@MaJ1 I wanted to walk. My belly is upset from the variety I ate yesterday. Otherwise, it would be a good walk, not windy. Maybe later, a slower walk with my wife, when my body calms down.
Still searching for records of serial numbers and taking awhile. We might go for a drive and walk a park in another town. I'm supposed to be there to pickup a laptop this morning
@MaJ1 Damn you! Now I'll feel guilty if I don't walk today. I'll go with my wife after daylight, it's going to drop into negative double digits this week, might be the last walk of the week for me.
Laptop worked good though, all setup with updates and travel software
@MaJ1@Rasta You’re really putting the rest of us to shame! I’m supposed to have a short walk every day - recently it’s been more like once a week. You are shaming, sorry inspiring us to get out more.
@PaulNickson That's how all this started @MaJ1 ◄ His fault. I never wanted to walk. I hate the cold too. But, not wanting to be beaten by a squirrel, I went to keep up.. Then, the squirrel got sick and let me walk alone in the cold.. Now he's well again and shaming us.. get dressed Paul.. it's time for a walk.
@PaulNickson OK if I am dressed for it and working, but not for a pleasant stroll or activity. When my knees were younger, I used to enjoy running in the rain. Hard on NIKE shoes though
@Rasta To be fair I normally don’t care about the weather much when I’m outside. My work means I’m outside a lot and the weather has to be ignored (except to keep equipment dry).
@PaulNickson I never liked working in it either, but my work seldom was done outside, except in seas.. Sometimes cold-wet and you still had to be on upper decks in the storm.
But, for myself, in warmer rain, last year had the most rain we ever saw in summer. I had work to do. I put a plastic bag over my BT Headphones, took a good audiobook and shoveled in the rain for days at a time. Lost lots of weight, fit as a fiddle, but near drown some days
@PaulNickson It's a mental thing. Both in getting out, and in staying out. I'm a strange personality, even with ADHD.
Sometimes I can't get started: Any excuse will do. Other days, I'm hyper-focused and I won't stop to eat until the job is done, or I run out of days. One ten-hour books, The Handmaiden's Tale, were just one day, or (one 12 yard load of gravel), long. I went though more books last summer, than in my entire life before. And it rained every other day, it never dried. No growth
@PaulNickson And we only get a few months there (summer home) and there's lots of work, and gardens to do, mowing and harvesting.. Losing a day to rain is bad enough, but losing the summer.. that's a big setback. On top of that, I'm determined. I had a ditched that I cleared that had become a dumping area, next to my home. So, I dug 60 feet out of it, removed all garbage, glass, and made things look nice with landscaping work I did too. I hate when the nice appearance stops at the property line
@Rasta Wow, that’s a lot more than I would do. Mind you I did spend an hour on Saturday almost literally battening down the hatches before #StormBastardand mended a broom and secured the back door to the garden. That was quite an achievement for me so I’m in awe of your drive.
@PaulNickson I come back to the city, and have one neighbour that complains if my fence is dirty, and on the other side, a neighbour that never trims his hedge, it's trees that sway and bang my house.. so I cut them. His garbage is all over my yard, every week. I want to pick it up, but I'll wait until I go out with a garbage bag to put out, it's every week. But my rural home, it's just me, no neighbours. Surrounded by ocean, with a driveway
@Rasta The city is no place for anyone but it sounds like you are particularly averse to it. Rural or country living is so good for the blood pressure and mental well being, especially near the coast. You have a busy schedule, what with clearing up eveyone else’s mess!
@PaulNickson I fall behind in winter. Too much online time. I'm at an office desk on a keyboard (with a cat between my elbows while I create typos) and I have to force myself to find things inside to do, or this is my life until April thaw
@Rasta I’m not that different. I tend to ‘hibernate’ during Winter (even our mild Winters here in UK!) cause it’s just too damn miserable and uncomfortable out there.
I suppose you could label me one of those wussy southern bastards!
@PaulNickson I lived in Germany as a teenager and the winters were mild. Before I went, I remember winter storms, when we'd open the upstairs window, and slide off the roof onto the snowbank against the back of the house. We get two decent snow storms a year now, but we still get colder than I like weather. I was a sailor that left every year after Christmas for exercises off Puerto Rico, Bahamas, Curacao, Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Florida, to Acores, Spain, Portugal weather.. Never saw snow
@Rasta You’ve had one hell of a life haven’t you! I lived in Germany at RAF Bruggen and Laarbruch in the late 60s/early 70s while my Dad was there as a pilot. Winters there then were cold but dry & quiet so fairly reasonable.
@PaulNickson Not far from where we were ,other side of Dortmund. Spent the first year in Soest before two more in the Black Forest. used to go skiing in Austria as a school trip. All he castles of Germany, I went back to fly over Neuschwanstein Castle in 83.. in a 50 year old Sea King helicopter. I grew up in a Military family, that's the secret to moving every year or two, it's not because we're in witness protection .. 😎
@Rasta Ha! People thought we were in Witness Protection too as we moved so often. Not enough time in each place to build lasting friendships or put down any roots.
You’ve had a lovely military experience as a military ‘brat’. Jealous you’ve been in a Sea King.
My Dad took me up in a Canberra T4 trainer in Laarbruch - what an experience that 35 minutes was, in spite of cloudbase being approx 1000’ so we hardly saw a thing once we were off the ground. Good times, in spite of the Cold War …
@PaulNickson Big difference if you have memories then, and you go back.
When we returned to Canada, I joined the Navy a year later, and returned back to the seaports of Europe, I took a train back from den Helder, and even then, there were changes. But again in 83 (the Seaking trip) changes were overwhelming. Nothing hurts your memory like complete change. Isolated areas were built up, culture change,
I attended more schools than years. I have one friend that keeps in touch, it's been 50 yrs
@Rasta It’s not a good idea to revisit places with old memories. Fascinating though it was I google-map’d some of the old places I’ve lived in, including now defunct RAF bases - eg one in Lincolnshire called North Coates, built on the coast 1.5 miles from the local village, North Cotes where I went to primary school. Looking at the area through street view was weird and sad. So much had changed, mixed with a lot that hadn’t changed at all. The biggest shock was how small these places now look.
@PaulNickson
Flugplatz Solingen is now a flying club, I think.
You can visit/revisit the world, with google earth.. also handy if you have friends in places you remember, who also send you local photos of shopping in the market and what remains unchanged
@Rasta That’s a good idea. In fact, now I’m thinking about it I just realised that I can of course use Google Earth or Maps(?) to see eg Laarbruch. Right, I’m off to explore!
@Rasta I just looked at RAF Widenrath where I used to fly to from Gatwick or Luton for school holidays. Now I feel weird because it doesn’t exist as an airfeild anymore.
@Rasta I must say I’m similar. Some days I’m really pleased with myself that I’ve cracked the laziness thing and I’m walking every day. Other days I just can’t be bothered and my mind is questioning whether walking is indeed beneficial. I hate my mind sometimes.
@PaulNickson Walking is more beneficial than you think.
Physical - When I walk before sunrise, I'm marching as fast as I can walk, arms swinging, and if not for the -17°C in my face, I'd be warm.
Mental - When my wife wants to walk (she's disabled and staggers along with a cane) I'm at a slower pace, and I take photos of mushrooms and collect tree seeds to grow. The forest bathing and fresh air are healthy alternatives to bitching and whining about winter and weather.
@Rasta I know it’s really beneficial both physically and mentally but my ‘laziness’ (depression/ADHD??) stops me. Mind you walking, albeit briskly in -17C sounds like torture.
@PaulNickson It was hell! I don't even like going outside in the winter, I rarely will walk if it is below freezing, but I was determined a few mornings. sorta, in for a penny, in for a pound.
@Rasta I know that feeling. If I’m in that mood ie ‘X is going to happen no matter what’ then I don’t care about the conditions. But I have to be in that (stubborn) mood.
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