Tired

I hadn’t realised how unfit I now am, rugby practice was quite hard work, I guess I will have to get in training before the walk. Drat.

Last night I ended up in the woods without any of my kit, again, so it was a matter of relying on the emergency sleeping bag. The emergency sleeping bag is designed for summer use so I was quite cold last night and kept waking up; it was just like winter all over again. I didn’t get much sleep at all, seeing as I couldn’t sleep anyway I got up at quarter to six and caught the ten past six bus and missed the traffic into London. This knocked at least half an hour off the journey time and so by getting up half an hour early I gained at least an hour extra day. Brilliant! What though is there to do in Shepherds Bush at seven o’clock in the morning? It has long been an ambition of mine to get to the gym before work and now I had the perfect opportunity. So at half past seven this morning I went to the gym! I expected to be the only one their but there were quite a few other people about. Or I assume there were as lots of lockers were in use; I didn’t see many people though I suspect that they were in the actual ‘gym’ part of the gym. I had a sauna and a shower and left feeling thoroughly invigorated and good about myself. Getting to the gym before work is pretty hardcore. Sure I hadn’t actually done any exercise but I just wanted to prove that it was possible before doing anything rash like exercise. Next week I will do something once I get there.

I made use of the extra time by going to Tescos, much better to go before work when there is no one else about, it saves lots of time overall. I am trying to only cook using local produce so I picked out the usual selection of winter vegetables before walking past the spring onions. I like spring onions, they are fun to cook with, I looked at them longingly before walking past. Somewhere deep in my sleep deprived brain a message was trying to get through “it is spring, it is spring, it is spring” eventually the penny dropped. If it is spring then maybe the spring onions are local? They were! This was an amazing piece of fortune as far as I was concerned, not only is this something new to eat but it is also just the kind of thing that I want to eat. Big hearty protein rich meals centred around root vegetables have been fine during the winter when I needed all the energy I could get to stay warm, now I want something fresh and green to go with the changing mood and scenery. Investigating further I found some little smile potatoes, they are the ones with the red skin, (I have just moved the shopping bag and the smell of spring onions is very strong). Then I found some cherry tomatoes from the UK, I have been looking forward to fresh tomatoes for a very long time and have just had my first tomato sandwich of the year. I even found a cucumber. I got so enthusiastic that I also went and bought some bread flower and yeast.

Tonight then I’m having barbecued rainbow trout with boiled smile potatoes covered in shallots cooked in melted butter, on the side I shall have a simple tomato and cucumber salad.
Tomorrow I will investigate the possibilities of cooking bread.