Rainy weekend with added cabin fever

Saturday was horrendous. There I was trudging across Hilly Fields at 8.50am for my appointment with the osteopath. It was windy, it was rainy and it was stormy. Luckily the storm blew itself out by midday.

My osteopath appointment was interesting. He realigned my spine, which alarmingly involved twisting my lower back in a single quick movement. This wasn’t bad in itself but the resulting crack was disconcerting to say the least. He did both sides so two cracks for the price of one :-(.

Jake was very badly behaved this weekend. Every single thing was a struggle and he wasn’t happy about anything at all. We put it down to feeling poorly and lack of sleep. At school 10 children were down with colds/flu so it is definitely going round.

Brrrrr

The weather forecast was dry today so I decided to cycle to Bedfont. Now that the osteopath has given me the all clear I can do it with impunity! I woke at around 5.30am, did my ablutions and then made a nice cup of coffee and ate a bowl of porridge with honey. At 6.15am I left the house. It was around 5 degrees. This is a good cycling temperature and after 10 minutes I was warm and cosy. Even the finger-tips warmed up. I was wearing my long sleeved merino top for the first time this season plus my faithful Tangent jacket. On the lower half I had my newly purchased cheap lycra shorts and my Ronhill Bikesters on top.

As I got into the environs of Richmond and Twickenham the temperature dropped. Thick frost could be seen on the ground as I cycled through Crane Park. My feet begin to resemble blocks of ice but luckily the hands were okay.

I arrived at the office at exactly 8.00am which was pretty good considering I had a detour at Putney due to the roadworks AND was caught behind a road sweeper in Crane Park of all places!

The journey home was uneventful. It was pretty cold and as I was approaching Peckham(if it’s going to happen it will happen there) my legs started to feel wobbly. Early signs of a bonk I thought. Not sure why as I ate like a horse at lunch time. Maybe it was the cold weather and my body was using more energy to keep warm. Anyway I managed to pull myself together and make it home by 6.30pm.

Jake was having his story read to him so I went up and read him another one, namely The Book Eating Boy, which is his fave at the moment. He likes the bit where the boy gets sick after eating too many books. Chew, chew, gulp, green, greener, greenest, hurl!!

Osteopath

I went to the osteopath on Saturday for my first session. I had to strip to my pants while he walked around me and took notes. It sounds worse writing it down like this but I was made welcome and put at ease first. The first ‘diagnosis’ was that my posture was all wrong which was the primary cause of my knee problems. The cycling is not the issue but cycling has brought it to the fore earlier that it would otherwise have done.

When I stand I lock my knees so that they are over-extending. This is tightening the muscles and tendons around the patella. He thinks the clicking is because the patella is not able to float normally due to the muscles and tendons tightly clamping it.

The next bit was quite painful. I lay on the bed and he pressed down very hard onto each thigh muscle. He then proceeded to pull each leg and then move each kneecap around(very sinister). The idea of this was to ‘create space’ and too loosen the muscles/tendons.

I have another session next week. In the meantime I need to watch how I stand and to also spend 10 minutes stretching every day. I have been given a couple of simple stretches.

The good news is that he thinks I have caught it in time and can carry on cycling. Next week he will be looking at my back which is not very flexible, especially the lower half.

Laying the floor in the nursery

On Sunday Amy persuaded me to get cracking with laying the wooden floor in the box room. We have only two more weekends to get everything done before baby Mia arrives.

I have never laid this type of flooring before but after some research on the Internet I made a start. I started by laying a single board facing the direction of light against the left-hand wall. I placed a couple of spacers between the board and the wall to accommodate contraction and expansion. I then cut the next board to size and fashioned a simple template to follow a line around the door moulding. After this, the job was repetitive with the only hassle being that I had to cut around the radiator pipes and make another template for the left-hand door moulding. The very last length needed to be cut lengthways which took a while to get right because the wall was not quite square.

Jake came up a few times to help tidy up the off-cuts but I think the noise of the jigsaw was too much for him.

Ames did lots of activites with him while I was working. He made glittery fireworks pictures for his ‘About Me’ school book and also made some apple parcels although he wouldn’t eat them afterwards because they tasted too strongly of cloves.

Fireworks

We went to the see the fireworks at Blackheath this Saturday. Originally we were going to have drinks at Ben and charlotte’s but this was cancelled because Charlotte went down with the flu. The next plan was that Ben would be taking Antonia and we would be meeting up beforehabnd so that we could walk up together. at the eleventh hour Ben phoned to say that Antonia too had succumbed to the lerg and haf a fever. The next plan was to go with Chand and Gabriel and meet at 7.30pm at our house. At 7.20pm Chand phoned to say that Gabriel had got freaked-out by the neighbour’s fireworks so he would not be going to Blackheath. The next plan, and one that happily panned out, was to meet Gary, Emma and Sam at Lewisham DLR and then to walk into Blackheath together.

The firework display as usual was excellent. Jake sat in his pushchair with his Thomas blanket over his knees looking everything like an eldery man :-). Sam quickly got bored and started running around and trying to encourage Jake to do the same. Jake was very tired so he just wanted to sit and watch the spectacle.

When it was all over we strolled back and Jake was all but asleep by the time we got home. I have arranged to meet Gary in a couple of weeks for a long overdue drinky.

Oh my god I’ve done it.

I have gone somewhere I vowed I would never go. A place darker than the Marianas trench. A pit of wrong, somewhere I should have never gone.

I have bought my first pair of lycra cycling shorts…

Before you dismiss me and shake your head in despair, please understand it was an experiment, just to see, you know, what they would be like. Plus they were cheap. And I promise to try to only wear them under my jogging bottoms/shorts. But they are sooo comfy.

Amy has already experienced their silky texture and skin tight appearance and took it in good stead as only Amy can, but it was a privilege for her and her alone, oh and also Jake who thought they looked good, bless him.

Who knows how lower I can sink. I have already been toying with the idea of GOING OUT WEARING THEM ON THEIR OWN. PLEASE HELP ME STOP THIS MADNESS.

Sleepless night for all

It was a strange old night. Jake kept waking up and calling for us. When I went in he was very hot and sweaty but perfectly fine in himself. After the fifth time of hearing “Daddy” I went into his room. Jake said “Daddy, when glass breaks it is sharp. There is glass in the corner of the garden”. He was wide awake and chatting away. I said that maybe we should have this chat in the morning and not at midnight. Luckily he did go back to sleep although I thought I heard him a little later but by that time I had started to drift off.

He woke at 6.30am as right as rain and again chatting away. I have decided to work from home. 1. because I am shattered and 2. because it is pouring with rain.

We drove Jake to school which I have to say is becoming a habit. He looked like he was about to drift off in the car but luckily he managed to stave off the impending sleeps.

Getting the nursery ready

I checked the weather forecast yesterday and it said heavy rain so I took Dewey 2 out of retirement, much to the chagrin of Dewey 1. This morning though, the sun was shining. It was a perfect autumnal setting for a nice commute to Richmond. However I decided that my knees needed a rest and only went as far as Waterloo. I got into work at a very respectable 7.45am.

This weekend was another mammoth DIY-fest. Jake was again despatched to Granny’s house while I started work on Jake’s old room, soon to be Mia’s new room.

Chores completed:

  • Installed new bulb for the outside security light
  • Cleared out the room
  • Removed the blackout blind
  • Sanded all woodwork
  • Sugarsoaped the walls
  • Filled holes
  • Vacuumed and dusted
  • Painted walls

I made a start on the skirting boards but then my boy arrived so I stopped :-). Jake arrived from Granny’s very happy and brandishing a really flash-looking light sabre. He had been to the fun-fair and also to see the fireworks at Littlehampton.

This week I shall really try to do an hour each night. I think I should be able to finish the skirting tonight.

Half term

Jake has been missing school during his half-term break. I wonder how long that will last!

I took three days off last week so that we could spend some time together as a family. Also Amy had her training so I looked after Jake. We went into London and first of all we went to the bike shop at London Bridge. His favourite place! Afterwards we bought some sandwiches and had a stroll along the Thames to The Tate Modern where Jake charged across the Millenium Bridge. Our plan was to catch the Thames Clipper back to London Bridge so we ended up walking on the North side to Embankment Pier. I couldn’t believe the price of a single ticket. £5.30. Rip off!

In the evening we met up with Amy and Vic in Costas on Borough High Street. Unfortunately Vic had her purse stolen by a guy pushily trying to sell an old copy of The Guardian. Luckily it only had a few pounds in it but it is a pain having to cancel your cards and order new ones.

We then decided to take Jake for a special treat to a restaurant for supper, in the dark too no less, what excitement. We chose a Lebanese restaurant called, Hiba, mainly because it was next door to Costas. The food was excellent if a little pricy. £45 for a set meal for two. There was a lot of it thought and it could have easily fed 4 people.

Thames Ride

After spending an age trying to actually get out of the house, we emerged at 11ish for a day of exploration by bike. It was a lovely morning. Good enough for shorts. We left Amy in the house resting. She has put her back out so was taking advantage of my last day at home. Tomorrow I will be back at work after a lovely 5 day break.

We headed down the hill and shot onto the LCN 21 and soon were cycling along the Thames at Greenwich. Here we made our first pitstop. After locking the bike we went to Costas for a coffee. Jake reserved a seat for us(I love it when he does that) and we sat down and chatted about our plan for the day. After the much needed coffee and babyccino we set off along the foot tunnel. Miraculously both lifts were working. Hoorah!

At the other end we had a choice. Either pootle along the NCN 1 or go to Mudchute. Jake wanted to see the pigs so we cycled to the entrance and locked up the bike. Jake had a great time looking at all the animals. We headed to the Mudchute Kitchen for our lunch. Cannily I had made some sandwiches and brought along some home-made fruit bars so we ordered a babyccino and a cappuccino(yes another one).

After the farm we headed along the Thames path with the objective of getting to Tower Bridge. It was great to cycle along the Thames but annoying to keep having to come off the path and go ‘inland’. Jake wanted to stop when he saw a big playground. It had a large pyramid climbing frame with a big spiral tube at the top. Of course Jake wanted to climb it so I went up there with him. It was quite a scary thing for me but Jake was not fazed by the height at all. His little face lit up as he whooshed down the tube.