Like a room without a roof

I returned from Edinburgh with a suitcase full of soaking clothes. And I have brought the weather with me, because it has pretty much rained since. Sorry Londoners.

I came back from the Voxcetera tour in a fabulous frame of mind. A combination I think of a concert of (in my mind anyway) quite astonishing quality, some time away from the daily grind of work life and London, and being with a group of people who all get on so well.

And so, I've been generally enthusiastic about life, and feeling in a dynamic mode, and that I mustn't just let things slide. Life is there to be lived etc.* And, according to something on the web today, an astonishing number of people in this country have been prescribed antidepressants - One in three in Blackpool (which is pretty much where I grew up). Which says a lot about this country, but also shows what I have to be thankful for (and I don't mean leaving Blackpool!).

Voxcetera will finish in early July for a couple of months. So I have applied to do a couple of musical things over the summer to keep my had in, and which broaden my experience. One is big choral/classical, the other big and pop-based, so both things I've not done for a while. And I might have a couple of others on the go, you never know...

Plus I'm doing a scratch Mozart Requiem with the Bach choir this weekend just to try and embed it in my head.

Elsewhere I have ordered the parts to fix the two PCs that have been sitting at home needing it since before Christmas. Just about worth it I think, and it makes me feel good not to throw them away. (We've had a re-kit of IT at work - we have loads of quite old kit - but it all works and would be fine for internet and basic stuff. But it needs wiping of data and new software buying and therefore no-one will take it on a costs basis. Very wasteful.) And I'm started sorting out some other stuff that has been really festering (not literally). And I am kicking back into the gym and exercise mode.

Oh, and I haven't had any meat for a week now (see post here). I am eating fish at the moment, because having been away I was in so many places whether the true veggie choice was a cheese sandwich or a mushroom risotto, and I couldn't face that. Back at home now, I may scale that back too.I don't feel physically different not eating meat. Maybe it's too early to tell. But it does feel right, so I will stick with it for a while.

It will probably all have fallen flat by the weekend and I'll be back to watching Formula 1 in my dressing gown, eating bacon, but carpe diem and all that.

* this is not a self-help blog by the way.

Routine

I may be starting to cope better with the 5:2 diet - sleep seems to be normalising and I haven't felt any more hungry today than I usually would. This is good as I'd been starting to feel this wouldn't work for me.

Overall, in fact, the year seems to be becoming normal - or in other words I'm getting back into a routine. So, I now need to get back and revisit what I want to do with my time this year. I can't say blogging is routine yet - I'm still having to force myself to find time. But I am determined to continue with it, even if certain blogs (this one) aren't going to be the most enlightening.

What isn't normal yet is that I am struggling to 'get into' work in the way I would like. I am having to force myself to do things. Luckily there is loads to do, but I've yet to build up any enthusiasm for doing it.

So what you might think? Why does that matter? Well, in part, I may be more likely to do things better if I am enjoying them - though this is arguable. But without doubt, I need to enjoy work - it takes too long out of my life to only be a slog. Seven days into the year, this doesn't worry me yet. It usually takes a couple of days to get into it. But I am hoping to see a shift by the end of this week.

That's it for know. Off to rehearse Mozart's Requiem.

The Christmas cake is no more

Not sure if doing something twice, other than perhaps crystal meth, could be deemed a habit, but two lunchtimes back at work and two blogs written. Although Blogger does have an IPad App, I’m not confident in getting everything right with it, so I type the text into email, mail it to myself and then correct /format, tag and post on the desktop machine. At the weekend I shall be away from a computer for 48 hours so will be forced into posting direct – let’s see how it goes.

Yesterday I was both quasi-jet lagged (going from getting up about 9am and going to bed past midnight to having to be up at 6:30) and on day one of my 5:2 eating plan (not using the ‘D’ word). Result was that by about 7:30 I was really lacking in energy. This may need a rethink – how am I going to manage the gym and not eating? Obvious answer is to shift the two days to non-gym, so likely Tuesday and Thursday. But that feels unbalanced. My immediate concern with the 5:2 would be that I'd just go crazy on the next day and eat twice as much. It's early, but at the moment the desire to get a benefit in return for yesterday's hunger is holding sway.

Still, hot bath, in bed by 10, asleep not to long after, and a good night’s rest, followed by the last (small) piece of Christmas cake for breakfast, and I feel much brighter today. And that’s just as well, because I have my first Voxcetera rehearsal of the year tonight. We are starting to work for our March concert – the Mozart Requiem, Britten’s AMDG, Purcell and Essenvalds (no – I haven’t either). Can’t wait.