100 Days, 100 Things: Days 41-60

This is part 3 of my attempts to note down something interesting, new, weird or stupidly mundane each day in the countdown to finishing work before I set off on my round-the-world Grand Tour adventure. Things are getting both more mundane and more interesting. How this is even possible, I have no idea...

41. Thursday 14th April - made pho.
Having tried the Vietnamese noodle soup at Pho in Manchester, I decided to have a go at making it myself. My attempt at chicken pho turned out pretty nice, especially with the pile of beansprouts I dumped into it!

42. Friday 15th April - pasta bake?
Looks like nothing interesting happened on this day. First pasta bake in a couple of years was as exciting as it got.

43. Saturday 16th April - took a walk on Saddleworth.
My mum was supposed to be taking a balloon flight from Bakewell for her birthday but the weather turned against us. Instead, we took the dogs out for a walk on Saddleworth Moor, something we've been meaning to do since Mum moved to Manchester nearly 2 years ago.

44. Sunday 17th April - finally did some proper gardening.
I can't remember what I actually did. Possibly I dug over the veg patch? Or did I put the onions in? Nah... I think the onions went in the week after... Nope. It was this day. Onions, shallots, garlic and potatoes. All going in a bit too late for my liking and none of which I'll have the joy of eating because I'll be on the other side of the globe. All the more for the relatives.

45. Monday 18th April - blogged for the first time in ages.
Which, I do believe, was the last post in this series. You can read it here: 100 Days, 100 Things: Days 21-40.

46. Tuesday 19th April - created an overly detailed packing list.
I almost always use a packing list for holidays and short trips, so I figured I need a super-awesome one for the Grand Tour. After all, how on earth am I going to make it all the way round-the-world if I manage to forget something along the way?

47. Wednesday 20th April - started planning Australian adventures.
Claire got her flights booked to join me in Australia over the New Year, so we could finally start planning what we want to do in those 2 weeks. Too many things to do!

48. Thursday 21st April - overdosed on pretty AirBnB listings.
Falling a little bit in love with AirBnB, especially given how many awesome listings there are for Sydney at New Year.

49. Friday 22nd April - started laying out all the things on the aforementioned packing list.
And started worrying that a) I've forgotten some things and b) it won't all fit in my rucksack...

50. Saturday 23rd April - The Complete Walk.
Took a trip to London with my sister to see as many of the 37 films which made up The Complete Walk as possible. 15/37 - not bad going considering the technical difficulties. So much Shakespeare! And topped off with an evening of Shakespeare on the BBC when I got home.

51. Sunday 24th April - booked my first AirBnB.
Got the accommodation booked for my stay in Sydney over New Year with Claire. A lovely little studio apartment a little way out of the city centre for less than half the price it would have been to stay in a hostel, let alone a hotel.

52. Monday 25th April - fell off the blogging wagon.
Yeah... my attempts to keep blogging regularly are not going so well. Doesn't bode well for me keeping on top of it while I'm away, does it?

53. Tuesday 26th April - booked Australia flights. Poor bank balance.
Sorted out internal flights for the two weeks I'm spending with Claire in Australia, just to make sure we actually end up on the same flights. My bank account doesn't know what's hit it this month...

54. Wednesday 27th April - more jabs.
Back to the doctors to get yet another jab, this time for my Hep B booster. Also got my prescription for anti-malarials sorted, so that's another thing I can stop worrying about.

55. Thursday 28th April - played the bath game with the dogs.
We took the dogs out for quite a late walk because the weather had been foul all day. When we got back, we played the game where I chase them round the kitchen with the towel in an attempt to dry them off. They love it - they get like puppies again. Might not like getting wet, but they really like avoiding getting dry!

56. Friday 29th April - more jabs.
Yet another jab, but hopefully this one is the last one I'll need. Certainly the most expensive - anyone want to explain to me why the Yellow Fever vaccine is so very costly? At least I don't seem to have had any side effects from it yet.

57. Saturday 30th April - dogs on the beach.
Took the dogs down to the beach. They love the beach. Poppy invited herself to someone's picnic and Mum nearly had to pull her out of a bag of crisps. Sneaky sausage dog.

58. Sunday 1st May - "Not even for me?"
Someone let slip to my nanna that I'm going away for a year and now she's spending every time I see her trying to talk me out of it. We have now had such classics as "But I might not be here when you get back!" and "You won't change your mind? Not even for me?" This is exactly why I didn't tell her.

59. Monday 2nd May - fixed my "critical error".
No thanks to Microsoft. My Windows 10 threw up a glitch and basically broke my start menu. Microsoft's fixes didn't work, but the one I used last time this happened did. And Microsoft don't seem to know a thing about it. Thanks, guys.

60. Tuesday 3rd May - uh...
Not a lot happened. Other than a minor freak out when I realised that it's now less than 6 weeks until the Grand Tour kicks off. Yeep.

Excitement is setting in! Less than 6 weeks to go!

100 Days, 100 Things: Days 21-40

I am inching ever closer to my final day of employment and the subsequent departure on my Grand Tour. Here's days 21-40 of my attempts to find something interesting, funny or ridiculously mundane that happened each day of my final 100 days here.

21. Friday 25th March - first gardening of the year
Finally got round to doing some gardening - cleared out my veg patch, tidied up some pots and trimmed back the chamomile bed. Just in time for the dogs to arrive and paddle all over it the next day!

22. Saturday 26th March - took a stroll to the churchyard
With Mum being over for the Easter weekend, we took the dogs for a walk up to the churchyard. Lovely peaceful place.

23. Sunday 27th March - had a rare moment of vanity
Anyone who's met me (or seen all the "Stupid Selfies" that we took in New Zealand) will know that I'm not especially concerned about how I look. So the joy of fitting comfortably into an old size 6 dress for the family Easter lunch was indeed a rare moment of vanity. Up yours, uni-drinking-weight.

24. Monday 28th March - cooked Sri Lankan style food
Treated my parents and sister to my first attempt at Sri Lankan style food. Delicious egg hoppers with coconut gravy and a couple of fresh pickle type dishes. Turned out pretty good - will have to try it again.

25. Tuesday 29th March - attempted to train our apprentice on Excel
I was only sort of successful. I struggle to explain things like Excel to other folks because I constantly make the assumption that they know more than they do.

26. Wednesday 30th March - ate too much pizza
We got a new system installed at work for our student records and to celebrate the demise of the seriously outdated and temperamental old system we had a pizza and prosecco party in the office. And, true to tradition, I ate too much pizza and spent the afternoon trying not to fall asleep.

27. Thursday 31st March - made colleague's day by gifting him the Excel guide
Said colleague finished in the department the next day and it was great watching him going through the guide and finding things he didn't know he could do. Clearly the guide was better than I thought it was.

28. Friday 1st April - 5kDay1 for Camp NaNoWriMo
I take part in National Novel Writing Month and its less frantic Camp sessions every year. The latest session kicked off today and somehow on a work day I managed to write 5000 words in a 24 hours. Pretty pleased with that.

29. Saturday 2nd April - drank too much cider. Ugh.
Have I mentioned how Friday is Cider-Day in my house? I don't drink much any more - just a pint of cider on a Friday evening. So going out for a colleague's leaving do was... interesting. Three pints later and I ended up persuading my dad to come and pick me up because my brain went from "OK. I'm fine." to "I hate it here. The crowd is making me anxious. I want to go home." in about 3 minutes flat. Mature. The bar was nice though...

30. Sunday 3rd April - watched Snow White for the first time in years
Apparently Snow White is just as creepy and terrifying as it was when I was little. That thunderstorm at the end with the vultures and the evil queen? Jeez.

31. Monday 4th April - killed off third character within 10,000 words
Returning to my Camp NaNoWriMo project, I killed off yet another character. It wouldn't be so bad, but they've all been killed by the same person and she's my protagonist. This might be a new record for novelling deaths...

32. Tuesday 5th April - pulled off my first 1k30min of Camp
I write relatively quick (see all the comments about typing speed in my previous 100 Days post), but writing 1000 words in 30 minutes is still something of an achievement for me. Makes writing 50,000 words in a month much more feasible.

33. Wednesday 6th April - confirmed colleague's return
So, yeah. The colleague who finished on April 1st and on whose leaving do I drank too much cider? Turns out the new job/life situation wasn't really what he wanted, so he's coming back. So that was weird...

34. Thursday 7th April - compliments?
A colleague greeted me with the words "you're quite small, aren't you?". I assumed she meant short, because yes, I am. Apparently she meant I'm skinny. I'm not. I'm in proportion with my height, no matter what the rare moment of vanity above might suggest.

35. Friday 8th April - 1130 words in 20 minutes
Yeah, so my writing speed is still going up. Woop for that. In non-writing news, I made a delicious fish pie with a cheesy crumble topping. It was amazing.

36. Saturday 9th April - spotted Terry Deary at the Lowry
Went across to Manchester for Mum's birthday. Went to see a play called Bad Jews, which was excellent - very funny and yet sad. Really enjoyed that, but I think I was more pleased about seeing Terry Deary in the lobby afterwards. I had nearly the entire collection of Horrible Histories books as a kid, so I was pretty tempted to join the queue of small children waiting to get books signed.

37. Sunday 10th April - made friends with some more dachshunds
Gotta love sausage dogs. Took my mum's two on a walk with some other daxies. Lots of fun. Astley Park is pretty, too. But mostly I just wanted to dog-nap any of the dachshunds.

38. Monday 11th April - met an adorable husky
Anyone else noticing a bit of a dog obsession? Anyhoo, met a lovely husky pup. Very friendly and just wanted to lick my hands. Possibly because it was just a friendly dog. Possibly because I'd done chicken for tea...

39. Tuesday 12th April - did my travel guru thing
Tried to help colleague find a suitable train for Manchester. Also bollocked recently returned colleague for thinking he doesn't need travel insurance. More on that in a future post, probably.

40. Wednesday 13th April - got my first travel jabs. Ouch.
Turns out I need not only a Hep A and Typhoid booster, I also need Hep B and Rabies boosters and then I need to get a Yellow Fever jab. Just the Hep A/Typhoid to start, though. My poor arm.

South Lakes: Sun, relish and dogs in pubs

This is the second part of my recap of a long weekend in the Lake District. You can find part 1 HERE.

Second full day in the Lake District was beautifully sunny, so we took a drive up to Ambleside which sits at the very north end of Windermere. Parked down by the lakeside and had a little look around the couple of shops down there, much to the dogs' delight when they were allowed in to join us. Even more so when one of the shops turned out to be a pet shop which sold ice cream for dogs. Picked up a tub and then grabbed ourselves a cuppa and a lovely blueberry scone while the dogs tucked into their ice cream. Lovely view from the Waterhead Cafe.

After that we took a stroll along the waterfront, enjoying the sunshine. There's the remains of a Roman fort down there, which are worth a look - there's not a huge amount left above ground, but there's a few little info boards dotted around. Plus the view of the mountains is pretty good from there.

Then on up the hill to Ambleside proper. It's a quaint little town, with plenty of little independent shops and cafes. I also noticed that there were quite a few with "Dogs Welcome" notes in the window, so great for dog owners too!

And from Ambleside back down to the waterfront. Beautiful day for a walk. In all, it's about 2-3 miles to go from the pier at the lakeside along the waterfront to the Roman fort, up the hill to Ambleside and then back down the main road to the car park.

From Ambleside, we headed back down the road which runs alongside the lake and stopped for a quick drink at the National Park Visitor Centre at Brockholes. More nice views across the lake, but it's a pain to get out of the car park and I imagine it's worse during the summer when the roads are busier.

Then back to the lodge before we took a walk to Cartmel to grab tea at one of the three pubs in the village square. As far as I could see, all three are dog friendly and The Kings Arms at least allows dogs into the pub (not certain about the other two). We had a lovely meal outside enjoying the spring sunshine, pretty reasonably priced and most delicious. I recommend the Cumbrian Rarebit Sandwich, but make sure to try the chips too.

And then a quick stop at the Village Shop to pick up some of the famous Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding. Om nom nom.

Just because you're in the pub, doesn't mean it belongs to you...

Our final day in the lakes started a bit dim and dismal, but since we needed to be out of the lodge by 10:30am we headed off north towards Windermere again, this time up the western side to the little village of Hawkshead. It's only a little place, but it's packed with craft shops and local produce. Checked out the Hawkshead Relish Company, which makes the most amazing preserves. Their Mojito marmalade is delicious.

There's also the recently opened Handmade in Hawkshead, which features the beautiful glasswork of James Stewardson. Definitely worth a look.

The Kings Arms in Hawkshead is also dog friendly, so we popped in there for a quick drink and a snack before moving on. Henry the dachshund decided the pub must belong to him and barked at anyone who came in.

And then home. Via the Windermere Ferry, which if you don't fancy taking a boat trip is another way to see a bit of the lake from a different perspective. It's also a really pretty drive between Hawkshead and the ferry crossing at Far Sawrey. Goes past Beatrix Potter's house, if you're interested in that sort of thing.

All in all, a great weekend. The Lake District really is a beautiful area.

Things to Do:
Windermere Ferry - £4.40 (single), runs between Ferry Nab (Bowness) and Ferry House (Far Sawrey)

100 Days, 100 Things: Days 1-20

Well, we're well into the final 100 days until I finish work. My last day will be June 10th and my flight out to Iceland will be the following Monday 13th. I figured I should do something to mark this last 100, so I set out to note down something new or interesting or funny each day. Here's the first 20.

1. Saturday 5th March – met a new dachshund called Franklin
Took a stroll around Heaton Park in Manchester with my mum, sister, mum's 2 dachshunds and a fellow owner and her little dachshund. Great fun for all involved.

2. Sunday 6th March – tried Vietnamese food (yum)
Took my mum for Mother's Day lunch at Pho in the old Corn Exchange in Manchester. Turns out Vietnamese (or its Westernised equivalent) is super tasty and tofu turns out to be yummy if it's seasoned properly.

3. Monday 7th March – worked out where the error was in a formula I’d been trying to fix for ages
I'm considered the Excel whizz in my team at work, so it was a relief to finally work out where I'd been going wrong with some conditional formatting a colleague had asked me to apply to one of his spreadsheets. Should have spotted it sooner though!

4. Tuesday 8th March – best typing speed test yet – 80WPM, 400CPM
I've been trying to improve my typing speed for a while, especially since I'm planning on doing Camp NaNoWriMo in April. Apparently 80 words per minute is quite a bit quicker than a lot of people, so I'm pretty proud of that.

5. Wednesday 9th March – tried Nilgiri tea for the first time (yum)
My mum visited India in November and brought me back some loose leaf tea to add to my collection. I finally got round to trying the Nilgiri and it's amazing - almost sweet, sort of fruity.

6. Thursday 10th March – finally named some very annoying characters in Raising the Sun. No more [DAMIEN] lord of brackets.
Raising the Sun is an ongoing writing project of mine. Half the characters in it still have placeholder names (identified by the [] square brackets) while I work out what they should be called. The character formerly known as [DAMIEN] has been bugging me for ages.

7. Friday 11th March – tried the Gallery restaurant. Delicious sausage and mash.
The Gallery is the in-house training restaurant at the college where I work. The students do the cooking and the serving and it'd been a while since I visited it. Suffice to say the sausage and mash was delicious and great value at £3.50...

8. Saturday 12th March – read Snuff in a day. Go me.
Today marked the first anniversary of the death of the great Sir Terry Pratchett. He was and is one of my favourite authors so I took the opportunity to finally read Snuff, a book that my best friend loaned me nearly 3 years ago. And then ploughed through it in a single day. The last time I did that was when I re-read The Hobbit a few years back...

9. Sunday 13th March – visited Robin Hood’s Bay and Whitby
Took a trip up to the beautiful North Yorkshire coast, which I already wrote about HERE.

10. Monday 14th March – almost successfully taught my boss to use lookups in Excel
My manager is trying to get the hang of Excel before I leave. We're getting there, slowly.

11. Tuesday 15th March – worked out how to renew an EHIC. By sorting out Grandad’s
I should probably sort out my own European Health Insurance Card, not just my grandad's. Turns out to be a pretty simple process though. Hurrah.

12. Wednesday 16th March – something to do with the quiz and the French visitors…
Went to the monthly staff quiz at work. Had a bit of a weird England v France thing - quiz regulars versus some French visitors. Great fun and a brilliant discussion afterwards about different sayings in English and French. Brilliant stuff.

13. Thursday 17th March – finished my guide to Excel
I've been writing a guide to Excel, being the team Excel whizz and all that. Finally got it just about finished. Just got to see if anyone understands it now...

14. Friday 18th March – made a delicious chilli cheese toast/fried egg combination for breakfast
Decided to go a step up from my normal buttered crumpets and made some delicious chilli cheese toast with a spiced fried egg on top for breakfast. I was aiming for a flavour like the yummy kejriwal I had at Dishoom in London. Not bad for a first attempt.

15. Saturday 19th March – took the dogs on their first boat trip
On the first full day of a long weekend in the Lake District with my mum and sister, we took a boat trip on Windermere. With the sausage dogs. I'm not sure they enjoyed it, but they behaved themselves.

16. Sunday 20th March – tried and mostly failed to use my CPL properly
I bought myself some basic filters and lenses just after Christmas and I've been trying to get the hang of them. Decided to test out my polariser. Didn't quite succeed. Needs more practice.

17. Monday 21st March – tried Mojito marmalade. It is amazing.
The Hawkshead Relish Company make the most delicious preserves. They even do an cocktail inspired range, including the aforementioned Mojito marmalade. So. Much. Yum.

18. Tuesday 22nd March – successfully got past the chapter of LotR where I got bogged down last year
Like the sad sod that I am, I re-read (or attempt) The Lord of the Rings every year. Last year I got bogged down in the second half of Two Towers because Frodo started pissing me off, but this year I powered on through. Well into Return of the King now. The end is in sight!

19. Wednesday 23rd March – managed to get an ID type photo that doesn’t look like I’m going to murder someone. Woo.
The director of my department at work decided we needed to get our photos taken to put on the wall so visitors know who we all are. By sheer fluke I've ended up with an ID type photo that actually looks sort of normal. This is in contrast to every single ID card I've ever had where I variously look like I want to murder the photographer or stoned or so very pale that I blend in with the background. Hurrah.

20. Thursday 24th March - 83WPM, 414CPM
Because I'm not in the least bit obsessed with improving my typing speed...


20 days down. 80 to go... what other stupid, mundane and sometimes exciting things can I do in that time?

South Lakes: Sun, walking and dogs on boats

The Lake District is beautiful - one of my favourite parts of the UK. Mountains overlooking long, narrow lakes, winding country roads... what more could you want?

Recently I took a trip up there with my mum, sister and two miniature dachshunds for a long weekend. We stayed in a lovely little lodge at Aynsome Manor Park, near the pretty village of Cartmel, famous for its racecourse and sticky toffee pudding.

We must have timed our arrival well, because we just caught the end of the monthly Food Market in the village, which meant I got to nab a delicious fresh loaf of chia seed bread. Never tried it before and it was yummy.

Several of the shops in Cartmel are happy for well-behaved dogs to come in, so we also had a quick wander around some of the little independent craft shops, which the dogs loved. They weren't quite so pleased that they had to wait outside while I perused the Village Shop, home of the famous sticky toffee pudding and a whole host of other delicious goods. Grabbed some bits for tea - the shop sells all sorts of pasta, rice, sauces and condiments, plus some meat.

There's some good walking around Cartmel as well. A footpath leads out of the back of the racecourse into the fields. Several paths to choose from - we headed up and along a little stream for a while. Such a peaceful walk.

Maybe we all died and this is some sort of weird limbo...

Our second day in Cartmel began with a sort of weird, sleep deprived hysteria brought on by the carbon monoxide alarm going off just after we went to bed, freaking us all out and subsequently unsettling one of the dogs enough that she whined and whimpered all night.

Suffice to say, the thought did cross my mind that maybe it hadn't been a false alarm and we had all died of carbon monoxide poisoning in the night. Giggling ensued.

Anyway, having finally got out of the house and satisfied ourselves that we weren't trapped in limbo, we head off up north to Bowness on Lake Windermere. It's a lovely drive - a winding road clings to the hillside and follows the lake from Newby Bridge at the south end, up to Bowness about halfway up. This is the main tourist hub on the lake, so expect it to be busy in the summer.

Grabbed a quick cuppa and then it was off for our first adventure - the dogs' first ever boat trip. They even got their own tickets - well behaved dogs are allowed on for free. A 45 minute cruise out on the lake turned out to be a great way to admire the scenery.

Spotted a few places we'd like to live, but with house prices in the area what they are... I think even a tiny boathouse would be out of our price range. Plus, when the lake floods, it really floods. During the last major flood, it peaked at 7 1/2 feet above the normal level. The little building in the picture below if the Temple of Heroes, commemorating Admirals Duncan, Nelson, Howe and St Vincent. That 7 1/2 foot flood brought the water up to the bottom of the plaques bearing the names.

Safely off the boat, which pleased the older dog no end, we headed up the hill to grab a bite to eat, relishing the warm spring sun. And then on into the town to explore some more shops. As with Cartmel, some shops will allow dogs in so long as they behave, so the two of them had great fun sniffing around in La Galerie d'Art while I tried to choose just a couple of photo prints for my postcard wall.

A few more shops and then onto Kendal to while away what remained of the afternoon. We headed over the top out of Bowness, across fields full of sheep (and some very cute spring lambs), stopping briefly to let a flock of sheep cross the road, complete with sheepdog and a farmer with a red flag.

Oddly enough, we found only one place in Kendal making a big deal out of selling the famous Kendal Mint Cake. Ah well. It's a lovely stroll from the town centre across the river to the remains of Kendal Castle. This seems to be on common land (or maybe council land?) so is open access and it's free to wander around the ruins.

Just be aware that as with all good castles, you have to climb up a bloody big hill to get there. It's worth it though - look at the views from the top.

All in all, a great couple of days to start the trip. And still a couple of days to go!

Things to do:
Cartmel Food Market - 3rd Friday of the month, Cartmel
Windermere Lake Cruise - from £7.70 (adult), departs Bowness, Ambleside, Brockholes & Lakeside
Kendal Castle - free, Kendal

Travel with Dogs

After my trip to Wales with my mum, sister and my mum's dogs, I got to wondering what impact travelling with animals has on what you can do on a holiday.

The simple conclusion is that it really doesn't need to have much impact, providing you take a couple of things into account.

Point 1: You're probably going to be outside most of the day. Unless you can find a dog friendly shopping centre, museum or other attraction, you're going to have to find outdoor things to do.

Such things include the obvious: walking. Dogs love walking, right? My mum's definitely do - considering how short their legs are, they'll quite happily do 5 miles or more. And all that walking's good for you too. Grab yourself a good pair of walking boots and get out there.

Point 2: If it rains, you could end up stuck inside all day. Obviously, this depends how tolerant you and your dogs are of bad weather. Me, I'll go for a walk in the rain, at least for a while, without too much bother. Mum's dogs on the other hand... well, they won't even go outside to do their business if it's drizzling.

I've been on two holidays with Mum and the dogs now and they've been brilliant. We've had lovely long walks in the morning (when the weather's been good) and then a nice relaxed late afternoon/evening once we're all tired out.

Good for exercise, going on holiday with dogs. No choice but to get out walking because a) the dogs need it and b) there aren't many other options.

You get to see some gorgeous views, too. Aside from the cute dogs, obviously! And quite honestly, there are few more relaxing things than taking a nice long walk and then collapsing on the sofa afterwards with a sleepy dog curled up next to you.

Point 3: Consider your destination carefully. I think we can safely say that city breaks aren't suited for dogs for anything much more than a couple of days. Where are you going to take them? I doubt you're going to find much in the way of dog-friendly shops and museums. Parks are a good option, I suppose, but personally I'll take the open countryside over a park most days.

You're going to want to find dog-friendly accommodation too. Some providers like Forest Holidays (who we stayed with in November) have cabins especially for those with dogs and many holiday lets will allow well-behaved pets. Our cottage in Wales, on a little farm called Berth Fedw, was through Brecon Beacons Holiday Cottages, but there's plenty of other providers.

Basically, to end this slightly rambling post, having dogs with you shouldn't stop you from going away. Find a nice place to stay and enjoy the surroundings. Seriously, check out this view from Berth Fedw above Talgarth.

I think the ultimate sign of a good holiday with dogs is the fact that the dogs clearly enjoyed themselves. Even if they were knackered when we got back...