Month 6 – #project365 – June

When I started this ‘little’ project 6 months ago I don’t think I actually thought I would see it through, but somehow I have managed to a) get through 6 months complete and b) take a photo of something vaguely interesting every day!

And so to June – naively at the start of the month I think we were lulled into thinking it would be quiet…. Oh how wrong we were!  An interesting month, but one full to the brim of work!  That said – we did make the most of the weekends, rather than work through them this month we were both incredibly good and loaded up the weekday hours to make the most of what was a set of lovely sunny weekends!

Start of the month – there is a foodie theme!  I was very impressed once again with my own baking – first time effort for a chocolate victoria sponge and my maths with replacing flour for cocoa seemed to work well!  Then a new discovery that came through our letterbox – a curry take away that delivers which does passanda with no dairy.  This is rare as ghee is often the base, even though the dish is coconut based, so very pleasing!  More pleasing that it tasted goooood!

In May I didn’t have time to enjoy the view from Waterloo bridge as I was on the bus to save time, but my first trip up there this month and I took advantage of the fine day!  The first weekend of the month was a bit different to normal – I had a weekend at home alone and enjoyed pottering.  Mr P was working away and since we have just one car, he managed to borrow the demo version of Marc Hyne’s MG touring car and drove it up to Oulton Park where he was hosting clients during the touring car race weekend.  A shame to miss another weekend of touring cars, but I enjoyed a spot of gardening in the sunshine instead!

My 2 weeks of #h2only was complete about a week into the month.  I am really glad I took this on, I gave a tidy donation to the Lifeboats, but actually it is great for my health.  I now drink far more water and my caffeine intake is reduced to one morning cup of tea, with any more cups being decaff only.  After the pain of coming off caffeine I may as well take advantage of it going forward!

We’ve done lots of exercise outside this month too – Mr P is getting very fit in advance of doing the South Downs Way 100 mile cycle next month, so he doesn’t want to run at my pace any more.  So now I cycle and he runs – and we both get the workout we need!  End of the week, nasty (but painless) bloodtest and then a weekend out and about dodging showers!

June 8-17

And then 3 days away from the office for a conference – very enjoyable, great networking and learning, and a lot of spider dodging!

And then back in the office and a 7am crash and blue screen – argh!  However the IT hotline is 24-7, thank goodness!  The fix – switch off wifi and restart off the network.  Unconvinced, and still grumpy about my early futile start… and hey presto – it worked!  Thank goodness, as I had 3 days of work to catch up on!!

Friday was an exciting day in our house as our 8th meerkat arrived – Oleg the special editions baby (bottom right in the picture)!  For anyone not in the UK, these come with car insurance if you buy it through a certain comparison website!  We are quite taken with them and fondly refer to the collection as our pension fund (and keep them in a cupboard hidden away)!  If anyone remembers the Nat West piggy banks fro the 80’s, then these could well be worth a few thousand ££ in a decade or so – which will certainly be a nice surprise and be good for a holiday budget!

June 18-25

We finally had our first BBQ of the summer – on midsummers day (which I don’t understand, it is the start of summer here, not the middle).  That then had us giddy enough to buy a kitchen which we had measured earlier in the week.  It all seemed too easy to spend so much money, but it was well overdue and we are very excited – we still have to pick the new fridge freezer!  Will I be able to control Mr P to settle on something ‘sensible’?  A little bit more evening cycling in the sunshine and then… PACKING for HOLIDAY!! Hurrah!  I thought it might never arrive but we were fully packed and the flight was still 12 hours away!

Final 5 days of the month were spent in Ireland and Northern Ireland.  We flew BA as always – so had an early start to get to Heathrow, but thankfully business check in was quiet so we swept smoothly into the terminal.  For the first few days we stayed in a lovely self-catering apartment on the banks of Lough Swilly – stunning and so comfortable.  It was a great base to explore Donegal and we particularly enjoyed Glenveagh National Park and the empty beaches near Malin Head (Five Fingers Strand a favourite below).  Sunday dawned and we were in Derry-Londonderry for the Clipper Race restart festivities – my husband used to be responsible for this stopover and I was very proud to see what a legacy he had left.  Particularly liked the red arrows.

26-30 June – Ireland!

Final day and we headed back to the airport quietly via the Giant’s Causeway – much less touristy than we’d expected even though it was busy.

And so that’s 6 months done, roll on July and a good 2nd half of the year for the Parkers.  Can’t say it feels like 6 months have gone by already, but I have high hopes for the next 6!