Cardiovascular valley

People say a lot of bad things about Croydon. It has a terrible reputation. But this is a lovely little woodland and there is also an ornamental garden and a carp pond. In summer it is beautiful. The woodland is nice for a walk all year round. After walking down the big steps on one side of the valley and up the other I can feel my heart thumping and I'm not that unfit! They also have some resident cats - I met a black one today who was friendly. Last summer I went there and they had the most gorgeous tiny kittens who were playing among the rose bushes. Of course they've all now grown up.

Today I went to my parents' house and made banana flapjacks with my mum. Very yummy. I don't cook much really so it made a change. Then I drove myself to the aforementioned park. It's strange but in the 2 years since I passed my driving test I have never driven anywhere without somebody else in the car, until today. Today I drove myself, parked, reversed out and turned and drove back, and it went fine.

I got a book from Amazon about assertiveness. I was walking through these huge trees and seeing them swaying in the wind and thinking I need to be like one of those, resilient and strong despite what gets thrown at me. At the moment I feel more like the tiny snail I saw desperately clinging to a dead tree trying to climb it with thousands of times its own body size to go.