[73/365] good stuff

[cosmolinguist]

I was upstairs getting ready for bed before I remembered I hadn't written a blog post today. So this might be short, both because I'm on my phone and because it's the kind of day where I was in bed with my teeth brushed and my meds taken and my pajamas on and everything by 9pm.

But I've had a good day and I wanted to say so. First, last night improved after I wrote here. It is very nice when you think "I've had a tough day today and I wish I could have some cuddles but I can't" and then it turns out you can after all. I got to fall asleep being the little spoon, something that almost never happens, and it may be my favorite thing in the entire world.

So today started well. It was bright and sunny, which a lot of mornings have been over the winter for just long enough to get my hopes up before the clouds roll in, but it stayed at least partly sunny most of the day. This always helps.

I made breakfast for me and diffrentcolours (it's as easy to make bacon (fake-on), eggs, toast and coffee for two people as one person, and gave Gary his meds (we're back to Tiny Sandwich) and then some food (microwaved gently to bring it up to room temperature because he doesn't like it straight out of the fridge.

I did some laundry, including being able to hang stuff out. We're actually at the bottom of the laundry mountain that accumulated while the washing machine was broken! It helped a lot that the new one is bigger -- almost twice the size! 11kg capacity instead of 6kg -- and being able to put stuff outside has freed up the tumble dryer for other stuff. I always like hanging clothes out when it's possible anyway, but it seems extra relevant now I'm increasingly conscious of energy usage, the dryer does take a lot.

The best part of this morning was diffrentcolours doing most of the thinking and investigation needed for all four of us (including Gary, of course) to go on a Centre Parcs vacation...and, to avoid school-holiday prices and busy-ness, it's next week already! I'm ridiculously excited, being totally new to this kind of thing. We're not sure how many of the activities will be a) happening in the off-season or b) us-during-a-pandemic friendly, but even if I just get to ride my bike and take Gary for different walks and sit on a different sofa, I'll be happy. I hope I can go kayaking, though!

While the conversations about this were going on, I got a phone call asking if I could fill in, as a representative of the covid disability group I'm in, at some other kind of meeting tomorrow morning. In person! The person from our group who had been going to attend for this purpose...has got covid. The irony of this covid group being stymied by people having covid isn't even remarkable any more. I said I'll do it.

Then when I got the email with the details realized this meant Going to a New Place, and I'd forgotten how much I hate that! Especially as it turns out the place in question isn't well served by public transport from here...and I'm better at getting the bus to and from work (a short distance, usually when the bus is fairly quiet) but this would be two buses at morning rush hour and that seems very different. But...the place looked fairly straightforward to diffrentcolours and I if I cycled. We'd studied maps and mostly determined a plan when I had to leave for work, which I'd also planned to do by bike! He said "I can put my bike's phone holder on to your handlebars if you like" (so I could see the map on my phone while I was moving) and I said you can't now because me and the bike are about to be off!

I don't know if I've biked to work since the days got too short and I had to wait for them to get longer again. Maybe once, but while it's been the case for a while that I'm not coming home in twilight for a while now, it's also been so rainy. I don't object to cycling in the rain except I don't know how glasses-wearers do it while still being able to see! So I've had to wait for a nice day in Manchester, and I've also walked to work on a few nice days lately -- either I didn't have enough eye spoons to cycle, or I just wanted to listen to a new podcast, or sometimes just because I was running on autopilot: it got to be that time of day, I put my shoes on and walked out the door without really thinking. So it was nice to get to ride my bike today.

It's a fairly quiet ride but it does have some hairy moments for a baby cyclist like me. I was impressed when a car let me out on the roundabout as if I was a respectable fellow road-user, and when a big scary truck coming up from behind me left me plenty of space.

I got home thinking that I wished there was time to practice the route I'd need tomorrow morning, but I didn't think there'd be time, I didn't know if my legs and lungs would be up to it, and I didn't think much more of it. Until I'd been home a while and diffrentcolours suggested it. I was delighted he'd offered to come along too: he knows bits of the route (if not the destination) better than I do, he saves me spoons by spotting people/cars/turns/obstacles quicker than I do and telling me about them, and it's just a lovely way for us to spend time together.

The place was more obvious and easier to get to than we expected, once we knew where to look, and I feel a million times less stressed about tomorrow than I would have. It'll be my first time in a room full of strangers for a couple of hours since...uh, exactly two years ago (Facebook is helpfully telling me that two years ago today diffrentcolours and I were looking at Dick Turpin's grave in York, and that weekend in York was the last thing I did that could feel even vaguely pre-pandemic) so I have enough anxiety without any more being added.

Apparently we cycled eight miles, and on top of the three or four it is to work and back that feels like a ton! For me who never exercises anymore, beyond walking. I barely feel it though; this bike of Stuart's is so good, it feels so smooth and efficient to ride it that I can hardly take any credit.

We stopped for a pint on the way back, getting home just in time to make dinner (the patented grocery-delivery-day dinner of nice pizzas, salad and cheesy coleslaw). By the time I sat down to eat dinner I was ready for bed, and diffrentcolours yawned all the way through Gary's post-prandial walk. We managed to eat ice cream and watch that episode of Picard, but I was off to bed as soon as it had finished.

Comments

[sfred]

<3

Cheesy coleslaw?

[cosmolinguist]

Cheesy coleslaw! It's a staple in this house. For example: https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/296447560

[sfred]

Ooh! I must investigate further.

[otter]

What a lovely day! We still have too much ice and sand on the streets for me to feel safe biking. Soon, though.

[cosmolinguist]

Yeah I biked to work in the winter when I was in college in Morris and it was so dumb, I wiped out on the snow and ice many times (it was just quicker than walking, literally my only other option, and that seemed important when it was so cold!).

[gender_euphoric]

your updates are really making me consider buying a bike. I'm not up for riding it crosstown at least not yet, but there's a mini mart I could ride to and a few restaurants too (and like 5 car dealerships lol) so I want to try.

[cosmolinguist]

Heck yeah it's really good! I won't go plenty of places either, I'm just lucky that I can get to work and Gary's vet to pick up his meds and the odd other place like today, without having to do anything too scary.