Blog for week ending 26th April 2018
This is the week that Tony’s cousin arrived from LA. He’s here for work but has mentioned that the work pace is so slow here compared to how they operate in the US of A, he almost feels like he’s on a holiday.
It seems the concept of work-life balance, looks like “lazy” to him. Whereas we see that gung ho American attitude as OTT, unnecessary stress.
I must admit, coming from Sydney to here, I noticed the difference in pace too. Things that would take 1 day in Sydney, took about a week to get done here. Things that would take 10 mins in Sydney, I would have to wait 3 days for and it used to drive me nuts but after 13 years of being here, I’ve finally become accustomed to it. Sh*t just doesn’t work here, that’s why people complain… they’re not called whinging poms for nothing. If things worked, what would they do with themselves?
Still, our time is so limited on this planet, why spend it all at work? Especially if people don’t like their jobs… the beautiful, wonderful, idea of the work-life balance allows you some time out from the daily grind. Work some, rest some, play some… I much prefer this way of living, any given day.
Paris & Rome
After searching quite a bit for organic hay for the boys, it’s come to my attention that no Timothy Hay growers have labelled their hay “organic” in the UK. Well, none that I could find anyway. The reason for that is because they use herbicides around the crop at the early stages of growing. Argh!!!
It pains me to know that I’m feeding my bunnies herbicidal hay. I found organically grown hay but it wasn’t Timothy Hay. It was another form which I got a sample of and the bunnies absolutely LOVED. Sounds great right? Well no, the hay is too soft so as much as it helps bunnies’ digestive tracts and is chemical free, it does nothing to help them keep their teeth ground down which will mean having to take them to the vet just to get their teeth burred.
Which is worse? Cancer from eating too much herbicide or constant trips to the vet so they can open your mouth and grind down your teeth with a machine? The crap we do to animals seriously… where is the choice for NEITHER?!!
So until I find an organic form of Timothy Hay which I’m still on the lookout for, I bought for them a bag of a mix of oat and Timothy Hay. Unfortunately, the smallest bag I could get from this new supplier (who also make that organic soft hay) was a giant 9.5kg bag which is the size of our dining table. It’s taken up the entire lounge. It’s one of those giant bales that belong in a stable to feed horses.
The best part is that it turns out that I am allergic to it. Yes, that was sarcasm. Every day since bringing this hay into the house, each time I open the bag to feed them, my eyes and the back of my nose and throat get really itchy.
Now I have a giant bag of hay that I’m allergic to sitting in the lounge that I am in contact with every day. It will take them several months (or more) to finish this bag which means I’m going to be like this for several months. FML. Me and my bright ideas!!
I also bought the bunnies some hay toppers and all natural pellets. I bought from a company that sources all their products from Europe and so all the labels are in German. However, I love the choice, there was so much product to choose from, that had ZERO wheat, ZERO rice, ZERO corn, ZERO soy and ZERO sugar (apart from any naturally occurring in the plant), ZERO fruit!!! So I can feed them now lots of leaves and flowers ORGANIC too. God bless the EU. None of that stuff exists in the UK without importing, so will become very expensive soon enough 😦
The boys didn’t receive simple organic leaves and flowers very well. It’s like trying to feed vegetables (not even fruit) to kids who have only known donuts and biscuits but they’re becoming better with it as each day progresses.
Home, House and Completions
Since Tones’ cousin is here, we are not doing any works to fix the flat. He has seen it as it is and pretty much told us that our entire flat is the size of his bedroom.
People always think I’m over exaggerating when I tell them our place is small. It’s been likened to living on a boat. Some “Tiny Homes” that people build are BIGGER than our place.
It sounds like I’m making it up but when he saw our place he actually laughed sheepishly when I said “and you thought I was lying….”
I know it’s hard to imagine but it’s true. Our place, the lounge, dining, kitchen, bedroom AND bathroom altogether were smaller than his cousin’s bedroom in the USA.
Yes, 4 of us (Tony, myself, Paris & Rome) live in a shoebox that needs constant repair!! Do I sound like a whinging pom yet? This is why you can’t work all day because there are things in the house that constantly need fixing!!
Tones and Joy
Mental Health
This week I continued to clear the inbox and managed to get it down to 125 emails. PHEW! Progress feels great.
Got a little behind on my French Lessons though so a catch up is needed.
Physical Health
We found out this week that our favourite yoga class, the only class we actually go to at the studio and my only form of exercise for the last few months, has been cancelled due to lack of interest. It was there as a trial and not enough people turned up for it to warrant continuing, or so, that’s what they told us.
Huge disappointment. Although I cancelled my yearly yoga subscription to the studio, I am attached to them via a min. 4 month contract paying £65 per month for 5 class passes per month and it only just started which means I have to find alternative classes to what I really want, so I can use up my class passes, until August.
If they’d told me BEFORE I signed up to the 4 month, 5 class pass that they were going to cancel the only class I attend, I might have made a different decision. Now I’m totally demotivated to do any exercise at all because whichever class I do, it’s not really the one I want.
On the up side, I went to the dental hygienist this week, after 8 months of zero checks (big deal given my dental history) and she said I was all good. When I asked her when I had to see her next she said, “Well, normally 6 months but….just see how you go… I mean, it’s been 8 months and everything’s fine!!! So yeah, 6…… or so….just see how you go.” I understood that was her way of saying “I’m supposed to tell you 6…. you read between the lines.” I’m happy with that.
She also said that my gums show that I am stress free. Did you know that the amount of stress you are under shows on your gums? I asked her to explain and she said that you can tell just how stressed a person is by how inflamed their gums are. Usually stressed people are tenser so they brush their gums harder which can cause inflammation and generally, their gums become inflamed anyway when stressed. Interesting right?
I thought back to when I had the worst of my gum problems and what job I was doing and what was going on in my life at the time and I’d have to agree. I was REALLY stressed. These days…. I’ve gotten rid of the crappy jobs that work me to the bone and pay me nothing, I’ve gotten rid of the bosses that expect way more than they’re paying for, I’ve cleared a lot of emotional issues and worked through grief, and I meditate and low and behold, my gums are good ie strong and resilient so they recover faster even if I’m not being strict with my oral hygiene routine!!
Spiritual Health
Still meditating every day though sometimes I do it so late that my app misses recording it for certain dates. My consecutive day tally is now only ever between 1 and 4.
Emotional Health
Emotionally, I think I’m alright this week. A bit whingey, so not as clear as last week after the Kinesiologist visit but alright and as my gums are showing, compared to the past, I am brilliant.
Financial Health
Due to not being able to enter over a certain number of transactions on the Mobills app in any given month, I stopped using it, in order to work out what would be the next best approach. The result? I’m continuing to use the app but not breaking the receipts down into so much detail. So far so good. Also I am considering paying for the premium service but won’t do it unless I really need it.
Social Health
After his arrival, we’ve spent a lot of time with Tones’ cousin and our going out / eating out began. We started him off gently, to allow him to settle into the country and recover from any jetlag he may have been feeling but it turns out he didn’t have any jetlag at all!
He arrived on the Saturday. We went here as our first port of call because it was close to where he was staying, it was dinner time, I was hungry and we were getting really lost in that building. It was expensive for Middle Eastern food but what do you expect for a restaurant in Harrod’s? I’m not sure why but my guess is that Tony decided not to take pictures that day and I have no photos of the food at all 😦
The next day, Sunday, we were invited over for a BBQ at our friends’ place who live in the same neighbourhood as us, so we all went there for the day. Again, no photos… sorry. It gets better next week, I promise!
So as not to disappoint with zero pictures, let me do a throw back to circa June 2015. Yup… 3 years ago when we visited STAX Diner at Kingly Court. This is back when we did a LOT of yoga (sometimes over 7 times per week) and so we just ate anything and everything… Tony was even considering doing their ultimate burger eating challenge… to eat 5 x patty and 5 x cheese burger, fries and supersized milkshake in under 15 mins. I think he’d be avoiding that right now. I tell you, we are missing the days when we could eat everything AND stay skinny. Oh how things change in 3 years!!!