the quirky brunette: Sunday Summary and Awesome April Day 12

Hello, you lovely people.

Confession time: I nearly didn't post this week.

IKR?!?!?!?

Sometimes, my friends, I'm not in the posting zone. I have so little to report these days beyond reading and walking and watching House and lately Poldark

{Aidan Turner in LOTR.
He sorta looks like he's saying "Poldark". Amiright?}

that I fear blogger monotony, and today I've been on the periphery of this zone.

I've spent much of today a) chillaxing after yesterday's walk (20+ miles, details and humblebraggery to follow), b) removing a heady layer of dust

from my flat whilst c) wondering why I'm not out seizing the sunshine like normal people, and d) writing Sulky of Surrey emails (or, filling out sulky automated forms) to the local council for not collecting our communal bins. ...My world is very small.

But here I am. And, as ever, this week, I have mostly been...

Reading

{Another 80p Little Black Classic
from Penguin, rah!}

Watching

House. Predictably... though not only is 'Huddy' going strong, House is also involuntarily bonding with Cuddy's rather adorable adopted daughter, Rachel. He's even instilled in the little moppet his great passion for telling a porky. Look at her knowing little face.

Oh but I also watched Back in Time for Dinner (the 1970s and 1980s episodes). This was a fairly decent BBC commentary-documentary on the changing diets of the British public. It tracks one family through recent decades to observe emerging food fads and dining habits, and is worth viewing on iPlayer if you can still catch it.

...and also The Secret Life of Four-Year-Olds on All 4 (formerly 4OD), a fly-on-the-wall documentary about the nature and social interactions of four-year-old children at nursery. Some very interesting dynamics at play and some great soundbites from the kids too. Also worth a look if you can before it expires!

Walking

Yesterday was my first proper big-cahuna of a training walk, requiring six hours (which is longer than I'm typically at work on a Friday, FYI) of yomping. And in spite of portentous early-morning weather, I'm pleased to report it brightened up, and the walk was successfully completed. Here ends the ~~humble~~braggery.

Inevitably I went off course at least once (in Reigate of all places, before I'd even gone out into the wilds...), got a bit misguided in a field, then managed to misplace my little digi compact camera, most probably where I stopped for a honey and banana sandwich and a MaltEaster bunny, both of which were masquerading as lunch. A very kind friend went over to the very place last evening to see if he could find the camera but alas, no joy.

The route looked a lil' something like this:

and took just over 6 hours, at a distance of 20.25 miles (or, in new money, 32.6k). That's just six miles off a marathon/MoonWalk distance, and is just over a third of the total distance I'll need to do at the event itself. BOOM!

{Not a clue where I took this.
Not. A. Clue. Somewhere in Surrey?!}

{Obligatory Walk Selfie}

{St Bartholomew's Church, Leigh}

Another honourable mention of the day goes to the fabulous Georgina, for being my check-in buddy and letting me hassle her by text every hour, roughly on the hour, to assure her I was still alive. Though, in retrospect, turning my phone onto flight mode to preserve battery, thus rendering myself incommunicado for 58 minutes of each hour probably wasn't my best-laid plan.

My briefer evening walks have really taken on new life since I discovered Map My Walk's genius (the clue's in the name) Route Genius tool. I touched upon it last week but I feel it needs a little more coverage.

It's genius! Oh, wait, I already said that. Twice. Old age has made me Repeatogirl.

...But here's the clever thing: you pinpoint your location, key in the amount of miles you want to clock up, more or less, plus, as I've discovered this week, usefully, the direction you want to head in (great for choosing to avoid the M25, for instance). Et voila!

The Route Genius will propose a safe route of round-about your required mileage.

It's been terrific for me in guiding me down footpaths (public ones, no dodgy alleys) I might not have discovered, and over bridges, and past mews of rather beautiful little terraced cottages I had no idea were there.

And it's been a happy-snappy walking week, fo' sho.

Wednesday...