Oops, I wrote out today’s blog post on the tablet again yesterday, then forgot to send it across! I remembered just as I was falling into bed, so I promised myself I’d do it as soon as I got up…And then I forgot about it again. So here’s today’s blog, posted today.
The dog let me sleep through until about 5:30am yesterday morning. And then he let me go back to sleep again. He’d been a bit naughty the day before, so the full night’s sleep wasn’t expected. He was probably missing the poet, who’s on a 4-day business trip.
Up at the regular time a bit later I went straight into my dirty cuppa. I fed the dog then caught up on FB, wondering if the horses were still loose in what we call the meadow and the heath (the small field and the big field respectively). There weren’t any updates.
One of the people alerting us to the horses has been getting stick for complaining about these horses and other horseriders. This is private but permissive land, meaning the landowner can revoke permission for all users if it so wishes, but there is a public right of way that slices through the middle of the heath/big field. Other pathways around the perimeter of both fields have been well-trod.
I would have thought it was down to the landowner if horses were permitted or not, but there’s apparently a sign on the public path that stipulates no horses. This is likely the local authority rather than the landowner.
For me, I don’t care if walkers, dog-walkers, horses, or horseriders take advantage of the landowner’s generosity, so long as they’re not vandalising the land or being a nuisance. I’d hate to see the permission revoked but at the end of the day it’s the landowner’s prerogative.
What does bother me, though, is the number of dog-walkers who don’t clean up after their dogs. This could be what spoils things for the rest of us. I believe there’s no legal requirement to clean up after your dog on ‘open land’, but this isn’t open land. It’s enclosed. But anyway, there’s a well-worn path where people and children walk and, anyway, why not clean up after your dog wherever you are? We certainly do.
There’s another controversy in the next village too, which these fields connect us to. It’s where the public right of way goes, in that direction. There’s another piece of privately owned permissive land with another public right of way slicing through it. A few days ago there were cars or quad bikes churning up the field, this time for ‘rabbiting’ but they do it for fun anyway.
Instead of revoking permission, the landowner has had trenches dug, to keep wheeled vehicles off the land. But they didn’t put up warning signs and 2 dogs have apparently fallen into the trenches on 2 separate occasions already. Both dogs are fine, by the way, but if the owners complain too much, the landowner may just fence off the land on either side of the public path.
The dog owners aren’t actually complaining yet, they’re simply warning others to be aware, especially in the fog. Because they do know that if they do complain, the landowner may just revoke that permission. That hasn’t stopped others attacking the dog walkers for lots of reasons:
(a) complaining, when they’re not
(b) assuming they’re not walking their dogs on leads (we have long, retractable leads now, remember)
(c) walking too many dogs at a time
(d) taking advantage of a generous landowner
Oh, the joys and politics of village life, eh? [Gets popcorn…] We lived in the other village before, 4 years ago for 2 years. It wasn’t half as interesting as it is now, but we *were* mid-pandemic back then.
After my dirty cuppa, I went straight into my activity hour. This is where my daily exercises workouts are now, plus any energetic housework. I didn’t have any washing to put through as I want a rest day between loads to give it time to dry properly before I put it away. If the poet’s here, he gets fed up of seeing it first and puts it all away. He does that with the washing up too, and anything else that needs doing, to be honest. Unless he’s fishing, he’s not one for sitting still.
Determined to get some ticks (checkmarks) against my planned work this week, I went back to the first job I hadn’t done yet and did it: made the covers for the next 2 republications. One is a brand-new collection of the first 25 Wordsworth Shorts, the other is a republication of Wordsworth Short #26, That’s What Friends Are For.
After that I made a start on Monday’s book review post. I thought I hadn’t made any notes and went in to refresh my memory, but there they were, already in the Scrivener file! I wrote some of those out into proper sentences, and then I took the dog for his walk.
He’s been so naughty this week, I was only going to take him around the block. But our next-door neighbour came out with her dog at the same time and I didn’t want to seem rude, so Alfie and I accompanied them around what we called the meadow. We still didn’t see any horses. and Alfie was very badly behaved. He’s usually better when he’s actually walking with another dog. But the naughtiness continued. Thank goodness the poet comes home today. He can shoulder some of the work there.
When we got back I started to sift through workouts and exercises to add to a weekly planner. I settled on doing daily tai chi alongside my usual strength exercises and paid for an app that has 28-day plans as well as a choice of other workouts, like tai chi walking for weight loss or for strength. If it doesn’t work or if it doesn’t grab me, I won’t renew the subscription. It’s an annual subscription that costs the same as my TickTick annual subscription, so no bank-breaker.
I also identified a yoga workout, a pilates workout, a dance aerobics workout, a step aerobics workout and an indoor walking 12-week plan that are all free. Once I’m in the swing of the daily tai chi, I’ll add a longer weekly workout from the list. Then I re-did my daily activity tracker in my fitness planner to make sure I don’t miss one or more of my regular exercises.
This means for now I’ll have a daily workout and a daily dog walk. If I build my stamina, I’ll add a weekly workout on, say, Wednesdays, and gradually increase things that way.
I chose the tai chi workout so I don’t have to keep standing up and sitting down and standing up and lying down all the time. I’ll start Day 1 today.
Today I’ll publish those next 2 books I made the covers for. The collection of 25 has been allocated 2 hours/pomodoros; the next Wordsworth Short has been allocated 1 hour/pomodoro. In my 10-minute breaks, I’ll do household chores. I also want to work on a household chore plan so I’m doing a room a day on top of the usual daily stuff. Ooh, shiny! Another new planner!
