Hey peeps
A few weeks ago in the UK the clocks went back for the winter time. Now personally I never understood why we keep this tradition going (traditionally it was for the farmers etc who had to get up early, but now everyone gets up early as we all work long hours- we can’t just get up with the light!). It means that the mornings are lighter (for about a week it seems) but the evenings are darker an hour quicker. So before half term I would be driving home in the light, but after half term it is getting gloomy at 4pm.
I have seen numerous news reports saying that we should not move the clocks back any more because of road safety (for example here and here)- it makes sense to me as in the mornings children are being dropped off at school or walking straight there, so if it was dark children would only be on the roads for a short about of time, whereas in the afternoons children go to after school clubs, more of them walk home alone, they walk to the shops with their friends etc, so more potential for road accidents to happen. It always seems that when this is brought up, Scotland are the ones who stop it going through parliament, so I think we should have two different time zones.
I also do not like the dark evenings as it means by the time I get home from work it feels like night, and I am less inclined to go out for a walk- it feels like the day is over.
A while ago I was contacted by the people at Lumie, asking me if I wanted to trial one of their products for a couple of months. I have a small Lumie body-clock lamp in my bedroom (you can program it to turn on gradually over 15 mins or so, so you wake up naturally, but I am such a light sleeper it woke me up right away, so I turn it on once the alarm goes off) and the light is much more gentle and realistic than normal lamps.
They sent me a Brightspark lamp which is a certified medical device for the treatement of SAD- seasonal affective disorder. It was recommended to have it on for 45-90 mins each day, and to sit very close to it. There is lots of research on their website if you are interested.
The light from the Lumie lamp was very very bright- as if it was a really sunny day. We have been putting it on in the evenings for a little bit, but not sitting as close as was suggested as I felt it was giving me a headache (not sure if it was because it heats up a bit?). Having that more natural light instead of the normal artificial lights really helped with the darker evenings. It is just a shame they cannot make street lights out of them!
I love my Lumie body clock, and I would say that the Brightspark would be good for if you worked in an office or something like that, to keep the light nice and natural all day through the winter months.
Thanks Lumie for letting me try this.
How do you feel about the clocks going back in the winter? Do you think you suffer with some form of SAD? How do you cope with the darker evenings?
I was fancying something warm for lunch this week, so I cooked up a big batch to have each day. I cooked some quinoa (80g I think) and giant cous cous (40g?) together in water, with a little vecon stock added (smells like marmite), plus some paprika because I like the colour. I stirred it a bit and let it absorb all the water.
I also had it in a stuffed pepper, alongside yet more roasted squash. Still enjoying the squash box! 🙂
My fridge is currently being attacked by yoghurt too! The lovely people at Rachel’s organic contacted me and asked if I would like to try out some of their recipes. They sounded fab, so I agreed- I thought they were sending me some plain yoghurt and some coconut yoghurt.
I bought this cool (decorative) cockerel watering can for my mum, from 
I have also been getting ready to make presents. I bought a lot of these jars from Ikea- they were only 90p which is so much cheaper than anywhere else I have seen. Plus some pretty silver twine, labels and red ribbon (and that bottle is pectin as I am going to make 
I have also been practising my icing skills (?) to get ready for the big cakes later on!
Also I ordered some tasty treats in my shopping this week- I keep seeing these mini gingerbread men on 
Porridge with figs cooked in there. I used Kallo soy milk which was on offer on Tesco, and rather nice. It is sweetened a little (but was not too sweet I didn’t think), but has calcium added too.
A sandwich thin (I found one in the freezer) with some hummus, and a pear. Not a great lunch but we were not having our shopping delivered until Tuesday. Not surprisingly I was rather hungry in the afternoon and glad for my luna bar 🙂
An apple chopped and microwaved, with some warm alpro soya custard. Yum.
Look! I am super excited-for our allotment we get to buy seeds super cheaply from a catalogue and they all arrived! They even had seeds for spagetti squash! Plus some really pretty beetroots 🙂 I just hope some of them grow….
I also enjoyed an old favourite the other day- porridge in a jar! I finally finished one of the massive Whole Earth pb, so I got to enjoy super peanutty porridge. Mmm.