A park/green space a Sunday/weekend keeps the doctor away

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.

Without my iPod..

Was hoping to be typically British and write about how lovely the sunshine has been and how I’ve been spending my time in it... and then it snowed. But I won’t let the cold weather perturb me.

Had to be out this morning for a haircut and there’s something incredibly unpleasant about sitting in front of the mirror at the hairdressers, particularly first thing in the morning. Although I’m a person who loves having my hair done, it did occur to me this morning that the hair-washing and drying experience is a little confusing. As I sat up from the basin and the hairdresser vigorously rubbed my hair with a towel, I couldn’t help but feel rather less like I was being pampered and rather more like my mum was drying my hair for me when I was a child – maybe it really was just too early and I was feeling a little sorry for myself.

My morning began in a rather brave and unusual way as I ventured into town without my iPod! It may not sound like much of a feat, but I’m quite attached (yet another obsession) and can’t usually imagine any journey without it. However a couple of weekends ago I inadvertently made the two-hour train journey to London without it! A missed train, an expired rail-card, topped off with the lack of iPod definitely made me wonder whether the world was trying to tell me not to go. In fact I almost turned around to go home because I just couldn’t imagine a silent journey – or worse still, a journey spent listening to other people’s conversations, general noises and, heaven forbid, the tinny beat coming through someone else’s iPod speakers! Pulled myself together however, and it was definitely worth it. No music meant that I actually had the opportunity to be productive for two hours, as fortunately (?) I had remembered a trusty maths text book and my notebook! There was even something strangely nice about not having music in my ears. On the odd occasion I will walk or sit somewhere without earphones in just for a bit of quiet or appreciation of everyday hustle and bustle, but it really is a rarity. Admittedly my ears were definitely still ringing from the night before, but I felt oddly calm, able to appreciate a stillness in myself that I very rarely notice because I’m usually too busy buzzing about!

Finally jumped on the bandwagon, http://instagram.com/brockwayl

I usually feel as though having my earphones in is a comfort and almost protects me from the outside world, but actually I quite liked having my wits about me today (I could hear the birds and my thoughts too!). I’m always going to be addicted to listening to music wherever I go, but I’m definitely going to make a point of making time to listen to everyday sounds too – I’m not sure I can ever turn off the music in my head though, still bopping my way along to nothingness (yes, I bop!).