My Destination!

Today was the first practice and timing experiment. Instead of dropping the Wonderspouse off at the bus then coming home, I drove him to Scharwenka's house where he then went to get a bus into town (he has a bus pass), while I started to walk towards my destination - in the picture above.

The plan is that I shall walk, every college day, from Scharwenka's house to college, and then back again when college is finished. This has several advantages over other ways of getting to college.

1. it doesn't cost anything other than the petrol to Scharwenka's house. Parking in Oxford is pretty much impossible and very expensive, and bus fares are also expensive.

2. it wins over cycling from Scharwenka's house because I don't have to spend money getting my bike sorted, worry about somewhere to lock it up, or start all the faffing around putting my bag in a rucksack etc etc.

3. it becomes my main form of exercise, incorporated into daily life for the duration of the course. It's not nearly as good as swimming, but it'll take over where the swimming recently left off.

4. it means I'll be outside for quite long stretches, mostly during daylight hours, which will reduce the need for lightbox use. Furthermore, unlike cycling, I can listen to music on earphones while I walk, which makes it much less tedious.

So, the result of the first test is that it took me 1 hour 5 minutes to walk the three-and-a-half miles to college. Not too bad, and I suspect I'll get faster as I get fitter and lighter - when I first started swimming I did 30 lengths at a session, which increased to 60 at the end of the season. First task for the walk is to break the "hour" barrier!

The other test result is that we need to get up 20 minutes earlier - which takes us to 6.00. I got to college 20 minutes later than I need to yesterday.

After collecting my registration badge from college and doing a little shopping I walked back to Scharwenka's (so a total of around 7 miles walking yesterday), pausing only briefly to have a cup of tea at a convenient Costa.

Once I got home I treated myself to the luxury that is an afternoon bath, then sorted out the debris of the morning's outings and spent some time with the boys.

I also discovered that facebook had been messing around with its layout. I need something ELSE to change like I need a hole in the head right now. I have an exam in 3 weeks, a college course and completely new routine about to start, I'm permanently hungry from resisting snacking, turning on the TV has become an adventure into the unknown these days, there are house jobs aplenty to do, and we're still worrying about MiL & FiL (who are now struggling with chemotherapy side effects and had to go back to hospital the other day as MiL was so unwell).

My brain is FULL! No new information that is not essential or highly enjoyable will be admitted!