easy to read format - which is an extra bonus for me! Who needs soap opera's with great novels like this.

Why I hate nights......

Actually I don't hate nights, I hate the days off after nights. The thought of staying up all night to go to work is not great one but once you are there the time flies and it is not too bad. However the worst thing is finishing nights and trying to readjust to normality. I find I have no trouble adjusting into nights but I guess this is because when you are at work you have to stay awake. I find the days off afterwards really hard work. Getting out of bed is tough when you still want to sleep but if you stay there will you not sleep the next night until morning and so the vicious circle continues.

| have tried all sorts, staying up the whole of the first day after nights - once I stayed awake for 30 hours! Or having a power nap then getting up and doing something, but when I tried that this time I slept through 'till 2pm and missed a meeting I was supposed to go to Set my alarm but turned it off rolled over and the next thing I knew it was 2pm. I then woke up at 3am the next night unable to sleep any more. The best night recovery I ever had was flying to Guatemala straight from a night shift, I suffered no jet lag and felt great as soon as we arrived. I did fall asleep on the plane before take off!

I think it will be an on going problem for as long as I do nights, so although I got all these great days off after nights I have to struggle to not sleep through them!

Want to give to charity but too poor after christmas?

I have the answer........

.....free rice is a website where you can give grains of rice to developing countries for free. To do this you have to correctly answer vocab questions. So you do not only give out rice for free you also improve your vocab - which for me can only be a benignant thing! As you get the answers correct the vocab lever gets harder. Needless to say in the short time I played I only got to level 35 - I am quite sure you can beat that!

So give it a go. Show how good your vocab is and how many people you can feed in a matter of minutes. To date www.freerice.com has donated over 6 million grain of rice.