Author: Maria Runs

As has been the routine since it’s been allowed, last Saturday I went to my parents for a run with my dad and brother, before having breakfast in their garden. It was fairly warm, and we got to chatting about what we will be doing in October for this sort of thing. (I think technically I could go inside my parents house now, but we would rather be safer and stay in the garden)- I am thinking of bringing along some porridge in a thermos cup to have, plus many many layers!

We had waffles with hummus and avocado for dinner. The batch usually makes 4 waffles, and we usually have 2 each with the savoury toppings, but this week decided to have one savoury and then one sweet to properly recreate the Norwich Waffle House experience (where you can get 2 half portions for main and dessert – the St Albans one just does normal sized ones and there is no space for dessert if you had one for your main!). I topped mine with maple butter, chocolate chips and banana. Very tasty.

On Sunday we had decided to have another walk- this time more like 8 miles as opposed to the nearly 14 miles of last Sunday. I had prepped baked French toast the night before so we had a leisurely breakfast before heading off.

This time the weather was perfect- sunny but fairly cool, and no downpours either.

Once home we had time (and energy) for a bit of gardening and then Andy watched the Grand Prix while I watched some more classic Disney.

I had not watched Sleeping Beauty since I was little, and I had a weird flashback to the fear I felt when I saw the magic puffs going out of the chimney of the cottage. It was strange because when I think about the film, I just think about the bits that are a bit annoying (eg her needing to be rescued/ typical princess things), and the three fairies and all of her woodland animal friends, whereas when I was actually watching it, that was suddenly what I remembered.  It doesn’t top the Disney classics of Little Mermaid, Aladdin or Lion King for the catchy songs and humour.

As I didn’t run on Sunday, I went out on Monday morning instead (the joys of the holidays). I finished up going through a golf course and the woods- I saw both types of woodpeckers (at different points) which was exciting, and apt as I was listening to Marathon Talk where Tony was talking about spotting an eagle on his run.

As I had some bread left over I used the vegan French toast recipe from the Fearne Cotton book, and it worked out so well (basically you use a little chickpea flour to thicken the milk)- along with some peaches and mango it was very summery. This powered me through several hours of gardening (I dug up more grass from around the pond, added more stones to the edge of the pond, planted out some lavender plants grown from seed and varnished the signs for the garden at work).

Often in the afternoon we  make a pot of tea, and if there has been any left I’ve been putting it in a glass and leaving it in the fridge to cool- then the next day adding a bit of milk to make my own iced tea latte. A London Fog is my favourite tea drink from Canada – it’s basically a latte made with Earl Grey tea and vanilla added to the milk- so I made an iced one using Earl Grey tea, but any tea will do. Bird & Blend’s Peach Cobbler tea makes a nice one too.

What are your favourite classic Disney movies? Any that you are not so keen on?

My routine has gone out of the window a bit, but I am doing probably 4 runs a week, plus lots of walking, gardening, and maybe some yoga when I remember!

Monday- yoga, walk in the morning and afternoon

Tuesday- 5 mile run, walk

Wednesday- half marathon run

Thursday- walk x2

Friday- not parkrun 5 k attempt (plus warm up and cool down)

In no particular order (vaguely chronological) some happenings from the week:

I baked carrot cake cookies- we had a really good one once at Disney, but all my googling left me with recipes using a box of carrot cake mix (?), so in the end I used an oatmeal raisin recipe and just added grated carrot and nutmeg. I also got my first chai latte since February (it was too cold for an iced drink), and sorted out my teas bought in the Christmas in July sale.

There is lots of colour in the garden, and before it got too hot at the end of the week, it was good to potter around.

Seen on my run, and then my niece and nephew were coming over so I set up a little planting activity for them. At least at this time of year we can spend time outside quite happily- come November it’s going to be harder…

I had signed up to a Strava July half marathon, and realised that I hadn’t run once yet, so decided to run to Ellenbrook Fields, run the parkrun route and then home, as that is pretty much the perfect half marathon distance. I had originally planned it for Friday, but the weather was meant to be heating up more and more, so I went out on Wednesday instead. I loved seeing the spoon village- I’ve seen it shared on our running club FB page but not in real life.

I do love those fields, and it was perfect running weather, although one of the podcasts I was listening to was advertising coconut water- I would have given rather a lot to have some of that towards the end of my run.

I loved this podcast- I could listen to Michael Palin forever. Later a homemade iced chai using my Lilo cosy so my hand didn’t get too cold.

After breakfast I was off to the lavender farm. I always love visiting there, and they were not sure they would be able to open this year. They are operating with timed tickets and no picking, so I booked a 2 hour slot to see what it was like. I was very nervous sitting in my car, but it was actually not busy- I chose an empty lane and walked slowly up, spotting the bees and smelling the amazing fragrance. Lots of people had brought along picnics, and I found a big space at the top of the field to sit and just enjoy the scenery.

Before my time slot was out I walked back down to the shop (it’s usually a proper cafe and shop, but they have had to move them to be sort of hatch openings so you queue up and they serve you at the hatch) and bought some cake, shortbread and lemonade to take home.

On Thursday my parents were coming over for a walk- we had planned to meet by the nature reserve so I walked down to meet them.  We had a lovely walk through the woods, spotting birds and butterflies, and then they were going to come back to sit in our garden for a bit. Because they had driven I had to walk back home as fast as possible while they took their time getting into the car and driving off. We sat in the shade outside for ages before they headed home.

I made bagels, but the warm weather made them rather enormous!

We had bought some of the gorgeous Nush cream cheese (from almonds) and there is no better topping.

My hot not parkrun attempt- early on Friday before it got sweltering.

I am always impressed with the sourdough when it turns out looking like actual bread! Plus some delicious tea from Hawaii (black tea with passion fruit).

I sat in the shade- top left at the start and top right about an hour later when nearly all the shade was gone!  Lavender shortbread (sooooo tasty) and a cold-brewed tea latte to cool down.

I’ve been reading a lot online about Disneyland Paris (and WDW) and how they have reopened, because we have a couple of days there in August, although if France goes the way of Spain with the quarantine then I won’t be going. I think I have convinced myself that we won’t be going, so I have also been browsing a lot of Disney products online. I had ordered a couple of Disney inspired tops from Etsy / DFB and they both came really quickly (the top left is the Dole Whip top from Disney Food Blog). I may have ordered a Dole Whip scented candle too…

We have been alternating between watching TV (The Morning Show, which is quite good but not as gripping as some of the reviews have suggested, and Indian Matchmaking which was so interesting but obviously only covered a specific type of matchmaking, and of course the weekly Queer Eye allowance on a Friday) and films- Greed covered loads of issues and I wished it had been a mini series, Never Rarely Sometimes Always (which was really good but also really sad), and Onward, which I loved and had put off watching because I knew it would make me cry! Why do Pixar always do that? I love Up so much but the start never fails to make me cry so I almost don’t want to watch them because of it.

Also, Netflix have a series of The Babysitters Club. When I was at primary school I loved reading their books (if you are not familiar, they were a series of fiction books about group of 12 ish year old girls in the USA who set up their own babysitters club and had very sweet “adventures” (eg someone has letters from a secret admirer…). In fact reading Babysitters On Board was my introduction to Walt Disney World, as they sat for some very rich people (the book followed them going on a cruise and then going to WDW because they would occasionally be needed for babysitting). Anyway, the series is quite sweet and very easy watching although they are updating it and covering relevant issues (one of them had a trans child in the episode).

Have you seen anything good on TV lately? Do you miss going to the cinema? 

A few years ago we were in Montreal and came across a big Christmas in July celebration, with giant inflatable animals, food trucks, decorations and so on, and I really liked that idea, but often we are on holiday on the  25th. This year however we were home, so I decided we would have Christmas in July.

Of course Christmas Day starts with a parkrun. Dad had planned a route to a place he had only discovered through cycling in lockdown- an old gully with paths along the top and through the bottom- it involved a bit of scrambling at one point as it was a steep climb to get back out again. My brother had been to Simmons to get croissants for breakfast (I’m still bringing my own water and tea). It was forecast to rain but it held off so we were able to sit in the garden for a few hours after.

Once home I showered and put on a Christmas t-shirt- this one has a gingerbread man on it (and unlike my penguin t, this is most definitely a Christmas one).

I got my Christmas apron out and did some baking. I could not decide what to do, and in the end went for candy cane caramel shortbread- basically make caramel shortbread, crush some candy canes and add some peppermint extract to the melted chocolate topping.

We did a big more lego, as that seemed a festive thing to do.

Then in the evening I put on some candles and we watched a film- although not a Christmas one (Andy drew the line there)- we ended up watching the Eurovision film, which was gentle and fairly funny.

On Sunday we were up early as we were going to walk the WGC centenary walk, which is around 20km, but as it starts from about half a mile from home it is basically a half marathon.

The weather was forecast to be “sunny intervals” and not too warm- perfect. And it was, but then some big clouds appeared later on (top right to top left!). We had taken bananas and water with us, but not rain coats…

After around 9 and a half miles it started to rain quite hard, but luckily we were close to a railway bridge so we sheltered under there for a few minutes and then it eased off.

At about 10.5 miles we were coming up to the final golf course and it started raining heavily- there was no shelter around and we were soaked through after a few minutes. A couple of girls asked the way as they had got lost on the golf course- the posts with the signs were hard to spot with the rain coming down. The final part was through the woods, and then it stopped raining and my clothes started to dry off, but as soon as I got home I needed to change into something dry. It ended up being 13.6 miles, and we walked it in just under 4 and a half hours.

After lunch and a shower Andy was watching the football so I watched some Disney+, opting for Cinderella. I don’t think I’d actually seen it before. Princesses were not my thing when I was little, and my favourite Disney films were Jungle Book, The Lion King and The Little Mermaid (although she is a princess, I loved the sidekicks and songs more). It was just over an hour and just what I fancied – totally easy watching.

After dinner we had a Christmas pudding- one of the Waitrose ones with the clementine in the middle- and used one of our film vouchers to watch Onward, which I loved but why Pixar do you tug those emotional strings so well?

Have you ever celebrated Christmas in July?  Do you like long walks? We sometimes have fairly long walks on holiday- my most memorable one was a 10 mile walk in Glacier National Park to see a lake of icebergs- it was amazing but the whole time I was really jumpy in case we saw a bear (we didn’t on that walk, but saw plenty of bears in that park on other days).

My Sunday run- anti-clockwise and then back through town

As I hadn’t run too far on the Sunday (8 miles) I decided to do a longer run on the Monday. I had completed some of the 20/20 route and then come back through town, so I retraced those steps through town and re-joined the route, completing it over the 2 days. It was a beautiful day, but actually not too hot which was perfect for running.

Monday run- up through town to where I had stopped, and then carrying on anti-clockwise

Once home I decided to treat myself to a hair hot oil treatment- they are a bit of a faff because you have to wet your hair, put the oil in and then leave it for a bit of time before washing, so I sat in the garden and had breakfast while it worked it’s magic.

I had a list of jobs to start working through (booking my MOT, doing some gardening, general cleaning and washing) but I made sure to have time to sit in the garden in the afternoon too.

One spider plant looked a bit big so I tipped it out, divided it into 2 and re-potted, so now I have 2.

On Tuesday I headed back into work to sort out my classroom- trying to move the furniture around to make it fit the September guidance. I had ordered a click and collect from The Pudding Stop as we have been craving a dessert from there recently, so after finishing at work I parked out of town and walked in.

That was a really bad experience. St Albans town centre was rammed. There were some “keep left” signs but there were so many people it was impossible to do, and they have not shut the main road to cars, just a small side road, so you could not easily avoid people. My order wasn’t ready until 3.30, so I went and sat in the park for a bit. Thankfully the park was quiet. I put my mask on to wear when picking up my order (someone asked the other day why I did that when they weren’t compulsory at that point- this was the Tuesday before the Friday that we had to)- but this just seemed such a weird question. If something is good manners (I wear a mask to protect others) and is deemed a sensible precaution, why not do it as soon as soon as you are able to (eg once you have a mask) ? This article (which is about masks in schools) had some interesting points about how it can help stop the spread and also change behaviour.

Our freezer is now very well stocked including biscoff baked cookie dough desserts- although we did share the doughnut that day because it wouldn’t freeze I don’t think.

The click and collect was fine (you can see into the shop from outside so you know it is OK to enter, you pop in, say your name and they put your bag on the counter shaped like a big cartoon mouth, and that’s it) and as I walked back through town I kept my mask on. This seemed to make others give me a wider berth. Perhaps they are being considerate, or perhaps it’s a subconscious signal that things are not back to normal. I also wanted to see what it was like to keep it on for a bit, as we are hoping to go to Disneyland Paris but you have to wear a mask the whole time which could get uncomfortable. I think when I first put it on I did feel a bit claustrophobic, but I got used to it after a bit of time. I wasn’t sure how it would work with my glasses, but if I tuck it under the glasses then they don’t steam up.

We did a bit more on our Disney castle, although the Florida one has now had a paint job so it won’t match. It’s coming together, and it’s been really enjoyable to put on a podcast and work together on building it.

On Wednesday I was planning on going out for a run first thing, but Bird&Blend were having a Christmas in July sale launching at 9am, so in the end I decided to order a few bit first before going out. Poor them, their site crashed (they were very apologetic as they had been working with their developers to get it ready)- so it took a bit longer to check out. It was really warm by the time I set out and I was glad of the shade in the woods. Once home I could at least sit in the garden and cool down.

Our tomato plants are doing so well, so I had some with my lunch (mini pitta- I don’t like using the toaster at work so I am making the most of lunch at home) and also joined in with the butterfly count in the afternoon.

We of course had to eat some of the Pudding Stop treats- this is a biscoff cronut and was really tasty (and sticky).

On Thursday I fancied running a 10k, and hoped I’d worked out a route. In the end when I got home I was over 6.2 miles, so I ran around the corner to make it 6.5- I like full or half miles unless it’s a 5 or 10k…

From Vitality we use to get Starbucks drink each week, but that switched to Caffe Nero in the lockdown, so they had replaced it with ordering coffee beans online (which we would not use as we don’t drink coffee). As more of their shops are open now, they have started the reward up again, so we ventured into town (WGC not St Albans) to see how busy it would be. It was actually fine- again I put my mask on before I got to town as I think that made people give a wider berth, but it was not too busy. In the cafe you could see inside, see the floor markers, and it was all contactless (eg the voucher is on the app). I was surprised that some people were actually sitting inside (with many rules including only sharing tables with people in your bubble, which I don’t think people are adhering to?) and the tables were spaced apart, but that is a step too far for me at the moment.

On Friday I decided to have a go at the not parkrun, as my Saturday morning runs are chatty ones with no worries about time. I did a warm up, 5k and then around a half a mile cool down, and got my fastest not parkrun of 29:29. I spent the rest of the day pottering around at home, watching a bit of TV in the afternoon and having a go at making some signs for our outdoor area at work using my wood burning pen and the wood from an old pallet. On Fridays we’ve been watching a new episode of Queer Eye (we can’t burn through them too quickly)- feelgood TV at its best.

We were chatting the other day about the queues for things that have reopened, (eg McDonalds having 2 hour queues and traffic jams, the queues for gyms reopening) and I could not think of anything that I missed that much that I would have to be there right away. Andy mentioned parkrun, and I suppose that would be the only thing, although when they re-start there won’t be 2 hour queues. Although I can’t see that happening for many months to come.

What have you really missed going to or doing during lockdown? What would you queue 2 hours for? I don’t think I would even queue 2 hours for the best Disney ride!