It's Not Sunday,

I was looking forward to a productive week before heading off to Edinburgh this weekend, and the truth of the matter is I have done a fat lot of nothing. 

I've been too ill to leave my flat, and at points, too sick to get out of bed. I thought it was my recurring chest infection, but when I ventured out to the GPs to query the constant pain in my throat that painkillers weren't touching, I found out I actually had a throat infection with blistering in my throat. It was as disgusting as it sounds, and I was struggling to breathe for a good couple of days, which is why I feel so damn feeble now. 

Put simply; I didn't eat for a few days which meant I was even dizzier than normal. Before anyone thinks of making jokes about that, I have a problem that makes me dizzy and no it's not vertigo. I'm now trying to get back onto an even keel but as quite a small person, I didn't have a significant amount of fat to burn. (Although thankfully Lent is my season to gorge on chocolate, so there was a little bit to keep me going.) The problem is that it means I'm running out of energy quite quickly and needing to sit down a lot. Obviously, that's not overly conducive to getting anything done. 

Part of me is now looking to the trip to Edinburgh as a chance to regain some of the momentum I lost this week and really get on with things, and then there's a nagging part of my brain that tells me I really need a laptop to be able to get on with things on the train. I'm not going to give into it because a laptop is just any techy accessories that I don't need, so a pointless waste of money. It would also make Alphie (my lovely AlphaSmart) redundant, and I would hate to do that. Sticky keys he may have, but that little blast from the past is beautiful. 

I'm trying to plan how else to get work done on the train (and stop myself being really, really bored. I had hoped that I wouldn't allow myself to work on anything new until the point that Yours, was FINALLY fluffing done, but even that is looking unlikely. The best thing I can think of is printing off the pages that I already know need re-writes and doing that on the train, then biting the bullet and continuing to write for another couple of novels on which I have been working. The other thing I have to factor in is the almost complete lack of wifi because Virgin trains make you pay for it unless you're in first class. I'm going to end up really wishing that I had a flask, too. 

I'm under no illusions that I will get any work completed while I'm there, but with the journey there and back taking up so much time the idea of wasting all of it playing 2048 (and believe me I could do that) is pretty haunting. I also don't want to lug a rucksack full of wool there to be knitting the entire journey. 

Ah well, I don't leave until Saturday, so there's time to figure it out yet. Depending on what my arrangements for tech stuff are, I might be missing the Sunday blog post this week, but will endeavor to post on Monday if that is the case. Have a very Hoppy Chocolate Feast!

Hello, And Welcome to Another Episode of How My Weird Brain Works,

Walked into a shop the other day and they have their pancake day stuff out. I mean, that's a fairly normal practice, let's face it, because they also have Valentine's day everywhere and bits of Easter, however, my brain says to me, don't we normally get Valentine's day out of the way before the whole pancakes then Lent then Easter thing? Well, yeah, we do, but this year is super funky for a particular reason and that reason is this. Valentine's Day is in the middle of Lent. 

Suddenly, that typical charming thing of dinner and wine with presents of flowers and chocolates doesn't work, because a lot of people give up alcohol, or certain food (like meat, and we're not going to get into why that winds me up) or chocolate and sweets. So suddenly everyone's go-to Valentine's presents are looking a little bit rocky. I am genuinely tickled and amused by this. 

Anyway, as things do, this got me thinking about what I am going to do for Lent this year. Generally, I suck at lent. I'm really good at making my way through my Easter eggs, but Lent, nope, never been very good at it. Instead of giving up something this year, or rather attempting to and then forgetting what I actually was meant to be giving up, I'm going to be - I guess it's kind of giving something up, but not really. Basically instead of doing my usual lazy thing of living in sweat pants and jeans and work pants, I'm essentially banning myself from wearing pants (as in trousers, not underwear, just so we're clear) and I'm going to force myself to wear my dresses (of which I have around 70, though not all in London with me) and also my skirts (which I have not counted - sorry.) At the moment, the weather forecasts don't looks too bad, and don't misunderstand me, I will be wearing tights (probably thermal ones judging by current temperatures) but yes, that is the plan. If you know me quite well, you'll realise it is a bit out of the ordinary for me to say bye to my jeans for that long, and if not, well, just trust me, it is out of the ordinary. 

Roll on Pancake day then...