Suffolk, UK Travels

Happy December!

Forgive my absence for a while. If you stop doing things daily even for few days those skipped days can turn into weeks, months, years. Things that shouldn’t have but did fell by the wayside recently.

The past few months have felt like a million things around the house have needed fixing or replacing. There’s been vets and physio/chiropractor visits, frustration with time, scheduling, my capabilities, a trip back to the UK, been too wrapped up easily in what others are doing (YouTube), a bad headspace, a balcony door let heavy rain in and warped the parquet, I haven’t been able to stop by. The usual excuses along with as soon as I get back in the evening no matter how psyched I’ve got myself to do stuff when I get back, as soon as I get in the shut down button’s activated. I’m working out how to balance as many things as possible. Do I need another bigger plate or am I okay with the one I have now stacked high with things I have to do and things I want to do. My Mum always says what you get and what you want are 2 different things. Same with things you have to do and want to do. I don’t have any other plates to delegate to. If I want to do it, I have to make time for it.

So where’ve I been?!

Seeing my parents for the first time in about 4-5 years. I know. I can’t get away as the cats are on so much medicine. Paul had guaranteed time off and could look after them. I think they slept most of the time and Diesel as we found out saves all his meows for me. P didn’t get a squeak from him unless it was medicine time. Aj’s started just before I left new medicine to stimulate his appetite which that or a new bag of dried food gave him diarrhoea. I usually get their dried food from the local pet shop however the last bag I ordered online. I think the brand put the wrong food in during production as it looked different. 3 weeks later with stable poo, a reintroduced new bag of dried food as chicken only doesn’t provide all the minerals and vitamins they need, for now their bellies are happy.

The UK was cold! Grey, overcast, rainy cold! The sun said hello a few times, but I was forever grateful before I went I ordered some Sorel waterproof snow boots (vegan approved! I know I buy chicken for the cats. I get the irony) that kept my feet snug. Going from an average of 16C to a daily average of 5-8C I needed warm feet! It was great in a weird way to feel the cold. It gets cold here but it’s a different cold. Feeling the cold air on my cheeks, nose and ears made me smile though the car heater was on full! It was great to be driving again although I didn’t like being stuck in the car for more than an hour. I so used to cycling everywhere that when I was with my parents it was a different type of tired. And yes, there were a few moments, ‘Mum! Which way round the roundabout?!’ and crossing the road on foot I looked the wrong way many times.

Norwich Christmas lights and tunnel. It didn’t rain everyday! 

My Mum and Dad are doing fine. My Dad has prostate cancer however the outlook’s good. They’re moving next year to the other side of the country for as my Mum calls it for an adventure. I think they’re excited as most conversations are about moving plans. My youngest nephew grew from 10 to 14 years but I can still beat him being cheeky and one liners. That crown’s mine.

Running Suffolk countryside. Maybe the last time I run in this part of the world. I forgot how pretty Suffolk is. 

The thing I couldn’t get used to the for the few days I was there was the light. It gets dark here in Barcelona at the moment around 17.40. When I was there the sun set at 15.55! I was going by light to how much of the ‘day’ I had and failed every time! But then as I was told by my Dad, I take after his Mum on getting out. But I say I inherited my Mum’s skill of never being on time. While I think I look more like my Mum as I get older, I think my Dad’s happy one of his children looks like his side of the family as my brother and sister take after my mum’s side. Within an hour of getting there, ‘she look’s like my Dad!’ with photo comparisons of my Grandpa. Growing up I think I received most of my Dad’s short fuse. Being the youngest my head was up in the clouds as my parents used to say and teachers used to put something similar in my school reports which my Dad never liked. Looking back it was like I was expected to know automatically how the family worked without being guided on the rules (monkey see, monkey do, monkey learn not to do as monkey see but monkey not understand. Now monkey understands every family is normal as no family is normal). I never understood why I got shouted at after parents evenings and school reports. I used to dread him coming back after parents evenings and handing him my school reports. I got good grades, did my homework, always did my best, never answered back at the teachers, however my best was never good enough. But then nobody realised or noticed I was dyslexic until I was 15. (It’s more with speech/pronunciation). Around that time subsequent parents evenings I never got shouted at again. I never knew why until a few years ago mentioning to my Mum I might be dyslexic (it was Paul who suggested I might be) she said around when I was 15 they found out, decided it was too late to do anything about it and never told me! I had to find out on my own! But you know your Dad’s your Dad and you want to make him proud. I think I’m the one in his eyes that hasn’t but to hear him walk in the room and excitedly say ‘Is that my littlest one?!’ made me so happy. Thankfully I didn’t burst into tears. I already had a few when I’d tried to wake him up from his afternoon nap. But I couldn’t hold off the tears saying goodbye. My Mum I’m okay with for goodbyes. It’s my Dad that makes me cry! I guess this is a therapy post!

Lower Holbrook. It was was as cold as it looks. 

As usual most of the time was spent on outings with my Mum. A shopping trip to Norwich where I had to say no more beauty products as nearly every shop there were new products. I was good, I reigned myself in. A mother daughter morning at as my Mum calls it Keep Fit Class aka aerobics, a trip to Lower Holbrock where my Dad likes to take a motorbike ride to as the lanes there are nice and windy for a little walk and nap (my Dad stayed at home. But then he hates anyone driving him. If you ever drive him, you’re the worst driver) and a trip to Suffolk Food Hall where I soaked up on craft Christmas something I don’t get in Spain.

Suffolk Food Hall with things or rather the same Christmas and winter build up I don’t get in Spain 

Since I’ve been back I’ve been trying to get a better routine going only to fall back deeper into the old one. I know a lot is food related. If I don’t eat enough I sleep instead. My body’s like well if you’re not going to feed me for energy and repair, I’m going to make you sleep for energy and repair. This is evident on climbing days. I’m putting more in the tank, but somedays you grab what you can to eat!

Beach run to the end of the jetty and back. I’m liking I can run the shore line now it’s colder and not packed with summer beach people.

And of course there’s been the zoo. The place where I get a greenery and bird song fix. Most animals are asleep when I make last entrance. That’s okay, few people are there and sometimes living in a city I don’t want to see another human for a few minutes. It’s like I have a park to myself even if it’s just for 2 minutes.

How was your November and December so far? It’s nearly 2 weeks until Christmas and I’ve hardly done any Christmas shopping. Everything has to be posted in a week to make destinations on time!