Andy's Blog

There is a lot to love about Spring finally sprunging [sic] its way onto the scene; the sun warming us itinerant t-shirt wearers, the blossoming of tulips and other flowery things, the sweet twittering of birdies, the tinkle of ice-cream vans as they slowly reappear after a lengthy hibernation, hot air balloons making their lazy way across the sky, yay even the ridiculously D&G bespeckled mid-life crisisee in his open top cabriolet gives one pause to snigger smile…

..and thus was I skipping through the daisies in a merry old mood, or less poetically strolling through Corley Service Station on the M6 after filling up the horseless carriage with liquid gold (or at least that’s what I hoped it was after I paid over a small mortgage), when my eyes did fall upon the less welcoming aspect of Spring’s sprunging.

Bent over double in front of me as I entered the shop, and searching through the sweets on the bottom shelf, was a pair of leggings.  Leggings stretched to a thin almost eye-wateringly see-through veneer.  Pale, cream coloured leggings, which were slowly coming up for air from betwixt the cheeks of a very VERY generously proportioned set of but-tocks.

Unfortunately the desperately escaping leggings also brought up a memento of their explorations of the inner workings of their host.

There is a moment when you feel as one with the bunny rabbits as they stare, frozen, at the oncoming headlights.

It was at this moment, of frozen horror, that some joker walking behind me looked over and, with (I hope) sarcasm, lets out a loud wolf whistle and exclamation of “Phwoar! Nice arse luv!”.. before continuing his journey onto wherever.

I looked in almost stunned admiration at his rapidly retreating frame, I would never have the balls to make THAT kind of statement.  It was then that I noticed that the bunny killing headlights were now smiling towards ME!

I don’t think I knocked over too many women and children in my hasty exit, I think I may have confused many more with my “roll on Winter” comment…

Spring has finally sprung, at least for a little while, here in Northampton.  To make the most of the sun actually being up in the sky *and* warm, I decided to forgo the usual swim at lunchtime and instead go for a long slow walk along the River Nene.

Shades on, jacket off, shirt sleeves rolled up, iPhone cranked up listening to Hoobestank, best foot forward and don’t stop until either the music runs out or I get somewhere I don’t recognise.  It’s a good strategy, although you have to make sure your chain of command isn’t around to question the hour of your return… it is called a ‘lunch hour’ for a reason… apparently.

The walk along the river does give time to look back, review and plan ahead.  A kind of mental spring cleaning.  I think it’s certainly time to step back from those things that are causing pain, as they have already done, and stop stalking ideals.

The resolutions are going fairly well too, with the following updates;

Get Fit
Apart from a small period of time with the bust finger, I have managed to get to the gym on a fairly regular basis so far.  Weights in the morning, swimming during the lunch break.

Thankfully my weight has actually started dropping and I am now under the 80kg mark!  The unfortunate side affect of this is trousers that now have a habit of migrating South, which is not clever when you have your hands full at the time.

Two Belts
I am sooo close to my next belt I can almost taste it, however I still need to sort out some stuff before I get the elusive strip of coloured fabric.  Somewhat frustrating, probably as much to my Sensei as it is to me!

Get Offline
My usage of MSN and facebook, very recently, has dropped to very minimal levels.  Some of this is due to circumstance, but I took it as an opportunity; every silver lining has a cloud… or words to that effect. 

Looking forward to the days getting a little longer so I can start getting the mountain bike out and around the Country Park, in the evenings, with some mates.  Definite spring developing in the step, even if it is in the wake of a winter in metaphorical terms as well as seasonal.