March | 2017 | rapidcyclistwordpresscom

Overprotected*

Posted on March 31, 2017 by waternymph88

It’s 5.46pm. The birds are talking: pigeons coo, blue tits chirp, blackbirds sing. The fluffy monster is still out. He saunters past my window and through the hedge into next door’s garden.

Have been listening to Britney’s Greatest Hits: My Prerogative.

Push self hard at Spin. Here is graph:

Maybe need to get monitor recalibrated or something as there’s not meant to be so much red. Will ask The Boss tomorrow.

Walk Gandalf in the woods. He is a good boy. Don’t need the special harness anymore: he walks next to me just on the lead. Here we are:

We see a nuthatch running down a tree in the woods and a red kite soaring over the fields.

Have done Body Scan meditation and sleep and now must try and catch that fluffy monster before Mum arrives.

Happy Friday everyone!
*2001. Song by Britney Spears recorded for the feature film Crossroads.

Set Me Free*

Posted on March 30, 2017 by waternymph88

It’s been a year, today

Since Seb dumped me.

So the mourning period

Is now over.

Have a new job,

New dog clients,

It’s a sunny day.

Have been sunbathing

On the grass.

Today we buy new clothes

For holiday.

My shell shock

From the break up

Is mostly gone

I think.

And there are hyacinths

Fritillaries, pansies

Bird song,

Bees and butterflies.

Have lost some weight,

No-one can say I

Haven’t pushed myself

To get over Seb.

So that’s it now.

No more crying over him,

No more praying for

His return.

Just looking

To the future:

The future’s bright

The future’s orange

And gold

And green.

It seems,

That, apart from

The terminal cancer

And severe mental disorder

Everything is fine.

There are plans afoot

With my New Chap

Lots of messaging anyway.

The fluffy monster

Is resplendent.

As he suns himself

In the springtime.

Attached photo with The Male Boss at Spin.

Happy Thursday everyone!

*1965. Song by Ray Davies. Released by The Kinks in 1965. Appears in the Ken Loach BBC television drama Up The Junction, which marks the first appearance of a Kinks song on a film or TV soundtrack.

The Lion’s Game*

Posted on March 29, 2017 by waternymph88

The King rests on his throne,

Reflecting on his busy day.

Patrolling done, he dozes –

Pretending to sleep,

But a tail flick

Betrays his light snooze

As just a rest.

He’s patrolled his lands,

Sniffing the hyacinths,

Pansies and pulsatilla.

Repelling invading squirrels

Crows and magpies.

He’s chased bees, but missed

Catching them.

He’s rested on the old

Table tennis table,

Which is meant to be going

To the tennis club

But no-one has yet picked it up.

He’s had three breakfasts,

Two lunches,

And soon it’s suppertime.

But now he rests –

From time to time

An ear flick betrays him

When he pretends to sleep

For the camera.

Touch him at your peril:

So soft, so orange,

And yet that mane tells you

That he’s a lion

The king of beasts.

He has an army of human slaves

To attend his every need:

Sometimes he oversees his gardener

Helping her plant tulips.

Other days he lies in the road:

Daring cars to approach him.

He has the body of a weak and feeble cat,

But he has the heart and stomach of a king:

A king of England too.

And so, like Arthur, he sleeps

Until his people need him

To ride his charger into battle.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

*2000. By Nelson DeMille. The second Detective John Corey novel. Corey is now working for the fictional FBI Anti-Terrorist task force in New York City.

Animals In The Zoo*

Posted on March 28, 2017 by waternymph88

Achievements Of The Day:

Walk to Dolly’s house: 90 minutes.
Walk Dolly:
Buy yet another external phone battery.
Meet Mum.
Attend the Zoo:
This is Bhanu. He may well be the fluffy monster’s real father. The lions have a brilliant new enclosure.
Edward the baby sloth has gone to live in Zurich. Hope he will be happy there.
We see Malcolm the baby aye-aye but are not allowed to photograph the aye-ayes as they’re very secretive and sensitive and flash upsets them.
Also not allowed to photograph the slender lorises, bushbabies or potto as they’re nocturnal. But we see them.
Have just arrived home.
Still haven’t tidied that drawer…

Happy Tuesday everyone!

*1971. Song by the Kinks. Written by Ray Davies. Appears on the album Percy.

No Regrets*

Posted on March 27, 2017 by waternymph88

Everyone say I’m pretty, everyone say I’m handsome, Robbie sings. I’m listening to In And Out Of Consciousness. Still have headache. Miss The Office. Hope they are getting on OK without me…

Cleaner has been, so flat is clean. And tidy. The drawer of swimwear-gym-clothes-nightwear remains untidied. Ah well. Tomorrow is another day.

Push self quite hard at training today:

Want to look good in my bikinis, after all. Thinking about supper and Holiday. Starting to get anxious about Work next week.

On the plus side:

Dolly tomorrow for giant fluffy cuddles.
Then Zoo with Mum.
We will meet the baby Aye-Aye, Malcolm.
And see how the Tiger cubs are doing.
Have plenty of yarn left.
What if needles break in the hold though…
It is a gorgeous sunny day.
Speak to a human chum today.
“I’d like you to see another human who you don’t have to pay for their company,” Mum says.
So seeing Suzy tomorrow.
Am going to have an Early Night.
After supper.
And knitting.
And Born To Kill?

Happy Monday everyone!
*1998. By Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers. Released as a single and on the album I’ve Been Expecting You. The song is about Robbie’s feelings in and departure from the band Take That. It reached number 4 in the U.K. Singles Chart.

The Face Of An Angel*

Posted on March 26, 2017 by waternymph88

Look what has just arrived:

Well done me.

Achievements Of The Day:

Push self hard at Spin:
See attached photo with The Boss for Spin outfit.
Mum takes me back to the flat.
Unload washing machine and hang clothes on the airer.
Watch The Face Of An Angel.
Unload dishwasher.
Make mozzarella and avocado toasted sandwich for lunch.
Tidy bedroom.
Now am going to make supper and watch Born To Kill?
And knit.
It has been another sunny day.
Here is Mother’s Day card for Mum:
Also buy Mum another orchid for her collection.

Happy Sunday everyone!
*2014. Feature film directed by Michael Winterbottom. Screenplay by Paul Viragh, based on the book by Barbie Latza Nadeau. Stars Kate Beckinsale, Daniel Bruhl, Valerio Mastandrea and Cara Delevingne. The film is based, loosely, on the Meredith Kercher murder and the Amanda Knox case.

Sunny Afternoon*

Posted on March 25, 2017 by waternymph88

Look what arrived in the post this morning from Made By Maggie. Isn’t it beautiful.

Push self hard at Spin today. Here is graph:

Then have lunch with the parentals, sit in the garden with Mum and the fluffy monster and have Bad Headache.

We go to Marks and Spencer to buy some underwear for Holiday and then return and do Body Scan meditation but can’t sleep. Headache remains Severe. Maybe is Brain Tumour?

Tonight the parentals are going out and am going to make card for Mother’s Day. The fluffy monster is going to help. We will also watch Midsomer Murders.

Have plenty of pairs of shorts for Holiday – can fit back into all of them now – and some new fit flops but need the scars all over legs to heal. Also need not to look so pale, a barely-reanimated corpse.

Also must make sure that have enough wool for Knitting. Presume that it will need to be packed in the case as maybe needles are banned from hand luggage. This is a shame as flight would be good opportunity to streak ahead with knitting. Must make sure that purchase the other Paul Bowles books to read as well.

It has been a sunny day here but cold.

Spin outfit is in the attached photo.

Happy Saturday everyone.
*1966. Single by The Kinks. Written by Ray Davies. Later featured on the Face To Face album as well as being the title track for their 1967 compilation album.

Living On A Thin Line*

Posted on March 24, 2017 by waternymph88

Push self hard at Spin. Here is graph:

Then have a good walk with Gandalf in the woods, listening to The Kinks:

Love that boy. Kiss the top of his head and cuddle him.

When I return to the parentals, one of Mum’s chums is there so I have lunch with them, followed by a brief chat with psychologist.

Then sleep all afternoon: am exhausted at the moment.

Am feeling quite cheerful. Please don’t let this be the mood spike upwards before it crashes, I think. Mood has been up for four and a half months now which means it’s due to crash in about two weeks: just in time for trip to see brother in Abroad.

Am hoping that on this new drug combination, mood won’t plummet. But then it always has before after about five months up.

Will just focus on:

First week of New Job, starting 3rd April.
Making sure have everything that need for holiday.
Pushing self hard at Spin.
And training.
Knitting.
Tidying bedroom.
Having a good last week in the flat next week before Work starts.
Enjoying the dogs.

There have been no signs of mood dropping yet, but it always seems so sudden when it happens so that means nothing.

Spin outfit is in the attached photo.

Happy Friday everyone!
*1984. Song by the Kinks. Written by Dave Davies, produced by Ray Davies. Released as on the 1984 album Word Of Mouth and then as a single in 1985.

Steel Magnolias*

Posted on March 23, 2017 by waternymph88

In exciting news, have a New Chap in my life. Met him on Monday and he walked Dolly with me on Tuesday:

He is ridiculously handsome and very tall, as you can see. Sadly he lives in Abroad, with his malamute. Here she is:

Hope to see him soon: he’s clever and we seem to have a lot to talk about, have been exchanging constant messages. He has a sexy scar on his face from a fencing injury.

Have been walking around daydreaming about him and smiling a lot. Please let him come back soon! I love this stage of getting to know someone where it’s all new and exciting and the chat is fascinating.

In other news:

Push self hard at Spin today. Here is graph:

All the camellias and magnolias are out in the village:

The fluffy monster got stuck up a tree this morning and meowed piteously until Mum talked him down. Now he is inside resting:

Am exhausted after day at The Bookshop and have been sleeping all afternoon.

The attached photo is today’s Spin outfit.

Happy Thursday everyone!

*1989. Feature film written by Robert Harding and directed by Herbert Ross. Stars Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Sally Field and Julia Roberts.

Deaths Of The Poets*

Posted on March 22, 2017 by waternymph88

Survived Training Day at Bookshop. So did most of my make-up: thank you Nars.
Took some photos and uploaded them to the shop’s Instagram:
Advised three sets of customers on books that they then bought: Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld, The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald and A Traveller In Time by Alison Uttley.
Made some progress with the Till.
And the Coffee Machine.
Did a lot of Standing Up.
Had a little cry.
It wasn’t much fun.
Apart from about five minutes when was recommending books to people.
I love Books.
And Bookshops.
Mum and her friend came in.
Mum bought me this:
Feel really drained and exhausted.
Hopefully this will get better as get used to New Job.
It seems very tough so far.
Although no-one shouted at me.
And didn’t break anything.
At least don’t have to go there next week.
I wanted a New Job after all.
Or I thought I did.
Whatever, am tired.
It either will or won’t be good for me to work hard.
We shall see.
On the plus side: haven’t been sacked yet.
Mr Fluffypants’ Mum who works in Westminster is OK. Phew. Have just heard from her.
What awful news though.
The policeman has died.
Don’t know what to say about that.