New beginnings?

I’m not really sure where to start. I can’t even remember where I left it off. So, bear with me till I figure this out. This is the fourth or fifth attempt at beginning to write this. I have even finished two other posts during the last month that I didn’t upload. I don’t really know why. At one hand, I miss writing. At another, I don’t want to write a couple of posts and then fail to continue. Anyway, I will keep on writing and see where this leads.

 Please? Give me a treat or take me for a walk! Anything will do

The thought crossed my mind of leaving blogger and moving to another platform. I could really start fresh and create a site on either tumblr or wordpress. From what I can see though, tumblr is mostly used to share things (images, videos, gifs) and for small posts. I think it’s very easy to use but it has a ‘tweeter’ and pinterest feel to it. Wordpress is something I’d like to investigate. My main problem is of course continuity. I wouldn't like to lose my previous posts and being able to refer to them. Yes, I can simply create simple links to blogger from wordpress, but I’d like to ask you whether there is a way to do something better? Have any of you moved from blogger to wordpress?

Having a coffee with the acropolis as our background.

Generally, we’re all doing great. I started a new job a bit more than a month ago in the City that I really enjoy. I managed to find something that pays better, but demands less. I’m not managing a team anymore which is weird because I kind of miss being part of the decision making team and mentoring people. But I lead a far less stressful life. I no longer spend my working days in long meaningless meetings but still stay long hours and work weekends to keep up with demanding projects. And talking about being underpaid; the role I am now is in theory more junior, but still pays better than before.

JJ was the one that commented the difference the change of jobs did to me. We were in a coffee place where the service wasn't the best and the food we were served was slightly burnt. I didn’t really make a fuss about it. I got slightly annoyed but got over it quite quickly. JJ said that if the same incident happened a couple of weeks earlier, it would have annoyed me much more. I don’t think I had anger management issues, but a stressful work life is definitely reflected on someone’s everyday life. I’m happy to say that I’m in a much happier place now. I feel a bit sorry for JJ having to put up with me, really.

Speaking of which, JJ is doing very well, so does our little Penny. Next month, it will be a whole year that she will be living with us and it’s been amazing. She’s the best dog in the world (yes, the whole world). She’s been so much easier than I feared she would be. We even managed to sort her out during some small holidays we had earlier this year.

Sweet Sixteen – A letter to my 16 year old self

Recently, Stephen Chapman in his blog (here) wrote a post (here) that included a letter he could write to his 16^th year old self. I found that post quite intriguing and I decided to do the same. What would I write to my 16 year old self?

Dear Me,

You're 16 and in what the Greeks call lyceum, right after high school and before university, and the year is 1997. You're dating 'her' for the second year and you've already started getting ready for the national exams for a university place. Last summer you visited your brother doing his MBA in London and fallen in love with the city. You're planning to go there, maybe for a post graduate degree, and stay to work and live a different life that offered in your little home town. I don’t want to give away too much. You know the whole time travel conundrum. But I can only tell you at the moment at that’s a really good plan and stick to it!

Not everything will go according to plan. It never does. You’ll get some ups and some downs. That’s basically life. However, you’ll see how it all gets better, oh, so much better. Your problem is that you worry too much, about almost everything! Sometimes, you get a thought on your head and you blow it out of proportions. Take you military service for example. You hear your cousin’s stories on his military service and you freak out so much that you lose your sleep over it for a couple of days. You fear that they’ll find out your big secret (oh, I’ll get back to that later don’t worry) and be horrible punished for it. But you know what? You’ll join the army in February 2005! That’s 8 years away! Why worry about it already? And the amazing thing is that it all goes well. Yes, it’s tough at times, but think that apart from you there are hundred newbies going through the same process. It will all be fine! You’ll see. And think that after that’s done, you might be free to apply to a British university! Just, think of that!

The other more important thing that keeps you up at nights, that also makes you cry to sleep, is the fact that you’re gay. Yes, you are. It will take time to sink in. You will remain in denial for some time and keep on dating women for years to come. In the meantime, you will spend nights wondering ‘why me? Why had this to happen to me?’ Well, the truth is that nobody’s living an easy life. Everybody has issues and problems. Yes, even that George Clooney you’re watching in the reruns of ER. He might be good looking, famous and wealthy. But I’m sure his life is not a never ending joyride. So, in a way, what I’m trying to say is quit worrying and the self-pity and start doing something about it. You’ll see, it’s nowhere near as bad. You’re so lucky and blessed. You’ll see that you have friends to support you, even family! Yes, you will tell them about it! Stop screaming in shock. It will happen and everything will start getting better. Your brother is an amazing person and far more understanding than you give him credit for. No, I don't need to know about those CDs he took from you at the moment.

Your life is not perfect. You will be heartbroken at times (like everybody) but you will find your place in the world. It might take some time (and maybe some tears), but hang in there. You’re even luckier than older generations because during your time internet will take over and things will be simpler and easier. It might sound weird, but people start meeting through online dating websites or chat channels like mIRC. Believe me when I say that you’ll get your confidence and you might be a bit popular at times with men. It might take a while and it might happen in later age than other people, but it will happen. Be positive.

Another thing, and please do it for me, try to pay a bit more attention in gym class. I know it’s really not your thing. And I know it’s easier to play your computer games and read your horror or sci-fi books. But there could be a way to do both? We’re never slim and we never were really fit. But, if you try a bit harder at the age you are, it might be a bit simpler for me now, trying to make up for all the lost years!  

To sum things up, I’d like to tell you that you shouldn't worry that much about everything. You're doing a great job growing up. You have lots of great friends that you will keep for decades to come. You have a supporting family. It will be great. At believe me, you'll love being a university student. But you shouldn't worry about things that are out of your control. You can’t make everybody like you and there are some thing you simply can't change. Just learn how to best bet on the hand you're given. Ah, try to spend some more time with your grandparents. They won't be around for that long. Also, I know you won't like it but keep studying as hard as you do. It will open some doors for you in the future, maybe including a one way ticket to go to live abroad and have a wonderful life.

Home Owner / Land Owner

We did it!!! I’m not sure exactly how, but we did it. And it happened all so fast! When I wrote my last post I had the property pretty much written off. We were still negotiating the price, but there was a gap between what the bank said they’d offer and what the vendor said he wanted. So, we pulled off completely. That’s when I wrote the last post. We weren’t in the position to offer him in cash the asking difference. 

However, he must have been in need for cash quickly because he agreed! He agreed on the money offered to us by the bank, which matches the surveyor’s evaluation. We received that phone call on Sunday the 20^th of October, the day that JJ was flying back to Cape Town to visit his family. We were over the moon. We opened a bottle of champagne and everything. Following Monday we gave the order to our solicitor and mortgage advisor to go ahead.

We can now call this our own (in 25 years).

That’s when the thriller started. On Wednesday of the same week the vendor changed his mind! He said that we’re taking things too slowly (rubbish excuse) and put the property back in the market! There is absolutely no way that a bank can approve a mortgage and the contracts to be created in two to three days! That’s completely unrealistic. He probably thought he could get more money from the property and got more than one real estate agents and put the property back on the market. He even tried to find tenants to rent it! Both I and JJ from South Africa were on the phone with our solicitor and bank trying to sort things out. I can’t point out enough how stressful these weeks have been. We could see the place online on offer. We were also pretty much harassed by our estate agents to hurry up, since they didn’t want to lose the sale to the competition. 

Anyway, on Friday the 1^st of November we got the report. On Monday the 4^th we exchanged contracts and Tuesday the 12^th we completed. For those of you familiar with the property market, you would understand how fast that is! At some point I thought that there could be a bad reason and the vendor is pushing things so quickly. However, we got the property on the exact price that was evaluated which I think doesn’t happen often.  We got it around 11.3% less than the preliminary agreed price, which was already £15k less than the first asking price. We can’t really complain.

And the place is perfect. It was built in the 30’s. It has some really nice features like cute little wooden doors and fireplaces in every room. It has 2 to 3 bedrooms, the third one is very small and could be a study or boudoir. It needs some TLC because it was rented and the tenants didn’t really took care of it, but that’s exactly what we wanted. We wanted to put our own stamp on it and make it our own. So, we’re planning on moving in the following weekend. We’ll try to fix things in the house before then and try to prepare it for our arrival! Exciting stuff!!!

So, that’s what’s been happening. I’m very sorry I lost contact recently with you guys. I haven’t read or commented on almost anything. I hope I haven’t missed something ground breaking. If I have, please excuse me. I’m not sure how I’ll manage to catch up and how often I’ll keep on posting, but I plan on returning when the dust settles down. 

500th Post

This is my 500th post that I upload to my blog! Yay me! I somehow made it this far! I started this blog back in August 2009. My life was so different then! I can’t even start to count all the major changes that happened in my life since then, but I can easily sum it up and same that I’m in such a happier place now.

To be honest, I was postponing this post. I wanted it to occur with the final agreement on our house purchase. I wanted to happily announce that everything went smoothly and even slightly complain a bit about having to start packing now. I had it all in my head already. I can be a bit of an attention seeker that way and whine when I get the chance. I’m writing a blog if you haven’t noticed.

However, things didn't work out exactly like that. The bank that was supposed to provide us with a mortgage estimated the value of property less than the asking price. We knew that the asking price was a bit high but we had decided to accept it, even if it might harm the investment value of the property. In a couple of years and with the improvements of the property we had in mind, we would definitely catch up. The bank didn't see it that way though. They refused to give us more money than their estimate. So, since we can’t cover the difference we’re most likely losing the place. At the moment the estate agents, who appear to be extremely surprised at the low bank estimation, are trying to negotiate with the seller and the bank. But to be honest, I can’t see the vendor agreeing to that price, since the estate agents made him believe that he could make so much money from the property.

I’m feeling a bit disappointed to be honest. It’s not going to be the end though. We’ll start viewing more properties soon and I believe we’ll find what we’re looking for. We learnt a lot during the last couple of months with all this. The property market can be vicious, but so can we.  

Inspiration

Mark from behrblather asked me, not so long ago, where do I find the motivation and go and do my runs. Although I mentioned something on my reply then, I’d like to elaborate a bit more.

Recently, I’ve been having a newfound interest in getting fitter and doing beneficial physical things, for me. It hasn’t always been easy and I definitely have a long way to go still. However, I believe that I’m in a good place at the moment with a good momentum, which I hope to keep for some time yet. I try to get motivation on things I read and check online. I managed to find some inspirational videos and blogs online close to the period of time I retrieved my running shoes and I haven’t looked back since.

Finding very good looking and fit people, who might or might not be celebrities, does nothing to me. It’s not inspiring. Jason Stratham for example shows off his 6pack on the cover of ‘Men’s Health’. That photo to me might be really nice but it remains so alien. It will not make me do more core exercises to look similar. I know it can never happen. He lives a very different life to mine and gets paid just to look like he does. I can’t compare myself to him. So, reading about his exercise regime and diet is really and utterly irrelevant.

On the other hand, there are lots of people online who share their stories which I can relate to. They are people with everyday jobs, social life, ups and downs, like every other normal human being. These (mostly) success stories are truly inspirational and help me get through tough periods.


The first one I’ll mention is BendoesLife. Ben has been writing a blog for some years now. He started off as an obese youngster, depressed and miserable. At the beginning he couldn’t run almost at all, but through the years he managed to complete marathons, a triathlon and an Ironman. Recently he got married and looks so happy. Going through his blog, you can see the before and after pictures, respect his honesty, enjoy his humour and even see some of the mistakes he made and his lows. I accept the fact that he’s trying to commercialise his blog success with ‘doeslife’ merchandise and book, but I still like what he stands for. There is optimism in what he says. I think there's also a youtube video with his story.

Through the people commenting on his blog, I read some more success stories of everyday people who managed to turn their lives around for the better. If you really look for them in tumlr, wordpress or blogger, you will be able to find them, in lots of places like here or here or here.

Looking for better ways to jog and to find local running events, I joined runnersforum.co.uk. One of the threads published there is titled: ‘Before and after weightloss pics’. That thread contains so many inspirational stories from people of various background, sex or age. Take a look at a random example:

 andydw before

after
 

In the same forum, there are lots of beginners. It’s not that hard to start and there is lots of advice on offer. You can simply start by doing brisk walks and then advance to short runs and see how it goes. Lots of people also used apps like C25k, or even the new ones where zombies try to catch you.

I went for a run yesterday evening. I’ve been listening to Stephen King’s ‘The shinning’. That was one of his books I hadn’t read, but always liked to. It’s been an interesting read while running.

Reading material

Recently I finished reading a book called ‘Before I go to sleep’. I think it was a best seller here and in the USA. It’s highly enjoyable and well written. It’s about a woman with amnesia, trying to cope with her life and discover her past. There are some secrets buried there and not many things make sense to her. I’m not giving out any big spoilers, but a huge part of the book is about the importance of memory and life experiences. It’s about how our personal history, choices and familiarities really define us and our personalities, that, and the importance of the heroine’s diary. That diary is her source of information and doorway to her past, the same way our blogs sometimes are for us.

I don’t generally have a good memory. I forget dialogs, names and situations. However, I’m happy to have this blog and being able to go back, at least for the last 3 years that I’ve been writing, to check about events and people from my past. I hope to be able to keep on writing, even if I have changed since then and my writing with me. Its nice taking trips back in memory lane for a short while, in order to refresh some memories and relive situations.

I’m in the process of creating some new memories of a lifetime by travelling to Africa in a few days. I’ve done my first round of sorting out things I’ll take with me, last weekend. It’s fascinating separating summer clothes again like t-shirts, shorts and bathing suits when it’s so cold outside, here in London. It will be weird going from 2 degrees Celsius to 30 in two days. Most likely I’ll get a cold when I get back. Hopefully, not when I’m there...

I also spent part of my weekend reading about South Africa and watching youtube videos regarding the places we will visit, including the Elephant Park. If we manage to see some of the things I’ve reading/watching it will so great. ‘JJ’ bought a proper SLR camera as well and spent the last days learning in detail how to use it.

Going back to some of my older posts of this blog, I found out that I used to post various cartoon strips, like Garfield. So, in order to fight this Monday’s blues, here are some cartoons:

 

3 years old!

Last week marked my 3rd anniversary since I created this blog! 3 years! For some of you that is probably next to nothing, but I have to admit I’m glad with myself. I generally have a short attention span and I sometimes get quickly bored with stuff or hobbies. However, I managed to stick to this blog. I’m probably not writing the way or as frequent as I used to, but things have changed and this is a recreational activity and I intend to keep it this way.

There are some bloggers I’ve ‘met’ through these years that started round about my time but have left the blogosphere already. Sometimes blogging is not easy. This is the 3rd document I’m writing which I hope I’ll post. The other two are either left just before being finished or are finished but I didn’t have the time to post them and they are now a bit out of date. These things happen though. Sometimes life gets in the way.

Thinking about it, my life has changed so radically these last 3 years. Unintentionally, I started this blog a month before I came out to my parents, 3 months before I met ‘JJ’ and a couple of years before I moved in with him. I’ve also changed my career since then. When I started this blog it was mostly about my dating adventures and afterwards trying to fit in a new relationship. The only constant thing in my life during these is my friends and family. I’m blessed to be surrounded by people all these years that stayed with me through various periods.

200th post

I’ve successfully managed to reach 200 posts and 50 followers! Compared to other people it’s nothing, but I am all very happy. I really do appreciate the comments I’m receiving, my followers and the people I meet through blogging.


I’m leaving you with some eye candy from various websites and categories. It’s not X-rated (I’m not having that kind of blog) and I have to say that I suffered browsing the internet to find these pictures. Oh, the things I have to go through in research’s name…

1 year anniversary!

A year ago from tomorrow, I created my first blog and posted for the first time some of my thoughts! A long has changed since then. I managed to create around 183 (this is my 184th) posts of various things. In that year, I came out to my parents, started some relationships, ended most of them (apart from the last one), had some disastrous dates, had some nice nights out, went on vacation, finished my first half-marathon and many more. It was this time of the year, last summer when I first came across some blogs that I enjoyed so much reading that gave me the idea of starting something of my own.

Of course I don’t consider myself to be an experience blogger, or writer. I still have so much more to experience and check. Unfortunately, most likely tomorrow I will not be able to post anything since I will be underwater in a lake somewhere, trying to be able to see what’s in 2 meters in front of me while struggling to stay warm. I know, it sounds like so much fun!

Anyhow, I’d really like to thank anyone that visited, read or commented on my blog very much. I'm sorry if I failed to reply to some of your comments, I try to reply to each and every one of them to show at least my appreciation that you went into the trouble of writing them. It’s been a wonderful year in the blogosphere. It’s so nice having some new e-friends.

Thank you so much – Σας ευχαριστώ πολύ.

xxx

Knowledge…

I’ve kept the existence of this blog as a secret to most of my friends. It’s not like I have something to hide, it’s just too personal sometimes to share and to be honest it doesn’t concern them. I can count the number of my friends who knows about it with the fingers of my left hand (I use my right hand to count).

I told however ‘JJ’.

A couple of months ago I met a fellow blogger (I haven’t spoken to him in ages, I hope he’s on vacation somewhere nice or something) and I was supposed to meet another (which unfortunately I didn’t). During that period I was already dating ‘JJ’ for 6 months and I never mentioned the blog to him. Don’t ask me why. I do not know. It’s not like I posted something about him that I wanted to hide, or that I am not open to him about my past experiences.

So, at some point, I told him that I have a confession to make. His first reaction was to get really worried as he normally does but when I told him that I write a blog he was relieved but curious about it. He asked me why I write it. I told him that it’s an online journal where I chat and “meet” fellow bloggers. He had a list of questions to ask me like if it is anonymous, if I write about him, if I have too many followers, how long I’ve been doing it etc. I tried to answer to his questions honestly and I could see that he was relieved that the blog is anonymous without a million of followers!


The next step of conversation was about whether he should read it or not. I had decided to tell him about the blog but I hadn’t really decided about whether I should give to him the URL or not. I wanted to see his reaction first. I could see that he was very curious about it. There was that sparkle in his eyes that he gets when he wants to be mischievous. It would be like opening my drawers and going through my stuff to look for hidden ‘treasures’.

After debating about it with himself for a while he decided that this expression of my feelings should be private. He believed that if I knew that he might be reading, I would write about things differently, even unconsciously, ruining the whole experience. So, on his own, he told me that he doesn’t want to read my blog but he’s happy that I told him about it. Sometimes I can’t help but think how fortunate I am I found him. I really don’t know what other bloggers have done…

Monday thoughts…

OK, I have to admit that I am relieved from the encouraging comments I received from my last post (thank you guys). I feared that I would be told off. I thought that some of you would tell me that I am being ridiculous, over worrying and that you knew from the beginning of your relationship that you wanted to live with the person you are with…

Anyway, on a different subject, I played a bit with it and I changed the template of my blog. It’s not something amazing or final but I like it for now. Since my early studies, I’ve always been interested in cartography. I simply love old Maps. I find that they are a form of art and expression of the person designing them. It’s so amazing to study the history of the world through maps. OK, I can talk about this a lot, so I’ll just not torture you…

Simply take a look at that Vermeer’s painting from 1666 that includes a real map of the Netherlands from 1636 published by Visscher:

The art of Painting (Vermeer)

100th Post

I did it. I reached my number 100 post.
YAY! I first started last August and during this period I came out to my parents, ‘D’ permanently left the country (we hadn’t had the chance to see if we could make it work), I started seeing ‘Mr. T’, I started seeing ‘Essex Boy’ and now I am with ‘JJ’ (after I’ve stopped seeing the rest).


So if you were wondering:
I’m the guy with the funny Greek accent. I’m the guy that would love to remember how to properly speak French. I am the guy that is almost always early. I’m the guy whose favourite pastime is browsing through books in a bookstore. I am the guy you see checking seafood in the local supermarket. I am the guy you see friends take with them when trying to get new clothes. I am the hairiest guy in the two gyms I go. I am the guy you’ll see reading his books or solving Sudoku in an overnight flight because he can’t get any sleep in an airplane. I’m the guy who will give you the silent treatment if I’m pissed off. I’m the guy you’ll see reading his Sunday paper in a coffee shop. I’m the guy who will never change or arrange his plans according to what’s on TV. I am the guy who just loves the sound of waves. I am the guy whose only items in his wish list in Amazon are books and comics. I am the guy who loves to read about Greek mythology and ancient Greek plays but can’t remember the connections or names if asked. I am the guy that doesn’t like fruit combined with meat in a main course. I am the guy who’s always up for some more fries. I am the guy who’s seen all episodes of Friends more than ten times. I am the guy who gets really ticklish after sex. I am the guy who doesn’t like whisky. I am the guy you’ll most likely see in jeans, snickers and a t-shirt. I’m the guy always wanting to visit Japan. I am the guy scared to go and see a horror movie in the cinema because it’s scarier. I was the really underweight guy until his teens. I am the guy who’s seen all of Almodovar older movies. I'm the guy that always averts his eyes first if you stare at him too long. I am the guy who doesn’t like drawing attention to him. I hope I am the guy that tries to take good care of my friends. I am the guy that likes it when unexpected good friends arrive for a visit. I am the guy who’s forgetting how to spell properly in his mother language. I’m the guy whose mother threw away his first comic book collection in order to make him start reading ‘proper’ books. I am the guy entering his thirties believing it to be the best period of his life. I am the guy who had his Greek coffee cup ‘read’ with huge success. I am the guy who doesn’t like to live on his own. I am the guy who wants to have sex on the beach in a warm summer night. I am the guy terrified of the idea of getting HIV. I am the guy who likes musicals. I am the guy whose sense of smell is not very good. I am the guy who really likes baking pies. I am the guy who’d like to buy a Garmin Forerunner but his running partner is making fun off. I am the guy who cannot watch twice drama movies he liked, like the ‘La vita è bella’ or ‘The colour purple’. I am the guy who you will never see in a loud argument easily. I am the guy checking people out in the gym. I am the guy who feels sad when talented people cannot appreciate what they were given, like Amy Winehouse. I am the guy who thinks that haute couture most of the times takes advantage of naïve rich people. I’m the guy who doesn’t like the contemporary, hairless, clean-cut, over artistic male icons / models. I am the guy who loves to have friends over for home made food and good wine. I am the guy who finds Shakespeare slightly overrated. I’m the guy that likes junk food and hates microwave TV dinners. I’m the guy never been dressed in drag. I am the guy visiting Europe each year while growing up with his family and really appreciates the memories. I am the guy knowing lines by heart from the first Star Wars trilogy but couldn’t really get into Star Trek. I am the guy without a TV set for 7 months in 2009. I am the guy who wishes to be able to do a whole marathon. I am the guy who wants to visit an Eskimo living in an Igloo. I’m the guy who doesn’t get celebritydome. I’m the guy who believes in God but not in church. I’m the guy who can’t imagine buying his own house yet and settling down somewhere permanently. I’m the guy who never had a proper indoors pet, apart from some stray cats coming and going. I’m the guy who would go back in time just to watch ‘the Queen’ perform live. I am the guy who thinks that Christina Ricci could be amazing to hang around with. I'm a guy who agrees that guys with big dicks have attitude problems. I am the guy who will stuff himself with food when depressed. I am the guy who you will not see taking drugs. I am the guy who you will see reading his book / magazine / newspaper under the sun in the local park.
I’m just a guy…

X-Men #100

Rambling about various things…

I’m reaching my 50th post soon (probably in a week or so) and I was thinking that I should do something with the template of my blog. I know that 50 posts are nothing compared to others, but to be honest, I’m pretty happy that I’ve stick to it so far and I want to keep on blogging. It was an experiment that for the time being is on its 4th month and going well. It’s a bit of a disgrace to keep a premade template by ‘blogger’ instead of creating something of my own. That needs some searching though to check what options I have, that I do not know if I have to time to do. What I’m thinking at the moment is to play around with Photoshop and some pictures I have. We’ll see…

If you’re running a blog of your own, are you using a template you found online for free, ordered online, created on your own, based on an existing free one and modified it according to your needs?

I spoke to the ‘Essex Boy’ yesterday. I was in doubt whether to contact him or not. You know how it is. I didn’t want to sound desperate (contacting him too early) or indifferent (too late). The last time I texted him, was after leaving his place, on Wednesday really early in the morning. I thought that it was over a 36h period, so I did (and I’m happy I did). I sent him something a bit vague and general (how are you? I’m ok kind of thing). It took him a while to reply (if he did that on purpose he’s good) that got me a bit worried at first. But he suggested meeting this weekend (woohoo).

I’m doing a run this Sunday really early in the morning so I can’t really go out on Saturday, so I suggested meeting on Sunday in the afternoon / evening. He then suggested going to ‘National Gallery’ that was a bit surprising because (a) I find it going there a bit romantic (maybe that’s just me), (b) I thought he would suggest going somewhere for a beer or (c) meet somewhere that we’ll be alone together. Ok, I confess that this is probably not very kind of me, but you might give me some credit if you knew many people from Essex. Anyway, I’m happy we’re meeting anyhow and I will not say another word for it.

So, on Sunday morning I’m doing a 10k run in Richmond. It’s supposed to be a fun day because I’m going there with friends also doing the run and moreover I know about some people that are coming to cheer for us defying the cold and probably the rain. Yes, it will most likely be freezing (to go running in shorts) at 9 in the morning on Sunday (they say about 7 – 8 degrees) at least at the beginning and raining (typical for London in November). I also found out today that the tube line servicing the area will not operate on Sunday for scheduled construction works so it will probably take us a while to get there. Thinking about all these, I am not sure our friends will come to cheer for us…