I’m a loner, Dottie, a rebel

I spend quite a bit of time rattling round this big old flat by myself in the week when el chappo is away with work and I’m not working/gymming/swanning around the town being fabulous.

I had quite a bit of practice at keeping myself occupied when I had my own flat and became a master of spending time wisely (although not always productively). I am a firm believer in the phrase ‘If you’re bored then you must be boring too’ (courtesy of the lovely Piebald) and I honestly think I’ve never got to a point where I’ve really been bored. There’s always something to do!

Anyway, I thought I’d compile my list of essentials for keeping oneself sane when living alone.

A good book or two (currently re-reading All my best friends are superheroes):

Awesome records (currently playing The Wedding Present):

Cups of tea (and sometimes, just sometimes, coffee. I’m not at work now):

Something to write stories in (It’s coming along nicely):

Lots of internet (all the sixes, clickety click):

A Labbit for company (rrrrrraow):

Nice things to think about:

That’s about all you need.

#oneaday 134: Chess before beer…

Today, we spent the afternoon playing chess. I got royally whooped, probably something to do with the fact that I’m:

a) Not very good at chess, and
b) Not very good at chess.

Whilst I spend a while reading up on how to beat le chap, why not enjoy some chess-based internet drawing wisdom from my all-time favourite web comic, Toothpaste For Dinner:

 

 

Do you play chess? How can I learn to be better at it? I’m sure I used to be fairly okay at it, and I once spent an entire two weeks in Greece drinking brandy and playing it for hours and hours every night. Maybe the brandy was the clue. I shouldn’t play it with a cup of tea on a bank holiday Monday afternoon and should instead only venture into the world of chess when I can be sure that my opponent is sufficiently intoxicated.

P.S. I’ve filed this under ‘gaming’ – does that work?

#oneaday 112: Reasons to be cheerful

I haven’t done a ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ post for a while, so I decided to do one to cheer myself up as I’m feeling full of man flu.

Reasons to be cheerful.

1. Cups of tea

Makes absolutely everything seem okay. And when you’re ill, other people make them for you. Score.

2. La familia

It was my nephew’s 1st birthday on Sunday, and on Saturday I went to visit him, my god daughter and her brother. We sat in the garden and played in the paddling pool, soaking up the sun and eating ice lollies. Good family times.

3. Spending an entire week with le chap

This might not seem like a big event, but as my beloved spends the working week down in London and I work up in glorious Yorkshire, we only normally get a couple of days a week together. So it’s been nice to have both booked those three days off in between the bank holiday so we get to spend a bit of QT together. Going to plan some nice days out, maybe go to the coast and watch a few bands together. Hurrah! Benrik would be proud of us.

#oneaday 22: Reasons to be cheerful

Today’s reasons to be cheerful is dedicated to anyone going through a hard time right now. Here’s my fail-safe recipe for turning that frown upside down:

 

Friends

Yes, I do mean actual real-life people who you like spending time with, because they’re great. But it works on two levels (I’m dead complex) because I also mean THIS:

Near life experience

Today at work I had a near-death experience. No, really.

Okay, well maybe not really.

But it was quite scary.

 

Erm, the first one, please

 

Reasons to be cheerful #2

Here is a list of things that have lifted my spirits of late…

Having tea with friends

… Including the chap who keeps a rather nice blog over at Mount Analogue.  I had virtual tea and a natter via email with another friend today too (mainly because he lives as far away as is humanly possible without leaving the country) but his one a day updates are also worth a read .

I like mine Neue 45 light. No sugar.