Waiting Game

It's terribly cliché to dislike January but it really is my least favourite time of year. It always feels like some kind of purgatorial limbo between the sparkly joy of Christmas and the early flowering of spring. It's always dark, generally cold, everyone is broke/on a health kick, and very seldom does anything fun happen. It feels particularly like a limbo time this year as well - we're moving to Guildford in March but it's too early really to start doing anything to make that happen. I've got a new job but again, it doesn't start until late March, so it's business as usual for the next few months.

These are major life changes but it feels like we've been waiting forever for them to kick in - Andy was headhunted for a new job in October last year but it involved multiple rounds of interviews so the possibility of a move to the South East has been gradually creeping into view for a while. It's been like being on a rollercoaster, slowly cranking it's way up to the top as things have fallen into place - Andy actually getting his job, the decision that we'd relocate, me starting to apply for jobs then getting a job. Somehow we still haven't yet reached the top of the rollercoaster - there's still a whole househunting process that we haven't even started yet because it's still too far away.

So limbo. Life carries on as normal (mostly) albeit with increasingly frequent conversations about the things we will need to do soon. I carry on dragging myself out of bed for a 6AM alarm and going through pretty much every day sleep deprived and seldom seeing daylight. I hate wishing time away, life is so short that wanting bits of it to be over seems obscene but I just want it to be March already - for a new perfect house to magically appear, for someone to pack up the old house, for my work to do list to finally start getting shorter. It feels incredibly childish to say this but I don't want to deal with all the hassle of the next three months - I just want it to all go away. However I'm an adult and however much I whinge no-one else can make this move happen apart from me (well, Andy is also integral). So I'm going to take a leaf from Fiona's book and try to think of January as a time for clearing the debris and starting to sew the seeds of the exciting future that's just around the corner. I've also booked a trip to Vienna with Andy for our anniversary next month - because god knows when we'll get a holiday this year and, when we do, whether we'll be able to escape this wretched island... Also because having fun things to look forward to is important!

What I've Been

Listening to:
I'm absolutely obsessed with a new podcast called Sentimental Garbage which is about the oft-derided genre of "chick-lit" (or y'know fiction written by women about the lives of women and therefore deemed not worthy of any attention by men). It's hosted by writer Caroline O'Donaghue who also co-hosts the brilliant School for Dumb Women podcast and it's been responsible for me buying or re-reading pretty much every book that has been covered on the show. The one exception has been the podcast about Career Girls by Louise Mensch (nee Bagshawe) and that's only because I really cannot contemplate giving that woman any money. But the podcast is amazing, listen to all of the first series immediately!

Reading:
I've read two amazing books already this year which is quite impressive! The first was City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty, a new fantasy book set (at least initially) in 18th Century Cairo and inspired by Middle Eastern history and folklore. The lead character Nahri is a con artist who accidentally summons a djinn and learns, not only that magic is real, but that she is heir to an ancient power. The story combines myth, legend and deadly court intrigue and did not go where I expected it to at all which is always the sign of a brilliant book. The second was Midnight Chicken (& Other Recipes Worth Living For) by Ella Risbridger. I've followed Ella on twitter for a while and very much enjoyed her writing for The Pool (among other places) but this is her first book - and what a book. Midnight Chicken is a combination of cookbook and memoir, interweaving mouthwatering recipes with reflections on life, love, family, friendship, and mental health. It was a brilliant read and I'm really excited about cooking everything in it!

I've also written a blog post about the best books I read in 2018 if you're looking for more book inspiration...

Doing:
Nothing much of consequence (see above comments about January...) Although as part of an admittedly quite minimal approach to Mind's RED January initiative, I've finally got around to setting up the turbo trainer we bought several months ago so have been doing various bits of stationary cycling in the kitchen - much to the bemusement of the dog. I really miss my bike over the winter - the commute of doom means I barely see daylight and no-one really likes cycling outdoors when it's dark and cold - so it's been really good to get my bike groove back a bit. I've also been swimming two weeks in a row which is most definitely an achievement!

Until next time, when I'll hopefully be a bit less gloomy... Cx