Hello all
So first of all, apologies for the lateness but been having many internet problems and also being a stroppy lil shit which is not conducive to the writing process!
[CN: food]
It's been a pretty busy week, started off by going to my nana's house while she's on her hols to see Dan, Janna and wee cousin M (they were house sitting). We gorged ourselves on Chinese while watching Masterchef. Took ages to order because I always want at least one of everything so I ended up getting a special chow mein and rice because I eat like a bird. I love that 'eat like a bird' is a saying to mean you eat nothing at all when birds actually eat like 10x their own body weight every day. Depends on the species if you wanna be really pedantic and, let's face it, when don't I wanna be pedantic? I ended up snagging half of mum's meal too. I was quite proud of myself for putting it all away to be honest! Also tried the chocolate kiss I got at the market the day before but the selfie I got was by far the best thing about it. It was like mushy soap! Gingerbread my ass...
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Anyway, back to the main story! When I say 'watching Masterchef ' what I actually mean is 'sarcastically narrating the programme and acting as though I could do any better'. It was, however, a much needed break after chasing my cousin around the house for two hours. His new favourite game is 'Emimy running!' which basically means 'chase me, chase me!' This might sound like a simple task since he's only two, but he will complain if you don't actively run and you can't actually catch him so you have to do a weird little penguin shuffle which makes you very static and very tired! Still, I was complaining I wasn't exercising enough the other week so I suppose he was doing me a favour!
It was really strange watching his little head bobbing up and down the corridor as he raced back and forth, like looking into a pensieve or something. All of a sudden, hundreds memories came flooding back; the sounds and smells of nana and Peter cooking in the kitchen, the soft murmur of indistinct conversation and the thunder of my feet up and down the corridor as two year old me did exactly the same thing.Weird but very, very cool.
[TW: healthcare, medication]
The next day I went back to the doctor's again to complain, again, about the sheer bloody agony of the meds I'd been prescribed. I don't know if this is normal practice across the country, but I never get to see the same doctor twice so it's always a bit of pot luck as to whether or not I'll get someone who will listen to what I have to say or not. After the usual ten minute briefing of my medical history, I found out that I'd finally struck gold and she immediately called up my 'care physician' (the man in charge of my medical and therapeutic care, best positioned to help me because he's never actually met me!) and he deigned to talk to her and agreed to change my medication. Well, I say 'agreed', it was more of a 'who? oh. yeah. do what you want, I don't care.' but the result is the same so I'll take it! I've been on my new meds for five days now and both my nightmares and stomach cramps stopped immediately. Wonderful. It's almost like I was right about them being side effects of the medication!!! I have to up my dose in a couple of days though, so I'm a little worried about the possible side effects that will ensue but I'm enjoying my pain free days at the moment.
I'm also on meds because I have the skin of a hormonal thirteen year old and it seemed to work for a week or two but now it's getting bad again so I'm a little concerned that my body is adjusting to it, since it is an antibiotic. We'll see how it goes, I've been a bit under the weather with a stomach bug so that could be the reason my face is rebelling again. On the plus side, I'm finally at a stage in my life where I can take photos without make-up and not feel like Wesley to-the-pain-ed me.
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Mum and I were busy (or active!) bees this weekend and we went on two walks, totalling a little under ten miles, I'd say. On Saturday we went to Frosterley and followed a walk I used to do with my nana's husband all the time when I was wee.
((Side note but I'm not entirely sure why I always specify that Peter is my nana's husband and not my grandfather. I wouldn't be offended if people thought he was, they married long before I was born and he is my family but I've always made sure to make the clarification... Odd.))
It was a bit chilly but there were some beautiful autumn colours about! We found a weeny waterfall, some quarry ruins and got chased by a very lonely looking horse! I'm not scared of horses but I'm wary of that fact that they're fecking huge so I gave him a little 'hello' pat as we walked past and tried not to panic as we felt him breathing down our necks! He gave up when he realised we didn't have any food which we were grateful of, to say the least.
We walked from the hills down to the river and had a very confusing conversation when we found that the bridge we were going to cross was only half finished. Mum was trying to explain that we'd have to walk to the other end of town to cross by the pub but I was adamant we could use the bridge near my nana's house. What I didn't realise was that the half-bridge (or ramp!) we were looking at was the replacement for the bridge I was thinking of. When it finally hit me I was absolutely gobsmacked. I know enough about science to understand that over time water erodes rock and rivers change course and landscape where they flow. What I never expected was that it would happen so much in my lifetime that I wouldn't even recognise a place that I spent half of my childhood. Gone were the huge stone slabs that you could cross the river on, gone was the tunnel beneath the old bridge - which was also washed away! -, gone was the little swimming hole that I always found myself in ('I promise I won't get wet this time, mum...' *Splash*). Even the trees had changed, the expanse of grass they grew upon now a tiny strip of land behind a huge, wide riverbed. It was such a strange feeling to see that place so changed, I was in awe of the power of nature while mourning the loss of something I loved, a place still there but so much changed it no longer felt like 'mine'.
The following day we headed over to Hamsterley Forest again, where I yet again found a childhood memory eroded by the fast growing river. I almost felt like I'd wake up one day and half the house will have fallen into the water. I also learnt that all the years I never wore a hat was possibly the smartest decision I ever made. The damn things are more slippery than a wet bar of soap!
Despite the frost part of Frosterley, it was quite a mild day but Hamsterley was bitterly cold (and not full of hamsters, false advertising, I say!) but still very pretty. So different from the summer walk we had there earlier this year. There are some fantastically strange trees in the forest, not to mention a collection of strange mushroom/penises someone has carved into some of the tree stumps... It was a bit of a mission to get around in one piece, the mud was deceptively deep, the cyclists were very cranky and the wildlife was on Troll Patrol. At one point a pheasant exploded out of a bush inches away from us making that horrid trumpeting noise and I honestly thought my heart had cracked my ribs it was pounding so hard. Fucking terrifying! I had a mental image of slowly sinking into the mud as a man on a bike swerved around me, glaring because I'd forced him to slow down. The cycle and pedestrian paths have several crossroads and the way some of them glower you'd think we were deliberately waiting at the junctions to get in the way!
All in all, a very nice weekend with lots of giggling and silliness with me mammy.
Yesterday, pre-sulk, I went to see my dad. We put the world to rights over coffee and cigarettes, as always, before having a mooch round the charity shops... as always! He's looking for a glass topped coffee table so if you know of any el cheapo ones in County Durham, let me know! We watched some crap on telly and chatted the hours away with Susan. Conversation never runs dry over there, we're always trying to one up each other with sarcy remarks and silly jokes. It really does bring some light to the whole nature vs nurture argument - our sense of humour is quite blatantly a genetic trait, as is our love of all things furred, feathered and scaled, our goffik sense style and how good our legs look in mini skirts!
We popped out to feed the chickens and the rabbits before heading back in so I could paw at the snakes. Sid had a lucky escape because he was mid-shed but Nancy, Noodle and Tango all had love and cuddles thrust upon them. My heart absolutely melted over Nancy, she's such an inquisitive little thing she was tasting my face and exploring my sleeves and pockets. So adorable!
Usually dad and I plan to see each other semi-frequently and then end up waiting six months before catching up again so I'm kind of impressed with how well we've done this year in keeping in touch and actually seeing each other! We've planned to make plans for a little closer to Christmas when I can hopefully see my sisters too.
As well as watching a rather ridiculous amount of tv this week, I joined yet another letterboxd-esque site to keep track of my viewing. If you are interested, or already have an account on trakt please do give me a follow! It's a bit terrifying that it shows you in real time how much tv you've watched. Obviously I haven't listed everything I've ever seen but I've already racked up a whopping 190 days of viewing in my lifetime. The other thing I noticed was that when signing up there are three options for your gender; male, female or unknown. I'm very glad to learn that the third gender is a Pokémon.
This week I watched The Crown, Red Riding Hood, Wit, Planet Earth (first series) and I just started on a Breaking Bad rewatch.
Wit is a film I really love, as someone who loves words I really relate to the protagonist and it's so refreshing to watch something that just assumes you're smart enough to follow along. If you haven't seen it, it's about a woman's final days during her battle with cancer as she looks back on her life as a scolar and student of poet John Donne. It's very well written and engaging but obviously not the cheeriest thing in the world. For some reason, I decided this was perfect date night material so reduced my girlfriend to sobs watching one of her favourite actors suffer in the name of romance! Well done, self. Nailed it. In my defence, it's been a few years since I watched it and I forgot just how upsetting some scenes were. I'm sorry, Mel!
Eileen Atkins (who plays a professor in Wit) is absolutely one of my favourite people on the planet and when I learnt she was in The Crown I metaphorically hurtled over to Netflix to have a binge. I wasn't holding out much hope that I would enjoy the show as I am a staunch non-royalist and have very little interest in the actual family. While I wouldn't say it was my favourite show in the world, I came away pleasantly surprised. I have very little idea on the actual accuracy of it but I felt like what I was watching was a very unbiased view of real people that most others have an opinion on. While there was a real sense of Liz being trapped within the confines of the crown in terms of what she can do with her own life, the show never shied away from calling out people on their bullshit. Philip wasn't just the outdated, racist caricature he is in the media but he certainly wasn't given a free pass either! Having very little knowledge of that time period, I was very surprised by the roasting Churchill got, knowing him only as the war hero we hear about today. In short, I felt like a learnt a little and I was entertained enough to make it to the last episode though it definitely won't be winning a place in my top ten tv shows.
I don't really have a lot to say on the Amanda Seyfried version of Red Riding Hood, I was only half watching it and it didn't do much to pull my attention away from twitter. I could say more but I don't want to bore you with reviews all the time! I am, however, really looking forward to the next season of Planet Earth which I will probably watch once I've finished BB again.
Got a few sort of plans in the works so hopefully I'll have lots to tell you next week.
Xx
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