It's been a while!

OK - about time I stopped neglecting this blog and updated it on what's been going on. I've got bogged down in my diet blog and stopped thinking outside of that, and whilst improving myself by eating healthily is all well and good, it's not the be all and end all of my existence. Or it shouldn't be anyway.

Soooooo .... big breath, and this might be quite a long post!

Friday afternoon, I ventured out mountain-biking at the Forest of Dean, and decided to tackle the single-track on my own. It was a gorgeous afternoon, and I managed to navigate myself there straight from the office without any problems - victory!!! For some reason I always feel a little bit anxious before I set out doing things like this. I don't know why, because I'm same with windsurfing and now with the running club. As soon as I get going I'm fine, but before that I get butterflies, as if I'm worried I might do something wrong.

Anyhoo, the centre was lovely and quiet when I got there, which was great as I didn't want to be mowed down by gnarly biker dudes out on the trail. Put my bike together with minimal fussing and then hoofed it off into the woods. The other cars that were there did indeed contain the requisite gnarly biker dudes but they were still faffing with their bikes when I set out. I was wondering what exactly it is they do with their bikes, but since I'm know technical genius I've never bothered to find out. I think I now know. They're most likely checking to make sure everything's working, as this is what caught me out on the ride.

The circuit was glorious - bloody hard work (I'm definitely not yet as fit as I think I am), but stunning weather, good trail conditions and not a soul in sight. No problems other than the chain skipping occasionally and my lungs wanting to give out on me (and my legs), so I decided that I had just enough time to fit in another slightly more leisurely lap of the trail.

The fates were indeed tempted by this, and about a third of the way round the lap, I realised that the skipping chain had worsened and I now had definite problems with my bikes chain around the rear cassette. (This isn't going to be a highly technical explanation, so probably best to stop reading now if my girly descriptions might offend you lol). Basically speaking, I finally figured out that the back wheel had lost the ability to spin freely, so when ever the bike got faster than my little legs could pedal, the chain was being dragged through and coming completely slack. Not good if you're on a trail which has quite a damn lot of downhill!!

On I limped, and suddenly the gorgeous solitude of the forest and the lack of helpful bike experts became deeply irritating!!! Eventually I got to a section that it was impossible for me to get through (switchback berms looping up and down steeply in quick succession) and abandoned the singletrack for one of the nearby logging trails which run vaguely parallel. Five minutes later and a very relieved Sue and a rather crippled bike hobbled back to the car. So, my first attempt at some solo singletrack was a bit of disaster, and I think I really need to take some bike maintenance course lessons, and actually carry some tools with me in future!

Once back at the car, with the broken bike packed in the car (the chain guard which I hadn't bothered to strip off when I got the bike as snapped loose and wedged itself between the rear cassette and the wheel - hence the lack of free-wheeling) I grabbed a hot shower at the centre, and headed off to Stroud all nicely freshened up.

Down in Stroud I met the girls from my old work, Helen, Sara and Jen for dinner and a big gossipy catch up. It was truly lovely to see them again, and I realised how much I miss working with them all. I didn't appreciate how good my old job was until I left it, and in some ways I sincerely wish I hadn't left. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side, as I certainly had my fair share of stresses whilst I worked there, and to be fair, the commute to and from was killing me, but I genuinely miss working with them, and right now it seems like a bed of roses compared to my current job which I'm rapidly learning to hate.

We met at Jen's house before heading out for dinner, and I must say I'm incredibly jealous of her place. How does a young couple in their late 20's, one of them an assistant account and the other a bar-tender / manager earn enough to afford a gorgeous 4 bedroom, split level detached house newly built in the Cotswolds???? *Sigh*.

Saturday dawned bright and beautiful for the wedding of my schoolfriend Kate to her other half Martin. Yet another couple who have done fantastically well for themselves and seem to live a golden, charmed life. For once in my life I was out the door on time and where I needed to be ready to get changed and get my lift to church. Courtesy of Friday's biking adventures I had (and still have) a massive bruise on the back of my right leg caused by the spiked metal pedal on my bike smashing into the back of it, so that looked particularly elegant with my dress!

The wedding went smoothly and was pretty emotional, although the small kids tearing round did lighten the atmosphere a bit. The vicar was hilarious - a proper Northern guy who took the piss out of being Northern (the groom and his family are from up North too), and somehow managed to work a pint of Guinness into his address. I've never seen a vicar produce a pint of Guinness in church before, and then proceed to toast the bride and groom with it - but he was genuinely funny and interesting. He did later confide to me that the Guinness was warm and tasted disgusting though :o)

The reception afterwards was also excellent, although slightly traumatic in parts for me as I was bought face to face with someone I've known for years but who I am no longer friends with. To cut a long story short, this person decided about 2 years ago that she no longer liked me for various undisclosed (to me) reasons, and then proceeded to burn bridges most effectively by behaving in a completely unforgivable way around the time of my mother's death. I've wanted nothing to do with her since, although I mourn the fact that she drove a friendship of 15-odd years effectively into the ground. However the after effects of that "split" have caused quite a rift in our group of friends, as it became very awkward to have us in the same place together.

For the first time in 2 years we managed to be nice to each other at the wedding and while the friendship is by no means back on, I think that this will at least see the suspension of hostilities. Lissa and Jo were rather cheeky, making me laugh, as they made us hug for the camera so that they had proof that we'd spoken. As Lissa said "we can have one Christmas again - we're not the children of divorced parents anymore!". Whilst I was laughing at this, I could also see how relieved they were, as we're a tight-knit group and I can imagine it's been pretty difficult for them to know what to do or who to side with.

I had a lot to drink at the reception. And I do mean a lot. Which was a bit of a shame really, as I started to feel quite ill towards the end of the evening. I guess with everything else going on, reconciliations, meeting friend's new boyfriend, celebrating the wedding of course and catching up with friends I don't see very often. The result was me getting very drunk, and subsequently really quite ill although thankfully not til after we were home.

Sunday really just involved a lot of mooching around and then sitting in the sunny pub garden feeling sorry for ourselves and trying to shake the hangovers.

Lovely bank holiday Monday I bundled off in the car to nearby Ragley Hall for a picnic and general fun day. Although the weather looked a bit gloomy and threatening, it actually turned out beautiful in the end, so it was a great day just to sit around, chat, read a bit, play in the dual-layer maze, have a game of softball and another one of frisbee and just generally be silly!

This is us being all excited about going into the maze and getting lost:

The rest of the week has generally been fairly quiet with just the usual sessions at the gym or out running. We went out running on the Malvern hills last night and it was glorious in the evening sunshine. I've spent this afternoon having lunch with my lovely Dad and enjoying a catch up, and then a spot of shopping for a few bits I needed, and tomorrow morning I head off to London.

I'm being a bit stupid really, as one of the people holding the house party had a real thing for me a while ago. Whilst I wasn't interested in return, it was really flattering that he continually showed that he liked me as I was feeling pretty down in the confidence stakes at the time. Last week I found out that he's been seeing a new girl for a couple of months now, and this should be a good thing as it puts an end to a potentially uncomfortable situation of him chasing me, but oddly I just feel a bit disappointed that he's clearly over me. Stupid really, and entirely selfish - I should really get a grip!!!