November
Posted on 20 Nov, 2009 by Lynne Walker | Filed under Blog • General
November has been revealed to me this year. After many years of working inside, I had forgotten just what it is like. OK, so I walked to work almost every day for the past two years, but then you forget about the weather when it is dark both ways and you need to have the waterproofs on most days.
Is it perception or is it always a dreich month? The clocks have changed and there is little daylight before 8am and after 4pm. The leaves are flying off the trees and blocking the gutters and drains. Paul has cleaned our gutters of the larch needles today. There seem to be days at a time when there is not 30 minutes without rain – heavy at that. Cabin fever starts to set in. Today we began to look at 2010, planning in some holiday time.
So will we go on holiday mid-February to the start of March? If we do this, will we go on a snow holiday or will we go to the sun/Canaries/Atlas? Or should we go on holiday in May/June? If so will it be a Mediterranean island or the Atlas or the States? No decisions were made but I have blocked off lots of time on the calendar with question marks. We should be able to pick up a last minute holiday quite easily when we make up our minds.
What has led to the indecision? A couple of things. I am still getting physio/acupuncture for my hip (climbing fences is not great, pain at times when in the car, some of the exercises I have been given to do hurt quite a lot); I also will have, sometime in the new year, an appointment to see the consultant at Inverclyde Royal Hospital as the lump just down my leg from the knee injury is growing.
The main thing though is that we need to get some house stuff done. The porch leaks; it is not well built so should it be pulled down and rebuilt? Builder needed. Do we get the house door moved into the hall a bit to give more hanging/drying space in the ‘new’ porch? Some electrical work needs to be done – a few more sockets, socket in the loft, some ceiling light fixings moved. Electrician needed. Should we get BT in to put in more phone points? Finally, the ceilings. We have a quote from last year to have them prepared (in other words, some of the artex removed) and then two coats of plaster. After all that we would then need to redecorate totally. As the current decoration has lasted for 15 years, it is time to do it.
But November has not been all rain and wind. The Tinto Twin orienteering event was at the start of the month. The night event – OK it was the 31st October – was fabulous. A clear night, mild and a new powerful head torch. The next day we paid for it with torrential rain and wind.
A visit to Glenmore Lodge on 8th and 9th November showed autumn at its best. Sunny, cold with glorious colours. The following Sunday was a trip to Fife and again sun and lovely colours. Both of these involved assessment of assessors, the one at Glenmore for orienteering while the one in Fife was for archery. I am getting to know a bit about archery and will know more by the end of the month when I visit Northern Ireland for a weekend of archery assessment.
There has been quite a lot of orienteering related work in November. I have been able to spend the time preparing well for this – what a luxury. December brings in some work as well so I am not wearying too much.
The Christmas cake is made and being fed brandy every couple of weeks; some presents are bought and oh yes, I nearly forgot, I have a new phone. It is purple(!), very small and does lots of things. Needless to say, it is called Wee J (short for Jalou).
I am a level 4 orienteering coach and a qualified Assessor & Coach Educator. I have been orienteering for xx years and have coached on many foreign tours.