Woke up feeling decidedly glum this morning. Despite my avowed love of February, the truth is it’s starting to drag. For the third day in a row Storm Ciara rages, the weather out there continues to sound windy and wet and from the haven of my centrally-heated bedroom it feels decidedly cold.
I’ve got a quiet week work-wise, which should be a good thing, but my carefully crafted routine is feeling just a bit too, well, routine. There’s only so many days you can get pleasure out of doing the same thing, walking to the gym, doing the treadmill, talking to the same people, eating the same food, gardening … day after day.
To break the monotony, I spent part of yesterday thinking about going on a day trip somewhere. I quickly ruled out going by car – there’s simply nothing pleasant about motorway driving in the UK, the congestion, lorries, speed and with me being based in the Midlands they are unavoidable
Train destinations
Instead I researched where I could get to by train and the truth is there was simply nowhere new to go which doesn’t involve hours of sitting on a train or hanging about in cold, gloomy stations waiting for connections. By the time I arrived it would be time to head home.
The only alternative is going further – Cornwall, Scotland, the Welsh coast – and staying somewhere overnight but I didn’t really fancy going all that way on my own. With Mrs Jones, other family members and the few friends I’d consider spending more than a few hours with all working full-time that would be my only option.
Then there’s abroad which, of course, would involve even more time away and with all of Europe still in the grip of winter there’d be no guarantee of better weather.
Place in the sun
Maybe it’s time to review this whole routine thing and vary my week some more. Maybe I need more time away, it’s true we’ve got plenty of holidays booked with the next one in a couple of weeks but there’s a whole world out there and I feel like I’m missing out.
At times like this I really do wish I could afford a property abroad, somewhere different and sunnier to be based which would bring with it a set of new places to explore.
That’s not going to happen though any time soon, maybe never, which makes a trip to the local tip as the today.
Having said I have to admit that a tip trip does bring with it a certain amount of perverse pleasure. After all it’s another big step in my long-term goal of decluttering and there’s something strangely satisfying about recycling.
It’s good to find pleasure in the mundane, but as I’m discovering there is a limit!