So firstly, it turns out I can’t count……I’ve been miscounting my weeks somewhere along the way, and although the last blog a fortnight ago said it was Week 40 – 44, I’ve recounted and I’m actually writing about Weeks 43 and 44 this week. Maybe they put an extra week in the year without telling me?
The last 2 weeks have been busy with yet more DofE expeditions, my Gran’s 90th Birthday party and some time with my aunty and cousins.

From last time’s blog writing (sat on my Dad’s sofa) we drove straight to my Gran’s house in Crickhowell in the Brecon Beacons and had a lovely dinner. Dad then returned home, and I spent a week staying at my Gran’s house, and hanging out with my aunty, my 2 cousins and their 4 kids. This involved a 54 mile cycle ride to Hay-on-Wye with my cousin – my aunty has 2 electric bikes which made the hills much easier. This completes one of my challenge items of cycling 30 miles in a day. We enjoyed some beautiful views, and a delicious elderflower sorbet in the ice-cream parlour.

We also went to Puzzle Wood for a day – a day out that I remember from my Year 6 school trip when I was 11 – it’s an old, magical wood that has a maze of paths through it, plus you have to find a 2 dead ends, 2 bridges, 2 look outs and a bench. In recent years, they have also added some other things to find, such as dinosaur feet and a crocodile. The 4 kids had a fantastic time in there, and also enjoyed the willow maze and the indoor maze. I also spent about 20 minutes helping 4 year old George on the monkey bars in the playground as he kept wanting to do them over and over again but didn’t have the strength to hold himself up. I’m counting this as an act of kindness while all the other adults sat down and watched!

​​While at Gran’s, we watched a couple of films, but I only needed one more to complete my film challenge, which was Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. This was a 1967 comedy-drama about a young white girl who was marrying an older black man, and was pretty entertaining. I also got to take my Gran out shopping, where we spotted the fantastic, recycled shopping bag with the words ‘Take An Old Bag Shopping…..’ Gran duly obliged for a photo. 

​Being around kids for the week also meant I managed to claim some more books for my challenge. I did one stint where I read 9 books to Rhianna aged 6 and George, aged 4, ranging from old favourites (the rather disturbing) there was an old lady who swallowed a fly, through to newer favourite, Aliens Love Underpants. I also managed, in quieter moment, to finish Lady Chatterley’s Lover, one of those old books where nothing much happens. I was also surprised as the frequency with which the word c*nt was used……I can see why it was banned in its day. 

The weekend culminated with my Gran’s 90th birthday lunch, a lovely sunny day at a stunning country hotel. I had taken the opportunity to write a poem, as my Gran is famed for writing funny poems for events and often to raise a point that would be hard to do tactfully with normal speaking. She had also written one for the occasion, so I got to do the reply. I really enjoyed writing the poem, it was a great way to revisit memories, and I also discovered that using the internet to find words that rhyme makes it much easier. It also counts as another card written, and was also an opportunity to catch up with 2 of my favourite people, Aunty Rosie and Uncle John. They are my uncle’s sister and brother-in-law, so distant family, but a lot of fun to be around.
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Upon getting back, I had a couple of days to catch up on office emails, and then heading out for a 3-day Silver Duke of Edinburgh assessment. This was particularly easy, as I had my car, a good road network interacting with the route, and as it was an assessment, they are meant to be left alone for most of it. I therefore got 5 colouring pictures done while sat in a layby all day waiting for the groups to come through. I also claimed another 2 nights under canvass for my challenge, and finished another book, Me Before You. It’s being made into film at the moment…..tissues at the ready!

Since getting back this week has had one networking event, as I’ve joined a new Mastermind Group to try and focus on a business goal, and some thankyou letters being posted to my Gran and my Dad for having me to stay.

​Here’s what I’ve learnt these 2 weeks:
 

1. I really enjoy writing poetry, particularly if I can make it funny. None of the airy, fairy nonsense.
2. I can’t count weeks in a year.
3. At the risk of sounding like an old lady, they don’t make films like they used to. Guess who’s coming to dinner had a cast of about 8 people and was all set in one house, yet it was interesting and captivating from start to finish, without any explosions, or sex scenes. 

So once again I’ve managed to leave it 5 weeks without writing an update. Which means, I’ve actually been meaning to write an update for at least the last 2 weeks, but its now such a daunting task, I keep putting it off, and it therefore becomes more daunting as time passes and I do even more things to write about.

So, where did I get up to? We went down to my friend’s wedding in Leicestershire, stopping at old university friend, Adam Crawford, in York on the way, with his wife Laura, and 2 kids Jacob and Violet. Here, I was presented with the ‘opportunity’ to be a princess for the afternoon and wear a tiara, and also a random act of kindness, as 2-year old Violet (repeatedly) insisted I have tea and cake (made of plastic and wood) – fun the first time, less fun for the 17th time. Even after Violet went to bed, I still found myself wearing a tiara, sat in the lounge with a glass of wine. I also got the opportunity to read 3 more books, as I put Violet to bed and read her stories. 5 weeks on, I can’t remember the name of the books, although they probably had something to do with animals losing something, and searching in ridiculous places to find them again. One man in the book lost his pet birds, but they were actually spying on him in each picture, in some kind of spooky ‘The Birds’ kids adaptation.

The wedding was that of old friend Sarah Graham, who I know from my scout mountaineering courses at Lochearnhead. We have the kind of friendship where we don’t see each other for years, and then pick up straight where we left off, normally laughing and trying to fit our fists in our mouths. Also at the wedding, I caught up with two of Sarah’s friends, Graeme Bigg, who I also know from the courses at the station from when I was about 15, and Sarah Fish, who I spent the weekend with in Sarah’s houseshare in Nottingham. As the party progressed, we had the opportunity to learn some swing dances from the swing teachers they had hired – we did a bit of Charleston, jive, and other stuff that you see on Strictly. I also got a new hairdo.

​​In the last 5 week, I’ve done 3 Duke of Edinburgh expeditions, one training and two assessments. Assessments, in particular, involve stalking teenagers around the countryside while trying to remain out of sight, by hiding in bushes, ducking behind walls and hanging out in fish and chips shops. These have also been a great opportunity to explore the local countryside, from finding new places in the Pentlands to the big range of views along the Berwick coast – rivers, beaches, mud flats, harbours and chip shops, all along the John Muir way. I’ve also managed to bag 6 more nights under canvass, so hopefully on track to complete this challenge item by November. 

​DofE has also presented some other challenge opportunities – firstly, an act of kindness in fixing up the worst blisters I’ve ever seen on some stinky feet – you’ll be grateful to know I didn’t take a picture. These blisters were about 1cm thick of fluid, and maybe 6cm in diameter. At one location, the adults also had a scout hut to stay in (I camped outside, but did spend the evening inside) where we found an unfinished jigsaw and finished it off. There was then a long debate about whether finishing someone else’s jigsaw is an act of kindness or an act of evil….. I also gave a free coaching session to one of the other leaders who was at a career decision point. A few long nights in a tent also meant I managed to read a proper adult book – this time, Michael McIntyre’s autobiography: Life and Laughing. This was particularly interesting to read just before the Fringe Festival starts at Edinburgh. 

​On one random day between DofE expeditions, I decided it was a good day to walk to Falkirk. This was to fulfill one of the ‘one-off’ 30-things, which was to walk 30 miles in a day. I set off at 6.30am and walked the tow path along the union canal, completing the route in 9 hours 23 mins, (plus an hour stop for lunch) and taking 67, 996 steps. Although I did it alone, I was, in a way, accompanied by Stephen Fry, reading me the Prisoner of Azkaban for most of the way. I can’t particularly say I enjoyed the experience, what with a pain like someone had set the balls of my feet on fire from about mile 4, but I’m pleased I achieved it, and it wasn’t as awful as I expected. 

​In a quiet week, I managed a few more challenge items. I did another act of kindness, by helping out another Cambridge consultant clients while the consultant was on holiday, and swapping some products with her to keep her going. I saw 2 films: the new Ghostbusters film, which was pretty good, and The BFG, one of my favourite films from my childhood, which I thought was ok, although missing some of the magic of the cartoon version. I also, on a whim, took the opportunity for a laser eye surgery appointment, just to find out what it was all about. I now feel more comfortable about the possibility of getting it done, but don’t have the spare £4400 they wanted me to pay. 

​The onset of August saw our house again swarmed by friends and family as they all spontaneously realise we live in Edinburgh and the festival is on. My friend Kristina came up for a packed weekend of comedy, acapella, musicals, and climbing Arthur’s Seat. We also made fresh croissants (a labour intensive but delicious process) and a fresh pizza (both with a little help from the breadmaker, but new recipes nonetheless. This was quickly followed by Matt’s parents who came to see the Tattoo at the Castle, and then followed Matt’s friends Sam and Emma. Their approach to Fringing is somewhat more last minute than my pre-booked approached, which leads to some interesting shows – sometimes surprisingly good and sometimes bloody awful. 

My old university friend Frankie popped in for lunch one day, and I met her partner Stu. I know Frankie from the mountaineering club at uni, and we once went on a week-long skiing holiday together – it was good to catch up on some of the gossip about other old uni friends. Her partner Stu counts as a new interesting person – he works in strategy for a Formula One racing team.

I am now down at my Dad’s in South Wales and have been chilling out, but also getting out and about each day. Dad has a new electric bike which is encouraging him to go cycling each day, so I borrowed his neighbour’s bike and we went down to Pembrey Country Park and back (a new type of exercise for my challenge). We also went to the Botanic Gardens to see their new butterfly pavilion, which was pretty cool (another opportunity taken). Finally, we watched a new film, The Secret Life of Pets, which was……mediocre. I’ve also been upping my acts of kindness with some deep-cleaning activity around his house. 

Some things I’ve learnt in the last few weeks

1. Time passes so much more quickly with a good distraction. For the first 4 miles of my 30 mile walk, I walked in silence, mainly because I was worried my Ipod battery wouldn’t last all day, and I thought I’d want the entertainment more at the end than at the beginning. However, I found myself constantly checking my phone, which was tracking my distance, and being constantly agigtated by how far I’d gone (or not gone) since I last checked. As soon as I started up Stephen Fry and Harry Potter, I was sometimes surprised when my phone vibrated to announce yet another mile down, while I’d not even noticed walking it. This probably also says something deep and meaningful about my ability to be alone with my own thoughts…..
2. Croissant dough rises. If you leave it overnight, it rises overnight. It is therefore better to put it into the shape you want it in, before leaving it overnight. Otherwise, you have to roll out the dough, and thus squash all the air out of it, before shaping it, and then it only make 8 delicious huge croissants, rather than the 12 the recipe said it would. Tasted delicious either way.
3. I now know how to laminate dough with butter…….so much delicious butter……
4. If someone finished a jigsaw I’d started……I’d be massively annoyed. 

Wow, what a hectic 6 weeks! It has seen me chasing more Duke of Edinburgh students around both Scotland and Sri Lanka, I’ve mixed cement by hand to help build a sports pavilion, I’ve been whitewater rafting, helped to cook 12 different curry dishes, carried a cuddly blue parrot  around Norway and played with Thomas the Tank Engine for about 6 hours.  Obviously a lot to cover, so I’ll try not to bore you.
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One thing that has progressed well is my nights under canvass (unfortunately, I’m lacking in many photos, as the camera broke on Day 1 of my Sri Lanka trip.) After another 2 nights with Duke of Edinburgh (where I met another interesting person, Paul, the store manager and mountain bike leader), I had about 12 hours to sleep, post my postal vote for the Referendum and pack for a 2.5 week expedition to Sri Lanka, via Dubai to pick up 19 school kids and 3 teachers. (2 of whom I’m claiming as old friends I have reconnected with, as I led with them last year to Ethiopia – Sean and Andrew. The 3rd teacher I’m counting as one of my interesting people – Mallory is Canadian, just started her first ever teaching job on her first ever trip abroad in Dubai, and had now signed up to a Sri Lankan trip. We got to know each other fairly well through sharing tents and even a double bed for a week in one hotel!) I also met the interesting Ronnie Robb, one of the other expedition leaders, who was working 10 months this year on foreign expeditions (and wondering why he found it hard to hold down a long-term relationship.) 

While in Sri Lanka, I managed 5 nights under canvass – 3 on our trekking phase through tea plantations and rice paddies, and 2 at the rather cool Borderlands, where we did white water rafting. Although I’m claiming it as a night under canvass, it was the most luxurious night I’m spent in a tent, with a campbed, a light and a 4-way extension lead for all my electronic needs……perched on a wooden balcony overlooking a beautiful river and the jungle.
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Sri Lanka also saw a fair number of different restaurants, although I have only included the ones that I can remember the name of……we had a lovely posh meal in the Royal Oak (old British colonial), lunch every day at our project site in Shan’s Rest, dinner most nights during our project phase at Kandy View Hotel, and our last night extravaganza in Tusker’s in Negumbo. Each served delicious Sri Lankan food, and sometimes traditional British cuisine, such as a hot dogs. 

​We also had a fabulous opportunity to learn to cook some Sri Lankan food – 23 people working in pairs to cook 12 different dishes, all organised in the front room of a local Sri Lankan lady. The experience was fantastic for team building, and produced the best meal that we ate on the whole trip, which given the kids previous cooking disaster during our trekking phase (no, I still don’t know how they made pasta have the look and texture of mash potato….) was a very pleasant surprise. I personally was involved in making coconut roti, which involved cutting down our own coconut with a machete from the tree in the garden, husking it, and grinding out the inside. 

Sri Lanka saw a few opportunities for random acts of kindness too, from saving the teachers food before the kids descended for seconds, through to flicking leeches off the kid’s boots while walking. (Leeches are not actually that bad once you get used to them…..and provided you have a spray bottle full of Dettol to get them off you if they bite.)

During our project phase where we helped the locals to build the foundations and walls of a sports pavilion for the local community, I took the opportunity to learn how to mix cement by hand, after the team carefully measured 45 palettes of sand from the sand pile, 2.5 bags of cement and 3 randomly sized buckets of water (plus a few extra sloshes) and a lot of digging over. We also passed rocks along a line from the rock pile delivered by a pick up truck, to the local workmen building the wall – this is a form of exercise I wish never to repeat!
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I also took the opportunity to try lots of ‘interesting’ looking snacks at the project site, cooked by the local women. This ranged from what I think was mashed dates and potato in a leaf, to the rather delicious sugar and cinnamon something-or-other, to Vadi, a spiced, sun-dried dumpling made from ground lentils and chickpeas. 

While on the plane to Dubai and Sri Lanka, I also read 2 books – the rather fascinating ‘Leader Manual’ (all the policies and risk assessments for World Challenge) and the interesting ‘Medical Handbook’ containing all the ways you can die or getting horribly ill in developing world countries. Not what I would have chosen for pleasure, but ‘books’ for my challenge nonetheless. I also managed to watch 2 films: The Dressmaker (a rather random story of Kate Winslet goes to small town Australia and is accused of murder) and the rather trashy ‘How to be Single.’

After coming back from Sri Lanka, I had barely a week to recover, watch a film (‘Chappie’ – robot becomes gangster) and attend a few networking meeting (coffee with the company I’m leading some Arctic Treks with next year, coffee with a lady who wanted to book a navigation course for her and some friends, and a Skype chat with someone I met at another networking event) before taking another big opportunity – a cruise to Norway.

​We were invited by Matt’s brother and his wife, who do regular cruises. It’s not the normal sort of holiday that we do, as we’re normally on action holidays – walking, kayaking etc, but decided to give it a go. Despite some initial apprehension about feeling sea sick and being stuck on a boat, we had a really lovely, relaxing holiday. Fair to say, I have now well and truly smashed my ‘drink 30 types of alcohol’ challenge, after working my way through the cocktail menu. My favourite was Raspberry Crème Brûleé, - a mix of baileys and what appeared to be some raspberry-flavoured yoghurt.  I also completed the ‘eat in 30 restaurants’ challenge after eating in the main on-board restaurant (The Oriental) and specialist on-board restaurants, The Glass House and Michelin-starred Indian Restaurant, Sindhu.

​The cruise provided a bit of time for chilling out, including reading a whole book, borrowed from the on-board library, called The Girl Who Came Back (which was mildly entertaining) and also watching a film in the cabin, called Focus, with Will Smith as a con artist. Due the boat’s dress code, we also got dressed up for dinner each evening, including 2 black tie nights, which provided a great opportunity for some fancy hairstyles too. I tried the hard-to-achieve French Twist, with some success. 

On the way back from Southampton, we stayed overnight with Matt’s friends Rich and Em, and their 2 delightful children. Their 5-year-old son Alfie had just got new trainset, which included a brilliant twist in the track, where the engines drove into a cradle and were catapulted down a 360 degree twist before trundling on their merry way. Alfie found this fascinating, and kept asking me to play with him, so in an act of kindness, I probably spent a good 6 hours over the 2 days playing with Thomas the Tank Engine.
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The week back home has been fairly quiet, but I have managed to watch a new film ‘Now You See Me 2’ – good if only for Danial Radcliffe playing a baddie, try out a new exercise class Fitsteps (a ‘Strictly-inspired dance exercise class) and do all of Matt’s washing and pair up all of his socks, and make another ‘What’s in the Fridge’ Soup of broccoli and butternut squash. 

Some things I have learnt:

1. Against the advice of our local guide, it is definitely not “better to wear shorts as you can see the leeches climbing up your legs and therefore flick them off before they bite you.” This led to a  leech bite on my inner thigh about 5cm away from my ‘important places’ that I wouldn’t have got if I’d worn long trouser legs tucked into socks like everyone else had who had ignored his advice.
2. Not many people seem to know about the Monty Python ‘Dead Parrot’ sketch…..or at least know it in enough detail……we carried a Norwegian Blue (cuddly toy) parrot called Sketch around Norway with us, surrounded by British people, and only one gentlemen chortled at it….everyone else (I must say, including me, at first) looked blankly at us taking photos of this parrot.
3. Pasta, cooked for long enough, will eventually look and taste like mashed potato. Well…..it you close your eyes and imagine its mashed potato, not some starch-filled sludge. Don’t trust 16-year olds to cook for you unattended!

So, I’m writing just a one-week update for the first time in a long time, mainly because I’ll be away for the next 3 weeks, first on a Duke of Edinburgh expedition, then straight out to a World Challenge expedition to Sri Lanka, so I wanted to write about this week now.

This week has been very busy with work, leading Duke of Edinburgh expeditions. Saturday and Sunday saw a Bronze assessment expedition up near Ben Vorlich. This involved 2-days walking in glorious sunshine and one night camping among the midges. Despite getting into my tent in lightening quick time, through a cloud of midges, the next 10 minutes were spent squishing a large number of the little buggers that had managed to sneak in with me, and my new one-man tent is now decorated with little black squidge marks. As this was an assessment, I was remotely supervising the group, which was particularly fun on the first day, as we started them off walking, had time to get an ice-cream in Comrie, and then drove alongside the opposite site of valley to their pathway and spied on them with binoculars. When then took a short walk down to a common navigational error junction, and hid in the bushes to watch them pass. I felt like a spy!
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Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday followed (as they often do, after Saturday and Sunday) with a Silver practice expedition. I had a lovely group of 5 girls, and spend some time teaching them navigation skills, although they were already fairly competent from their bronze. This also involved 2 nights out in my tent, bringing my nights spent outside to 11. I also got to spend considerable time with the other leader, Bill, who counts as one of my interesting people. He is an ex-police chief inspector and now works part-time on his outdoor business and spends the rest of his time in a little cottage north of Inverness. He has strong (positive) opinions on encouraging women in the workplace and is an enthusiastic outdoor instructor, if a little ‘old-school.’ He also spent much of the down-time on expeditions napping.

The weather was stunningly beautiful throughout, with sunshine and blue skies, except for one day of thunder and lightning, which was less good...

In an effort to up my colouring count, I took my small colouring book on both expeditions, much to the bemusement of the other leaders and have nearly completed another picture – however, my pink pencil broke, so I have a few bits left to finish off. What a hardcore mountaineering instructor I am…..

The Friday before embarking on my DofE work, I had the opportunity to cook a Thai Green curry – again one of the Simply Cook recipes. It was pretty tasty, although I bulked it out with a bit too much veg, so the flavour was diluted somewhat.
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The Sunday night in between expeditions was a chance for a nice dinner out with Matt, where we tried out another restaurant – Café Andaluz – a tapas restaurant on George Street. The food was lovely, accompanied by the traditional jug of sangria. We then stayed on to enjoy some cocktails, and I therefore got 2 new types of alcohol for my challenge. One was called Strawberry Punch with a Punch, which was a champagne base (I apparently have expensive taste.) The second one was called Lust, and combined Baileys with a butterscotch flavoured liqueur. It came in a shot glass, but it was delicious! This brings my total different types of alcohol to 29……!

Finally this week, I took another opportunity to treat myself from my virtual jar of 30p per day savings, and treated myself to a much needed haircut, costing the grand old Groupon price of £18! So, I also have a new hairstyle this week, bringing my total hairdos to 21.
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Things I’ve learnt this week:

1. Even in Scotland, it is possible to get sunburn to the point of blisters on your skin. One of the DofE girls forgot to suncream her ears and ended up with a blister.
2. Being on top of a peak, and then walking down a ridge, in a storm of thunder and lightning, is indeed, in the words of Queen, very very frightening.
3. It’s possible to improve the flavour of Baileys! Already pretty tasty, by adding butterscotch to it, it’s fantastic!
4. I’m almost over my fear of the hairdressers. After a doorstop-fringe incident when I was 15, I have always been scared that hairdressers are going to hack your hair to pieces, even if they seem to know what they are talking about. Still, I put my trust in this hairdresser yesterday, even when she asked if I wanted my hair to look ‘choppy.’ No, I still don’t know what she meant. 

So I am once again writing about a 3 week block of time, as a) its been a busy few weeks, b) I’ve forgotten to write it and c) I’ve been binge watching some TV which seems to have the effect of time passing without me realising it. (Britain’s Got Talent, Marcella and Making a Murderer in case you’re interested – the latter two are highly recommended for thought-provoking, thrilling and suspense-filled drama.)

So, where to start? I’ll start with some networking events that I’ve attended, as they filled the early part of Week 29. I went to Cambridge Weight Plan meeting (I am a Cambridge Consultant as a part time business) and met lots of other Scotland-based consultants and heard from some of them about their own personal award-winning slimming stories. I’d like to tell you that I took inspiration and have been strict at dieting, but alas this is not the case. The next day, I attended an Expedition Preparation Conference for World Challenge, ahead of my upcoming expedition to Sri Lanka in June. This was a good opportunity to meet other expedition leaders and talk through some scenarios, adventures and get some tips.

The following weeks were also busy with networking events, with a meeting organised by Coachmatch with one of their main Scottish clients, as an opportunity for the client to meet some of the coaches. I then attended the Heartabiz networking morning, which is a group of ‘heart-centred’ business owners – I found this quite useful and have made a number of follow-up meetings with people that I met. I then also attended a Edinburgh Businesswoman’s Club meeting on ‘Turning Pressure into Power,’ run by a Sports Psychologist who predominantly works with competition horseriders. My final networking event was another Cambridge Training Day, focused on Building Your Business – some useful hints and tips picked up. This also gave an opportunity for an act of kindness, as one consultant had contacted me asking for a lift, and then found he was unable to make the training day, so I offered to pick up a spare workbook and spend some time with him to talk it through.
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In the middle of May, I ran another Wellbeing Retreat with my yoga-instructor friend Lindsey. This led to a lot of cooking and baking activity. I made Parsnip and Apple Soup (thanks to Madeleine for the inspiration – it was lovely and not one I would naturally pick to try!) While making a butternut squash stew (that doesn’t count towards recipes as I’ve already done it) I was left with some spare butternut squash, so decided to try and impromptu Spicy Butternut Squash and Coconut stew. As this was unplanned, I didn’t have all the ingredients from the recipe book, so had to improvise on a few. Let it be noted that the amount of ‘chilli flakes’ needed to substitute for ‘one red chilli’ is significantly less than you might think…..The result was a tasty yet highly spicy soup. Note the difference in presentation for meal on my own, vs meal served to retreat guests. 

​From a baking point of view, I made some things I’ve made before for retreat, e.g. copious amounts of flapjack and a cheesecake. And I also made some of ‘Grandma’s Easter Biscuits’ (an old family recipe) of cinnamon and mixed spice biscuits. I had to make 2 batches, due to my friend Kristina coming to stay, seeing the first batch cooling and us both (mainly me) demonstrating a complete lack of will power and self-discipline when faced with warm-from-the-oven biscuits. I also made her one of the Simply Cook recipe – a Hungarian Goulash Soup……which seemed to be a posh way of saying Sausage Stew. Tasty though. 

The retreat went exceedingly well, with 4 lovely clients enjoying a weekend of yoga, walking and NLP coaching, some sunshine, lots of tea and cake. Nobody seemed to want to go home at the end of the weekend, so we went for an additional walk up to MacGregor’s Cave, did some yoga poses by a beautiful tranquil loch, and then went for lunch at Queen’s View café. All 4 clients were fascinating people, and I was privileged to share in some of their journey of self-discovery throughout the retreat. I won’t share any more than that here in the interests of confidentiality, but they are all counting towards my list of ‘interesting people’ met.
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On retreat, I also managed to find some time to chill out and complete a page in my colouring book, bringing the total of coloured pictures to 11. More action needed here!

One of my challenge items was to save 30p a day in a jar and use it to treat myself. As money as been fairly tight as I’m still in the early days of building my business, plus the practicalities of having 30p in change each day, this has been more a virtual exercise than I had anticipated (there is no jar) but I did decided to tap into my virtual jar for a treat and bought a ticket to see Mary Poppins the Musical for £39. I am so glad that I did, as the show was spectacular. The show was full of magic and joy from start to finish, with particular mention going to: the magic handbag which things keep appearing from; sliding UP the banister; a fantastic, energetic tap dance routine to ChimChiminee, walking along the ceiling of the stage, and watching the whole show being signed for the hard of hearing by an extremely expressive interpreter, who got the loudest cheer from the audience during the bows. Go see it if you have the chance as it travels around the UK!

The weekend just gone saw a hive of activity on the challenge, with a 3-day munro-bagging expedition through the remote peninsular of Knoydart. This involved driving to Fort William (with dinner at Mhor Fish restaurant in Callendar on the way,) camping in Fort William (a night under canvass,) full Scottish breakfast in Nevis Sport (another restaurant,) an hour and 20 minute taxi journey around to our start point at Loch Quoich (with a hilarious attempt by the man in the booking office for the taxi firm to spell my name, and also where we were going, so we were met by a man looking for ‘Captalinco to Loch Oich.’ instead of 'Cat Trebilco to Loch Quoich.')

​We then set off into the wilderness, and climbed one munro on Day 1 (Gairich) and camped very close to the summit of the next one, Sgurr Mor (another night under canvass,) to be met by a fantastic morning view and a 5-minute walk to bag our next munro. We then climbed 3 more munros (Sgurr nan Coireachan, Garbh Choich Mor and Sgurr na Ciche,) complete with a thunder and hail storm on the top of the final (and most pointy) of the 3. We then had a looooooooong descent to camp another night next to Sourlies bothy where I got to style out my midge net... (my nights outside now at 8, and my munros at 16) before a morning walk to Inverie village, lunch in the Knoydart Pottery & Tearoom, a ferry across to Mallaig, dinner in The Fishmarket, and then a train back to Fort William to meet our car and drive home. Oh, and a bit of sunburn from the glorious weather. Phew! 

Matt’s birthday had also been the day before we set off, so I made him a chocolate cake, we ate half in the Fort William campsite, and then cursed how dense and heavy the cake was as we wrapped the rest up in tin foil to carry with us. Delicious though.
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This period of 3 weeks also saw some progress on other challenge activities. I read a book! An actual adult book, called Dark Places, written by the same author who wrote Gone Girl. It was pretty good. I also saw 2 new films. One was the musical ‘Into the Woods’, and even though I love a good fairytale musical, I have to say that it is 2 hours of my life I am never getting back. As a boring and rather uncatchy start, I kept going in the hope it would get better and can categorically tell you that it does not……..don’t waste your time. This was slightly made up for by a trip to the cinema to see the new version of The Jungle Book, which is excellently done, with some very realistic animals. I had promised Matt that there was no singing in it (as I hadn’t seen any in the trailers) but I’m pleased that they did manage to sneak the 2 best Disney Jungle Book songs into the film, (and also secretly pleased as the withering looks of disgust I got from Matt, as I’m not sure he would have agreed to see it if he’d known.)

I tried out 2 more fitness classes at the gym. One was Latin Rythyms, which was pretty good fun, dancing around to salsa, swing and cha cha music, and the other one was ‘Body Attack.’ Although rather scary sounding, it wasn’t too bad – the group was really good fun, and I learnt that I need a better sports bra if I’m to do that class again. I did ache the next day though!
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My hair has also seen a few different styles, as shown below. These range from the slightly sensible pony in a comb thingimydodah, pony tail clipped up by grabby clip thing, 2 pony tails giving the illusion of really long hair, to the slightly girly ‘I have a bow in my hair,’ to the rather ridiculous ‘been in old-fashioned curlers overnight.’

Things I’ve learnt in these 3 weeks:

1. The amount of chilli flakes needed to emulate one red chilli in a recipe is far less than you might think. Fire extinguisher on standby please!
2. The sign language for Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is even more interesting to watch than the superb choreography of the dancers.

    2b. I have now also just learn that Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is in the           Microsoft Word spell-checker, and that I can’t, in fact, spell it  correctly, as           the red, squiggly line of incorrectness appeared underneath my attempt             (now corrected)
3. My name sounds so much more exciting and mysterious as Captalinco.
4. My sports bras that I bought several (perhaps 10) years ago are no longer fulfilling their purpose.
5. Despite my previous belief, not all musicals are worth watching! 

Week 27 started with a trip to the Isle of Skye with my mountaineering club. We were staying in a remote hut only accessible by boat or a 4-hour walk in. I walked in on Friday. The aim had been to add to my Munro count, but unfortunately the weather didn’t play ball – it was very windy, with snow, sleet, hail, and rain. We did, however, get some good scrambling at lower levels done, and had a fabulous view of the Cuillin Ridge from the hills just out the back of where we were staying.

​As the hut was full on one of the nights, ahead of the trip, I had opted to camp to save money. However, given the weather forecast, the other hut occupants offered me the floor to sleep on. However, my tent mate Franklin decided he was still going to sleep outside, and after watching him struggle with my tent in the wind for a bit ,I undertook an act of kindness to go out in the rain and wind and help him put it up. Once it was up, I thought I may as well take the opportunity to add to my new challenge item, of a night under canvass. At 6.30am, after no sleep and a night of being slapped in the face by the tent in the wind, I wish I hadn’t!

Over the weekend, I was mainly cooking bog standard hill ratios of pasta and sauce. However, I did take in custard powder and some muffins, so given I had to do something to the custard powder to make it edible, I’m claiming that as a ‘dessert made’ for my challenge. The weekend finished with a very long walk out, as the stepping stones across the river that we’d arrived over where now deep under a fast flowing torrent of water from all the rain 

The middle of Week 27 saw 3 letters posted – one congratulations card to a weight-loss client of mine who had reached her goal weight, one wedding invite acceptance card, and an application to make my vote for the EU referendum a postal vote, as I’ll be in Sri Lanka when the vote happens.

The following week saw another act of kindness. I used to be Treasurer for a charity called Be United (I’m still a Trustee) and stopped as I found I really don’t enjoy doing accounts and it was making me procrastinate on doing any work at all. However, the new Treasurer was at the point of submitting his first Annual Accounts and was a bit stuck, so I spent 3 hours of my time with him, teaching him the knowledge I’d picked up from doing it the year previously. While he was in my house, I also gave him a bit of coaching about what he wanted to do with his career, so he also counts as one of my free coaching sessions.
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Last week, I finally managed to progress on my Munro count, with a weekend away with Matt to claim a long-sought-after set. We had a leisurely start from Edinburgh on Saturday and climbed 2 easy munros on the East side of Glen Shee (Glas Maol and Creag Leacach) in the afternoon. We then headed to the Deeside Inn for the night, and for a delicious dinner (who’d have thought a blue cheese scone on a top of a steak and ale could have been quite so delicious.) The next day saw an early start to do the Lochnagar round – 5 munros and 32km in a day. We were blessed with terrific sunshine (and hence a bit of sunburn) and finished the round within guidebook time, which is unusual for us as we like to bimble slowly. As I’d already done one of these 5 munros before, I can now claim an additional 6 munros for my challenge from both Saturday and Sunday.

The rest of the week didn’t see that much action, although I did complete another colouring picture. I also went back for a visit to my NLP tutor for one day of the Practitioner course and met an ‘interesting person’ – Amy Gray. Amy is in the final stages of her Practitioner course and currently works for the council in Aberdeen, but would ultimately like to move to the countryside and run a campside. We connected on a love of nature and hillwalking, and I have every confidence she will graduate the course on Sunday. As the day involved a lot of coaching, she also counts as one of my free coaching sessions.

Finally, the week ended with a Zumba class this morning, adding to my different types of exercise. My experience of Zumba is that you spend an hour looking entirely ridiculous as you desperately try to follow the latin movements of the instructor. You are both performing the same moves, yet there are some differences……she looks awesome – sexy, sleek and rhythmic……you look sweaty, confused and like you’re having some kind of twitchy allergic reaction. If you ignore the mirrors, its actually a lot of fun! I also saw Judy Murray going into the next-door tennis centre, and took some solace that I am least a better dancer than she was!
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My learnings for these 2 weeks:

1. You really can get trapped by rivers in the mountains. Water rises fast and really can make rivers uncross-able. I have learnt about it all my Mountain Leader training, and have turned back from rivers before when there’s been a 15-minute detour uphill to find an alternative route, but Skye was the first time I’ve had to turn back from a river and opt for a much longer route. A 10km day actually turned into a 20km day to stay safe. Safe, not even dry – our ‘safe’ route involved wading 3 rivers at knee-height, but thankfully not the one torrent that had already reach waist height on one of our group before he even reached the deepest point. This was a river I had easily crossed with completely dry feet 48 hours before, and with one slightly damp foot 12 hours before, and was suddenly a waist-deep white-water death-trap.
2. Balmoral House and Estate (near our Lochnagar round) is open for visitors between Easter and October! That’s entertainment for my Mum’s next trip to Scotland sorted.
3. An odd glance at the mirror has taught me I really don’t look as cool as I imagine I do when doing Zumba.

So Week 26 was a week and a bit ago, and it marked my 30 and a half birthday and also the half-way mark of my challenge. So I took a bit of time to reflect on where I’ve got to, (and will write about week 27 next week) with some mixed results. But first, a wee update on what Week 26 held.

I started off going on retreat with a good friend, and fellow coach, Saffron. The venue had originally been booked as a retreat for clients, but after a lack on marketing on my part, I took the opportunity to go on retreat myself and focus on something I’d been meaning to do for months (perhaps even over a year) – write an e-book. The reason I’ve delayed it so long is because I find the whole idea rather terrifying and memories of writing essays at university, chained to my desk until 3am in the morning to finish it ahead of the deadline, did not help. As there was no deadline set by someone else, it hadn’t yet happened. So I took the opportunity of a beautiful venue, and good company of someone else who wanted to work on something to write an e-book, called 4 Simple Steps to Solve Your Biggest Problem. You can sign up to receive a copy here: http://www.reachthepeak.co.uk/sign-up.html

We took the opportunity to coach each other on what we were working on, so Saffron counts as one of my free coaching sessions.

While on retreat, another opportunity presented itself – to go feed some lambs! The retreat venue is on a working farm and out of one of the windows, you can see the farmer’s house. I saw him carrying several small fluffy bundles into the house, and the next time I saw him come out of the house, I took the opportunity to ‘get something from my car’ as an excuse to bump into him and ask him. He then said he had a barn full of lambs that needed to be bottle fed, and would I like to help? Yes, yes, I would!

Richard, the farmer, also counts as one of my ‘interesting people’ – he was a school teacher by day, and a sheep farmer the rest of the time, also helping out with his sister’s cows and brother’s pigs. He had 4 extremely well-trained sheep dog and a clear passion for lambs. He normally tried to time lambing seasons with the 2-week Easter holiday, but due to a cock-up (some might say, literally) – his lambs started coming a week early, meaning several long nights picking up hypothermic lambs, his daughters having to take a couple of days off school to cuddle them and keep them warm, while he went in to teach.
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I also cooked 2 new recipes for myself and Saffron, again from the Simply Cook flavour pots. We enjoyed a Thai Red Prawn Curry, and a Mapo Sichuan (beef, aubergine and rice) which is a Chinese dish. Both were delicious! I also baked some cupcakes for the retreat (and another batch when I got home to use up the left-over buttercream icing.) Now, this totaled 24 cupcakes…..In the interests of my diet and weight loss, I am tempted to count each individual cupcake as one towards my total of 30 cakes/desserts……slightly cheating I know, but it’s my challenge, my rules! I will continue to bake different cakes/desserts, but that eases the pressure on making 30 different ones! In a random act of kindness (and totally something I’d not normally do) I left 3 cupcakes behind for Matt while I was away. 

The day that the retreat ended, given I was already in the highlands, I decided to go and grab a near(ish) Munro, taking my count to 5.

So, at the half way point, here’s a round-up of how I am getting on.
Make 30 recipes - 11
Make 30 soups - 8
Climb 30 new munros – 5
Read 30 books - 6
Visit 30 restaurants/cafes - 16
Do 30 acts of kindness - 9
Reconnect with 30 old friends - 12
Create a playlist of 30 favourite songs - 0
Drink 30 different alcoholic drinks - 27
See 30 new films - 19
Lose 30lbs - 11
Try 30 different hairstyles/hairdos - 16
Write 30 letters/postcards - 11
Learn to say hello/thankyou in 30 languages – 0 (well, I just need to record them)
Say yes to 30 opportunities - 22
Meet 30 new ‘interesting’ people - 20
Bake 30 cakes/desserts – 28 (including 24 cupcakes!)
Give 30 coaching freebies - 10
Do 30 different sports/exercise/classes - 20
Ski 30 ski-runs - 0
Attend 30 networking events/meetings - 18
Colour in 30 pictures - 9
Add 30 new bands/artists/albums to my iPod - 0
Write 30 blog posts - 17
 
Weekly or One-Off Challenges
Play piano for 30 minutes a week – Hmmmm – have only done this once in 26 weeks!
Go for a 30 minutes walk at least once a week – Yes, every week except post-surgery recovery
Earn 30k – still some way to go on this one!
Cycle 30 miles – not yet
Walk 30 miles in a day – not yet
Put 30p per day in a jar and treat myself – Hmmm – jar is currently empty – I have some catching up to do with paying in – it should be £54.60 by now.
 
So, I’m at or over half way on some challenges: Restaurants, films, alcoholic drinks, networking events, exercises, blog posts, hairstyles, opportunities and new people. I basically need to get Cooking, Colouring, Climbing and Coaching.

As you can see, I’ve made no progress on skiing 30 ski runs as I didn’t get around to skiing holiday this year, and given its now summer, I’m unlikely to. So, I’ve decided to change that challenge item to spending 30 nights under canvass/outside/snow-holing. Given 2 nights over new year, and 2 nights in a snow hole for my winter ML, that puts me at 4. And I can add ‘Camping’ to the list of things I need to do above. Cooking, Colouring, Climbing, Coaching and Camping.
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If anyone fancies joining me for a 30 mile walk or bike ride, give me a shout! For the walk, I’m thinking of something flat and easy to follow, either walking from Edinburgh to Falkirk (plus a bit) along the canal, or walking the length of the Water of Leith and back (plus a bit.) Any other suggestions of where to go?

I’ve felt really happy this week. Not sure whether it’s just because the sun is shining and spring is truly up and running now.

The week started with a couple of films – firstly Eye in the Sky. This is Alan Rickman’s last outing, and also stars the fabulous Helen Mirren, although in a role that you don’t normally see her play. The film follows a UK military plot to capture some terrorists (using a drone, hence the Eye in the Sky), but the mission turns to a ‘kill’ mission, which is likely to have some devastating effects for the local civilians. It’s full of suspense and ‘what would I do’ thought-provoking moments and I can highly recommend it. We then also watched the more light-hearted Eddie the Eagle. While not outstanding compared to Eye in the Sky, it certainly had its moments and was just a generally uplifting and inspiring story. 

​We tried out a new tapas restaurant in Edinburgh (well, new to us) called El Quijote, near Tollcross. It was pretty good food-wise, but the main thing that kept me happy was the huge jug of Sangria we ordered. Alongside the Spanish dessert wine they brought us with our dessert, this takes my different types of alcohol to 27……only 3 more to go to complete one of my challenge items!

Over the weekend, I also cooked a new recipe, another Simply Cook invention of Malay Laksa. It didn't look as well presented as the picture on the recipe card, but it was really delicious!
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Monday was my Mum’s birthday, so another card opportunity, taking me up to 11. I’m going to have to get moving on some of these challenge items, as I’m nearly at half way, time-wise, but not half-way on most of the items.

Monday also saw another opportunity taken, where I volunteered to be supervisor for a Duke of Edinburgh group. Although I am now trying to get more paid work in the outdoor industry, the school were in desperate need of a volunteer, so I signed up to help. And it did pay off, in that one of the other volunteers was actually an MIC (super-guru mountaineer) in charge of hiring freelance staff for an outdoor centre in Edinburgh, so I now have 5 days paid work from him. 

During the week, I had another networking meeting, with a guy called Geoffrey Baines, who calls himself a ‘DreamWhisperer.’ He helps people to discover their unique talents and strengths and support them in following their dreams. He also blogs every day, with a doodle included.
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The middle of the week then saw one new hairstyle, of rope plait pigtails. Given last week’s step class injury, I didn’t do any new fitness classes, but I spent ages finishing another colouring picture, which I like to call An Explosion of Colour. This one tested my OCD tendencies by not having a set colour scheme for the whole picture, instead doing each little section with a colour scheme of its own. Crazy, right!?

On Wednesday night, given Matt was away with work, I indulged myself in another new film and got entirely caught up with the fairytale of Cinderella. Knowing the old Disney animated version quite well, I thought the live action version was a brilliant adaptation that really captured the magic and romance of the whole situation. It left me longing, once again, to be a Princess, and reinforced my unrealistic expectation of romance, but I really enjoyed it.

My learnings this week:
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1. Volunteering can really pay off, not just in the feel-good factor of doing some good and worthwhile, but you never know what connections you’ll make and where it’ll lead you.
2. Its amazing how ‘out of your comfort zone’ a colouring book can make you feel. Orange, next to pink! My, my……
3. Secretly, I still want to be a princess in a fairytale. 

So, 4 weeks worth in one blog post…… I’ve been very busy!

Week 21 was my Winter ML Assessment. This involved being away for a very intense week of navigation through white-out and night-time, security on steep ground using a rope, ice-axe and crampon skills and digging and sleeping in a snow hole! I didn’t tell many people I was doing it as I was scared of failing, but in fact, I passed with flying colours! I added a new type of exercise to my challenge – snow-hole digging! It took us 4 hours of hard shovelling to dig out a hole big enough for 4 of us. By the time it was finished, and decked out with battery-powered fairy lights, it was really quite pleasant.
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On my assessment, I also met some interesting people also being assessed, in particular Matt and John. Matt runs an outdoor company in the Lake District, has summited Scafell Park over 200 times in 7 years, and was great fun to be around. He was a very competent mountaineer and helped to put me at ease throughout the course. John worked for Matt’s company and was responsible for the fairy lights in the snow hole. Also a very competent mountaineer, I feel he was robbed of a pass-mark by an over-zealous assessor on his navigation. Matt and John are both married (to women), and are not, as one of the other candidates assumed, a gay couple!

My Winter ML qualification then led on to another ‘opportunity.’ Late one night, just 5 days after passing, I saw a post on facebook requesting a last-minute Winter ML person to lead a group up Ben Nevis the next day. I jumped at the chance to use my new qualification, and before I knew it, was up at 5.30am to drive up to Fort William. This day then led to 2 further days guiding on Ben Nevis the following week. This also gave me the opportunity to meet more interesting people.

Dean, my client on the first day, had just finished the West Highland Way with 2 mates (they were also interesting, but I didn’t speak to them that much, as I was mostly keeping Dean company at the back of the group.) He works in the city in London and had once done the 3 peaks, in his fitter days. Dean was ‘slow and steady’ up the mountain and we enjoyed great conversation all the way up. My clients later in the week were 2 guys and a girl from Lebanon (James, Mary and Samy) – we discussed life in Lebanon, the war in Syria, religion, politics and all those other things you shouldn’t discuss when first meeting someone.

And my final client was Aisha, a young Malaysian women. Within about 10 minutes of leaving the hostel to start up Ben Nevis, Aisha was sick. A further 100metres on, she was sick again, and we decided it wasn’t the best idea to carry on. After a slow descent back to the starting point, she then decided she felt better and could try again, so we made our way slowly up. After summiting, Aisha admitted that she’d come to climb Ben Nevis to ‘do something impossible’ and prove to her mum that she wasn’t ‘fragile.’ She asked me to record a video to her mum saying how well she’d done to summit in full winter conditions. She was rightly very proud of herself and hopefully left with a greater sense of self-confidence in her abilities. 

After a short week to recover from my Winter ML, I then joined the scouts at Lochearnhead for their mountaineering course, and caught up with some old friends, many of whom I saw at Christmas, or didn’t get much chance to speak to. However, I’m counting Mark Tullberg and Geoff Brown as ones for my challenge, as I had a long chat with each of them. I also managed a bit of ‘ninja coaching’ with Geoff on our descent, so that’s another free coaching session given.

Next came my Mum’s Wedding down in Ely, near Cambridge. It was a fabulous day, a really joyful occasion full of family, and also a chance to catch up with some very old family friends. I met Hilary Barnes, who had been my Year 5 and Year 6 teacher. She’s now very happily retired. She recognised me, but didn’t recognise my brother, who looks quite different from his school days (a few too many beers and pizzas.) I also saw Mike and Christine, old family friends who are very special. Mike was my mum’s physics teacher, so has known her since she was 11, and my Gran worked for him as his secretary. Also there were Debbie and Les, again old family friends that we used to go on holiday with, and Clare and Paul, who I remember used to have a tortoise. I also saw my Godfather, Dave Crow, a lovely cheeky chappy who makes everyone smile.

​The wedding also provided an opportunity – my Mum asked me to sing Fields of Gold. However, as there was no piano at the venue, I worked, via email, with the classical guitarist who was playing for the wedding, to get him to play an accompaniment. Given that he doesn’t read music and learns everything by ear, this was somewhat challenging, but judging by all the tears from the audience, we nailed it!

The wedding also provided the opportunity for a fantastic hairstyle, done by a professional, and some focused weight loss efforts, although with everything else going on, I only managed a further 2lbs. I also added to my alcohol count with some prosecco and white wine. And also an act of kindness: at the end of the night, my cousin Michael, my brother Matt and my partner Matt put on the song ‘Let It Go’ from Frozen and performed (rather drunkenly) along to it at full volume. To protect their dignity, I have (so far….) not uploaded it to Facebook despite an overwhelming urge to do so!

Back in the real world, I’ve managed some different types of exercise this week through my fitness classes at the gym. I’ve done pilates, Synergy 360, Step class, and I was the only person under 60 in the Line Dancing class, which was great fun!
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Finally, I’ve also completed 2 more colouring pictures in the period, and also made a new recipe (using the Simply Cook posted flavour pots) of Dukkeh Spiced Salmon. Mmmm, tasty.
 
My learnings from these 4 weeks have been:

1. Its amazing what you can achieve when you put your mind to it and have confidence in yourself. I never imagined that I would be a Winter Mountain Leader and I’m really proud of myself for getting it.
2. The warm-up part of an exercise class is actually really important. Yesterday, after missing it at Step class due to bad traffic, towards the end of class, I felt something ‘twang’ in my calf and haven’t been able to walk since. Lesson learnt
3. Even full grown men (or perhaps, especially full-grown men) love ‘Let It Go’ from Frozen. 

Gosh, time flies through a year doesn’t it? Feels like I’m approaching half-way, with way more than half the things to do on the challenge!
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This week feels a bit quieter than previous weeks. On Saturday, I took an opportunity that presented itself, and at the grand age of 30, found myself babysitting – something I hadn’t done since I was about 16. A lady on a Facebook group I’m part of commented that her babysitter had cancelled and could the group recommend anyone – and I found myself thinking that I had a free evening, some work to do, and a few extra pounds could come in handy, so I offered to step in. So off I went, to babysit for 5 young boys (it sounded daunting, but they were all in bed when I arrived, reading books, and were the politest, most-well-behaved kids I’ve seen in a long time.) I then got nearly 3 hours of work done, a free piece of cake and £30. Not a bad for an evening’s work.

In the hair stakes, I found myself determined this week to master the French plait – it has long evaded me, and even evaded my mum, who used to get mummy friends round to teach her how to do it and who all commented that my hair was really difficult to separate when trying to deftly scoop extra strands up with one’s little fingers. After some determined practice, I ended up with a fairly messy pair of French plaits, and despite several attempts since this photo, I’ve not got any better. I have therefore stuck to traditional pigtail plaits this week. I also tried a ponytail with the band wrapped in hair too. Results below. (If anyone dares agree with Matt that I look a little bit ginger in some of these photos.....there'll be trouble....)

On Wednesday, I had a networking meeting with Bonnie Clark, a fellow NLP student and director at a recruitment agency. I asked her for help on getting my retreat business into the corporate market, and she gave me lots of good advice how I can progress it.
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Friday night saw a flurry of challenge items met all in one evening. I met up with an old university friend, Phil Whitby (also known in the olden days as the Whitby Monster) who was visiting Edinburgh with his girlfriend, Beth. Phil hasn’t really changed at all, and we had some interesting conversations catching up on news from those we used to know in the mountaineering club at uni. He also bought me a fab gift – a small colouring book, meaning it’ll be much easier to get pictures completed as they are A5 instead of A4 sized. Thanks Phil! Beth counts as a ‘new interesting person met’ – Beth sounds entirely Irish, but grew up in Scotland, and now lives in Ireland and is training to become a personal trainer. The most interesting thing about her is that she puts up with Phil! We went out for a meal at a new restaurant, Tutto Matto, where I had a Moroccan pizza (tomato sauce with cumin and cinnamon added, Moroccan sausage and goat’s cheese.) I also accompanied this with a Frozen Strawberry Margarita, which was a delicious new alcoholic drink for my challenge. 

Despite the pizza, a week of ‘being good’ after my retreat last week has seen me knock another pound of my weight loss. Its very slow, and not very steady, but is at least going in a downward direction!

This week, I have actually played my piano for 30 minutes as well, one of my most neglected challenge items. I am trying to re-learn Fields of Gold to sing at my mum’s wedding in April.
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My learnings for this week:

1. Babysitting is a great job. You get paid to watch someone else’s TV, eat someone else’s food and do work without any distractions. I guess it may have been somewhat different if you didn’t have such well-behaved kids to look after.
2. I notice when I’m meeting people for networking that I often want them to hand me the solution on a plate and give me some work there and then. I was reminded this week of how it takes between 7-15 touch points for someone to be likely to buy from you, and that it’s a longer term game. Hopefully, some of the seeds are being sown now that will grow and be fruitful in the future……..patience is needed (and persistence.)
3. I may be destined never to master the French Plait.