A New Year - in every way

Friends, it has been more than a month since I last updated you on my quest to banish Brian. A lot has happened since then, and rather than bore you with all the details, suffice to say that I am now unemployed and homeless! But before there is an outpouring of sympathy in my direction (you were going to do that, weren't you?????...surely you were...) these are the necessary and welcome steps on our big adventure for 2010 and our new life in Australia.

I had hoped that we would be on our way shortly, but we have been delayed slightly and it looks like it will be the end of February before we can fly out. An opportunity came up for Nadia that was too good to pass, so we have decided to wait until the end of Feb to let her take advantage of that.

So now we are living out of suitcases, currently at my parents in Erskine for a couple of weeks then we will be back in Edinburgh for our last few weeks. I know we have already had farewell drinks with friends, but maybe we can do it all again!

We are both still really excited and looking forward to getting to Sydney or Melbourne and getting ourselves settled and working in Australia.

So what of Brian, Betty, Brenda and Chris. Let's just say they enjoyed the Christmas and New Year holidays. A combination of nights out and fantastic Christmas and New Year parties meant that Brian in particular has bitten back in a last effort to get on that plane with me. The snow meant that I didn't get out for any exercise, which was quickly followed by all the stress and effort required to move out the flat. So I haven't had any exercise worth talking about for a month now.

But I started to put that right today. Even though the weather is not great, I made it out for a 5k run today from my parent's house. I ran through Bishopton, which is where I was brought up and went to primary school. It felt very strange running along roads that I thought were so long and far from home but really not that far at all. It did bring back some memories of the things we used to do and places we used to play as mere whippersnappers. It doesn't look much different now, but we had some great fun in the park and racing home bogeys down the hill in to the swing park. I hope no-one recognised me!

Now that I have the first run of the year out the way, I will get back in the swing of it and use this extra time I have here to hone my beach bod - I wish!

Even after sending our belongings off on the long journey in a container on a ship, we still have too much stuff and I can't afford to take Brian, Brenda, Betty and Chris with me.

A challenge for the next couple of weeks will be to resist all the food temptations that mum and dad have for us. I need to learn to say no to wine with dinner and lots of tasty treats. Not completely of course, all things in moderation!

But it is a new year, an exciting one. I hope you all are looking forward to it as much as we are.

Why having a car makes me run!

My mum has kindly let me use her car for a few weeks as we get things organised for the move - you know the kind of thing, trips to the dump, car boot sale, trips to charity shops. However, living in the centre of Edinburgh poses a fairly major problem with parking. It's not worth applying for a resident's permit for the few weeks I will have the car, so I have two choices - take out a loan to pay the extortionate on street parking charges, or park the car a mile and a half away from the house.

So being a typical scrooge, I have taken the second option. I can park the car overnight outside the flat, so I get up with Nadia, take her to work then take the car and park it in the dim and distant western regions of Edinburgh. But the upside of this is that I have decided that I will run back to the house from where the car is parked. But I don't run straight home - that would be too easy.

This morning I headed out further west, uphill and into the wind, until I realised I was nearly half-way to my old work place! Too close for comfort so I turned and headed back home. It all came to 7.5 k and I did it in 45 mins - bang on 10k in an hour pace.

Not saying I will do this every day, but it is a good way of making sure I don't become a couch potato. I also need to make sure I don't start eating too much rubbish just because I can - defeats the purpose.

Tomorrow evening I'm off to meet up with some old friends in Glasgow. My mum was asking if I needed a bed for the night since I will be out for a big night with the boys. All very kind, but when I reminded her that the 'boys' are all aged around 50 (or getting close to it) I think she realised we are not likely to be rocking in from the clubs at 3:00 am - or will we?...now there's a thought!

Looking forward to it - not seen the guys for far too long. Don't think I'll need to introduce them to Brian, Betty, Brenda and Chris - they are not quite as noticeable now and I'll be able to disguise them under suitable dark clothing!

I feel different!

Day 5 of 'resting' between jobs, and it is only now beginning to feel different. The last few days have just felt like a guilty holiday, but having no blackberry to check is blissful. I am only now not worrying about the things I may have left behind - did I remember to do this, tell them that?? Thankfully all that kind of stuff is beginning to melt away.

I've not been struggling to fill my days either. They have flown by with preparations for the move. Still a fair bit to do, but getting there now. We did a car boot sale on Sunday, which was a bit of a drama! We got up early, and filled the car with our worldly goods (by the way, I was up and down the stairs to the flat 10 times that day!). We headed off to the sale that is in the town centre at Greenside. As we got closer it became apparent that the whole of Edinburgh had got out of bed early as well. We queued for 45 minutes and got within 100 yards of the entrance only to be told it was full and we were turned away. I won't tell you what I said, but it wasn't nice!

But not to be beaten (and I wasn't taking all that stuff back up the stairs!) we headed off to another one I knew was happening in the west of the city. It wasn't as big, and let's say the clientele were perhaps not the most well off people in town. However, we shifted a lot of stuff which was good.

So now we still have a good few clothes, books, CDs and other bits and pieces that will need to go soon. I think Gumtree will be the sales channel now - I'm not getting out of bed at that time again on the weekend! And yes, it is still a weekend even though I'm not working!

But one reason I feel different is that I have been going through my clothes to see what we are taking, what we are selling, what's for Charity, and what is going in the bin (work suit!!!). A while ago I said I wasn't going to buy any new shirts because I had a whole load that didn't fit me since the growth of Brian. Well, I am pleased to say I can button them all up now, and reasonably comfortably too! A pair of designer jeans I bought in America just over a year ago are way to loose now - the belt is three notches tighter! Result!

I'm not going to bore you all with my running exploits every day, but suffice to say I am keeping it going and I will report on that again in a couple of weeks. I think I am looking different ( a bit) and long may it continue. On my off days, I'm going to do some yoga too - I can touch my toes now!!!!

End of an era, beginning of a new life

It's been a helluva few weeks, which is why I've not had the time or inspiration to update you on things.

So the most important thing is that my last day at work was Thursday 3 December. I am actually on holiday until I officially leave on the 21st, but I don't have a badge, blackberry, laptop or phone and it now feels liberating. I felt very tired yesterday, which I think was just a release of tension and knowing that it is a major milestone in the plans for Australia.

We are planning to head out in January, but it now might be towards the end of the month rather than the middle, but things are falling in to place. I had the removals company in yesterday and we have a date for our worldly goods and shackles to be put in a container and sail the seas to our new home. Got some things to sort out this week and a few more people to meet up with to say goodbye to - I'll try not to cry!

I guess one of the things that I didn't mention on here is that our lovely cats went to their new home in November. It was heartbreaking and I still get emotional when I think about them but we know they are settled and happy and it was the right thing - just very hard for both of us to deal with.

It was a strange last day at work, mostly because I was working right up to the last minute! I know I will miss everyone, but there are a couple more opportunities to catch up before I go - so it didn't feel like the big goodbye.

But what of Brian, Brenda, Betty and Chris - my unwanted fat friends. Well I have been running a bit, not as much as I would like to. I went out today and managed over 7k, which is not bad at all. People have been noticing the shrinking Brian, and to be honest my work suit trousers have been falling off me. So the inches are going, but still a few to get rid of in time for Christmas. I don't have any excuses not to go out and run now. I'm going to try to do 5 days out of 7 for the next few weeks and see how I get on with that.

Since I have time on my hands now, I promise i'll write more often on here and keep you up to date with the plans and the belly shrinkage!

Have a good weekend!

The world is not flat

Good old Christopher Columbus set sail all those years ago to prove the world is not flat. To be honest, he could just have joined me on my run tonight to prove that it is actually very hilly. Not flat at all.

I took a new route tonight, and I knew it was going to be a bit hilly, but having looked at the elevation profile on map my walk, it seems I was running uphill for 80 % of the 3.5 miles (5.5k). Which is definitely a good workout. I wasn't fast, but now I know why!

And it started to rain when I was about half a mile from home. I have said it before, but I'll say it again. I love running in the rain!

Legs and body feel pretty tired now so early bed and hope that i can still walk in the morning. The battle against Brian continues, and my challenge now is to turn Brain in to a beach bod! 9 weeks to go. Phew!

Feeling like a runner

Feeling proud of myself today. Despite the cold weather and it being dark (I'm not scared of the dark, honest!) I put on my Max Wall leggings, silly looking beanie, and headed out for a run after work tonight. That makes it two days in a row.

And tonight, I actually felt like I was running at a respectable pace instead of my usual jog. I couldn't quite see my time when I came home because it was dark (is there a theme here?) but I think I ran for 34 minutes covering 5.3k. It felt fast (well faster than my normal) and I was hoping that I was going to cover the 5k in 30 minutes or so, but maybe not quite yet.

But I at least I got out there. The fightback against Brian continues.

One thing I will miss about running in Edinburgh is when I come down from Greyfriar's Bobby into Grassmarket and seeing the castle lit up - it is a splendid site soaring above you in the night sky.

So maybe a rest day tomorrow, but I am going to run 4 days out of 7 this week and get back in the habit in a proper way.

Feeling good.

Back in the saddle - or on the pavements

Forgive me blog readers for it has been many weeks since my last blog confession. Time is flying by and Brian has been trying to bounce back out in protest at his previously shrinking girth.

That's not to say he has got any bigger, but he certainly hasn't got any smaller. It's been a tough couple of weeks at work - you only have to read the news this week to see what it was all about, and to steal the title of a great TV comedy, I have been in the thick of it. But only three and a half weeks to go, and I'm determined to lose another 7 lbs by the time Christmas gets here. There will be lots of photos taken at our last Christmas here for a while and I don't want to look like a porker in them!

I did run about 6k last Saturday, and today I have just come in from a 7.3 k this morning. I decided it was time for a new route, so I set off in a different direction from normal. It was a lovely crisp clear morning and it felt really good to be out there again. I did it in 46 minutes, without stopping.

So now I have to get myself out during the week as well. I am going to look to run at least 4 days a week for about the 45 minute mark.

We have been clearing out old files and papers this weekend in preparation for the big move to Australia and I came across a couple of things that made me smile.

The first is a great book on running that I bought about 25 years ago. The picture at the top of the blog is of James F. Fixx's Complete Book of Running.

It is generally accepted as one of the best books ever written about the sport and it has renewed my motivation. Go get it if you have any ambitions at all to get out there and join the happy band of runners.

The second thing was a notebook from 2002 with a list of goals I had written for myself at the time. One of those was to run 10k! Ok, so it took me seven years to do it, but funnily enough it made the list complete except for two of them (which were a bit crazy anyway). I obviously hadn't looked at the list since I wrote it, but it's funny how having written them down most of them have been achieved.

I need to write a new list for our new life in Australia.

Thanks to Julia and Andy for a lovely evening and dinner last night. We had a great time talking about running! Who'd have believed it!

More regular blog posts to come, I promise