Saturday Time

With such a busy job, I find that Friday after Friday, all I want to do is go home and sleep. Thanks to charming coworkers (one of whom is leaving) I broke my lazy Friday habit of going home and laying about being unsocial and sloth-like. I didn't stay as long as most, but being out and having a chat outside of the workplace was a wonderful experience. We didn't talk about anything that we wouldn't normally talk about in the workplace, especially considering some of the lunchtime conversations I've witnessed, but a change of atmosphere, the fact that we all went home, changed and had met up with the intention of celebrating and being social made all of the difference.

Although this soiree meant that I was up past my typical wishful Friday bedtime of eight pm, I woke up this morning feeling rather refreshed. I had so much energy in fact that I decided to get out of bed instead of laying in and that I would go to town in search of buttons for the cardigan that I finally finished knitting.

A quick bus ride into town and I found myself amidst all of the Saturday shoppers. Some were in a hurry, some were just out for a leisurely (if you can call shopping that) day of wandering the town and browsing in and out of shops. Now me, I was one of those people who was on a mission. I am not the biggest fan of shopping and since I was after something specific, I didn't want to be in town all day looking for it. So I swiftly walked from my one bus stop to the other and headed back out of town towards my favourite yarn shop, Baa Ram Ewe. With the buses being pretty efficient, I was there in less than forty minutes from leaving home, which is not bad I think. 

The wonderful woman in the shop helped my attempt to select buttons. We weren't successful in finding the right buttons, but we figured out what I was after. She gave me a suggestion of where to look in town and off I went again!

What we decided that I was looking for and what I did not find:

This is where my day gets a bit silly. Four yarn, haberdashery, and sewing shops later, I've not found the correct buttons. I've found approximations and buttons that would be amazing for other, future projects, but I didn't find my buttons in the right colour. I did however have an enjoyable day just being in town.

While I was there I was reminded of all the different types of food you can eat in town. As I wandered from shop to shop I saw Japanese, Indian, Italian, Thai and others. I felt hungry even though I had eaten a sufficient breakfast. I saw the interesting and colourful ways that young people choose to dress and was once again amazed by some of the strange fashions (I swear I never dressed quite that strangely when I was that age) and I saw some amazing street performers. 

As I was walking up the bustling pedestrian-only shopping area I heard the steady and driving beat of hiphop music. Walking closer to its source, I found a gathered crowd that was watching a female trio doing a dance. My first thought, being ever the strange person that I am, was 'how did people their age get a permit for street performance?' And then I remembered, who cares??? It's a nice day and they're doing something that they love - stop thinking about it and enjoy it!

When I moved past the crowd encircling the dancers, I stumbled upon a statue I had never seen before. It was a living statue. I was amazed at how good a job this street performer was doing. He was absolutely, perfectly still. It was really convincing and impressive. He was crouched into a seated position; he looked like he was seated upon a chair but without the chair. It was splendid! It was also unsettling to see. By all logic he should have fallen over considering his centre of gravity couldn't have been above he feet, but there he was sitting on nothing! I was quite impressed. I wish that I had had a charge on my phone and had been able to take a picture, because I'm really not doing him justice at all with this description. 

All in all, my little trip into town, although not achieving my mission, was certainly fruitful in terms of entertainment. Today was a really refreshing experience for me. It reminded me that although I have not traveled as much in the last little while, there is still so much that I can do and enjoy right on my own doorstep. 

Canal Walks

Something that I was oh so familiar with in Canada was walking. I grew up walking. I walked to school, to the library, to the store, to friends' houses, to work, you name it. Here walking is less popular. It is generally thought of as a nice way to pass a sunny afternoon. Which, yes does happen in Canada as an activity as well - I just never really considered it as a regular thing to do (outside of a very small social circle that I had).

Although walking is less popular here (although perhaps popular isn't the correct way to describe, people don't walk to travel here they drive, train or bus for travel) I think that maybe is should be considered one of the important pass times in England. I have been more than one place in the country in the last two years and many of these places have been very popular with walkers. I've been to the moors and met more than one hiker and dog walker. I've been to Scotland and met many a tourist and slightly off-hinged person (such as myself and my hiking partner) who felt it entirely necessary to climb Arthur's Seat. I have been to little Yorkshire villages where people walk around the roads in the countryside. I have also been to some very nice towns that have walking trails that lead out of town and you can follow over several days all the way up to the Lake District!

So my question is: why is it when someone asks what the English do for fun that all you hear about is football, gardening and going to the pub? Clearly, there is a large walking community here in this country, for why else would there be so many popular and well-cultivated trails?

In fact, the other weekend when the weather was exquisite and I couldn't decide what to do, someone suggested that I walk along the Leeds-Liverpool Canal. At first I thought that they were crazy. I wondered why anyone would want to walk along a canal.

What I saw in my head when someone said canal.

But I agreed to it since it was a nice day and I didn't really want to be inside. Let me tell you, it was a good thing that I did. The image that I had in my head was far from what I actually experienced.

My walking companion and I set off from a part of Leeds called Rodley. It's a quaint-looking area village area that is very lush and well-cultivated. We stopped for a quick ice cream to help cool us as we walked seeing as it was one of the warmer weekends that we've had here so far. With the sun shining, I was rapidly missing my hat but fortunately I remembered to put on sunscreen before setting off so I didn't end up roasted.

As we walked along the canal, we encountered many other walkers. There were families walking their dogs, young people that looked like they might be on dates and teenagers out with friends. We also saw several older, fit-looking couples that looked like their walked for a living. They motored along in their activewear and look as happy as anything. For the amount of people that we saw along our Sunday walk, I really think that walking should be considered a more important pastime here.

That being said, it wasn't excessively crowded. There weren't enough people to be able to compare the amount to the people that you would expect to see in town shopping on a weekend. That in itself is both a shame, but also a comfort as I hate to walk along somewhere and feel like I can't have my own personal space in which to enough to quiet sounds of outside and the serene views. Here are some of the pleasant views that I enjoyed that weekend:

I had such a pleasant time, and it cost pretty much nothing (picnic plus ice cream made it very cheap) that I can't wait to go for another lovely canal walk. There are so many different sections of the canal that I imagine I can do several canal walks before I get bored. So next time I tell myself that I want to spend a sunny day sitting on the sofa inside, I need to remind myself how lovely a walk there is not far away and go!

Getting Distracted

This evening I remembered that I began a blog and have been neglecting it of late. This is not due to the fact that I've nothing blog-worthy to write about. This is not because I've had some tragic accident where I have lost the use of my fingers. Finally, this is not due to the fact that there has been a technology crisis in West Yorkshire and I can no longer access the internet. Au contraire! I have simply been distracted- sometimes in a positive way, but not always.

Not so long ago I made a comparison (likely an unfair one) between myself and people that I follow on Youtube and various other social media websites. For some reason, I found myself lacking. I felt disappointed in myself. I thought: look at what all of these people have done, and they are not all that much older than myself. What have I been doing with my life?  

A good friend then pointed out, that anyone can do something great with their life. How you measure it should be by how happy you are. Not how famous, how rich, how many friends you have, but simply by happiness. So, without further ado, here are some pictures of things that I've not posted before, but have made me happy in the last little while:

I'm not going to explain each picture, as I think for me it would ruin some of the enjoyment that I would then get out of them. So rather you can peruse and enjoy, or not -it's up to you. 

Waking up and going into work today with still a lot to do before my day began properly had me worried that today would be a very stressful day. I was pleasantly surprised though. Today I was a lot less stressed than I typically am. I relaxed into what needed to be done and had a very pleasant day. Looking back on the day, I have to ask myself: what was so different from today than other days? Reflecting I think a big part of it is simply some of the underlying stress that I've had in my life recently. It has had my constantly on edge, which has impacted a very large part of my life. I think that frequently we forget how much stress can impact us, even when we're not focusing on the source of the stress. And thanks to small changes in my life, I feel as though a big weight has been lifted. I'm looking forward to the next work day and what it can bring, rather than thinking of it as a chore, which in fact is a very positive thing since work is such a large portion of my life. 

So not avoiding any cliche metaphors -sometimes that glass is half full, but not always. Instead of questioning whether it's full or empty, decide whether you really felt like you wanted to effort to drink a half full glass - sometimes you only just want to empty your cup so that you can wash it. Indeed being half empty can be a good thing. I've said this to multiple people in the last couple of days: think outside the box.