A More Exciting Life

I was hoping to go on a hike today as I mentioned in  my last post . Too many things were working against that, though, so I'm spending the day at home, which is of course the far less exciting option. Work, deadlines, that sort of thing. I've also managed to develop an ear infection so best keep myself warm. I have signed up for an event with the hiking club in question in the new year so I'm not completely chickening out of it, really I am not. I really would've wanted to do that walk today, the weather in London was perfect for it (for this time of year anyway). I am, however, happy to report that I'm getting into an exercise routine again and really starting to enjoy it. I quite often start an exercise routine but then something happens like an illness that makes me stop and take a break and after that it can be difficult to get into it again. Once I do, though, it actually becomes addictive and even exciting. Y...

Just about everything in life becomes more meaningful if you can share it with others. The Swedish have a wonderful proverb : shared joy is a double joy, shared sorrow is half a sorrow. But - what if you don't have very many people in your life to share your joys (or sorrows) with? It doesn't make life very exciting. In fact, it can make your life incredibly dull. I'm speaking from experience. I'm very aware that if I had more friends living near me to have fun with, I don't think I would in the predicament I'm in and quite possibly this blog wouldn't even exist. It's not that I don't have people in my life, it's just that my closest friends live hundreds of miles away. No good. Solution? Make new friends. Easier said than done. I've lived in London for a few years now but I've been struggling to meet new people here. I'd had some unpleasant experiences before moving here and had closed myself off from other people in an attemp...

Every year I buy myself a small diary, one of those week-per-view ones, and I write down friends' and family members' birthdays and other important happenings. I also write down if something special or fun happened. Well, I used to. These days the poor diary gets to come out of its drawer very infrequently, certainly not daily. Once per week maybe. Looking back at this year I stare at empty pages because I've written so little in it. Yesterday I had a bit of a eureka moment. I can't neglect my pretty diary anymore. I must put it to good use! No more depressingly empty pages, something must go in there. I took the poor thing out of the drawer where I keep it hidden from the view and wrote down under the appropriate day that I'd had a really nice workout (my 2nd having started again after a break) and that I'd watched an interesting interview on YouTube as part of this project that I'm doing. Not massively important things either one of them but I felt...

I realise that I've failed to tell you about some recent events in my life when I should have been shouting about them from the roof tops in the style of 'finally something exciting is happening in my life!'. I'm going to correct that here and now and tell you about my visit to Edinburgh a couple of weeks ago. Ah, Edinburgh. They call it Auld Reekie (that translates to Old Smoke) but I think it should be called the Jewel of Scotland or something similar. Edinburgh is beautiful. It's one of the most beautiful cities I've been to, and lived in, too. Och aye. Hence this visit up there to say hello to friends and visit my old haunts. In a way Scotland is home to me even though I'm not from there. Just getting there from London is very enjoyable. I love travelling by train - you just sit back and enjoy the scenery, what's not to love? Add a good book to the mix and I'm in heaven. 4.5 hours flew by as did towns and cities along the way, people ...

I'm taking my list of things to do by the end of the summer to a whole new level. I'm going to create a bucket list. You know, things you want to do before you die. In a way not a very cheerful thought but at the same time quite elating, I find. I have a list of goals I want to achieve somewhere and even though I'm sure it's titled 'Things I want to be/do/have before I die', it just doesn't quite have the same ring to it as a bucket list does. There's an urgency attached to 'bucket list' that appeals to me right now. Something that I hope will keep it from getting buried under a pile of invoices, bank statements, to do lists etc. I'm very aware that the reason I'm thinking about writing my bucket list is because of the mid-life crisis I'm going through and the slightly panicked thoughts I'm having at times, such as 'there's not much time left anymore while I'm still more or less able' which is sort of ridiculous ...

It's been a while since my last post (I know, you've heard that before, my apologies). No, I haven't just been hiding from the world, being boring and bored, I have actually done something useful too. And I've been boring. And bored. But not too much. Last summer I set myself some tasks to do before the end of September ( you can read about that here ). They were: a walk in coastal Sussex in late July/early August, g o to a West End show/musical, g o to Notting Hill Carnival and j oin a group (any group). The positive thing is that I went to see Mamma Mia! the musical, on my birthday no less, combined with a nice meal with a friend, and I've joined several groups. Doesn't that sort of make up for the fact that I never went to Sussex or the Notting Hill Carnival? Especially as I've just been to Edinburgh for a long weekend? Beautiful Edinburgh, Scotland The less good news is that I've been in the grips of quite a severe midlife crisis in the past...