Back to reality…

I thought of taking a break of the military stories, take off the uniform and leave the gloominess of this time behind… I only covered the first four weeks of it in 4 different posts. It’ll take me ages to cover the whole year… Yeah, I know… The beginning is always most interesting than the rest. After a while you do get into a routine and not many interesting things happen…

Back to the real world, all is well in a snowy cold London. It’s been like that for almost a month now but I do enjoy it. OK, it wasn’t that fun when I got stuck in a train for three hours on Friday but it’s really fun playing with the snow, walking around… Am I the only one loving the sound of stepping into fresh snow? I really do love it…

The only major disadvantage that I find in the current climate conditions is related to running. How can you go running outside when there is snow / ice on the pavements and the temperatures are a little bit below zero? Having my ankle twisted or even broken is not my idea of fun… I am able to get up early and go to the gym before work, but I find running on a treadmill way too boring for me. I’m sorry, I don’t know how other people are doing it. I can see the same people day in, day out, putting a small towel on the treadmill to hide the time display and they can run for hours… I’ve tried it for a couple of times, but it really is a struggle. Unfortunately, my half marathon run for Cancer Research UK is in less than 2 months and I’m getting very stressed about it. I have a Google counter on my Homepage that counts the ‘Days Since…’. The ‘Days Since’ I did a proper outside run are almost 30! The counter now is in red color… I don’t think it can get any redder than that…


On the other hand, all things look good with JJ. We’ve established a schedule of meeting almost every other day. Yesterday I went to his for a very nice dinner but I didn’t stay over, because he was working today really early in the morning. He made me some pea soup for starter, boiled carrots, potato salad with pancetta, normal green salad and lamb with oven baked potatoes for main and ice cream for dessert! That man can really speak to my stomach (I mean heart)… I loved it…

Two things I want to mention.
First, JJ left his toothbrush in my place. Don’t laugh. That might mean nothing to people with long stable relationships or for those living with their other half. However, for me, that was the first. It’s the first time I’ve let someone leave something personal like that in my own space.
Do, I now have to make him some room in one of my drawers? I feel dizzy just by thinking about it… OK, I’m only kidding, but I catch myself sometimes looking at his toothbrush a little bit more… I’m in an actual relationship…


The second thing I want to mention is that he gave me one of his paintings. He likes to paint from time to time and occasionally he sells some of his works in galleries. So, at some point I was telling him about one of my favorite painters and one of his portraits that I love. So, I really don’t know how many hours he spent, but he actually made that painting for me, in his own unique way and style. I was speechless when he showed it to me. It’s brilliant… He’s actually making two and he will give to me the second one when finished…