gavinf1980

I took a different route into the office this morning, and walked via Smithfield. I don't think I've paid much attention to this clock before.



I had another Release Your Potential meeting this morning, and we discussed our presentation next month; it was good to see a few people joining who usually miss the calls.

I did a site visit this afternoon, spotted a bit of the Roman wall in a new building.

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Thanks to taekwon-do and my evening fitness session, I've logged 2 out of 4 activities for week 4 of the March Strength Training Challenge.

I've also logged:
152km in March Favourite Way (not going to finish now) and
98km in the North Face Challenge.

We got our first snow of the year this morning, not that it shows up at all well on the picture I took on a short walk.

It was good to get a few breaks from work this afternoon, and catch up virtually with colleagues, so I had a meeting with my manager, followed by the Release Your Potential Raffle draw.

I don't know any of the people who won, so it felt slightly anti-climactic. I was just disappointed that I couldn't persuade more people to take part.

I've made progress on three Strava challenges:
*25km of the January Walking Distance Challenge, so half way;
*1 hour and 19 minutes out of 5 hours for the Le Col Form Finder Challenge (started today); and
*5 hours and 13 minutes out of 6 hours and 40 minutes for the ROKA FROZEN 400.

I've been trying to speak in a way that uplifts people today; I've realised this isn't easy, particularly when I have a few things to get off my chest, mostly about my own worries relating to potential desk stealing in the office when there is reduced capacity.

Really, I think my reluctance to challenge people who steal my booked desk comes from lack of self esteem, and not being used to getting my own way, even feeling bad if I get it at someone else's expense. I feel bad if I speed up and overtake a slow walker to get to a queue first, even if that person is some way away from the queue they are heading for.

Mum pointed out to me on our walk that I was bringing her down just with my worries about how my toilet wouldn't flush, which was something I needed to get off my chest.

We wanted to try out a new cafe in town, but found that it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so we just went on a longer walk instead.

I have managed to log more than 3 hours for the Hydrow Strava Challenge, and two activities this week for the Joy of Winter and Laird Superfood challenges.

I had another meeting about Release Your Potential and the raffle this morning, and we are still deciding if we want to do a quiz night later, or alternatively organise a sponsored walk. We had a lot of discussion of raffle prizes, and whether or not we wanted to be put forward for the prizes ourselves (most of us didn't, including me; it would look a bit odd after all). There is speculation that we should all contribute towards the raffle prizes ourselves; I am not sure how many people will want to do that, though I am happy to.

The cafe replied to my e-mail; they are not happy to try and accommodate potentially 20 of us at the weekend, so it looks like we will go without a refreshment stop at the end unless only a small number of us want to go.

Now, what shall I do tonight?

Random thing: I received a Christmas card in the post today; only 3 weeks too late, or 49 weeks too early, depending on your point of view.

I've been trying to eat nourishing food today, and have had limited success.

Breakfast was this porridge-in-a-pot; I didn't take picture of the top, it didn't look appealing, though I improved it by adding strawberries and jam.



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I've been in touch with people more than usual on a Friday, so I had a few meetings, including my first team meeting of the year, and a catch up for Release Your Potential. I am not entirely sure how the raffle will work, but it looks like we will get there.

I had a break after my final work meeting, and ended up having a chat - and a fist pump - with a neighbour.

I had a prayer triplet meeting with the guys over zoom tonight, because we couldn't make our schedules work out properly; maybe we'll get to meet in person next time though. It was still good to catch up with each other, and pray together.

I managed a long walk this morning; I managed to get a few shots for "winter scenes" for the December Scavenger Hunt; they were all quite dark and gloomy, and this is one of the better ones.



I've been thinking of how to recognise other peoples' kindness today, which is something that I'm not always good at, and I usually spot only obvious ones like the person who stopped their car at lunchtime so I could cross the road, and I do spend half of my time on walks just avoiding other people. I think I should remember to work on my own gratitude as well, and how to show it.

It's a good thing to remember with people I know, when they annoy me even in little ways, and just that most of what people say is with the best of intentions.

I had a teams call for Release Your Potential today; it didn't surprise me that we ended up a little thin on the ground, with only four of us joining. I ended up chairing and taking minutes, and most of the talk was about delaying the raffle and quiz because of the coronavirus restrictions, which could tighten any moment. The Skimmington Ride gig I wanted to go to tomorrow is now cancelled, and I decided against board games club tonight, just because the my worry about transmission.

I had my pukka tea during the call; it is a brand called "cleanse" which is made of fennel, nettle and peppermint - it seems bland at first, but always feels like it has a positive effect on me.

I have one day of work left this year, and I'll be glad to get a few weeks off, just to get away from the constant staring at a screen; I was taking an excessive number of breaks today, just to relieve myself of the boredom of a report I was writing.

Work have not cancelled, but postponed, the Christmas lunches, meaning there will be no opportunity to sell raffle tickets outside. I'm a little relieved, since I was more or less coerced into that one; there is an implication that they will become Easter lunches now.

Last night's meal was enjoyable, but I really need to stop having people giving me their so-called expert opinion on how much/little of a threat coronavirus is; let me make my own choices.

I wasn't sure how I would photograph "black and white" for the December Scavenger Hunt, then realised what get-up I had for my morning fitness.



I needed my pukka tea today; it was "revitalise" and even after a lie in I felt shattered. This one has a spicy flavour that's reminiscent of mulled wine.

I've spent the day dealing with uploading walks for Stag Walkers; it can be a heavy job, particularly when I have to keep going back to fix my mistakes.

I went for a walk this afternoon; I can hardly believe that I finished one minute short of completing the Strava "Explore the World" challenge.

I've been thinking about the importance of giving to food banks; I bought some extra tins in the week and donated them, but I wonder if there is any way I can organise this right through the store website when ordering a delivery of groceries? Time to find out.

The presents are looking nice under the tree - taken for the December Scavenger Hunt (prompt: wrapping paper).

The taekwon-do class Christmas meal is tonight; I'll practice active listening there, by paying attention to what everyone else says to me, and show that I am listening to them.

It looks increasingly likely that we'll all have to work from home, despite some people at work insisting "I'm going in next week"; I'll wait for advice at today's virtual team meeting. I think we have a few Coronavirus deniers in the office. The new guidance will definitely make selling physical raffle tickets less feasible, so we'll have to think again about how to do that.

I went out to an exhibition with some of the guys at lunch; it was all about air quality and climate change; we also got a chance to have another look at this detailed, and up to date, model of London.

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I finished the Strava December Walking Challenge on Wednesday, and start another one: ROUVY Explore the World, today. It only requires 2 hours of activity to be logged, so should be easy enough.

I have the first of two rescheduled dental appointments, changed because of Thursday night plans that I probably won't make now unless I make a special trip into London, which I can't see myself being in the mood for.

Let's hope this working from home doesn't go on for too long this time.

Today's pukka tea is elderberry and echinacea, it's another favourite of mine, and another fruity one.