**UPDATE**
Measurements - 16/05/15
Waist - 94cm (-8cm since February 2015)
Widest part of stomach - 112cm (-3cm since April 2015)
Not a bad week. Losing a centimeter over my body whilst not doing much is fine by me. I have been so tired this week that exercise has been the thing that 'just didn't get done' this week so I'm happy that I've still shrunk.
Wouldn't it be great if there was a tumble drier for the larger person and you could literally shrink yourself - just like you tend to shrink your favourite jumper. That would be brilliant!
Anyway, I'm hoping to get more training in this week after my triathlon tomorrow as I need to start working on my long distance run. I've got a 10km run in July.
Measurements - 09/05/15
Waist - 94.5cm
Widest part of stomach - 112.5cm
You know, even after making 7.5cm progress and knowing that my clothes fit better is all well and good when I'm trying on clothes that used to fit anyway and now just look even better than they did because they aren't quite so tight or 'form hugging' anymore. It still, however, is HUGELY depressing when you are trying on the 2/3 of your wardrobe that you are trying to slim into and none of it fits.... STILL! I have a really lovely collection of dressed and skirts and beautiful floaty tops that I still cannot wear because I'm still too much of a whale to get into them.
This is how much my weight affects me - I can go from being really proud of myself at 9am and by 1pm I'm frustrated and upset because I can't get into the dress that I would have really like to have worn to a social dance tonight. Yes, I found an alternative outfit that doesn't look too bad but it's still not the one I wanted to wear and I won't be able to wear it for a while because there is a gap about 6 inches (if not more) wide between each side of the zipper. I find this part of weight loss incredibly disheartening - even with the achievments that I have made so far, I am getting very little reward for them. It makes it even harder to keep going because I feel like my efforts aren't working anyway so why continue. Obviously, I am aware that this is the worst head space to be in as I really won't achieve anything if I don't keep going but it is truly aggravating to know that even if you lose another inch around your middle, you still won't be slipping into your favourite 'going out' dress because you need to lose another 4 or 5 after that......
Back to reassessing everything that goes into my mouth and cutting out EVERY SINGLE little treat I have for a while I think. This is doing my nut in.
Rant over.... for now.......
09:58am - On a health and fitness kick.... I have been trying to lose weight for years to very little avail. I had a knee injury and operation that put me out of action for basically 2 years and that meant that my rugby playing fitness and 180lb body went out of the window. I gained nearly 60lbs due to boredom, depression and being stationary for 18 months. I went from training 10 hours minimum a week to doing pretty much nothing because I was in so much pain.
Getting back into a fitness regime and weight loss diet has been a struggle but since September 2014 I've been really trying to shift some pounds. It was going really well until Christmas. I lost 10lbs and felt like I was making some really progress. Then, the scale just froze at 225lbs - I was still exercising and eating well but it just stopped. Major plateau - and it hasn't moved since. Not in 4 months! So, for last few weeks after getting totally frustrated with myself and what I was doing I have started to measure myself. The scale isn't moving but I KNOW that my body is changing because I can fit into clothes that I haven't worn since before the injury.
So tape measure out and away we go.
Here are my results from when I started to measure myself and the progess that has been made (most recent measurements at top of list).
Measurements - 09/05/15
Waist - 94.5cm (-7.5cm since February 2015)
Widest part of stomach - 112.5cm (-2.5cm since April 2015)
Measurements - 02/05/15
Waist - 95cm
Widest part of stomach - 113.5cm
Measurements - 25/04/15
Waist - 95cm
Widest part of stomach - 113.9cm
Measurements - 18/04/15
Waist - 96.5cm
Widest part of stomach - 115cm
Measurements - 24/02/15
Waist - 102cm
Holiday Vibes
Saturday, 16 May 2015
Friday, 15 May 2015
Like An Elephant At A Water Park (Possible Second Title - The Beached Whale Effect) - A Triathlon Diary
Why did I sign up in the first place? I really do not remember what on earth gave me the ludicrous idea of entering into a triathlon.
I mean, who in their right mind would volunteer to swim 400m, then cycle 23km and then, just to top it off, run a 5km?? SERIOUSLY?? Oh yeah, I did! That was me!
Now that the week is over and there is nothing else to focus on, I have realised just how nervous I am about Sunday morning.
Yes, I have been training but with a crazy weekend, I didn't make it out for last weekends brick session and then this week, I've been exhausted and in bed before 9pm most nights. I have had no energy to get out and train so I am a little worried that I have lost the fitness capacity to make it round the course.
I have 3 goals in mind and if I achieve any of them, I will be very pleased....God, I do not want to do this. Just writing this, I am feeling sick.
Anyway.....
Goal 1) To finish!!!!
Goal 2) To not walk during the 'run' phase of the event.
Goal 3) To complete the whole thing is under 2 hours.
If I can do any or all of these then I will definitely be crying crossing the finish line. This will be the first really big milestone that I have achieved since recovering from my knee surgery and will hopefully mark the progress that I have made as well as proving to me, most of all, that I am capable of great things and that my body can be a powerful machine when I treat it right. Hopefully, this weekend will serve a catalyst for more positive change in my body image and lifestyle.... and help me to get fitter and slimmer in the long run.
As Mum keeps saying, this is only a training event for my triathlon in July but I am still feeling immense pressure to do well at this point. I think, because Mum is a seasoned triathlete, I feel like I should know what I'm doing and should do as well as she will. That will, of course, be impossible as she is super fit and much faster than me when it comes to running.
I am slightly (please read 'incredibly') uncomfortable about wearing my tri suit. I basically look like a whale in it and will spend a great deal of time feeling self conscious in it. No doubt, I will be surrounded my proper athletes and their size 6 bodies whilst I gulumph around like an elephant at a water park.....
Anyway.....
I shall have a full report in less than 48 hours of how it all went... and how badly I will probably have done. Keep your fingers and toes crossed, people...... ARRGHHH!! Someone hide me away until Monday.
M xx
I mean, who in their right mind would volunteer to swim 400m, then cycle 23km and then, just to top it off, run a 5km?? SERIOUSLY?? Oh yeah, I did! That was me!
Now that the week is over and there is nothing else to focus on, I have realised just how nervous I am about Sunday morning.
Yes, I have been training but with a crazy weekend, I didn't make it out for last weekends brick session and then this week, I've been exhausted and in bed before 9pm most nights. I have had no energy to get out and train so I am a little worried that I have lost the fitness capacity to make it round the course.
I have 3 goals in mind and if I achieve any of them, I will be very pleased....God, I do not want to do this. Just writing this, I am feeling sick.
Anyway.....
Goal 1) To finish!!!!
Goal 2) To not walk during the 'run' phase of the event.
Goal 3) To complete the whole thing is under 2 hours.
If I can do any or all of these then I will definitely be crying crossing the finish line. This will be the first really big milestone that I have achieved since recovering from my knee surgery and will hopefully mark the progress that I have made as well as proving to me, most of all, that I am capable of great things and that my body can be a powerful machine when I treat it right. Hopefully, this weekend will serve a catalyst for more positive change in my body image and lifestyle.... and help me to get fitter and slimmer in the long run.
As Mum keeps saying, this is only a training event for my triathlon in July but I am still feeling immense pressure to do well at this point. I think, because Mum is a seasoned triathlete, I feel like I should know what I'm doing and should do as well as she will. That will, of course, be impossible as she is super fit and much faster than me when it comes to running.
I am slightly (please read 'incredibly') uncomfortable about wearing my tri suit. I basically look like a whale in it and will spend a great deal of time feeling self conscious in it. No doubt, I will be surrounded my proper athletes and their size 6 bodies whilst I gulumph around like an elephant at a water park.....
Anyway.....
I shall have a full report in less than 48 hours of how it all went... and how badly I will probably have done. Keep your fingers and toes crossed, people...... ARRGHHH!! Someone hide me away until Monday.
M xx
Thursday, 14 May 2015
Officially A Car-Boot Convert
So, on Sunday I embarked on my first ever Car Boot Sale and it is safe to say that it was a total triumph!!
It was a very early start - 6:30am on a Sunday is an hour that I never see... if was almost physically painful to pull myself out of my beautifully warm bed - but I arrived, ready with flask of hot chocolate in hand, at my colleague and friend, Sarah's house at 7:30am for a shopping bonanza.
We wandered over to a lovely array of fields. You've got to love a good field on a Sunday, haven't you?
No?
Just me?
...... Okay, moving on!
After a mild panic that the circus had moved in and the car boot had moved out, Sarah and I embarked upon the mission that was 'Do NOT let Sarah buy any more dresses!!' A great feat for anyone who knows Sarah and her love of all things lacy, floral and knee length! Straight away, I was overwhelmed buy the sheer amount of stuff that was there. Literal mountains of clothes, stacks of books and DVDs (which I treid to avoid as I known near on 300 DVD's already). Baby toys....everywhere! Electrical stuff, shoes, bread and cakes (the cakes were GOOD). It was a little hard to know where to begin.
Sarah had it covered though, apparently there is an art to reading each stall. You have to do the well known Miranda Hart 'sweep browse' to work out what sort of stuff they were selling and to get a feel for what age range of stuff will be there. There were a lot of stall that were aimed for the older generation but it was really interesting to see what sort of stuff people bring to sell at car boot sales.
We started to browse with intent of buying as we got into the swing of things - I wanted some new dresses for school (and was trying to avoid the DVDs which failed in the end) and Sarah wanted a lawn mower, any antique knives and forks and anything to do with hens. Clothing rails are a really interesting phenomenon when at the car boot - in the space of just one rail you can come across anything from men's swimming trunks to children party dresses, to a full set of tartan M&S pyjamas to prom dresses. It was quite a laugh having a rummage through all the random stuff and finding the actualy nice stuff that you would actually want to wear.
As I got into my groove, my self restraint went out of the window - when you're searching every clothes rail to see if anything grabs your fancy it is quite easy to forget your budget. However, I feel like I did rather well until I reached the last stall of the our roam around the field. I came across the Kingdom of DVDs (as named by me) It was just a table with rows and rows of movies and tv shows. It was like kryptonite to me - and then the stall owner told me that ALL DVDs were only 50p and that was it. I was gone! DVD hoarding at is finest - that is what happened.
So, at the end of our Car Boot Bonanza I had spent the small sum of £22.50. And for this price I managed to buy 5 dresses, a top and 8 DVDs. I was very happy with this total as I would normally spend £22 on only one dress.... so I managed to gain 13 items on top of one dress for only an extra 50p..... you can't argue with that now, can you?
Now, Sarah also had a very successful car boot and managed to buy not only a metal hen shaped hanging basket but also a lawn mower and the bonus of a rake! Walking home, I did feel a little like Baby from Dirty Dancing as I had a strange 'I carried a lawn mower' moment as I trudged it back over 3 fields. My suspicions in Sarah's befriending of me were confirmed - she uses me for my height and for my car (Sarah, if you are reading this, I love you and I'm joking haha).
Naturally, when we got home Sarah mowed her lawn, as once you've bought a lawn mower you can't not use it immediately and I tried on all my new clothes because, as Sarah stated, I'm such a girl! I am 100% converted to a car boot sale and Sarah will now have to put up with my company for many more early Sunday mornings! WAHOO!
Check in soon
M xx
It was a very early start - 6:30am on a Sunday is an hour that I never see... if was almost physically painful to pull myself out of my beautifully warm bed - but I arrived, ready with flask of hot chocolate in hand, at my colleague and friend, Sarah's house at 7:30am for a shopping bonanza.
We wandered over to a lovely array of fields. You've got to love a good field on a Sunday, haven't you?
No?
Just me?
...... Okay, moving on!
After a mild panic that the circus had moved in and the car boot had moved out, Sarah and I embarked upon the mission that was 'Do NOT let Sarah buy any more dresses!!' A great feat for anyone who knows Sarah and her love of all things lacy, floral and knee length! Straight away, I was overwhelmed buy the sheer amount of stuff that was there. Literal mountains of clothes, stacks of books and DVDs (which I treid to avoid as I known near on 300 DVD's already). Baby toys....everywhere! Electrical stuff, shoes, bread and cakes (the cakes were GOOD). It was a little hard to know where to begin.
Sarah had it covered though, apparently there is an art to reading each stall. You have to do the well known Miranda Hart 'sweep browse' to work out what sort of stuff they were selling and to get a feel for what age range of stuff will be there. There were a lot of stall that were aimed for the older generation but it was really interesting to see what sort of stuff people bring to sell at car boot sales.
We started to browse with intent of buying as we got into the swing of things - I wanted some new dresses for school (and was trying to avoid the DVDs which failed in the end) and Sarah wanted a lawn mower, any antique knives and forks and anything to do with hens. Clothing rails are a really interesting phenomenon when at the car boot - in the space of just one rail you can come across anything from men's swimming trunks to children party dresses, to a full set of tartan M&S pyjamas to prom dresses. It was quite a laugh having a rummage through all the random stuff and finding the actualy nice stuff that you would actually want to wear.
As I got into my groove, my self restraint went out of the window - when you're searching every clothes rail to see if anything grabs your fancy it is quite easy to forget your budget. However, I feel like I did rather well until I reached the last stall of the our roam around the field. I came across the Kingdom of DVDs (as named by me) It was just a table with rows and rows of movies and tv shows. It was like kryptonite to me - and then the stall owner told me that ALL DVDs were only 50p and that was it. I was gone! DVD hoarding at is finest - that is what happened.
So, at the end of our Car Boot Bonanza I had spent the small sum of £22.50. And for this price I managed to buy 5 dresses, a top and 8 DVDs. I was very happy with this total as I would normally spend £22 on only one dress.... so I managed to gain 13 items on top of one dress for only an extra 50p..... you can't argue with that now, can you?
Now, Sarah also had a very successful car boot and managed to buy not only a metal hen shaped hanging basket but also a lawn mower and the bonus of a rake! Walking home, I did feel a little like Baby from Dirty Dancing as I had a strange 'I carried a lawn mower' moment as I trudged it back over 3 fields. My suspicions in Sarah's befriending of me were confirmed - she uses me for my height and for my car (Sarah, if you are reading this, I love you and I'm joking haha).
Naturally, when we got home Sarah mowed her lawn, as once you've bought a lawn mower you can't not use it immediately and I tried on all my new clothes because, as Sarah stated, I'm such a girl! I am 100% converted to a car boot sale and Sarah will now have to put up with my company for many more early Sunday mornings! WAHOO!
Check in soon
M xx
Sunday, 10 May 2015
#100happydays Week 5 - Days 29 to 35
Another week come and gone! Can't believe we are in the 30s already!
Day 29) Bank Holiday Monday. Loads of fun and photos taken at RHS Wisley Gardens. You can read my full days excitement and see more photos in my two blog posts from the day. Post 1. Post 2.
Day 20) Finished the next book on my reading list! Onto The Hobbit now! Follow my progress on my BBC 100 Booklist blog post.
Day 31) More colouring! Lovely time chilling out.
Day 32) Spent the evening sorting out my room - didn't quite get to the end of the challenge but well on the way. Hopefully will find some time this week to finish it all off so that everything is back in it's proper place.
Day 33) FRIDAY! Alcohol and movie. That is all!
Day 34) Had a really lovely catch up with Ella, a friend from my 6th Form. Always great to have a good chin wag and then had a social dance with Belinda and Mr. R. So much fun, so much dancing... so much water in wine glasses!
Day 35) FANTASTIC DAY! First of all I went to car boot sale - my first and one of many! Check in with my blog later this week for a write up of my first awesome experience of the car boot phenomenon. Then it was off to London to see my lovely Lizzie, a dear friend from uni. We had the hugest pizzas for small-ish prices and ice cream made with liquid nitrogen and chinchin labs in Camben town. Check out there website here for there address and more details on what they do. Their ice cream is incredible. We ate it whilst watching a narrow boat called 'Muttley' and another boat go up a lock. It was all very chilled out and I feel like Lizzie and I have put the worlds to right a little bit during our afternoon of catching up.
So there we go! Another 7 happy days! Only 65 to go until the challenge is done for another year!
Check in soon
M xx
Thursday, 7 May 2015
***UPDATED*** Time To Clean Up My Act..... And My Room!
My room has got to the point where it just HAS to be tidied and cleaned! I am rather embarrassed by the state that it is and the challenge this evening.....that I have chosen to accept.... is to get it back into the beautifully tidy room that I know it can be!
An hour and half later......
Not a bad start, will need to have a 'Round 2' tomorrow afternoon to get the final jobs done but lots of progress has been made. It took a lot of sing-a-long songs to keep the tidying going. I ended up with an entire laundry basket filled with crockery.... oops.... but I got it all out of my room and into the dishwasher in one quick flight of stairs. YAY! All dirty laundry has been put in correct wash bins for whites, darks and colours.... all clean washing has been properly folded and put away.... or hung up in wardrobes.
..... I got a little distracted at this point by trying on dresses that haven't fit me in ages. I think some of them are looking better but I am feeling a little disheartened that the 7.5cm I've lost from around my waist don't seem to be making a huge amount of difference to my dress collection..... Must try harder!
.....but anyway, enough of the interlude about my interlude (good word, interlude, as Miranda would say)
Pictorial evidence of (semi) clean room.... I hope you can actually notice the difference.... and that I didn't spend an hour and half not making much of an impact to the mess.
Here is an idea of the state that it is currently in!
 |
| Yes, my clean washing is just sitting in the laundry basket! |
 |
| SOOO many clothes - it's a little ridiculous |
 |
| All the junk gets dumped on the floor! |
 |
| My desk... another dumping ground for junk |
 |
| Collection of crockery from the kitchen! |
 |
| And some more... my Bank Holiday in bed meant lots of meals upstairs.... *Hangs head in shame* |
Not a bad start, will need to have a 'Round 2' tomorrow afternoon to get the final jobs done but lots of progress has been made. It took a lot of sing-a-long songs to keep the tidying going. I ended up with an entire laundry basket filled with crockery.... oops.... but I got it all out of my room and into the dishwasher in one quick flight of stairs. YAY! All dirty laundry has been put in correct wash bins for whites, darks and colours.... all clean washing has been properly folded and put away.... or hung up in wardrobes.
..... I got a little distracted at this point by trying on dresses that haven't fit me in ages. I think some of them are looking better but I am feeling a little disheartened that the 7.5cm I've lost from around my waist don't seem to be making a huge amount of difference to my dress collection..... Must try harder!
.....but anyway, enough of the interlude about my interlude (good word, interlude, as Miranda would say)
Pictorial evidence of (semi) clean room.... I hope you can actually notice the difference.... and that I didn't spend an hour and half not making much of an impact to the mess.
Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to show off my fabulously spotless room..... I live in hope anyway. I love it when my room is nice and clean.
Check in soon
M xx
Check in soon
M xx
Monday, 4 May 2015
Bank Holiday Beauty - Volume 2
Welcome back!! Thanks for sticking with me through my natural ramblings!
So, at Wisley they have a tropical greenhouse where they grow all sorts of random stuff and today they were growing a hippo!
Just having a casual dip in the greenhouse pool!
Also, in the greenhouse is a heap of orchids and it's one of my favourite parts of a Wisley trip. As it's kept so lovely and humid in there they grow pretty much all year round and agian, Wisley throw some awesome plant DNA together!
 |
| I always think orchids look like they are about to eat you! |
 |
| Another green flower - so weird. I can't work out whether I like it. |
 |
| Love the colour combination of this flower. |
 |
| Look at it's little pouch. Makes me think of a milk maid for some reason and I'm not sure why..... |
 |
| Add caption |
 |
| Mother Nature is so cool - all the stripes and spots. The sheer detail in one flower is incredible. |
 |
| It's Mushu! 'Dragon, not lizard.... I don't do that tongue thing!' |
 |
| PINK! |
 |
| This is my favourite orchid of the bunch tonight. So beautiful. |
 |
| Dancing ladies, like the flowers from Fanatasia!! |
 |
| Weird and wacky! A Jade Vine? Looks like the flower equivalent of a Banana plant. |
 |
| Of course, a purple flower to finish, 'coz I like purple the mostest! |
 |
| Hanging hearts. Really sweet. |
 |
| Makes me think of a cockerel. |
 |
| How mad is this plant! |
 |
| There was a robin flying round the greenhouse and he stopped long enough for me to snap this. |
 |
| Having a nap on the bank of the lake. |
 |
| My 'what I call' classy shot. |
So that about sums up my Wisley visit. I went a bit shutter mad - these are only a handful of the 150+ photos I ended up with. I get a bit snappy happy when I get to Wisley as there is so much detail and delicate beauty to work with. If you've read to the end of these two blogs, then thank you! I love getting page views and knowing that people are reading my stuff. Even if it is all a bit rambly and nonsensical.
Check in soon
M xx
Bank Holiday Beauty - To Be Continued in Volume 2
11:40 am: So, it's Monday and I woke up 10am! YES! It is Bank Holiday - no work, no plans, a lie in and the sun is out. What am I going to do? I am going to indulge my inner 40 year old and wander round Wisley gardens with my parents large, 'professional' looking camera and take artsy shots of all the pretty flowers! Might even stop at the cafe and treat myself to cake! I'm feeling a little low today. I still have a cold which is doing my head in and the pre-triathlon worries are starting to whisper inside my head.... yes, it's two weeks away but trust me, they are already there. I don't know why or how but Wisley distracts me from the little friend in my head and lets me appreciate how blessed I am to be a part of a beautiful planet.
Today, the little friend in my head is obsessing about stupid things and using them to make me feel self conscious and self doubting - around this time last year I was going through a really rough time and was forced to come home from uni for a week because I just wasn't coping. Things were going south with a guy and I decided at 3am after not being able to sleep that enough was enough. I text Dad who told me to get on the next possible train and come home for as long as I needed. It was great being home apart from everyone was out during the day, giving me way too much time on my own to worry and berate myself about what was going on.... even though it wasn't really my issues that were causing the 'relationship' (I use this word VERY tenuously) to go sour. Issues between myself and the man in question have all been dealt with and there are, much to my happiness, no ill feelings between us. I genuinely wish him every happiness whatever he is up to in his life now.
So, during my week at home from uni, I wound up in the Wisley car park after going for a drive and I found a way to take my mind off things for a few hours. I had a camera with me and decided to just throw myself into being a 'nature photographer' for the afternoon.... just to give my little friend something to focus on.
ASIDE: I am starting to worry that I may be portraying myself as a schizophrenic, which I am not. But I think there are lots of us who have an inner voice who sometimes is our best friend and makes us feel like the ruler of the world and other times, has an immense power to make us doubt everything and anything we believe ourselves to be. I think that sometimes, this little friend as I call my voice, latches on to the small doubts that we have and makes them larger than life so we cannot ignore them. It is at these times where I have to pretend to be in a play during my own life, and distract the voice in my head so that I can actually have time to process events in a rational way.
Having discovered this way to get out of my head and remind myself of how wonder the world is and other sickly, positive mantras that you can come up with, Wisley became an escape for me. For those who have never been or never heard of it - it's just a massive expanse of fields that people have turned into various garden plots and rockeries and huge tropical greenhouses. It's lovely, there are ponds and cafes, a fruit orchard, a rose garden that boasts 100's of species of rose.... the list goes on and on. It is easy to spend a whole afternoon just getting lost in the beauty and the smells and the sounds of the gardens. I love the way that my senses get overpowered by it all, leaving no space for my brain to go off in a panic about all the tiny things it likes to obsess over.
I haven't worked out yet exactly why I'm feeling 'off' today but hopefully, after a few hours in the sun and behind a lens, I'll feel better.
I popped into the garden this morning and took some pictures of our flowers to get me in the mood for Wisley. It's looking really lovely now most of our bulbs have come into flower.
17:42: Wisley visit was great! The sun was out and I got some really lovely photos. I have never seen the place to busy in my life. There was a queue for the car park when I first arrived and I'm not great at traffic jams so I by passed that and headed for the over flow car park.... got there and guess what, it was full too. The road to Wisley is really windy and narrow and has basically no turning spots so I carried on and was going to turn around in the car park of a pub but, yep, you guessed it, it was full too. The pub is just after a lock and there is a one-car-at-a-time bridge that you have to cross to get over the river.
Now, it's a bank holiday, the pub is full, there are people walking their dogs and there is a queue of traffic on both sides waiting to cross the bridge. Two cars came over the bridge from the other side and then the two in front of me pulled away to go, I figured that people had decided it was a two at a time type thing to keep traffic moving. You know how drivers sometimes all start thinking the same thing which makes sense - I thought this was happening so pulled into the hedge to let the queue on the other side move and some jackass from the back of the queue pulled out and over took the car behind me and me and just went over the bridge. My biggest pet peeve is oblivious people - it gets me SO bad. I mean, how much effort does it take to view the situation and realise that everyone is trying to get somewhere but there has to be some sort of system to keep things moving and people sane! I mean, it's just plain rude, if you ask me. That car and another followed from the back of the line until this really lovely couple who were walking the dog just stopped in the road so that I could go over the bridge. We had a little chat and they too, couldn't believe the audacity of some people to just blow past everyone and not take a blind bit of notice.
The woman who they stopped actually gestured to me like the whole situation was my fault whilst she was queue jumping. GRRR people annoy me!
Anyway, I ended up driving a big old circle back to the A3 to get back to Wisley and this time managed to get into the car park and find a space without too much hassle and into Wisley I went.
It was tulip city today! They were everywhere, really beautiful ones, mixed colours, bulbs that had obviously mutated and split off from the rest of their beds. I much prefer the individual ones, they really stand out in the crowd. The double colour tulips are also stunning. I can't wait to start a garden all my own when I get my own place. The last few years, I've really started to look forward to starting a garden - like I said, I'm 40. Maybe, I'll cultivate a garden of rust rogue flowers... only the ones who have broken free from conformity will get to stay on for another year! I shall harvest a collection of bulbs that have gone to the 'dark side'.
So that was the tulips - yes there were hundreds! Check out my next blog entry for more pictures - orchids, robins, a hippo and other weird and wonderful Wisley creations.
M xx
Today, the little friend in my head is obsessing about stupid things and using them to make me feel self conscious and self doubting - around this time last year I was going through a really rough time and was forced to come home from uni for a week because I just wasn't coping. Things were going south with a guy and I decided at 3am after not being able to sleep that enough was enough. I text Dad who told me to get on the next possible train and come home for as long as I needed. It was great being home apart from everyone was out during the day, giving me way too much time on my own to worry and berate myself about what was going on.... even though it wasn't really my issues that were causing the 'relationship' (I use this word VERY tenuously) to go sour. Issues between myself and the man in question have all been dealt with and there are, much to my happiness, no ill feelings between us. I genuinely wish him every happiness whatever he is up to in his life now.
So, during my week at home from uni, I wound up in the Wisley car park after going for a drive and I found a way to take my mind off things for a few hours. I had a camera with me and decided to just throw myself into being a 'nature photographer' for the afternoon.... just to give my little friend something to focus on.
ASIDE: I am starting to worry that I may be portraying myself as a schizophrenic, which I am not. But I think there are lots of us who have an inner voice who sometimes is our best friend and makes us feel like the ruler of the world and other times, has an immense power to make us doubt everything and anything we believe ourselves to be. I think that sometimes, this little friend as I call my voice, latches on to the small doubts that we have and makes them larger than life so we cannot ignore them. It is at these times where I have to pretend to be in a play during my own life, and distract the voice in my head so that I can actually have time to process events in a rational way.
Having discovered this way to get out of my head and remind myself of how wonder the world is and other sickly, positive mantras that you can come up with, Wisley became an escape for me. For those who have never been or never heard of it - it's just a massive expanse of fields that people have turned into various garden plots and rockeries and huge tropical greenhouses. It's lovely, there are ponds and cafes, a fruit orchard, a rose garden that boasts 100's of species of rose.... the list goes on and on. It is easy to spend a whole afternoon just getting lost in the beauty and the smells and the sounds of the gardens. I love the way that my senses get overpowered by it all, leaving no space for my brain to go off in a panic about all the tiny things it likes to obsess over.
I haven't worked out yet exactly why I'm feeling 'off' today but hopefully, after a few hours in the sun and behind a lens, I'll feel better.
 |
| I love the colours in this Tulip. The streak along the centre of the petal is stunning! |
 |
| This is our Wisteria. It's just gone into flower and is starting to look brilliant. |
 |
| These are so cute! I'm not sure what they are called but I love the colour of them and how dainty they are. |
 |
| Another picture of our Wisteria. Can't wait for it to go into full flower. |
 |
| Another of the lovely little pink flowers. Must learn their names. They are so delicate, I love them. |
 |
| These are some more Tulips that Mum planted in our garden. The multi coloured one is not supposed to be there. It is supposed to be red too but there must have been a mutation in the bulb because it has grown white and red! Isn't it gorgeous?? Definitely my favourite by far! |
Now, it's a bank holiday, the pub is full, there are people walking their dogs and there is a queue of traffic on both sides waiting to cross the bridge. Two cars came over the bridge from the other side and then the two in front of me pulled away to go, I figured that people had decided it was a two at a time type thing to keep traffic moving. You know how drivers sometimes all start thinking the same thing which makes sense - I thought this was happening so pulled into the hedge to let the queue on the other side move and some jackass from the back of the queue pulled out and over took the car behind me and me and just went over the bridge. My biggest pet peeve is oblivious people - it gets me SO bad. I mean, how much effort does it take to view the situation and realise that everyone is trying to get somewhere but there has to be some sort of system to keep things moving and people sane! I mean, it's just plain rude, if you ask me. That car and another followed from the back of the line until this really lovely couple who were walking the dog just stopped in the road so that I could go over the bridge. We had a little chat and they too, couldn't believe the audacity of some people to just blow past everyone and not take a blind bit of notice.
The woman who they stopped actually gestured to me like the whole situation was my fault whilst she was queue jumping. GRRR people annoy me!
Anyway, I ended up driving a big old circle back to the A3 to get back to Wisley and this time managed to get into the car park and find a space without too much hassle and into Wisley I went.
It was tulip city today! They were everywhere, really beautiful ones, mixed colours, bulbs that had obviously mutated and split off from the rest of their beds. I much prefer the individual ones, they really stand out in the crowd. The double colour tulips are also stunning. I can't wait to start a garden all my own when I get my own place. The last few years, I've really started to look forward to starting a garden - like I said, I'm 40. Maybe, I'll cultivate a garden of rust rogue flowers... only the ones who have broken free from conformity will get to stay on for another year! I shall harvest a collection of bulbs that have gone to the 'dark side'.
Now, I know that this isn't a split colour tulip but it might be my favourite picture of the whole day. The tulip was just so perfect and the colour was so rich. It came out really well on the camera but on a proper screen it looks even better.
 |
| Look at these colours!! So beautiful, like a little fire billowing out of the ground! |
 |
| I love the frilly edges to the petals of this particular species. It's so dainty, like a lady going to a high tea. |
 |
| Stunning! |
 |
| I was blown away by the perfection of this flower too. The delicate colour blending and gentle overlapping of the petals is simply beautiful. |
 |
| Beautiful. |
 |
| These were some of my favourites too. The pink flecks on the edges of the petals must have taken a lot of breeding between species but it works so beautifully. |
 |
| Another firey variation. |
 |
| So pretty. Really delicate. |
 |
| One went rogue! This tulip was in a bed with perfectly purple tulips and this one was just standing there, tall and proud, in the middle of the bed. Stunning. |
 |
| I love the curly petals here. A little bit more individual than the usual shape to tulip petals. |
 |
| Exquisite |
 |
| I love how this one is still shut, it hasn't quite woken up to spring yet. |
 |
| There were a lot of green flowers around today. Something I hadn't really seen before - a really interesting variation. |
So that was the tulips - yes there were hundreds! Check out my next blog entry for more pictures - orchids, robins, a hippo and other weird and wonderful Wisley creations.
M xx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)