I haven't been getting out enough on my own this year. I work, I sleep, I watch bad television and firefight my life inbetween, with trips out with Hwsgo punctuating the exhaustion/ tedium of this. I live in a place where people like me don't naturally gravitate, and have to make an effort to find each other. And its making me really rather lonely. So having dedicated months of my life to sorting out parts of my life, I don't see why August should be allowed a relaxing beach holiday instead. I hereby dedicate August to rebuilding my relationships outside work and love. I'm going to visit friends I haven't seen for too long and try to contact those I've been too embarassed about my situation(s) to talk to. Heck, I'm even going to get myself out doing stuff so I can join the few like-minded souls around here. So that's a plan. Made a little easier/ more difficult by me being away for the first week of August (diving with friends: good for spending time with those friends, bad for having weekends to visit others). But a rough plan is...
- Finally get round to writing to my grandparents. I used to do this every month, but somehow I never had enough news, enough things to say to them to make them proud anymore. Sometimes people just want to know that you care enough to write and that's enough. It's easy to forget that.
- Visit Rob near Bristol (my longstanding invitation to help tame his new garden is in serious danger of turning into an invitation to view the finished garden complete with established trees). Whilst I'm there, drop a book back to my bearded friend, see his eco-roof and find out how Cap'n Jim and the gang are doing. Visit Vicky and Andy in Somerset on the way back.
- Write to Lynne via her parents. It's stupid: she lives a couple of miles from me (having lived round here all through the years that I was travelling) but we lost contact and she's the type of person who will and does take offence at not receiving a christmas card. And make sure I get Lynne and Tasha back together: Tasha had a rough time when her mum died and has been trying to make contact ever since.
- Consider dropping into Edinburgh for a weekend: I've messed up working at the Festival this year (double-booked it with my diving holiday), but that doesn't stop me from spending some time with the theatre-building crowd (Big Guy, Dave, Tom etc). Heck, even volunteer for the unbuild week?
- Get my bum up to Wolverhampton for the weekend. Spend more time with Lizzie. Visit Mal near Herefordshire on the way back (go for walk on the hills?).
- Make contact with Alastair and Rob in London. I worry about them both, and they haven't been around long enough to worry me even more than usual.
- Spend more time in the gym with S. a) we get fitter, and b) we spend some girl time together. Keep trying to get little S into the gym with us too. Go to some of the Fish parties.
- Get my paper addressbook in order and put all my numbers into my phone addressbook too, so I'm not in the situation of being near a friend's house but not being able to contact them again (so many of them are ex-directory).
- And contact (write, phone, visit) 2 people at least each week. This doesn't sound like much, but it all mounts up over time. I think I suggested something like this to someone else earlier this year: maybe I should look up this plan.
- Join in. Go to the local conservation group days (btcv, gatwick, canals) and get muddy. A week on Lundy is looking good at the moment: maybe I should suggest it to some of my more camping-friendly friends like Spiros and co. Get out with some groups: find a more traditional running group than the racing snakes at Crawley (where 7 minute miling is slow) consider hashing again, get out on the local CTC cycling trips. (all of these need me to get a bit fitter. Luckily that's one of my holiday plans. Along with fit into wetsuit better).
The time I have available for this plan? Well, every day on holiday I could write a postcard or two; and I may be away for the first weekend but it's a 5-weekend month so that leaves 4 weekends to plan for: 9-10, 16-17, 23-24, 30-31st August (although this may need to expand into September too). Although at least one of those should be dedicated to Hwsgo: I shouldn't neglect him whilst I'm reaching out again. And like all the other plans, a month should be enough to set patterns that work for the rest of my life again.
So yes, a plan. And something to do for myself for yet another month. Much more of this, and I'll be thinking I'm important to myself soon.
On a silly note for the day, I wrote a shopping list on my kitchen blackboard midway through writing this post. Halfway down, my subconscious nudged me: I noticed my handwriting was slightly spikier than usual, but it wasn't until the last line that I realised I was writing with my right hand instead of my (usual) left. Legible text, at normal writing speed: maybe I'm subconsciously switching?
No comments:
Post a Comment