Tag: #weekendcoffeeshare

Need to Know – got to start somewhere

A few days into March and I’ve missed a few coffee shares,  so hello and welcome to March, come on in the kettle has just boiled.  Despite a few chilly mornings and icy days it does feel like it’s starting to warm up and brighten.  Buds opening and raring to go.  The daffs, a sea of yellow urging the sun to come out.

The last few weeks I’ve really been struggling with that feeling you get when you’ve been on holiday, the odd bit of clothing that doesn’t quite fit……it used to but for some reason it’s shrunk.  For me it started with the salopettes.  They have an annual outing and a rough marker in time.  This year the zip feeling a bit tight even as the holiday started and as the days progressed they seemed to get tighter and tighter.

Holidays are for enjoying though, I was stuck up a mountain….hardly the time to give up calories or to start watching what I was eating.

I know for my wife the last thing she wants to know is a post-holiday weight…for me though I needed a reality check, a number to back up the way I was feeling.

The scales are electronic and I can influence the number by moving it around different places on the floor.  The feet influenced by the uneven floor tiles.  No time for kidding myself,  I lined them up with my favourite tile line and took a deep breath.

Not good, 6kg over my target weight, a BMI of 26.3 putting me well into the overweight category.  Previously I’d been sat on the edge a fine balance…..head in my hands time for change.

That was 3 weeks ago…….and since then I’ve brought my BMI down to 25.6 by losing 3kg (Not by moving the scales to another location!).  Still technically Overweight.

I think I’ve been a bit more active despite the weather.  Catching the bus to work when it’s been lethal ice wise or the wind and rain howling and then walking home regardless.  Deliberately drinking a glass less wine at the weekend and trying to avoid chocolate during the day.   The vending machine on our floor at work the Achilles heal when the afternoon munchies kick in.

It’s hard to describe the mental challenges that an office job brings, I’m exhausted every day and I ask myself why write this up……it makes me think.  It’s almost like taking a moment to look at yourself from the top corner of a room.  I’m trying to live well, work well and be healthy and it’s easy to go off the rails.

It’s making me think what do I want to achieve this week…..

The #WeekendCoffeeShare is an informal weekly link-up hosted by Eclectic Alli that serves as weekly heart beat and sort of of a mind-dump. Helps me reflect on my week, with a list of achievements, thoughts and rambles normally whilst drinking a beverage probably listening to music.

Avoriaz 2020

Fruit Cake

Rather than a cup of coffee, can I interest you in a Vin Chaud and a piece of home-made Christmas cake on the ski slopes of Avoriaz just on the border of France and Switzerland?

For the first time we have gone back somewhere two years running, as intrepid explorers it’s not our style.

We were just looking for something in budget, similar transfer time from the airport and somewhere that we know would do good food, somewhere authentic.

There is a little hamlet called Prodain just outside of Morzine with a small family run hotel, les lan.   The prodain lift is minutes away taking you straight to the main ski lifts of Avoriaz.

Getting There requires an early start!

  • 2:55am It’s Saturday and the alarm springs to life.
  • 3:40 and the taxi is here, there’s a bit of grumpy ness the boys hitting it off well from the start. The taxi moves through the streets with no holdups. There are few folk still out from the night before. Kicking out time from the club we pass.
  • 4:20 the bags are checked in and we are sat eating porridge and granola. My wife’s attempt at getting pre-soaked muesli through the scanner foiled!
  • 6:20 and the flight leaves on time, a little bumpy due to wind approaching
  • 9:20 local time (+1 hr) and if someone poked me in the left ear with a knitting needle I’d thank them for it. I’m in agony from the pressure changes and the remains of fluid from my cold.
  • 10:20 baggage claimed, skis in tow we get on the coach. An apple, a piece of Christmas cake and a thimble of coffee I’m almost starting to feel human. The lights different, the sun is shining and despite it being cold it’s an uplifting feeling.
  • 1:20pm and we arrive at the hotel, eat our home made Tuna sandwiches in our room….with a plan to explore the resort

Some Thoughts

That first beer on holiday, when you sit down breathe and realise for a week you’ve earned some freedom from the daily grind is worth its weight in gold.

The menu is exciting, mainly familiar to my school boy french….but with nuances. A week of good eating ahead of us.  Nice to be cooked for without having to think.

The weather, we’ve been fortunate with the first and last days being sunny.  The wind chill in between was punishing. We also had rain and some of the snow was washed away.

The skiing has been defensive, one moment free flowing through powder like coasting over velvet. The next hard packed ice, where the skis take on a life of their own, with a noise that cuts through the bone.

Despite what I would describe as the worst snow and weather conditions we’ve ever had; alongside the aches and pains from the muscles that are used to being sat in a chair all day I feel like I’ve got a glow from being weathered. I’ve not missed staring at a screen all day!

Tune of the holiday has to be the Blinding Lights by the weekend, seemed to be playing at the bottom of the chairlifts and if it wasn’t being played then, my son was playing it in the hotel room.

Now sat safely at home in front of the computer drinking coffee, feeling blessed. Tuning into the news the weather system is in a crazy state. If we’d been a day either side of our travel days it would be very unlikely we’d got away. At least 170 flights cancelled today. Homes devastated by flooding and my heart goes out to them.

The #WeekendCoffeeShare is an informal weekly link-up hosted by Eclectic Alli that serves as weekly heart beat and sort of of a mind-dump. Helps me reflect on my week, with a list of achievements, thoughts and rambles normally whilst drinking a beverage probably listening to music.

Hello February

Pen and Notebook

It’s flown by and the jump start to my body that I was hoping for has not happened. Not through the lack of trying. I think I had one week where I felt on top of the world and then due to a new exercise regime, potentially the new insoles I bought for my shoes…I started to have a stiff hip in the mornings that has thrown my confidence around whether I’m trying too hard.

Really really struggled to get up and at them, the black ice this week meant I used the bus more than planned and a late night post a retirement do on Thursday means I have my head in my hands thinking how I’m going to shake this.

So Saturday morning….the wind is a howling again the idea of getting on the bike without being blown off is a no. The boss had been out for a run and I’m slightly jealous…not in a mean way…just from the point of view of wanting to go too…but then the pain will kick in around my knee. I need to bite the bullet and see a physio. Just writing this has prompted me to book a session.

To share social media wise:

A great podcast on Circadian rhythm and how when we eat is really important: #81 Why When We Eat May Be More Important Than What We Eat with Professor Satchin Panda

As a result we are trying to bring our bedtime forward earlier so I can feel fresh faced at 6 in the morning. Alongside this trying to restrict our eating to within a 10 hour window in order to stick to circadian rhythms.

On the eats front today’s new recipes will be a quinoa and ham hock dish followed by a sweet potato and coconut brownie. A soup to use up the chilli in the fridge will be lentil, bolstered by the left overs of squash and sweet potato from the recipes above.

Have a great start to the month.

The #WeekendCoffeeShare is an informal weekly link-up hosted by Eclectic Alli that serves as weekly heart beat and sort of of a mind-dump.  Helps me reflect on my week, with a list of achievements, thoughts and rambles normally whilst drinking a beverage probably listening to music.