The view from my window

The view from my window
The view from my window

Sunday, 8 September 2019

All booked up!

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was debating whether to enrol in a Thursday morning pilates class at the MJC (the local community centre), as I was wondering whether it might be taking on too many commitments in one week. Buuutt, in the end I decided to go for it as I realize I like to be busy and feel I need something that is a little more challenging than just yoga. Truth be told, I really need to get my backside into gear and do something slightly aerobic, but I'm still valiantly resisting that urge (rather easily as it turns out). But yesterday between 14-17h was enrolment time at the MJC so after dropping more hedge clippings off at the tip I decided to drive past the MJC to check it out. It was only 13h30 and I could see that the queue was already snaked through the corridors of the building and round the entire block!!! Say what! Well there was no way I was going to stand out there in the heat for goodness knows how long so I took myself off back into town and decided to treat myself to lunch out, having had the forethought to bring my kindle just in case the queue at the MJC was a little long! Crikey, I could have read "War and Peace" by the time that lot had worked their way through the enrolment process! So after about two hours I drove back up there and it was still chocablock, so I decided that maybe pilates wasn't for me after all and drove home. But then again I'm a stubborn bugger so at 4.30 p.m. I decided to give it one last shot with just 30 minutes to go before closing time, found a place right in front of the building and was in and out in about 10 minutes flat! So it seems that, yes, God really did want me to take pilates classes after all! It was pretty well organized (as I found out later), in that you did your initial enrolment at various desks depending on the subject you were interested in and then you headed off to another room to pay. I suspect a large percentage of the initial group was all the young kids enrolling for judo and karate and so on, but I saw that all the yoga classes had quickly filled up and they had posted a note at the front gate to that effect. These classes were given by a lady called Sylvie, and I'm pretty sure she was the lady I enrolled with about eight years ago but had to give up in the end because her class started at 7 p.m. and more and more I never made it back to La Roche before 7.30 p.m! She was very good, so I'm not surprised her classes are all fully booked and I guess teaching yoga maybe 10 times a week is one reason why she is in such great shape!

And talking of yoga, my neighbour did, indeed, finally come with me for a trial run at Tuesday's class and she loved it. I told her to be sure and tell the teacher that she suffered from scoliosis and she would guide her as to what and what not to do. In fact the teacher was very attentive to her, making sure that she was comfortable in everything she did, but M, my neighbour, hung in there and managed to do every movement that the rest of us did and she loved it. She was just bubbling afterwards and it gave me such pleasure to see her so happy! We both ached later that evening (for me particularly the neck and shoulder region) but she said that she had tried out some of the moves at home to "keep up the momentum" and has decided she will sign up. Score for me then, as I've been "nagging" her for ages to give it a go as I just knew she would get a lot out of it!

Then on Wednesday I decided it was time to get back on some kind of walking schedule as I no longer had the excuse of it being too hot! The weather has turned almost 180° - but then I guess that's normal for September - and it has gone from chilly to warm to chilly again (and guess whose heating still isn't installed!). I did the one hour walk round the Church of the Blessed Fountain and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd planned a longer walk in the mountains today but it is currently peeing down, with thunder in the offing, and the last place you want to be in a thunder storm is in the mountains. Oh well, it will perk up again soon enough so I will get that walk in at some time. I can't wait actually, as it's a new one to me, despite having lived here over 30 years! And looking out the window at the rain I see that some of my neighbours have already got their heating on, but I'll be damned if I'm turning mine on before end-September (not least because, as I say, it isn't installed yet, but as a matter of principle I don't want to turn it on before October ever!). Max had to order specific tubing in order to hook it all up so as soon as that arrives it should just take another day to finish the installation. I can't wait, actually, because I'm curious to see if it really turns out to be as economical as he says!

Then the other day Jen called to ask if I had gotten rid of all my ex's CDs yet. He must have left about 300 of the bloody things in the farmhouse that he was renting when he buggered off back to the States (without emptying the farmhouse) and I had been slowly going through them to see if any were salvageable. Trouble is, he never took care of anything so most of them were scratched to sh*t anyway. In the end I had pretty much given up because you can't even give CDs away and I was damned if I was listening to any more of his CDs to find out if I could put any of them on Freecycle, his taste in music not being anything like mine! In fact, one of the joys of being divorced is never having to listen to Willy Nelson ever again (I know, I know, all you Willy Nelson fans out there will probably chime in) but I got so sick of listening to the same songs (not just WN) over and over and over again! And now I don't have to! Anyway, back to the plot, Jen has a project lined up with some of her patients (she is a psychiatric nurse) and was looking for CDs to use - not the cases, just the actual CDs themselves - so it looks like I will be getting rid of pretty much the whole lot in one fell swoop without actually throwing them away. I'm not sure what she plans to do with them but …. all I know is that they are wending their way out my house as we speak. But, I did come across a few that I have listened to again and got a lot of pleasure out of. Simply Red and Santana anyone? So yesterday afternoon I was standing out in my garden in the glorious sunshine watching the hangliders soaring over the mountains behind my house blasting Santana. And then I got to thinking about Steve and I started crying! I just felt so sad but it was a really poignant moment all the same! When I got in I opened up my mail and there in my inbox was a lovely message from his daughter, Josie, thanking me for the beautiful letter I had written to her and her brothers and for the cheque I asked her to donate to a charity of their choice in memory of her dad. I told her that I just wrote from the heart and that it just came spilling out, that their dad was so very, very proud of them and that they were his everything! And you know what, I'm good with it now. She said she wished they had gotten to meet me so I said maybe one day we will as I really am hoping to spend more time in the UK and in the north in particular, so maybe we can meet up sometime when all the sadness is over. And I would like that. Who knows, one day!

10 comments:

  1. We just received our community ed catalogue. I feel like a yoga class would be a good diversion since I have not been good at doing the videos at home-I guess I need accountability. The walking weather though is getting perfect!

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    1. I may be "overbooking" myself but if not now then when? And yes this really is walking weather isn't it. And why don't you try a yoga class if you like yoga anyway? I'm sure taking the time just for yourself would be so beneficial!

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  2. How sweet of you to write a letter to Steve's kids - you got to see a side of him that likely they didn't. It sounds like it meant a lot. Cds, we still have about 200 of them. We pared them down a tiny bit - but hubby has always loved music and doesn't really want to get rid of them. I am ok with it but one day. Fortunately we have the same rock interest in music.

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    1. I had bought a condolence card but wanted to put a letter in with it and it just came spilling out. But you're right, I would have seen a side of him that they wouldn't and I wanted them to know how much they meant to him. Glad I did it now!

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  3. The gift you gave Steve's kids is priceless.
    CD's are out of fashion? We probably have over 300, but they are neatly categorized in binders according to genre. We have converted a lot of them to digital but are still known to load up the stereo with 5 discs and have them shuffle so we don't have to listen to anything straight through.
    I will admit to listening to Willie Nelson's Sunny Side of the Street on a regular basis.I love his cover of that song even though I am not a Willie fan.

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    1. I think a big problem with my ex's music was that he played every single song over and over again, really, loud, on repeat so I got so sick of what might have been a decent song. You know, the first 10 bars of ANY song repeated over and over will drive anyone nuts.

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  4. What a shame they don't do online enrollments. Gad. I have no patience. I would not have had patience to go back. I do hope you have fun.

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    1. For the Italian classes that MJC actually did do online enrolments (but it wasn't working yet!!!) but not here in La Roche yet. But I'm stubborn enough that when I want something I just keep going for it - worked out all right in the end though! And "fun" might not be the word I will use afterwards but I know I really need something like this. And in any case, the only way is "up" isn't it!

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  5. You did well to keep returning to sign up! I don't think I would have bothered, I'm way too lazy! You did a lovely thing for Steve's kids. When my dad died recently it was lovely to see so many people he knew and hearing the stories they had to tell of his past that we weren't aware of. To get all of that in written form must have been like getting treasure for them. x

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    1. Oh I'm as stubborn as hell so I just keep going for it (definitely a tortoise rather than a hare)! I was thinking about Steve as today was the funeral so while it was going on I just sat outside looking at the mountains in his "favourite" chair ("this is the life" - sez him). It will have been a BIG funeral though, I know that much! I'm ok now and yes I'm glad I wrote to Josie. I hesitated to mention my blog as there are more stories about him on here but I didn't in the end. But you're right it is nice to hear the old stories isn't it, and it takes some of the sadness away from losing a loved one - hence this blog really. I hope my kids (or maybe later, my grandkids) will appreciate it!

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