Return to Clifton December 2017

I'm now back in Clifton after spending the past few days at my girlfriend's house. I enjoyed my time there with her and will be back again on the 29th but for the next two days, I shall be at my mother's house, although I'll still be sleeping at my university accommodation. Tomorrow morning, I shall be taking a walk to the city centre and back, provided that I do not oversleep.

Have stayed put lately

I've ventured out of Clifton much lately. Part of it is because of when I had my colds, as I didn't feel like walking far or riding on buses when I was as sick as I was. Another reason is because of the  higher workload of Year 2; more reading is required for the seminars and the upcoming assignments.

I've still been walking and I've been eating less, so my weight has been coming down. I dropped another notch on my belt, which feels amazing. Still more weight to lose but I'm making great progress!

The former housemate

During the summer, one of my housemates from last year and I often went for walks together. We'd walk around Clifton or towards the city centre; on at least one occasion we spent three hours out walking.

This particular housemate is from India and she will be returning there in December. Until then, she has been living in Clifton and has been working. This evening, she and I met up to take a short-to-medium length walk around Clifton. Until earlier, it had been a few weeks since we last walked together, as I wasn't going to meet up with her while I was ill. Now that I'm better, we can meet up for walks before she returns to her family in India.

The long-awaited walk

For the first time in well over two weeks, I walked to the city centre from here in Clifton. A major factor of my recent colds were that they sucked away my energy and along with it, my wanting to exercise.  Finally, this afternoon, I once again had the energy and it was pleasant outside, so being cooped up inside wasn't at all desirable.

In addition to achieving a long walk, when I made it to the city centre I encountered a university friend, who subsequently invited me to a small gathering she was attending with mutual friends. I stayed for an hour and a half before I returned to Clifton. Much as I would have liked to have joined them at a pub quiz they were attending, the fact I am still coughing occasionally was enough to make me decide to leave before they moved to that venue.

A Saturday of rest

As I have no immediate reading to complete, I decided to spend today resting as to help finish off my bug. While I'm still coughing somewhat, today is the best I've felt in two weeks - I felt so great, in fact, that I was able to go for an hour-and-a-half long walk around Clifton, which was my first long walk in over two weeks.

With regards to tomorrow, I'll sleep in again as well as go for another walk but I'll also have to start my next batch of reading for next week.

No loss of appetite

A consequence of my now-fading cold is that I had little energy during the height of it; this meant I didn't go out for my usual walks and instead I spent the extra time resting when I would otherwise have been exercising. As such, the past 10 days is the most inactive I've been for months.

At the time same, my cold did not affect my appetite; while every other part of me felt terrible, my stomach was very much in good working order. Thanks to no drop in appetite combined with an increase in sugars, such as having a lot of tea, I have gained some weight. To lose this weight quickly, not only will I have to start walking again but I'll also have to drastically cut back my diet; I wanted to do this, anyway, as I already had extra weight I wanted to shed but now I have some more I need to lose.

I shall do it; it will be good for me to lose the extra pounds and get back down to the weight I was at 2-3 years ago.

Walk interrupted

My intended walk this afternoon was Clifton-Ruddington-Wilford-City Centre via the tram walkways. When I stepped outside, it looked as though it was going to be cool but otherwise dry, although just in case I had brought my umbrella.

After I walk out of Ruddington, I notice a massive black cloud hovering over the region. I expected that it wouldn't be long before it would unleash its contents onto the fully-suspecting ground below. Not to be disappointed, as I approached Wilford, the rain fell upon the land, going from a light shower to a downpour in seemingly no time at all.

The rain was so heavy that my umbrella was overwhelmed; as such, I ran to the upcoming bus stop and took the 3 route, thus ending my walk until I returned to Clifton, when the rain had stopped and I walked back to my mother's and brother's house.

The faces

This afternoon, I walked to Ruddington and from there, I rode the 10 bus to the city centre. On its own, this isn't worth of noting here; however, the events on the bus and afterwards are.

Shortly after the bus passed the former site of Central's West Bridgford campus, it stopped to pick up two people; to my surprise, one of these people was a friend of a cousin of mine. My brother and I met this person in passing during our visit to Drayton Manor over six years ago. I did not acknowledge her, on the basis that it was a brief meeting years and because it was unlikely she would have recognised me, given my appearance changes since then.

The second familiar face was towards the county hall stop in West Bridgford. At this point, a librarian who helped process me when my progression advisor encouraged me to undertake an assessment back when I first visited Central then boarded the bus. I have seen him since then to speak to and he acknowledged/spoke to me when we departed the bus.

The final familiar face was in the Victoria Centre. I saw in there a coursemate from the Media side of my university course. The last few times I've seen her have either been in the city centre or on board South Notts 1. Since she lives in London, I wasn't expecting to see her around again until later this month, at least. She and I did acknowledge each other.

So, plenty of familiar faces this afternoon!

Matlock Bath and Matlock 2017

My best friend and I spent the day in Matlock Bath this afternoon. As she will be heading off to university later this month, I treated her to a trip up there as a gift before she leaves. As per my recent visits to the Peak District, we travelled via Red Arrow to Derby and then the Sixes 6.1 to Matlock Bath.

Once in Matlock Bath we climbed the mountain, via its footpaths, that faces the Heights of Abraham. We did not visit the Heights of Abraham itself because the cable car ride up was too expensive for us; however, the view of the Heights from the opposite side was just as worthy. We walked along the mountaintop paths and exited in the town of Matlock itself before walking back to Matlock Bath.

We had a fantastic day out in the Peak District and I wish my friend the best for her upcoming journey through university.

Tram path walk

There are four major routes I take to walk from Clifton to the city centre of Nottingham:

1. Clifton - Wilford - Ruddington - West Bridgford - the city centre

2. Clifton - Wilford - down a footpath close to the river - the tram path via The Meadows part of Nottingham - the city centre

3. Long way via Clifton - Ruddington - West Bridgford (via the route of the 10) - the city centre

4. Direct to the city centre via the footpath by the tram tracks

Recently, I've been walking on that last one, the footpath via the tram tracks. This is easily the most direct way into the city centre from Clifton, as it is a mostly straight route, in addition to avoiding much of the traffic. A modified version of this walk is to take it all the way to the bridge over the Trent but to then turn right and go via West Bridgford, which is what I did today as it adds some extra distance to the walk.

Beating the bus - from Gamston!

To pick up some food items that I wasn't able to purchase at Clifton Morrison's, I took a long walk and then rode a bus to Gamston Morrison's, as that store is larger and contains a greater selection. I spent fifteen or so minutes in the store and then returned to the bus stop; however, the next bus was in 25 minutes and I had no desire to wait.

As such, I walked to West Bridgford from Gamston Morrison's; at a point during this walk, I saw, going in the direction of Gamston, the bus that that I would have taken had I waited. Some twenty or so minutes later, once I had nearly reached the stops bound for Clifton, that bus appeared again. I beat it by a minute.

While I only saved myself a minute of time, which was negated anyway by my having to wait for the Clifton-bound buses, walking from Gamston to West Bridgford was still beneficial, in my view, because the exercise performed while doing so was preferable and better for me than waiting around for nearly half an hour.

For abs and arms

During one of the recent days at my grandparents' house, my grandfather and I sorted out their garage. While doing so, I came across a medium-sized device that looked like motorbike handles attached to a pump.

My grandfather said it was an exercise device for the torso and arms. While I walk lots, I haven't done much in the way of improving my arm strength and reducing excess stomach fat. As my grandfather no longer uses the device and didn't want to throw it away, he gave it to me.

So now I have my own exercise pump! Even a few minutes use of it per day will work wonders; the key now is to ensure I use it each day. The motivation? Keeping fit and healthy!

US Mother's Day 2017

For the first time in three years, I was able to spend US Mother's Day with Mum. As with UK Mother's Day, my missing it the past two years has been down to her being in Northamptonshire and my being up here in Nottinghamshire. Now that she and my brother are up here, we can spend it together again.

As for what we did, we walked to the Rushcliffe Country Park in Ruddington and back and later had dinner together.

In 48 hours...redux

It's now under 26 hours before all assignment deadlines are upon me. Fortunately, my all-nighter was a success and I wrote a huge amount of my essay, as well as managed to help a few of my coursemates via chat messages. I finished at 6:00am to go for a walk.

For my walk, I went to Ruddington and rode the 10 bus to the city centre. I was surprised to encounter one of my coursemates board the bus briefly as it went through West Bridgford and when I arrived in the city centre, it was at about the time when my sociology/history teacher would arrive at Central. By happy circumstance, I was able to see her for a few minutes this morning, which is the first I've seen her since the Nottingham Post Awards ceremony last December.

I later spent much of the afternoon resting and now I'm about to return to the library for a second all-nighter, during which I will complete and submit my two outstanding assignments.

Needless sarcasm

This afternoon, I was out with a friend to go and see a film at the cinema. After we finished the movie, we walked back to her bus stop, which departs from the Broadmarsh bus station. While the Broadmarsh closes in the evening, there is a "tunnel" through it that is open as a way of allowing access to the station.

My friend and I made use of this tunnel and I should note that she is not a fast walker whereas I am and so I walk at her speed when with her. When we were about halfway through the tunnel this evening, I heard a voice from behind me ask, "Could you walk any slower?".

The words came from impatient person, who could quite easily have either gone around my friend and me (there was plenty of room to do so) or have politely asked us to come through. But no, apparently this required too much brainpower for them; immediately resorting to sarcasm was apparently their only option.

While I ended up letting them through (more like because I moved out of the way instinctively, not because I wanted to let them pass), it wasn't without a comeback of my own. My response was, "Why, yes I can, actually!".

Walking in sandals

This evening, I walked from Clifton, through Ruddington and to the city centre; this is a relatively easy walk for me and took 2 1/2 hours to complete. However, the complication for this occasion was that I wore sandals.

Why? Because my main shoes are starting to wear from my walks. I was about a third of the way into this evening's walk when my right foot pained me; by the time I was in the city centre, I needed to sit down and rest my feet. Even now, my right foot is hurting in parts but I won't find out how much until tomorrow.

Still, I had a lovely walk - it was too beautiful to stay indoors!

Yep, more walking! And daylight

As sunshine-filled weather is occurring frequently and seeing as the clocks went forward (last Sunday), I finally achieved something today that I hadn't done before: Go on a long walk with my brother and mother around Clifton. I go on plenty of longs walks by myself while Mum and by brother go on theirs together but today is the first time all three of us went on one here.

The clocks having gone forward an hour really makes a difference. When I have gone on a long walk and have taken a bus back to Clifton, it's been great returning here in daylight/dusk rather than in darkness.

Walk in Arnold

I've been through Arnold several times, either on the Calverton Connection or whenever I've gone up there while exploring bus routes. Today, however, I spent some time there walking.

Not particularly far, mind you; I mostly walked along the route the Calverton Connection takes. What surprised me about Arnold is how hilly it really is; I suppose I shouldn't have been, given that Calverton and nearby Gedling village are also mountainous by Nottingham standards. Clifton is flat by comparison!

Arnold is a part of Nottingham that is worth exploring some more.

Friend and walks

The plan for today was to meet up with a friend I hadn't seen since last summer; she and I indeed met up and spent a couple of hours together. Nice to have a catch up!

Besides meeting with my friend, I walked to both Ruddington and the city centre of Nottingham. I walked to Ruddington to catch a bus there to meet my friend in West Bridgford and after my friend and I parted ways, I walked to the city centre. This makes today, as far as I can recall, the first time I have walked to both on the same day.

I am using this half of the break to catch up on exercise. So far, I've been sticking to that!

Pants for long walks

I recently purchased a pair of pants/trousers specifically for when I go on long walks. Back in the summer, I wore out a couple of pairs of my trousers because of the five-miles-a-day walks that I undertook back then; as we are starting to progress towards warmer weather, I anticipate more walking.

Also, I do sweat significantly when I walk in warm weather; rather than my everyday clothing have to be affected by my sweat, better for walk-specific clothing to absorb it.