Helen

Story of loveliness for you all because you've been so well behaved recently.

I dated an Italian guy for about 3 months six years ago, and my mum decided it was time to start learning Italian.

The relationship didn't last but my mum never stopped learning Italian by herself in retirement. She's never had a teacher or been to a class; she's taught herself from apps and lots of books I've thrown at her.

She speaks Italian with the strongest English accent you've ever heard. There's no doubt to anyone that she is not a native speaker.

So last week she went to Turin for a couple of days, and she came back *buzzing*. She's been to Italy before and spoken Italian but this time was different.

She was having conversations in Italian with everyone about everything. Basic conversations but she was doing it and loving it.

In one restaurant the waiter couldn't possibly believe that she was an English person speaking this language. English?! English people only speak English! What the actual?! He was so overjoyed at her efforts that he kept bringing her all sorts of free food and limoncello until she asked him to stop.

When I spoke to her a couple of days ago she said it's so weird that you sit at home and learn this language but it doesn't mean anything. It's all nonsense. But then you go to a different country and say the nonsense words and people actually understand you!

I've always loved learning languages and this just warmed my cold, dead heart a wee bit.
#LanguageLearning #Italian #languages

Stickers!

I really don't like the colour of this mug (it works excellently well and my previous one in a different colour was broken beyond repair so I bought this one anyway) so I decided to cover it in stickers of my favourite things.

Now I still hate the colour but I'm reminded of wonderful things when I use it at work.

I've got some stickers arriving soon and I'm rather excited. I tried to pick all of my favourite things to decorate my travel mug.

EXCITED

#3GoodThings

- Completed run #3 of my life.

- Had time to read more of Dark Force Rising.

- Jenkins 🐇 just did a massive binky. So clearly he's a happy boy.

Today I officially completed Week 1 of Couch to 5K.

I hate cardio. I don't run. I'm not a person who does these things. And yet here I am having completed 3 runs this week (and 3 runs total in my entire life...).

This was definitely inspired by @TheBreadmonkey@beige.party and one of my old friends who is a world champion fell runner (like you do). And it wasn't the distance or the physical endurance of these two that inspired me but the mental bits of brain that appealed to me. My fell running friend has been plagued by injury over the years and then the next week she accidentally wins a race on a mountain and gets the trophy for "Winner of the Race" as well as "Fastest Female" (because it was assumed they would be different people...).

I want some of that brain juice that tells me to keep going when the other voices are telling me to sit down and shut up.

So. Look at me go! Week 1 down. That's cool.
#running #exercise

One of life's greatest mysteries that I solved is the eternal battle of, "what do you want for dinner? I don't know. What do YOU want for dinner?"

Spouse takes responsibility for clothes washing and kitchen washing up. I take responsibility for choosing 5 meals a week and writing a shopping list. These are usually Gousto recipes so I just flick through my file of recipes, pick 5, and that's it. Job done.

This is the only relationship Spouse has ever been in so I'm not sure he realises the enormity of what we've done here.

#3GoodThings

- Whipped up a CV and cover letter for my first of several job applications.

- Today's work task was something I used to avoid when I first started. Today I felt experienced enough to do it without even thinking about it.

- The Beths are so good.

Heard something earlier in the day that makes me despise my workplace more than usual. Haven't been able to focus or function as a human since.

On a related note, I have 8 job applications to write in the next few days...

#3GoodThings

- I did a run. It was very small. But I did it!

- I helped someone get out of the car park without paying the stupid fee.

- Heir to the Empire is such an awesome book. I'm now starting Dark Force Rising.

Today's sleep goal: stay awake until 19:30.

33 minutes to go!
#jetlag

I bought a magazine from Pak n Save which despite being 12,000 miles away was actually UK-based: The Complete Anti-Anxiety Guide.

Picked it up expecting it to be just as useless as everything else I've ever read but I took a chance. Aaaaaand it's ace.

Informative. Hopeful.

Depression is more my thing rather than anxiety but there's a lot of crossover and I'll definitely keep re-reading this.

#anxiety #depression

Typical post-holiday blues but I've opened my work emails to find out that the person who deserved a new job role actually got the job.

Excellent news! Wahoooo! 💪

Brought some chocolate back from Aotearoa New Zealand and it's Hokey Pokey Crunch because according to the back of the bar, "what's more kiwi than hokey pokey?"

I don't know what hokey pokey is but the shops don't open here for another hour so this chocolate bar is now breakfast. 🍫
#food

Purposely putting on a second load of washing so I'm forced to stay awake at least another hour.

#smart

Landed back in Blighty*.

We were in the taxi for all of 5 mins before the driver started spouting off about brown people being terrible drivers and "the ones who don't get put up in hotels are given an English driving licence and off they go."

Then he explained climate change. It all started in 2004 when "the earth's axis moved an inch." He was worried his clients in Thailand wouldn't be able to fly back home. That's when the weather went weird because if you shoot a gun an inch off from a 25 yard marker then you're actually shooting at a 90° angle to where you aimed. That makes sense. Those two things are related. That wasn't a weird metaphor to use at all.

If I hadn't been awake for about 38 hours I would have unloaded my "what the fucking fuck you moron" but I wouldn't be able to do it politely and he doesn't strike me as the kind of person that would change his mind when presented with facts anyway.

Dude doesn't understand the poles are constantly moving. Or what distances are.

But after 3 weeks of not wanting to come back to this country, it was a very quick reminder why I feel that way.

Should be reunited with Jenkins in half an hour though. 🐇

*Does that mean England? Great Britain? Where did that come from? Is it a term racists use? I'm using it with zero understanding what it means.

Waiting for the final flight of the trip. There's a scrolling ticker tape on the wall of the ariport, possibly with ads for shops here, I'm not sure. It's bright so I'm not looking at it.

Well I just glanced at it and it said, "throbbing in his syrups."
#HoneymoonHashtag