Mid-July update

every-tuesday.com

Well, we're getting there, piece by piece of stuff around the place. There are still things in the garage and the living room but as it belongs to Roomie E, I'm not touching it. I'm more or less happy with things the way they are at the moment and am just going to live with things the way they are for a bit before doing anything more drastic than moving things around a room.

I got rid of two pairs of shoes on Friday, which removed a bag from my bedroom floor. They weren't in awful condition and as I hadn't worn them for probably two years, I just shoved them in a bag and did it before I thought any more about it. There's a shoe & textile recycling bin near the office and I put them in there. Part of my reluctance of getting rid of things is that much can't be recycled and I hate throwing things in the garbage, although I know that's the only place some of it can go.

I'm also reluctant to get rid of everything pretty and fun because I want some things for my own place eventually, but current space is at a premium and I'm feeling a bit squeezed. Regardless, I like the flat and am finding my way into a new routine although I still feel a bit 'off', and I can't quite figure out why. I feel generally restless and have no idea why.

Roomie E has been away visiting her family in Italy for a week and comes back on Tuesday so I've had the place to myself which has been really nice. It's slightly small for two people sharing, and is more conducive to a single person or a couple. I can't afford it on my salary (even without debt payments), which is disappointing but is on par with Southern rental prices, unfortunately.

I'm struggling a little bit with my writing as well. After a couple of months of writer's block, I started again and pushed ahead reasonably well before stumbling to a halt again. I've got ideas but adding them in where I need/want them to go means almost a total rewrite from the beginning and I'm not sure that's what I need to do. I WANT to move forward, regardless of what winds up on the paper, so I think that's what I should focus on. I did buy some cue cards and am trying to figure out the best way to work up an 'old school' timeline. It hasn't got very far either. Ha ha! I'm frustrated because I feel the need to write, I just can't quite DO it or get it organised to do it. I'm probably overthinking it all.

In the meantime, I whizzed through the last three of four books in The Dales Detective Agency cosy series by Julia Chapman: Date with Malice, Date with Mystery and Date with Poison. This is set in the beautiful Yorkshire Dales, somewhere I'm keen to visit, and the fourth book is neatly tying up threads begun in the first, Date with Death. I wish I could write like Ms Chapman! Fantastic characters, beautiful descriptions of the dales, great mysteries and I'm hoping the next in the series will tie up all the ends, although that will mean the series is at an end and I'm not sure I'm ready for that. No 4 came out 27 June and I finished it on Friday, so it means at least a year's wait. *Sigh*

Work was very quiet last week. The director was on holiday, as was the office manager, and there wasn't much to do. By Friday we were feeling quite bored, so I think we're kind of looking forward to tomorrow when the director is back. We had fish and chips for lunch on Friday which was a nice treat, and quite delicious. 

I'm still waiting for my review.

Anyhoo, I've been contemplating starting running again, and today purchased twelve months of online yoga for £12 via Groupon to give that a try.

Otherwise, I've been pretty quiet around here, just concentrating on the new flat and trying to get a routine of sorts in place for my days off. It'll come, it's only been three weeks.