Poole

Spent a glorious weekend in Poole. We finally got a summer for two whole days! It was great. If I could, I would live in Poole. It is on the coast and it can be so beautiful. Plus, it is warmer there. I took some pictures so I could show all of you what I am talking about...

This is Poole Harbor at sunset, taken on Martin's balcony. Well, not balcony, he is on the first floor, but his outside deck area.

Here is Martin outside enjoying the sunshine and reading a trashy gossip magazine that he is trying to hide. Busted!

Instead of watching TV we watch the sail boats go by. There is also often wind and kite surfers but on this day the wind was quite calm. They are more entertaining to watch than the sail boats.

And this is Poole Quay where we sometimes sit outside and share some chips after a bike ride or a long walk along the water. It is less crowded now that school is back on and most of the tourists have left. Come November it will be deserted.

And here are some people fishing on the harbour near the quay. Did you know that Poole is the world's second largest natural harbour? True fact.

That is our little life in Poole on the weekends. We don't really do much when we are there. Usually exercise of some sort, be it a walk or bike ride or run, and then we sit on the sofa and eat the rest of the time. We tend to eat better in Poole than we do at home. Maybe some day I will get to live there but for now I am in smoggy cold and gray London where the people are rude and always in a hurry. Perhaps I should go take pictures of London to remind myself what I great city it really is!

To Kill a Mockingbird

I am re-reading To Kill a Mockingbird and I am really enjoying it. I of course can't help but think of the movie when I am reading the book, however I haven't read this since high school and thought it was a classic worth re-visiting. It has actually made me laugh out loud a couple of times, especially the bit when Scout asks her father to "pass the damn ham"-convinced that if she swears enough, Atticus won't make her go back to school.

The weather has finally turned nice although you can feel autumn coming on. It is almost warm but there is a certain kind of briskness to the air. The leaves are also changing colours and starting to fall to the ground. Autumn is a pretty time of year and seeing as how our summer was so miserable I am looking forward to it.

I finally got my Death Valley pictures developed but I could only find one role and I took several! I blame Martin-I am sure he was in charge of them! Too bad as they turned out really nice and I still love having actual pictures. Digital is great for obvious reasons but I STILL have yet to purchase my pictures from my trip to Sri Lanka, and that was over a year ago! Part of it is laziness and partly because I don't want to pay for it. Plus, I tend to order all of them and then choose the ones I don't want. Not smart I know but you never know which of them will turn out. I'll try and take some pictures this weekend in Poole so I have something nice to post on my blog.

Now I remember

I went for my long run today-17 miles-and remembered my promise to myself never to do another marathon again. Running for that long just hurts. It would actually be ok except my knee is giving me problems and I am having to stop to stretch it. It would be really nice if it didn't hurt. But then I guess I would just notice some other ailment that I am currently ignoring cause my knee hurts. Running for that long is also a little boring. The path I take is very pretty, and I don't have to stop my whole run which trust me, is a major bonus as stopping and then starting again (due to traffic light or what have you) can be very painful. But the path is also very straight. Not a turn the whole time. That gets boring. I am also tired of other people on my run. Walkers mostly. Can't they see by the look of agony on face that any deviation from the path I have chosen results in pain? I don't want to have to avoid you when avoiding me is so much easier for you. People with trams are the worse. Don't get me wrong, I know the delights of going for a walk with a youngster, and a baby tram is sometimes the only way to get it done. It's nice. But when I have to stop running until they finally register that my pardon mes and excuse mes are because I want to get by and not trot behind them I get a little annoyed. Why? Cause it hurts to stop running! Can you tell I didn't have a very good run today? Although I am proud of myself for doing it.

In happier news Strictly Come Dancing (UK version of Dancing with Stars) begins next week. Yay! Even if I miss it I can watch it on the Internet for a week after. I am soooo excited. Hopefully everyone will be nice. Mark Foster will be on the show. He is nice looking :-) Although I have a feeling he can't dance. (he's a swimmer)

Here is a challenge. I need new music for my runs. My current favorite is Please Don't Stop the Music by Rhianna. I literally play it two or three times when it comes round, I find it that entertaining. Any suggestions for songs that just make you want to dance? Or keep running?