My extraordinarily ordinary life!
I hate that I’m still ill. I hate that I can’t seem to shake this bug. I hate that my headache is constant and that I am not able to function properly. I am not a happy bunny!
The only bit of good news today is that Patisserie Valerie is opening in Colchester next.
Just venting.
A public transport system that you can depend on can certainly make or break a country. The public transport system in the Philippines is, sadly, almost non-existent because there doesn’t seem to be a system. So when I moved to the UK, I was so glad that there was a public transport system you could depend on. There were train schedules and you knew exactly how long your train journey was. There were bus schedules on bus stops, and you had to know which stop to wait for a bus so that you would get on the right bus. You could travel quickly around London by using the Tube and you knew, roughly, how long your journey from point A to point B would be. The staff at the train stations and on the trains were very professional and were often very pleasant and very helpful.
But as with all things, there is a price to pay. Since I moved to the UK, there’s been a fare hike for trains. And for me, it’s gone up a minimum of 4% every year for the past nearly 5 years that I’ve been in this country. In the beginning, I didn’t mind paying the fare but then I started noticing the cracks. Trains servicing our line were old, smelly and sometimes filthy (there would often be coffee and an assortment of food stains on the upholstery and the carpeting and if you were really lucky, there would be signs of vomit on the windows! Yuck, I know! And you’re only reading this, I have to travel on these trains!). The trains were delayed or there would be last minute cancellations. The excuses were hilarious sometimes, depending on the season: in winter, the usual excuse was that it was the wrong kind of snow to lay on the tracks; during the summer, I’ve heard them say that it was the wrong kind of heat! Last year, there would always be some kind of delay, some sort of signalling problem somewhere delaying my train to or from work. I didn’t mind so much the train ride home being late because it was the end of my day, but it would be such a hassle for the train service to be delayed in the mornings.
Now don’t get me wrong. I have it better now that I have had in the Philippines. The public transport system in the UK is far more organised. I would love it if my countrymen would be blessed with a public transport system even half as good as what people in the UK are now experiencing. Buses and bus companies that aren’t concerned with how many passengers they have on their buses, and focus more with following the speed rules and getting people from point A to point B safely but efficiently, traffic signs followed and not just put up for street decoration, proper bus stops and an MRT and LRT system that is even more efficient (although mind you, I have always enjoyed MRT rides, even when it was packed and I and my fellow commuters resembled sardines! Truth!).
I am not exactly ranting about the fare hike. I get it. For the improvements tha we want, we have to pay for it, even if the government subsidises a huge chunk of the developments that have been proposed. I get that developments cost and unfortunately, the government can’t foot the bill completely. But there is a part of me that wishes that the developments were more tangible, starting with a cleaner carriage, maybe? One that is less smelly? One that is less packed?
I renewed my season ticket today, mindful of the fare hike that was announced. January’s season ticket was £12.00 more expensive than last December’s season ticket, and I was pleasantly suprised that it wasn’t what I expected to be. I don’t mind so much because I understand the realities. But some part of me still wants to see a little bit more value for the money that I fork over to Greater Anglia each month.
As I get on the train each day to go to work, I’m hoping that I will notice the improvements. Because I want to see my money making some sort of difference to the quality of my daily commute.
…I stayed in bed! I thought yesterday was the worst with the D&V but today is even worse. I really felt ill today.
I know you’re probably sick of my whining about my illness but it helps me feel better when I write about how I feel. So unfortunately, I am going to witter on about my adventures in Norovirus land.
I mostly spent today in bed because I thought that if I stayed horizontal, I wouldn’t throw up. Mind you, I did wake up feeling horribly sick and I had to run to the loo to avoid being sick in bed (SORRY! Disgusting, I know!). While the dash to the loo was necessary, it was a big mistake. My head was pounding and the run to the loo made the pounding headache worse!
I had chicken soup for breakfast (I love this particulary chicken soup recipe. It’s meant to fortify ill people, or so the Chinese say. It’s got lots of ginger, chicken, chicken stock, goji berries and rice wine. You cook it until the chicken falls off the bone.) and then I went back to bed. I stayed there until about 2 in the afternoon and then I thought I might do myself some good by sitting up. I felt horrible the whole time and told myself that a shower would do me wonders. The whole showering process tired me out! Just the whole process of moisturising post-shower made my head swim and I had to pause in between stages. It’s helped me feel a lot less grotty and a hot shower always soothes.
But the fact still remains, I am still ill and the fact that I’m still throwing up means that the bug hasn’t passed yet! I wanted to go back to work on Monday but if I’m responsible, I’m not going to because I am most probably still contagious.
Mind you, I should probably just go to work and to heck with the people who are on the train with me. I probably got this bug from an irresponsible person who did not cover their mouth when the sneezed or coughed (This is a pet peeve so I’m getting off my soapbox before I start grandstanding about the need for people to think about infection control!). BUT I am better than that. I’m not going to infect the people at work.
I’m really tired of being ill though and at the rate of sounding redundant, I’m sick of being sick!
I have something viral (they didn’t want to say that I have the dreaded Noro virus aka the winter vomiting bug) and I have to wait 48 hours after the symptoms clear (also known as fever-diarrhea-vomiting) before I’m allowed to be let out amongst the humans. I am currently in the midst of trying to stop rushing to the loo (the D&V is horrible and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy!). What makes it worse is that because of the D&V, I’m not keeping in the meds I’m taking for 
diabetes and my blood sugar is sky-rocketing! The nurse tested my blood sugar levels (I couldn’t test it because my meter’s battery has drained and it happened during the worse moment!) and it was 17.9! The funny thing about my meds is one of the tablets does make you feel worse when you are ill! So for the meantime, I’m not to take metformin and just take the gliclazide.
Can I also say that I’m absolutely famished but can’t really eat anything because I can’t keep anything down at the moment except saltine crackers and water? So I’m ill, hungry and have a massive headache because I’m ill AND hungry. Such a vicious circle to be in. I’m thinking that I have to rethink my approach at taking care of myself and monitoring my diabetes better. I really need to have a food diary set up. I need to keep better track of my food and my blood sugar levels. First thing to do is order batteries for my meter! And that’s done so that’s a good start.
You’re probably wondering why I’m talking about this. I just wanted to vent and well, the adage that misery loves company is so true! I’m desperate for attention and sympathy!
The next few days are going to be really interesting.
But I’ll see you all on the other side!
Three days into the new year, I am ill again!
I woke up at some point in the wee hours of the morning shivering. Literally. I woke myself up because I was shaking from the cold so badly! I did try to go to work this morning. I dragged myself from bed, albeit feeling a bit light-headed because of the awful pounding in my head, placed myself under a hot-ish shower and washed myself clean. I performed the necessary morning ablutions, dried and styled my hair (as is necessary!) and attempted make up (mind you, I don’t put much on because I just moisturise, put on liquid foundation, finishing powder, put on eyeliner and a bit of lipgloss–my make up routine was much more complicated when I lived in the Philippines!). I got dressed and put on shoes, scarf and coat and was out the door on time (7:02AM on the dot!). I was about 100 yards from my flat when I realised that my head was pounding too much for me to function and that I genuinely felt horrible.
I made the decision to go back and dive back into bed. Thankfully, a ministering angel made me breakfast and a lovely bolstering cup of coffee and made me drink meds. I called in at 8:26AM and told myself not to feel guilty about being ill. If you’re ill, you’re ill and you’re better off at home and not infecting anyone else—whatever this is!
I’m hoping I can shake this bug and that all I need is one day in bed. There are too many things that need to get done!
The year is nearly over…my laptop clock reads 23:16. I’m not really feeling super but I’m so staying up and watching the fireworks from London. If I lived near Southbank…heck, if I lived in London, I’d be soooooo there, braving the crush of the crowds (and I have a slight phobia of crowds, so me braving any sort of crowd is a huge thing!), the cold and quite possibly the rain!
Most people spend the day contemplating the events of the year, what they’ve done, what they haven’t, what the wanted to do. I’ve spent most of the year wanting to shout out “Stop the world, I want to get off!” My year has been excessively busy with a shedload of events and lots of traveling from one end of the UK to the other. A lot of people will be looking back at their year with regret because there are things they would have wanted to not do and I did sit and think about my 2012. I looked at everything that’s happened and I asked myself whether if I regretted anything. I’m glad that I am able to say that I do not have any regrets. Not a one. Well, maybe just the one: not being able to go home. That’s the biggest regret really of the past 3 years. I haven’t been able to go home. Apart from that, I really wouldn’t want to change anything. Because I think I came into my own in 2012. I’ve learned a lot about who I am, what I can do, what I can take, how far I’ll go to achieve things, what I’m willing to sacrifice.
I can look at the mirror and smile at myself again. Really smile at myself. Because I know who I am now, I know exactly what I’m worth and I know I won’t settle and I won’t allow myself to be underappreciated.
2012 has flown by, with its share of joys and heartaches, with its bouts of being too busy to think and days when homesickness was heart-rending. But I’m glad for the quick passage of time. I often found myself marvelling at how quickly the year was passing by. But in a way, I was also grateful for it. Not being able to think for being busy can be quite the blessing.
So at 23:50, I will end this entry with a poem by Joanna Fuchs. The next entry will be tomorrow, in 2013!
I’m writing this in a state of shock,
Watching the clock—tick tock, tick tock,
Advancing, approaching, relentlessly,
A brand new year; Oh, can it be?The calendar says the same thing, too;
Time races, vanishes for me; Boo hoo!
No, wait! If time flies, I’m having fun!
A year of fun! It’s gone! It’s done!I now embrace the blur of time,
Because it simply means that I’m
Too busy with pleasure, joy, delight
To mourn the passing days’ swift flight.So I’m wishing you fast, happy days,
Pleasuring you in myriad ways,
Filled with happiness and cheer,
Oh Happy, Happy Bright New Year!
I finally have my reading list for 2013 (HURRAH!). The goal is to read these books, and add a few more. Although, the first book in my list is fairly ambitious, even when you factor in the fact that I do read parts of it everyday as part of my daily devotion!
This is my reading list for 2013:
I wanted to make sure that I read books by authors that I’d never read before but I couldn’t resist adding a Philippa Gregory book because I love her books so much! I’ve discovered that I love historical fiction and this was all because I started reading PG’s books. I started with The Other Boleyn Girl and was hooked!
Some of the books on the list are already on my Kindle and have been languishing there for ages. I haven’t had the opportunity (and if I’m honest, most of the time, the inclination to read! Bad, I know!) to read them yet, so to encourage (read: prod me with a red-hot fireplace poker!) me to read them, I’m adding them to my list.
One book a month, except the Bible because I plan to read that everyday, although the Bible is still on my list of 12 books. There are 1189 chapters in the Bible and 365 days in a year. If I read 4 chapters a day, I’ll finish reading the Bible from cover to cover. Big ask, yes, very definitely. But I am determined to achieve this particular goal because, as a Christian, I am determined to be able to say that I’ve read the bible. Properly!
As they say, each approaching new year prompts people into a frenzied goal-setting mindset. My goal is simply to read more. I’ve always loved to read. It’s just giving my reading a little direction!
So the goal for the holidays, really, was to make stollen from scratch. I made stollen once before, but it was from a Mary Berry mix. Everything was prepped for me so all I had to do was mix everything up. I was determined to find a recipe I could follow that was as close to Mary Berry’s as possible. I searched for a stollen recipe but suprisingly couldn’t find one in my numerous books (to be completely honest, I didn’t really look very far! Ha!). But as luck would have it, Edd Kimber’s book Say It With Cake has a wonderful recipe for stollen.
I added a little tidbit: I soaked the dried fruits in brandy overnight. Makes for an interesting taste. It called for nuts in the recipe, but I didn’t have any to put in so I did without that. And because I like my marzipan spread through out the bread instead of in a big lump in the middle, I rolled my marzipan flat so that it would be distributed throughout the loaf.
I was quite surprised at the size of the stollen though. It came out bigger than I thought! But it did look so pretty when it was dusted with icing sugar!
I was quite pleased with how it’s turned out. The stollen came out beautifully! Am now not too afraid to make breads, aided of course by my Kenwood chef (obviously not paid advertisement, although, I would love it if Kenwood took notice and gave me free stuff! Ha!). I wanted to learn how to make stollen mostly because of my dad. He talks about the time when his entire family lived in Vienna and stollen eventually filters into the conversation. It has always been a dream to bake something that reminded my father of happy times with his parents and siblings. A few more practice sessions so that I can develop my own take on stollen! But until then, Edd Kimber’s recipe with my own tweaks to it will do me just fine!
The turkey we bought could have easily fed 10 people (or so it says on the packaging!). So our tiny fridge is filled to the brim with leftover turkey and the trimmings: roasted potatoes, carrots and parsnips, steamed brussel sprouts and lots of beautiful gravy (I say beautiful because all the skin and bones from the chicken thighs purchased in the past have been languishing in my freezer for the sole purpose of making amazing gravy for Christmas! The gravy was in a word BEAUTIFUL!). I’ve made a beautiful turkey and leek pie from the leftover stuff before but my favourite leftover standby recipe really is turkey hash. This is definitely a no-brainer.
You simply dice the leftover turkey meat, potatoes, carrots and parsnips and slice the brussel sprouts in half. Dice a large onion and you’re ready to go. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil (olive or vegetable, it doesn’t really matter) and sauté the onions until they are transluscent. Add the turkey meat and stirfry until the meat is heated through. Add the chopped vegetables and stirfry until the vegetables are heated through. Add a cup of frozen peas, although this is optional. Pour about 2 cups of gravy (if you have it, although one cup will do beautifully). Stir until the gravy is mixed through properly. Salt and pepper to taste. I add a liberal sprinkling of tabasco sauce to add a kick to the hash. I think the spicy tabasco sauce helps kickstart you the morning after a healthy helping (or two) of Christmas Day feasting. Cook for a further 10 minutes until everything is piping hot and serve.
It might not be a pretty dish but it certainly is a tasty and brilliant way to use up leftover turkey, roasted veg and gravy!
Christmas will always require celebration for me. I grew up with my mum drumming into me how important Christmas is, how important it is to celebrate the occasion of Christ’s birth. Growing up in church has made Christmas a more spiritual occasion. It was all about the birth of the Saviour, the Word being made flesh. It has always been the day of the year that reminds me most of God’s love, grace and mercy. That’s why, no matter how small, Christmas had to be celebrated, there had to be a tree, there had to be decorations to celebrate it, there had to be presents to share and there had to be a Noche Buena at midnight! There should always be an effort to be made for Christmas because all the gift giving and all the food preparation is part of the celebration. It is one of , if not the most important days in the Christian calendar.
Whatever you do today, however you celebrate the season, whatever your faith, have a wonderfully happy and very blesssed Christmas!
Yellywelly 