You’ll have heard the advert –
Lucky lucky lucky me
I’m a lucky son of a gun
I work 8 hours, I sleep 8 hours
That leaves 8 hours for fun
It’s wormed its way into my ear – although I can’t remember what it’s advertising.
In my case, I work 5 hours, I sleep 5 hours, that leaves 14 hours for fun…
And this is August Bank Holiday weekend. I was working yesterday, I’ll be working today (Saturday), and I’ll be working on Bank Holiday Monday. But in between times, I hope I’ll manage to have some fun.
So what do I do with my 14 hours? You know about some of the things I do.
There’s this blog, of course. I have a bit of a routine, which I wrote about in Bloggering About. I fit it around the other stuff I’m doing, and often write late at night or very early in the morning.
I go to the gym. You know about that. That’s 45 minutes every other day, plus walking/jogging there and back and having a shower afterwards. It takes just over an hour out of my day (I live very close to the gym!!)
On the days I don’t go to the gym, I like to go for a walk if the weather’s nice. There’s my regular walk along the Leeds Liverpool Canal. Or sometimes I might go further afield.
I garden – is that fun or necessity? Both, I guess. No harm in enjoying the things that have to get done. Once I’m out there (when the combination of weather and time off and nothing else needing to be done is just right), I crack on – cut the grass, trim the edges, train the clematis. I’ve decided to try to attract insects to the garden – so very little weeding. Yay!!
Of course, I used to volunteer one day a week at East Riddlesden Hall, but had to give it up when I got the job. I’ll be popping back from time to time if they’re short staffed and I happen to have a day off.
Then there are the things that don’t really come under the heading of ‘fun’ – although maybe doing them is better than not doing them?
I hoover and dust once a week, keep the bathroom clean – struggling to find any fun in that, but I do enjoy a nice clean house.
Twice a year I Spring Clean. No, that’s not odd. Why would you think that was odd?? I give the house a thorough clean around October/November, so it’s all shiny bright for Christmas, then again in about March or April ready for summer. It makes sense to me.
I cook. I quite enjoy cooking – I generally cook from scratch (cheaper, healthier, and there are worse ways to spend the time if there’s nowt on telly). I cook more than I need and freeze it for those times when I’m too tired/too busy or I’m working late.
I watch TV – not nearly as much as I used to. I’m getting very picky these days. I tend to record the things I want to watch and then watch them when it suits me. The times when I want to watch the telly, and the times when there’s something on that I want to watch, don’t seem to coincide at all!
Social media – I pop onto Facebook and Twitter from time to time during the day, and check the stats for this blog to see how things are going. I’m not glued to my phone – but there are times when I feel like I’m the only person who isn’t.
And there are a few things that I enjoy doing that I haven’t mentioned yet (quiet at the back).
I collect copies of Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management. Mrs B is certainly worthy of a blog post in her own right.
I research my family tree. Yes, there are skeletons.
There’s my cat, Molly. A softer moggy you couldn’t hope to meet.
I enjoy knitting. Trouble is, I don’t really like knitted things, so this hobby is doomed from the start. If anyone would like me to knit something for them…
And actually, sometimes, just sometimes, I might want to do nothing at all. I really am rubbish at doing nothing – but maybe it’s just lack of practice.
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