Woke up with what appeared to be the beginnings of a cold
(dread, oh dread) this morning! However, after a mug of Twinings Defence Tea (I
know, shocking that I would abandon
my Earl Grey kick-start... I had one shortly afterwards, panic not) I felt
quite alive!
12 days into the New Year; so far, so good. Had a highly
productive morning after what can only be described as the most surreal week. No
tube or heating on Monday, hospitalised children on Thursday morning and afternoon, a bandaged kitten and
time off work on Friday, and yet seemingly a positive and productive week, so
this morning was really a natural progression!
Adhering (of course) to my New Year Resolutions, I have
managed to make and eat sandwiches for lunch every day this week and have then
eaten substantial food in the evenings too – impressive! I have then made this
weekend a ‘real Laura time’ weekend, as a sort of reward for being so good
during the week (is that really very sad?).
Saturday was spent in Norwich where I was blessed with
glorious weather once again! Determined as always to fit as much in as possible
so as to make my visit entirely worthwhile, I first took a detour into town from
the train station along the river and through the Cathedral close. For lunch I
paid a visit to my favourite Fish & Chip shop (I refer of course to the
Grosvenor Fish Bar) to sit on a wall on St Gregory’s Green for a spot of people
watching and ‘Big Mack’ eating. I then headed to The Egg for hairdressing –
after years of suffering in a hate-hate relationship with my hair, I finally
landed myself with a style I can almost deal with, and a good hairdresser is
like gold dust, so trips to The Egg form the reason for my Norwich visits! As
well as providing good hairdressing, they conveniently provide a good excuse to
visit my home from home from home; can’t complain!
Interestingly/bizarrely, I always seem home with more shopping bags
from Norwich than I do from any days spent in London. The convenience of shops
in Norwich and my familiarity with them makes for far too accessible shopping
opportunities! After storming around the shops to cram in as much as possible,
I settled down for what Norwich is best for, tea with a friend.
Owing to my absence on Saturday, I knew that today had to be
highly productive. In my experience, this can be a rather large risk, as I
always find that when I really really
need motivation and energy, distraction and procrastination rear their ugly
heads, and my day is spent browsing SoundCloud, Youtube and Spotify (instead, I
spent the entirety of the London – Norwich part of my journey partaking in
SoundCloud browsing, causing my phone battery to die in the other direction. I was actually extremely impressed as it did make it as far as Stratford
before giving up on me!). Somehow this weekend, I have managed a healthy
balance of both of those things, which leads me on to the true ‘real Laura time’
nature of this weekend.
Today, I made the decision that at some point, I was going
out for a walk. This meant that a, b, and c had to be done first. So they were.
There are a good selection of sizeable green spaces in my part of London, and
having already discovered and enjoyed a few, I decided to venture to pastures
new today. Armed with Google maps in my ear so I could march along through
shadier parts (or rather hurdle my way across an unhealthy amount of dog mess
piles) looking like I knew exactly where
I was going, I headed for Downhills Park. The perfect combination of
cultivation, sport and recreation, play structures, wooded areas and an open
common (not forgetting the toilet ‘for ‘everybodies’ convenience’), it was a
very pleasant place for a stroll. Perhaps I may change my mind or find a better
location, but I could almost picture it in the summer, a potentially ideal spot
for outdoor productivity! |
| A surviving scattering of pink amongst the greenery |
Although the Google maps lady kept interjecting, my ears were also filled with new music that I have finally given myself the opportunity to discover this weekend! Although my initial plan was to take work to do on the train, at this end of the weekend I'm feeling very glad that I allowed myself the down time.
Just feeling very positive really - keep it up 2014.
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