Our Step Challenge #2

Hello there again everyone 😃

Last week I let you know about the 'step challenge' Martin and I had set ourselves for November. I know it may not sound like a particularly stretching challenge but believe you me ... for us ... a minimum of 2000 steps a day, every day, no matter what ... is no mean feat.

This week started out really well and, whilst we haven't given up, outside forces have made this weekend a real trial. Let me tell you all about it ...

Monday, 8th ... 2051

On Monday we had no particular reason to walk ... no errands to run, so it was a walk purely for walking's sake. We had another wander down to the local nature reserve, where the swans were more than happy to pose for a close up ...

Tuesday, 9th ... 2183

Tuesday was the day we were actually laying dad in his final resting place, so we started off with a walk in the cemetery where he'd chosen a nice spot. It was a lovely autumnal day and the cemetery actually looked lovely in its autumn colours. We made up the rest of our steps later in the day with a quick walk round the block in the sunshine when we got back home ...

Wednesday, 10th ... 3150

On Wednesday we had to pick up a parcel from our local sorting office, which is in walking distance. We turned it into a nice short circular walk, ending up coming back along the canal ...

Thursday, 11th ... 2874

Thursday's walk was made up from running errands ... a trip to Dunhelm to collect a delivery and a bit of shopping at Asda, where we parked as far away from the entrance as we could, which is a totally different thing for us ...

Friday, 12th ... 2390

We really had to force ourselves to make the effort for our walk on Friday. Our central heating boiler had finally given up the ghost. We had no heating and were due to have a new boiler fitted on Saturday morning. I think having no heating was making us just want to huddle in front of the fire. We had a short wander to Jackie and Phil's via a circuitous route ... 

Saturday, 13th ... 2656

I've just really realised that Saturday was the 13th, which, if you were superstitious, you could say was the reason for our mega stress of a day. After lots of issues, the new boiler finally was up and running, but we were left with a leaking mains stop tap, which just happens to be sited in a corner behind kitchen cupboards. It wasn't just a drip either, it was a pretty steady flow, and the plumber couldn't do anything until Monday evening. 

After the plumber had left, we decided to abandon everything and have our walk, hoping it would clear our heads a bit. We were both so stressed I didn't even remember to take a photo. 

When we got back, we spent ages working out how to catch the water until Monday. We managed to rig up a system to contain a certain amount of water and a friend came to the rescue with a wet and dry vac, so we could keep on top of things We finally sat down to eat at about 9pm ... thank goodness we'd just planned a very easy dinner.

Sunday, 14th ... 2073

It was another stressful morning mopping up and our friend came back to help take the kitchen cupboards apart to make things easier for the plumber on Monday. He then came back later with the family for Sunday lunch, which, in spite of the chaos, I hadn't wanted to cancel. I'm really glad we didn't as it took our minds off things water related for a while and we had a lovely lunch followed by some planning for our holiday in a few weeks. 

By the time they left it was dark and we really didn't feel like walking, but it seemed a shame to break our run, so we headed out for our first walk in the dark ...

So there we go ... another week and we've managed to do our 2000 steps each day. I'm quite proud really, though Martin is still finding it pretty tough on his recovering ankle and we don't seem to be managing to build the distance up much ... but at lease we are still going and haven't given up 😀

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