Enjoying the simple pleasures

Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay

Life can be so fast paced at times and we don’t get a chance to slow down and really notice the things around us and use all our senses to enjoy them. There are a number of rituals throughout the day we go through as a matter of mechanics, habit and in a state of oblivion.

Over the last few days I have tried to pay more attention to simple things throughout my day that actually mean a lot, set me up for the day/evening and which I have forgotten to appreciate as much.

Starting at the beginning of the day, I get ready for work but C makes my coffee, including grinding the beans ready for my take to work coffee. I suppose I am a bit of a coffee snob and we are quite particular about what we drink and when. I often just drink my first cup at home as a matter of throwing it down my throat before going to work. I don’t have the time to savour it, I sometimes burn my tongue in an effort to swallow it quickly. My take to work coffee is a slightly different matter. I use a @Bodum travel mug (the cafetiere version) https://www.bodum.com/gb/en/coffee/travel-press-mug . We get fresh beans which C grinds for me. The last couple of days I have taken a bit more time over drinking this when I get to work. I have been making sure to smell the brew, to let the hot liquid sit on my tongue and move around all my taste buds.

The bulk of the work day I don’t have much opportunity to think about simple pleasures. There are things that have to be done so I’m either developing frameworks, answering questions, formulating plans and so on. However, my simple pleasure is to go for a walk at lunchtime. Even in poor weather I make a point of getting away from my desk and out in to the open. We are fortunate that our site is surrounded by fields and woodland, so there’s opportunity to take in the sights and sounds of nature and well as feeling the sun, or the wind or the rain.

I have been trying to catch up with my podcasts, usually on my lunchtime walk. I have been listening to self-help ones like School of Self-Image, but also the Tudor Dynasty, some comedy ones like Older & Wider and Table Manners. I have enjoyed the light hearted comedy, but learning more about Tudor people and not just the usual main characters, and also learning more about myself and trying to develop better habits.

When I get home C has got dinner ready. Again, I have been trying to experience this more. Food is usually a fuel and I am a bit of a fast eater without savouring the flavours and smells. I have been trying to slow down, chew more and smell and taste the food, the individual constituent parts as well and the combinations of flavours. I have always been appreciative that C has prepared dinner as he is retired whilst I still go to work. We are fortunate to be able to buy good quality food and have a good variety of meals and like foods from all sorts of countries.

Now that we are getting out and about a bit more, I am trying to savour the simple acts of travel, being with other people and having hobbies and activities that we can share and experience. Even the simple(ish) act of going #bellringing on a Sunday morning means that we get to go for a walk, to see friends, do something we enjoy for a while, then enjoy our usual post ringing ritual of good coffee brewed ready when we get home.

I am trying to heighten my awareness of things that I had taken for granted, did as a matter of mechanics, practicality or habit and lost touch of.

What are your simple pleasures to re-engage with?

Do you have a word of the year?

Most people start a new year with resolutions and intend to join the gym, eat healthily, get a better/different job, improve relationships etc. I am not one for subscribing to such notions as I think they are all too easy to fall foul of.

I have resolved to join the gym, paid my ££s and after a few months decided that I can’t fit it in, or I’m not really enjoying it, or I don’t see any benefits, so I give up. I have intended to eat more healthily and give up or intake less cake, crisps and sweet treats, right up until I see a bakery shop window, or am out for dinner and the luxurious chocolate cake is too irresistible, or the idea of “second pudding”, a concept brought home by our daughter during the first lockdown, is still ritualistically maintained.

Rather than a New Year’s Resolution, I had more of a “Turning 50 epiphany”. That was when I decided to make some changes to my life. I decided to eat more healthily, but not give up the pleasures of cake and chocolate, to make sensible food choices and introduce new food items into my diet. I decided to upgrade my wardrobe and outward appearance. To wear skirts and dresses more often, (I used to wear them to work all the time), to spritz that perfume I’ve had sitting on my dressing table for years, to wear that beautiful bracelet I was given on a holiday in Gibraltar, to wear those beautiful Pandora charms my husband and daughter have bought me over the years, to splosh on the nail varnish and keep my nails trimmed and neat, to invest in a good quality pair of heels to accentuate my calves. To be a bit more daring in what I where to remind myself that I am a woman and what I used to be like. I decided to invest time and effort in to learning more about myself and my failings in order to be a better person, wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, colleague. I’m still working on building relationships and sometimes have to take a deep breath to get through them but hopefully I have become more tolerant of others and understanding of others’ perspectives.

I am not doing any of this for anyone else’s benefit other than my own, and through working on each of these areas I am ultimately making myself happier. I have no intention of wistfully hankering after some super chic lifestyle of the rich and famous, but there are things I can do in everyday life that will make my life easier and happier, which will impact on those around me.

So rather than having resolutions, I adopted a word for the year. It sounds a bit pretentious and pompous but I think it encapsulates everything I have mentioned above. My word of the year is “Elegance”.

I want to be more elegant in my interactions with others, in the way I respect and treat people by having a deeper understanding of my own responses to others and their perspective. I want to be more elegant in my appearance. Over the years I have become more comfortable (nothing wrong with that) and a bit grungy. I used to wear skirts and dresses to work and occasionally at leisure. I remember the types of clothes that I wore when I first started dating my husband and the things that attracted him. I have become lazy in my appearance. I have some good assets, so why not accentuate them a little, without getting cringey. I have nice things that other people have bought me over the years that I don’t use regularly. Nice jewelry that sits in the box, gorgeous perfumes that are still in their cellophane wrappings. I know that I swear a lot and sometimes in inappropriate settings and once I start I find it hard to stop, so I am really being conscious of the amount of speaking more elegantly, swearing less and being more aware of when, where and what words I use. I want parts of my home to be more elegant and will be looking to make areas of sanctuary amongst all the clutter, that are beautiful, restful places to be. I want to re-engage my femininity.

So, my word of the year is “Elegance” and I am doing my best to incorporate it into everything I do. What would be your word of the year and are you living it?

14 ways to leisurely hustle

Listening to a podcast on self-image, the narrator offers ideas to help make more time for what’s important, how to cultivate more time and fun in your life for leisure. In the current busy, busy world sometimes it’s hard to take time out to rejuvenate. The fourteen ways offered were:

1) focus on today – have a vision for the future but it all comes back to what you do today. What can you do today that your future self would be proud of?

2) create structure and systems – create space for clarity and focus whilst leaving more time to play.

3) Batch to relax – set times for different tasks like responding to emails, or scheduling personal appointments all on the same day to get them over and done with, have set times to check social media so it doesn’t take over and make you less efficient.

4) Have clear working hours – if you can create your own schedule and be unavailable for socials during working days and unavailable for work during social days. Make sure you turn off the work you in order to turn on the leisure you.

5) Take proper breaks – whether for lunch or throughout your day take time to refresh.

6) Create a beautiful workspace – organise your space, will it with inspirational items, quotes, pictures, and if appropriate, fresh flowers and luxurious scents and music. It helps lift your mood and makes you more productive.

7) Find your happy place – somewhere to nourish yourself and reset. Could be a coffee shop, a park bench or a particular space in your home. Make sure you visit it at least once a week.

8) Stop saying “I don’t have time” and “I’m too busy” – this only creates chaos and scarcity. You get to choose how to spend your time and prioritise what you want to do.

9) Design your day the night before – review tomorrow’s to do list the night before, get things out ready, get your clothes out the night before.

10) Get your beauty sleep – reclaim your life and get to bed early to maximise rest and recuperation.

11) Make health a priority – often this is the first thing to be neglected when you’re time poor. Those who work out before work or exercise during the day are more likely to have better general moods.

12) Schedule education time – cultivate a beautiful mind, indulge in art, language, culture. Schedule time and make sure you show up.

13) Have a non-work passion – makes you more interesting, gives you a creative outlet.

14) Schedule a vacation – stop making excuses, reclaim your power, delight in travel and new experiences, new cultures, take time to rest. Doesn’t need to be a grand tour, a weekend break is just as valuable.

The idea is not to thrash through all of these all at the same time, but leisurely meander, giving in to your leisure hustle, making time for you.

What is your current leisure hustle?

More anxious about the pub than the ringing

Monday evening saw the first #bellringing on all 12 of the Cathedral’s bells for the first time since the first lockdown in March 2020. We had thirteen ringers present, and a CO2 monitor. All the windows were open, the tower stairs door and we also opened the door that goes out on to the nave roof to make sure there was plenty of air movement.

We started off with some rounds on 12. Nothing fancy, just a chance to get the back bells up and swinging and to try to get into a steady rhythm. I rang the treble, which if you’ve ever pulled a treble to twelve bells off, can be quite a feat to ensure that the first backstroke doesn’t drop. Pleased to say that there was no dropping of backstrokes.

Feeling rather pleased with that, we moved on to a bob course of Grandsire Caters. The first changes on more than eight bells since lockdown started. It was lovely. Some good striking, some not quite so good, but no method mistakes and no real disasters. Started to get a feel for it again now.

Then some plain hunting on eleven. A few scrappy leads from the odd struck bells, but none the less, good control and an opportunity for the slightly more anxious to count to more than eight.

We rang some Little Bob Royal which when rather well at the second attempt. And rang a plain course of Stedman Triples. We dropped to eight bells to give those ringing the heavier bells a bit of a rest.

Then came what I thought was actually the best bit of ringing of the evening. Half a course of Cambridge Surprise Royal. I was surprised at how well it was struck, at how everyone coped with more bells that they’d been used to. Personally, I found that easier than the previous week’s Cambridge Surprise Major. I really enjoyed that piece of ringing.

After we’d got the bells down and locked up the Cathedral, a smaller number of us went to the local pub for refreshment. That’s the first time I had been inside a pub since lockdown began. I had been outside a pub a couple of times when they first opened, but not packed inside with the locals. Luckily on a Monday night the pub isn’t usually that busy, but there were a couple of groups of people propping up the bar that we had to manoeuvre through.

It seemed a bit weird to be sitting inside without masks on, as we were drinking (well, blackcurrant and lemonade for me). Fortunately we could sit far enough away from others and we were in a small enough group of people we’d already spent the last hour and an half with.

We will still be limiting the numbers of ringers at our practice night for a little while yet, but I think early signs are good. I guess I’ll just have to get used to going to the pub again.

Are you a social butterfly or does it fill you with anxiety?

Having spent a large proportion of this last weekend in company, socialising, meeting new people and being on my best behaviour, it’s been a baptism of fire getting back into the socialising game after the enforced absence by Covid-19. As an introvert, not spending time in large groups, at parties and such has not been a hardship, but all of a sudden, I had to be out there, pleasant, polite and sociable, something I do struggle with sometimes.

In the latest quick fire Psychologies Magazine quiz, it looks at finding out the mind-set needed to reconnect with socialising. My responses to the ten questions gave equal score to hearts and squares meaning my results were a combination of self-criticism and perfectionism.

“Self-criticism

You care about others, which gives the impression that you’re a natural socialiser – but your compassion extends to everyone but yourself. People may be surprised to learn how much you overthink your relationships and question whether people genuinely want to see you. When you’re hard on yourself, it’s difficult to believe that other people aren’t also tuned into your perceived faults and failings. It’s no wonder you feel socially anxious, unless it’s with people you think accept you without judgment. It’s good to question yourself and ask how you could have done things differently, but overthinking every interaction is not helpful, and setting unrealistic expectations of yourself sends a constant message that you’re not good enough.

You feel on safe ground when you know you’re needed or the focus is on someone else, so you may be the one who organises birthday gatherings for others. You can feel frustrated when no one does the same for you, even when you insist that you don’t want a fuss. Self-compassion is the key to adding ease to your interactions. Turn your inner critic into your personal coach and venturing out of your social comfort zone – and asking for what you need – will feel possible.”

I do spend time thinking about how I interact with others, how I come across, but also whether I feel someone should be afforded my attention. I agree with the final paragraph. I usually find myself either organising the events, or things when I get there. I am mostly found in the kitchen, clearing up. I hold my hand up to saying I don’t want a fuss made for me, but then being disappointed that no-one bothers. C did an excellent job of making my 50^th birthday as good as it could have been during lockdown. I am hoping that we’ll get to do it properly next year instead and I hope that I’ll be able to accept a fuss being made of me for a few days.

“Perfectionism

If perfectionism is your default mode, you may have always given more thought than most to how you come across to others, perhaps ruminating after social events about whether you said or did the right thing. In the age of social media, those with perfectionist tendencies also have a way to compare and despair at their fingertips, fuelling social anxiety. Part of you may know that scrolling through aspirational images is undermining your confidence about your life – but it’s addictive and an easy way to numb yourself if you’re not feeling great. You may also put effort into posting carefully curated images, only to worry that the real you will disappoint.

Comparing yourself with others is a natural instinct that helps give us perspective on where we’re at and how we’re doing – but comparing yourself with people you wouldn’t normally come across in real life is rarely helpful, and it can instil the message that you’re not good enough or that you need to change how you live your life. Changing your relationship with yourself is the key to making socialising easier. Start by asking how different your life would be if you decided to accept and love yourself for who you are.”

I made my brother and wife’s wedding cake and spent the whole time wondering whether they felt it was good enough, what other people genuinely thought about it, rather than just being nice. I knew where all the imperfections were. I don’t tend to compare myself with others particularly. I appreciate that everyone has different experiences, different social and economic abilities and there is no point trying to keep up with someone else. That’s doesn’t stop me looking at lifestyle magazines and how elegant ladies adorn themselves, those with fabulous homes are able to decorate. I am very capable of recognising that it’s a different lifestyle to the one I have. Whilst I could make some changes to my home or my appearance, I will only do so for my own benefit rather that attempt to keep up with some fashion or other.

Whilst I had a fabulous time at the wedding, I chatted with strangers and people I hadn’t seen in a long time, I danced and metaphorically let my hair down, I am still anxious about socialising and am keeping to social distancing and mask wearing wherever possible. I don’t like people getting in my personal space and will leave that person or situation if I start to feel compromised. Maybe I need to go to more parties and let my hair down more often.

It’s like riding a bike, you never forget

R has been home with us for the last few days in order to attend my brothers wedding and do her duty as one of the Ushers. It has been lovely having her home. She has been well fed and watered and entertained. She has had to “endure” the Sunday morning ritual of #bellringing though.

I taught her to ring when she was about eleven years old and she carried on until she was about fifteen when school exams started to require more attention. She managed to get to a point of ringing plain courses of Plain Bob Minor, Triples and Major and was ringing simple touches of Grandsire Doubles and Triples at one point. She could also plain hunt to pretty much anything without too much trouble, including Double Norwich Court Bob Major. As she got older her heart wasn’t really in it and I don’t feel that anyone should be pushed to continue with something if they really aren’t enjoying it. We always hoped that she might return to it later in life and she had a good grounding.

She is fully aware that every time she comes home and we go ringing, that it is what we do, and more often than not she comes along too. In recent years, her only ringing has taken place if she’s been home for Christmas, or for the annual family quarter peal. Every time, she manages to ring very well without too much bother.

Obviously there hasn’t been much opportunity to ring over the past 18 months, and for two Christmases she hasn’t been home, and we didn’t get to ring the family quarter peal in 2020, so she probably hasn’t touched a bell rope for two years.

She did say that she wasn’t sure if she could remember how to do it and what to do. We started off with some call changes. She took hold of the third bell and rang very well with good striking and style. We then rang some plain hunt triples and plain bob triples with her on the treble. Again, she rang without error.

It’s a saying that experienced ringers say to those who haven’t rung for a while that it’s like riding a bike, you don’t forget. This was clearly evident as she rang with good style, rhythm and remembered what she needed to do. She didn’t need to be told at all which bells she was over or when to lead.

She may not ring again until Christmas, or even next year some time, but I’m sure next time she’s on the end of a rope, she’ll have no trouble at all.

It’s just like riding a bike!

The Event

The eagle eyed among you will have noticed an absence of blog on Friday. This was due to a rather special event that took place requiring final preparations on Thursday, meaning I had no opportunity to consider what to write. My focus was fully on preparing and spending quality time with R when she arrived him.

The event on Friday was the long overdue and rescheduled wedding celebrations for my brother and his new wife. They actually married in July but had to postpone the celebrations until we could all get together safely.

So Friday started with an early rise to give the three of us sufficient time to get through showers and final packing. Load up the car, with the all important cake, and head off.

R had been asked to be one of the Ushers and was needed at the venue by 12 noon to help with final set up and last minute things.

Having arrived, checked in and dumped things in our rooms, we left R to her duties and C and I did a bit of exploring around the venue and had something to eat.

At about 1.30pm I started to set up the cake. Thankfully the weather had cooled off a bit over the last few days making creating and assembling much easier without risk of icing melting in sweltering heat. I had put so much time and energy in to this that I didn’t want it to fall at the last hurdle.

Having all got dressed up, family members and other guests started to arrive and R, with her fellow Ushers went about their alloted duties.

The ceremony was lovely with some poignant moments in. They had a sand ceremony which I’d never heard of before. Because this was the coming together of two established families, the bride and groom, and their respective children, all emptied small glasses of different coloured sand into a larger container. The idea being that whilst each person has their own identity (colour of sand), by mixing them into one they come together and create a beautiful new sandscape with all of them mixing together. I really liked that idea.

There was a strong identity with bubbles, brother and wife having chosen to bubble together during lockdown to get to know each other. There were the blowing kind, the drinking kind and even aero bubble chocolates on the tables.

After Pimms and canapés, photos inside and outside due to the will-it-won’t-it rain kept the Ushers on their toes trying to figure out who was who.

Speeches after the wedding feast from the groom and then the bride demonstrated their clear support for each other and their families, and their gratitude to the wider family. Then the best man, a childhood friend, reminded us of times when our brother had aspirations for his own synth band.

Then the party started. More friends arrived, more fizz and then cake cutting. There was a moment of concern when one rather drunken woman was quite close to the cake flailing her arms about. My sisters and I moved in to stand guard.

I spoke to the DJ and put in a special request for a particular song to be played for the bride, groom, their children and siblings and niece (R) to dance to, to symbolically acknowledge the new family. “We are family” by Sister Sledge. And thus, the latest additions to our family were cemented.

I didn’t quite stay until the end, had quite a bit to drink and had been standing in heels far too long, so slipped off about 11.30, way passed my normal bedtime.

A thoroughly fab day full of love and laughter. Every detail carefully thought through.

Breakfast on Saturday morning was a more muted affair, some not managing at all due to the previous night’s over indulgence. For those of us that did make it, large quantities of coffee were consumed and cooked breakfast to help settle the stomach again. A final chance to speak to people before we had to depart.

Although there had been a light shower of rain on the Friday, it was nothing compared to the downpours we had to drive through on ghe way home Saturday. Spare a thought for the wedding taking place at our venue later in the day.

All arrived home safely and napped to catch up after and exhausting day and restless night thecday before. A good kind of exhausted though.

So, the deed is done. The event over. Just the rest of their lives to get to know each other more deeply. Do all the dating things they couldn’t do dur to lockdown, and have fun as a new family.

I wish my brother and his wife much love and happiness. 💖

Writing off the diet weekend starts here

We have a special event on Friday which will involve food, drink and cake. R is coming home on Thursday in readiness so we had decided to go out for dinner Thursday evening to our local Chinese restaurant.

R has declared residency until Monday so we’ve also decided to go out for lunch on Sunday before going to the local RHS garden (weather permitting). And we’re not sure what time we’ll get back home on Saturday after the event so have decided to nominate that as takeaway night.

It seems like we’ll be making up for lost ground with not having been able to eat out for so long by doing it all in the space of one weekend.

As I was at home Wednesday creating cake for the event breakfast mainly consisted of offcuts of cake and icing. I could feel my teeth whincing at the sugar.

I did take a break to go # bellringing for a wedding at the cathedral and on the way home C decided that we really needed to get an ice cream. Who was I to argue?

Fortunately this food fest is being slightly offset by lunch and dinner on Wednesday being Slimming World friendly, but come weigh in day on Friday morning I fear any good works done earlier in the week will have already begun to be lost.

Fingers crossed I’ll still be able to get into my outfit for the event. I’m not going to beat myself up about it. I might try and make good decisions but mostly I’ll be enjoying some time with C and R and eating out for a change. I know I’ll get back to the diet on Monday and start all over again.

Just for this weekend I shall kick back and enjoy.

Making the best of what you have – bloom where you are planted

Have you ever wished for your life to be different? Maybe where you live, your relationships, your job. I was listening to one of my podcasts who posed this question and offered some suggestions on how to make a conscious decision to make the best of what and where you are by way of doing more cultural, physical and experiential things in your area.

If you don’t really like your home instead of neglecting it, create a room or a corner that you love, make it as exquisite as you desire. I’m not Mrs Houseproud and cleaning things, vacuuming and housework aren’t my favourite pastimes, however as we have so much stuff, I also find it a waste of time. When I have cleared a surface to make it tidier and more homely, it doesn’t take long for it to get more stuff left on it. I am often very frustrated by the amount of stuff we have in every room, on every surface. It means we don’t have nice things to look at, or can have people round for tea and cake or a meal because clearing chairs and the table would take a day or more to clear. And because a lot of this stuff isn’t even ours, there’s not a lot I can do about it. I have fantasised about a time when I can do something about it and how much more floor space would be created, and seating, and dining space. When I am in a position to do something about it, it will happen very quickly and dramatically. Things will be given a time limit to be removed. I shall revert to something I used to tell R to get her to tidy up “move it or lose it”.

Seek out culture and arts in your home town. Find creative activities, festivals, lectures and concerts to attend. Obviously over the last year or more, this has been very difficult as most things have been cancelled, but we are usually quite good at culture. We have an annual West End Theatre trip, and we have been to wine tastings in the Cathedral, book tours by people like Boycie from Only Fools & Horses. I was given several lovely cultural gifts for my 50^th birthday that I need to schedule in, from West End shows to tea at the Shard, to making chocolates at Hotel Chocolat in Covent Garden. Lots of fun things to get lined up.

Explore hobbies you could enjoy right now, fill life with simple pleasures. My two main hobbies are #bellringing and #cakes. Again, both have taken a bit of a back seat due to restrictions but ringing is certainly starting to open up again now. I want to be a bit more discerning about what I do and don’t go to though. We used to go to absolutely everything, even events in other districts, but I no longer feel the need to be present for everything. C has already said no to something, which is most unlike him.

Explore creative ways to make your job more enjoyable. Take some initiative with an idea, or put fresh flowers on your desk to brighten the place up. I am lucky that I have some autonomy in my job and have opportunity to be creative in response to needs. I’m not a particularly creative solutions type person, but recently I have created a whole framework for the organisation that I am quite proud of. I’m not sure putting fresh flowers on my desk every week would make much difference but the idea is that it doesn’t need to be something grand. Even having meetings outside in the fresh air, or a walking meeting, now we can meet face to face, changes things up a bit.

Take responsibility for your emotional state and get creative. I have always said that how you respond to things is within your responsibility. I am trying to handle things differently, more objectively, and understanding.

Discover physical activities that are in vogue where you live. If you live near water, take a water sport or enjoy boat rides. Not for me, I have a water phobia. If you live in the mountains, go for hikes. I live in a city centre. Flat as a pancake, but we’re not far from countryside and have some lovely walks and woods and nature parks within short driving distances. Certainly during the better weather, we do try to go for walks when we can.

Invest fully in relationships. To create successful relationships show up and give 100%. This is probably the most difficult. There are relationships that I know I should make more of an effort with, but as I don’t get anything back, I find it demotivating to put so much effort in, with no return. Where my values and another person’s don’t align, I struggle to find a way to be invested.

Show up as your best self. Commit to dressing, walking, talking and loving as best you can today, not tomorrow. This is where I am putting most effort into at the moment. I am trying to discover what my best self looks and feels like, so trying different things, from consciously changing actions, behaviours, thoughts, deeds and words. Still a work in progress.

Live with a heart full of gratitude. Choose to find the beauty and appreciate in where you live. I am lucky where I live. I live in a nice home (despite it being full of stuff and three stories), in a location that makes life easy getting in and out of the city, near enough to work, close enough to outdoor spaces. I have a husband who is incredibly clever, at pretty much everything. I have an incredibly intelligent, funny, caring and awesome daughter who has a fantastic outlook on life and works hard for what she wants. I have a good job that allows me work/life balance, autonomy, stretching enough but not overly stressful. I have an understanding boss who allows me to do all that. I have some good friends and family who join me for random #bellringing activities and who appreciate what I do.

Start you day with the right questions. How am I going to make today my best day ever? I do take a few minutes every day to think about the day ahead and what I need to do and how might be the best way to go about it. I try not to look too far ahead so that I don’t get overwhelmed with information and start worrying about things that are further away. At the end of the day, I often reflect on what I’ve done and always remember a question R asked me when she lived at home “what did you do today?” Sometimes that’s a hard question to ask as I don’t always produce anything tangible, but I create, support, facilitate, progress, develop and maintain.

Take exquisite care of what you have. Am I truly caring for what I already have? I probably don’t, and some it that relates back to my responses to the first point above. I am however, trying to take better care of myself, my wellbeing and priorities. I am making better decisions about what I want to and who I want to be with. I think starting with myself, other things will naturally follow as I discover things about myself.

How are you blooming where you are planted?

Have you really missed it?

Monday evening saw the, albeit tentative, return to #bellringing practice nights. We are limiting attendance at the moment and monitoring CO2 flow and still wearing masks for the time being.

We had ten in attendance but only concentrated on eight bell methods so we didn’t have to get the two back bells up. For at least one person it was their first ring, other than tolling for appropriate events, in 18 months.

We started off easy with a touch of Grandsire Triples, followed by a plain course of Plain Bob Major. Then we started to get a bit more adventurous with a course odcStedman Triples and then a course of Cambridge Surprise Major. We then rang a touch of Stedman Triples and another course of Cambridge Surprise Major.

C moved the monitor to a couple of different places to see if there was much difference in the readings. We found the worst area of the room and left it there. The highest reading was about 700. The desired maximum indoor levels are between 800-1000ppm so we were well within range having both windows and the stairs door open. There is also the option to have the Nave roof door open to increase ventilation if we need to.

It was great to ring proper changes, recall how methods work and use all the visual clues that you get from rope movement, other people and the natural rhythm of the bells that you don’t get with virtual #bellringing. I suppose I have missed some decent ringing.

Ordinarily several of us would go for a drink after ringing but we needed to get back to make a phone call. I didn’t really fancy going to the pub anyway, not sure I’m up for that yet but I’m not a massive pub frequenter. I haven’t missed going to the pub at all.

Next week we should have a few more people and plan to ring the back bells up so it will be interesting to see how we get on with that as far as physically ringing as well as trying to remember the methods. We’re still going to keep things restricted for now and keep monitoring and wearing masks.

It was good to get out of the house for a bit.