Here’s April

Yet another month rapidly upon us, let’s hope for a month filled with joy and laughter.  As two weeks are spent away from work I’m hoping it will. 

Typical

It’s a holiday so obviously I’m ill, but for the first time ever GO is ill too.  We have had matching symptoms all week.  “How’s trout throat?”  “Sore” “Me too!”  I’m not sure, but I think we’re reinfecting ourselves.  We re trying to relax so that we won’t be ill for our trip next week.  We (GO) have planned quite a few exciting things and want to be well enough to enjoy them.  So as much as it kills me, we are resting.

This is Hygge

Not a bad way to start the day.  I’ve been up since the wee hours coughing and spluttering.  Had just decided to give in and get up when Ginger One woke up.  So brought my kaffee back to bed to catch up with Malcom and co.  I love Phillip Pullman books, even more so now that I know the places he writes about. In fact the inn by the river that features heavily in the book is where Ginger One and I went for our first anniversary meal.

Ginger One thinks he may have been Mr.  Pullman’s muse, it is within the realms of possibility as he regularly drinks in the White Horse, we’ll never know but it is funny.

All I want is a sperm

GO made a resolution that we wouldn’t do anything this year and for the first few weeks he stuck with it.  

Then I think he saw how only working was beginning to see me unravel and he has started to organise outings.  

I am now use to him reading things he has found on Eventbrite and just nodding along. He’ll book it regardless.  

Hello Christmas model train exhibition.

So when he mentioned the Manchester infertility show, I mumbled something along the lines of let’s go it could be useful.  Then promptly forgot all about it.  So when he dropped it into a conversation recently I was a bit taken aback.

I love a good convention (Curve, Cake, Grand Designs), I love going and finding new and exciting things, meeting experts and I love the freebies. 

So we turned up and settled in, it was a small show.  The smallest I’ve been to.  While it had some local clinics specialising in IVF, some alternative therapies (the acupuncturist was very scary, I’ll get I touch soon) it was mainly

made up of foreign IVF clinics and sperm banks.  Within ten minutes I had signed up for an inferiority magazine, got a few useful contacts and had tried to steal the sperm.

That, rather than fact finding, became my mission for the morning.  Try to get a sperm!

There were cardboard ones, furry ones, flashing ones, stressball sperm, sperm key rings, sperm pens.  You name it, it had sperm on it and I wanted one.  In the end I got half a dozen, happy with my haul. I suggested moving on.

Did I learn anything?  Not really I have done my own existences research so I knew what the answers were.

Did I enjoy it?  Again, no, infertility is sad. There is no getting away from it, your body isn’t doing what it should and it makes you sad and angry.  This is what we saw on faces around the convention.  I was quite chirpy but I have made my peace with my lot.  

Although my favourite part was when the California Sperm Bank Guy (flashing sperm pen, see below) looked at me looked at GO and said; “we can give you you the sperm of a six foot, blonde, engineer if you want!”  I laughed took GO by the hand and said “thanks I’m good with what I got!” Brilliant 

Would I go again?  Nope, to much of a focus on IVF and not about other ways around infertility.  OvuSense anyone?

I made it

I made it, spring term is over.  I feels it’s pretty obvious from my lack of posts that it’s been a hard slog.  Work-Sleep-Repeat.  I have lost weight because I haven’t been eating because I just haven’t had time to stop.  I know this holiday is going to be brutal because I have been fighting off bugs for weeks.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel now, I can see it, it’s almost within touching distance. 

What a day

What a day!  I asked the ladies to swap a couple of shelves around and came back to a whole new/messy/disorganised classroom.  I have never said this before but I couldn’t stop myself.  I told them that they had to put everything back the way it was before they went home, even if meant staying late.  I had made it clear I wouldn’t be able to come into school to change displays around and that it all had to be ready for the first day back.

The Beast from the East

The Beast from the East has it came, it snowed we carried on regardless. 

1000 miles - update

So I have dabbled with this challenge for a few years.  In fact this is the first post about it I wrote.  While it’s safe to say I haven’t made much effort this year I decided to go for it.  What’s changed?  I want to do it, living here is such an opportunity that I feel I should do it, I have the means to do it.

I have realised that I cannot sustain an exercise regime, I am so tired after work that as much as I shouldn’t all I want to do is lie down and sleep.  It is a battle to stay awake sone days.  This challenge is something I can do as I go about my daily life, with a few miles added by extra walks I plan.  While it’s not a “boots on” 1000 miles for me, it is something to aim for in the future.

I now live in an area with amazing opportunities to walk and explore there are hills, lakes, canals, rivers, gorges all within a five mile radius.  It would be silly not to visit them.

I now am fully immersed in the Fitbit club, I am using it to its full potential.  In fact I am on my second one.  Last year I calculated that I had walked 996 miles, which is so frustrating and showed me they importance of tallying the total mileage as you go.  Had I know I could have easily slipped in an extra four miles and become a fully fledged “Badger”.  

So to update, my total this years as of today stands at  257 miles, over (just) a quarter of the way through.  

La Traviatta

We had the opportunity to watch the West Yorkshire Symphony Orchestra’s performance of La Traviatta at the Stony Bank Mill.  GO had never been to an opera before, it was a chance we couldn’t pass up.  

I was concerned that we wouldn’t understand what was going on but luckily that has thought of everything and they had a presentation with subtitles in the corner.  

The story slow to start but very quickly became interesting.  I’m not sure if they cut it down it did seem to be quite quick but was fabulous. Although I was waiting for a quick rendition of “One Cornetto”.

Bring on the next one Cosi Fan Tutti anyone?

Home Sweet Home or The Cosy Club?

Each time we go to Manchester we find some new and lovely place to visit.  This time we found the Cosy Club.  A restaurant opposite Harvey Nicks that takes its design inspiration from me.  It’s all mid matched furniture, subdued lighting and random wall art.  I loved it, it is an Instagram users wet dream.  The menu was jammed packed with Avocado and poached eggs (we went for breakfast).  The wait staff were dolled up to the nines looking very suave and the clientele was a pleasing mixture of young, old, couples and families.

For lunch we visited Home Sweet Home.  An American diner type place that does good, dirty, food with big portions.  It is not fat free or low sugar.  It is tasty and indulgent.  We had a cheese toastie burger each.  We planned to have a cake but there was no room.  It’s popular with young families and stag/hen parties. It’s cheapish, brightly decorated, with loud music, metal steps and has a meatball vending machine.  Okay it’s really a door to the stock room but it had me fooled for a while.  Loud and Garish but fun!

Which was the best?  I’ll let you decide.

Good?

In one week we have had two separate “inspections” and both have had the same outcome.  We are on our way to being good, we are almost there.  In the official feedback we weren’t mentioned in the even better if section, which is a first.

Happy Birthday Little One

Happy 4th Birthday lillol, sorry we can’t celebrate with you.  We hope you have a wonderful day full of love, laughter and cake.

Snow Day part 2

After spending yesterday catching up on work, wrapped up on the sofa I decided to make the most of the day and go for a walk in the land of Narnia.  Or at least a snow covered Todmorden. It was beautiful.