So What Next?

I do a yearlyish savings thing. I have a money box that can only be opened with a tin opener. In the box I put £1 and £2 coins. What I do is,  £1 coin a day and when I get £2 coins in change they go in the box-no matter how many I get-they go in.Be it one or four-they go in the box. It usually takes just over a year to fill it. So it amuses me to feel the weight of the coins increase. The money is used solely to treat my self to stuff-just I don’t need-just want. New toys I suppose. Bad thing is, as I was getting near the end I got a bit obsessive, I decided to put in any pound coins I had daily, and I was breaking paper money just to get £1 coins to put into the sealed box. The box was opened last week. My total was £630 (that’s about  $1012) Now, not much more than that could get me a good long weekend far away in January-which gives me time to save more. Big question now  is what to treat myself too? I’ve a few ideas:-the new photoshop elements 11,a kindle,a personal radio, a weekend in Galway,Dublin,London; a photography course where I learn camera raw properly , maybe get some sort of language lessons? Any ideas? I keep talking myself out of a trip to America-I almost had one planned this year-but talked myself out of it.

That’s one of the problems of getting older-you keep convincing yourself that you don’t really need anything-or want sometimes. Getting older is a bit of a rip off. I remember as a child I thought it would be great being able to drive-you get in the car at night and drive for miles and miles until it’s daylight. With the cost of petrol now-now a good idea. In fact I hate driving. If I did not need to drive,I would not have a car.  The whole staying up late thing is not as good as the child me thought-I now know the main reason my parents hounded us off to so early was because after a day’s work and looking after us THEY were shattered-and they needed time to relax. And I’m not even a parent.

So the biggish question is what do I do with my vast collection of coins-well I am gradually putting them into a savings account and when it’s all in the building society account I will decide then what to do with it? Any ideas folks? I am tempted to use the £30 bit on £10 scratch cards just to be extravagant-but then I am too sensible to do that.AND Elements 11? Do I REALLY need it-elements 9 is still pretty good, but 11 has got the bit for movies and my new camera can do movies-so it looks like I’ll be getting E 11.

I’ve noticed I have a new follower/reader here-feel free to make comments and/or give me ideas on what to spend on.And it’s GREAT to see you there!

The rambles are more local now-but still great craic. It’s my turn to lead a walk this weekend. I know where the walk starts, but after that I’ll just make it up as I go along.Part of route depends on weather too.Pictures are from Sunday’s walk. Incidentally halfway across the misty moor I broke into song and sang “Memories” Actually the word memories is all I sung as that’s all I know from that tune-no doubt I got strange looks from my group. I made up for it by telling them the story of when Idi Amin was training his army he made them do the goose step. When asked why, he said “What’s good for u geese is good for Uganda .” And with that I’ll go-still want suggestions on what to treat myself to.

a wandering whatever

I’ve been labelled a globe trotter this year. I have not really gone that far but I have been moving about a bit-and I’m hopefully not done yet. If somebody gives me a big enough kick up the proverbially derry aire I could be pushed into going abroad in November or January. But we’ll see.

I’ve kind of threatened a summary of my travels….so far. I’ve already done the Irish Cycling Safari one where I met the lovely Carolyn. What’s happened since?

The Glover Challenge.

This was a particularly tough walk.Took us 12 hours to do something like 14 miles over a few mountains in Donegal.Weather conditions were very chanrable.We met nobody, and in a way this was great-the whole solitude thing. I managed to get separated from group for a while and this was scary, the whole alone in the wilderness thing. Despite it’s toughness and enjoying it emensly this is something I don’t think I’ll do again-as a complete walk.Parts of it most definitely-but all of in one go….no.

Lessons leaned here-have a spare glasses case in rucksack-when it is misty rain-glasses are a hinderance-much better clear out of focus, than can’t see a bloomin’ thing. Oh! And when I got separated, I luckily still had a phone signal-a whistle is much better-got one now.

My next trip was a cycling trip in Scotland. This has been planned for a few years and this year it finally got off the ground-despite a kind of falling out. This was with the friend who got me into the cycling thing, and nurtured my love for the outdoors and my general fitness level. During the trip something’s he said made me realise how much he valued our friendship, kind of surprised me. He actually apologised for something that happened some 7 or 8 years ago. I told him that, that was water under the bridge and I had forgotten about it-that’s what friendship was all about. We had great weather on this trip saw some scenery I can only describe as Nirvana.Racey looking landlady in our B&B and a few really challenging climbs. The day we left this haven countryside we had rain of somewhat Biblical proportions, roads were flooded-there was no way we could have cycled in that weather-so, something was most definitely out to make sure we had a good time.

Ben Nevis had us leaving home for the ferry at the unwelcoming time of 4:30 am. The hotel we stayed in had its own leisure centre –so I went prepared. Despite being very comfortable the hotel’s food portions were miniscule. The climb up The Ben (I can call it that now) was relatively easy.Well after the glover , it had to be. What I didn’t like was the crowds of people coming up AND down.We started our walk at 8:30 am, so I don’t know what time the others started. It was just a track up and down.The summit was very misty with quite a few people doing Usain Bolt poses-not me.

Took me about 3 ½ hours to get to the top-actually did not need the lunch that I brought with me. On the way home we were in no mad rush so we stopped to get a few scenic shots and views before getting to the ferry. 

 

So what next? We asked ourselves –we done the highest in England,Scotland, Ireland and Wales-to be honest I don’t care –as long as the craic is good, the air is fresh and there’s not hordes of people blocking the way.

No idea what I’m up to in November/January.But want to get away somewhere. Need a new passport though-and that’ll mean having to shave and wash properly for the photos.

Things in general for me are pretty crap at the moment, but when I summarise my blessings –after the obvious first 3 –I can ride a bike, I can read a book and I can pee standing up. What I have done so far this year makes me smile-the little things that happened on these trips make me laugh-even though nobody but those on the trips will get the joke, like the waitress in the hotel on the Ben Nevis trip who scolded us for taking extra rolls for our soup-without asking; or the waitress in the restaurant on the Scottish cycling trip who cleared our table by instalments-I fit looked like we had finished she was down lifting the plates, as soon as the utensils had left our hands.

Any way I KNOW what I have to do to get my life in some sort of order again it’s just taking that leap of faith or whatever terminology is used.

Incidentally the mad Donegal woman now in Dublin I met last year emailed me to tell me she is considering moving back to Donegal.AND she has been sending texts the odd time-her humour is as almost as warped as mine –or is it the other way round Having a friend like her around could keep my spirits up. Oh and Carolyn keeps in touch too-her stories of her travels make me smile too. A return rubber band fight in 2013 is possible