Transport

 Now that I have moved back to the family home, I have realised that using the car to get to work each day is becoming expensive.

By the time I have paid for the daily parking ($6), not always guaranteed either! The petrol and wear of the car then I am looking at about $7-8 a day.

Now I only live about 5-7 minutes (about 4 km) drive away from work, in the morning it is quicker to get there as I leave before all the traffic but in the evening I end up taking maybe 10-15 minutes due to traffic, which for the city I live in is not bad, so I really have nothing to complain about, compared to some others around the world (joys of living in NZ with only 4.5 million other people and only 180,000 in my city).

I am happy to walk, which would take me about 30-45 mins but I usually have a heavy bag to carry and I found that this just wasn't suitable and then I had to take other shoes to wear once at work plus you needed a coat/jacket when you start out, because it was cold or raining, but by the time you got there you had taken it off as you are now warm. I decided that I didn't need that amount of crazy stress at 7.30am just to get to work.

So, I took at the bus

It is a 1 min walk to my choice of 2 bus stops and both buses run every 30 minutes. The price per journey is alright and I actually save $1.20 per day on parking costs and guess I save all the wear and tear on the car, plus petrol costs, so a win win all round.

Does it mean I can do a quick stop at the supermarket on the way home? Yes, if I want to walk there and then catch the bus from there, which is totally do able but carrying 6L of milk is not such joy, so someone else can grab the milk!

The extra steps I get in the day walking to the bus stop and getting off the bus a stop earlier and walking up a large flight of stairs to work is also good for me, especially as I am trying to maintain my steps per day.

Guess I will be taking the bus more often. It will take some good planning and ensuring my calendar is up to date and correct, nothing like realising that you forgot an appointment and then realising that you don't have the car to get there! But I don't have appointments too often, well apart from on a Thursday, so I guess I can take the bus 4 days a week, which I will be happy doing, even in the rain (I have several umbrellas)

Jigsaw Time

 Well, it wouldn't be the new year if I didn't start it right without a jigsaw!

Received this one for my birthday last year and just fancied doing it whilst unwell for a day, about all I could manage. Started it yesterday lunchtime and finished it this morning. Yes, I did parkrun in the morning, starts at 8am, but sadly by lunchtime I was not feeling well.

It was easy to do, as lots of main colour areas to pick out and then it all just fell together very quickly.

Happy New Year

 Happy New Year 2025

Welcome to a new year. A year where things are exciting and I have plans, not that I didn't have plans in 2024, but they went a little square and sideways and the year didn't go to plan, quite!!

I don't have too many set plans for 2025, just a few things that I want to achieve, and I am happy to go with the flow. If they don't happen then I won't beat myself up about it, but I do want to do them, so will try my hardest to achieve everything.

Looking back on 2024 then it was hard!

My marriage being officially put to rest, although we were both happy about this.

My work got out of hand, and I let it! It caused trouble in the middle of the year and stress leave is not fun at all. But I survived, I went back, and I tried again and finished the year but there are many changes being made and I am stronger, and I am actually looking forward to work in 2025 and being able to have the time and space to achieve what I know I can do and offer.

So how did 2025 start?

I am not a midnight person. I was actually in bed by 11pm. Yes, I know, that is only 60 minutes from midnight, but did I really want to stay up an extra hour, just to say 'Happy New Year' and then go to bed? I only had Steve to say it too and it was not needed, so to bed I went.

However, I did get up at 7am to go and complete parkrun at Cambridge.

It was a special event for me as it marked my 50th event 🎉

This means I have walked at 50 parkruns, which is an achievement to be celebrated. Majority of them have been at the same event each week but a few have been elsewhere.

At parkrun we celebrate all achievements, the next is my 100th event, obviously with parkrun only happening weekly then it will be December at the earliest that I can achieve this and that will mean attending every Saturday! I already know that won't be happening as I have a few Saturdays when I can't attend so it will be the beginning of next year for sure.

Whenever it happens, I will be celebrating it.

Last day of 2024

 Has the year really come to an end?

It has been the toughest year for me by far, and that is even accounting for 2021 when I left the family home! More on the final details tomorrow.

As the day was a Tuesday, then for some, it was just another day of work.

For me, just another day of holiday. I took myself off to find a swimming pool I had been told about by my Physiotherapist, about 25 min drive away, but it had a hydrotherapy pool which is slightly warmer and allows for walking up and down, and exercise.

I discovered it also had a sauna and hot pool (all included in entry price). I dipped in the hot pool at the end, but whilst I fancied sitting in the sauna, it was full with quite a few men and I didn't fancy sitting in there as the only female.

I also finished the last jigsaw of the year, number 20

This was a 2000 piece one that I had bought myself. My only struggle was that it was 1cm too small in one direction for my large board! It had to go up the side just slightly. Still totally do able (nothing stops me). It was lots of small pictures so a case of identifying the location and then placing it on the board, then over time more pieces got added and slowly piece by piece got joined together.

Nice to start it outside in the sunshine

As you can see, just sits up the side of the board!

Unfortunately, when I sorted out the pictures for this post, it was already 2025 and I got myself mixed up when putting my name on them!! Thus why some of the pictures have 2025 on them instead of 2024. Oh well, makes no difference to the post.

At the end of the day, I enjoyed doing this jigsaw.

Wherever you are, whatever you are doing - I wish you all the very best for the new year and achieving your goals and dreams in 2025

 As you may have gathered by now, or maybe you haven't! I like to complete parkrun. A free 5km run, walk, hop or skip held every Saturday morning. In New Zealand it starts at 8am but I know in the UK it starts at 9am, so always a good idea to check for each country. You can check out parkrun to find out more details about one local to you.

I walk it, I am not a runner!

It takes me about 40-50 minutes to complete, depending on the course and how I feel on the day, if I am walking with someone or if I am on my own.

Someone at my local parkrun decided that she would plan to complete 4 parkruns in one day! (Last year they did 9 in one day!!) Now you can only officially complete 1 parkrun on a Saturday morning but there is nothing to stop you going and completing the course of any parkrun at any time you wish, you can register this as a freedom parkrun, but it does not count towards any milestones you are working towards. The plan she came up with was to complete 4 of them by lunchtime!

1. 6.30am
2. 8am (official one)
3. 9.30am
4. 11am

Followed by lunch at 1pm

1 and 2 were very close together and so with me walking in 48 mins then I was able to get to them both easily, however, number 3 was 25 mins away and then number 4 was then another 25 mins away from number 3! There was no way I was making it to number 3, so used this time to grab some breakfast and be able to get to number 4.

The sun was shining, it was warmer at the first than the second and very hot at number 4 as it was close to midday.

Just finished the first one (7.20am)

Just finished the second (8.50am)

 

Just finished the fourth one (12pm)

Lunch was being held at a bar/restaurant about 25 mins away and I had to pass by the house to get there, so I nipped in really quick, grabbed a shower and changed clothes and still made it to lunch only 5 mins late!

It was a fun day, and I am so glad I pushed myself to do the first one, as my original plan had been to only do number 2 & 4.

Roll on next year and whatever crazy she comes up with

Christmas Ornaments

 I do like to create things, and this year I found an awesome little pattern for tree decorations made out of felt, so I gave it a go.

Simple paper/card templates that you use to cut the felt

A quick whip stitch around in a matching colour, obviously this was just a simple two colour design but there were others that had other parts to them so many different colours.

Add some stuffing and some beads to make it stand out more and voila....a gift for someone.

They are not difficult and do not take long to produce. I got the pattern from Whatacurlylife on Instagram.

I made a gingerbread man for my colleague

Jigsaw 9

 I got asked by a colleague to house sit and look after their dog.

They just happened to have a jigsaw on the go, and you know how much I love jigsaws, so I couldn't help but finish it. They did agree to this, so I didn't ruin anything for them!

It was a fun one to do with lots of little sections, not too difficult but several pieces the same colours!

Here is number 9 for the year

I had never done a jigsaw by this brand before - eeBoo

They were nice pieces to fit together and good colouring.