Five (good) things on Friday

I seem to have entered a new (and most welcome) phase of having more energy.  Maybe co-inciding with longer daylight hours.  Roll on the clocks changing later this month….  Here are this week’s Five:

1.  Not applying to do a course.  Huh?  how does not applying get to be a ‘good thing’ I (don’t) hear you ask.  Well it’s like this.  I found out about a really interesting summer school at Copenhagen University, on Urbanisation and Health.  Two topics close to my heart, in a lovely and inspiring city – what’s not to like?  “Write about your motivation for applying for this course” said the instruction on the application form – up to 5000 words.  I put plenty of time thought and energy into drafting something, as well as spending time talking with others to help me refine my ideas.  Then I had a morning working on the allotment, and I realised that the course would be great, absolutely fascinating, and the place would be amazing – but not right for me this year.  Maybe I’ll look at it again next year, maybe not.  The important thing for me is that the time and effort I spent really reflecting on my motivation for applying was time and effort well spent, because it helped me see what I really want to spend my time on.  And this year, it’s just not this course.
2. Asking for and getting.  I’m going to be a bit mysterious about this one, for now at least.  Suffice it to say that I had an idea about how someone quite well known could really help with a project but I put off getting in touch with them to ask if they’d be willing, being too nervous to do it.  Then for no reason at all this morning I asked myself a question I always find useful – “what’s the worst that could happen?”.  To which of course the answer was they could say no or just ignore me, in which case we’d be no worse off than if I hadn’t asked.  So I plucked up my courage and wrote that email and hit the send button.  10 seconds later – literally 10 seconds!’ – I had a yes! reply.  We’re meeting next week to discuss.
3. Re-doing some watery stuff in the hens’ pen.  Last year I fixed up a new water butt in the hens’ pen, and Malcolm put up new guttering on their house to collect the rainwater more efficiently.  It worked fine, but after a while I realised that I should have raised the butt up much higher off the ground, to allow space to get a watering can under the tap.  I put it off and put it off because the butt was full and far too heavy to shift.  This week I figured it out – I decanted as much water as I could into other containers I had lying around, then moved the water butt, then rebuilt the support (from slabs and bricks I also had lying around), then managed to hoist the butt back into place.  Now I can collect water from the butt into a watering can, which will make it easier to keep the corn and squash plants well watered this summer.  Along the way, I also finally figured out how to use a galvanised water container for hens that someone mysteriously left on my plot many years ago.  Took me about a decade to figure it out.  Once I had, it took the hens about 10 minutes to figure out their part in the exercise.
4. Running.  Again I only managed to get one run in this week, but it was a good one.  Just over 3 miles (so just another 10 miles or so to add…).  I loved it, and came back feeling exhilarated.  A feeling to bottle and relive.
5. Planning some trips.  We’ve got some lovely trips coming up over the next few months, including a revisit to Rye, a London visit, and this year’s long walk – the Great Glen Way, in Scotland.  So exciting!

Oh my, that’s 5 things already.  Sorry no relevant pics, but instead here are a few slightly random ones, all taken this week.  Enjoy!

Poster at Bristol Temple Meads Station

Picton St wall art, Bristol

Rosa Parks Lane, St Pauls, Bristol. Celebrating resistance and a strong Black woman

If you provide safe, pleasant cycle and walking routes, people will use them (Two Tunnels path, Bath, this week)