July Look back 2019

Welcome to August everyone! This month has absolutely flown by, and been jam packed with laughter and fond memories. I feel like its been a very proactive month too, and I even learned some new skills along the way.

The most obvious thing to start with is that this blog is new! After a lot of research and reading, I found a platform that’s easy to work with and settled on a layout I liked. Setting this up has really got my creativity flowing and I’ve managed to get loads of ideas lined up ready for the new few weeks, far more than I’d ever expected. I turned to blogging as a creative outlet, and at the moment its giving me everything I wanted out of it and more.

On the last Saturday of June I drove out toward Diss to take my CBT, which is a bike test enabling you to ride a motorbike up to 125cc – although I believe you are limited to smaller if below a certain age? I’d been there the week prior, but having been hit by a bout of sunstroke, as well as a mental block about turning right (don’t ask) I’d had to finish the day early. Refusing to be put off, I booked a return session the following week, which fell into July. I’m glad I did, as having had a few hours the previous week meant I pretty much knew what I was doing. I worked through all my mauves, and then was let loose on the road.

Having never ridden a motorbike, other than the previous week and one other occasion as a teen (where I crashed by the way) it was absolutely terrifying at first. Despite my fear, learning to ride is something I’ve had interest in for a little while now, so my friends had banded together and brought me the CBT as a birthday present, to give me the chance to try it out and see how I got on.

The down side of a CBT is that the whole day is both your lesson and your test, so if like me you’ve never ridden before, there’s a lot of pressure to take it all in and pick it up quickly. Many of the instructors are of the opinion that one day is simply not enough to learn everything you need to even if you are competent on a bike, and I have to say I agree with them, especially when you consider those who don’t have a car licence, and therefore no prior experience out on the road. Fortunately for me, I already drive, so found the road ride to be easy and could just enjoy myself without having to worry about positioning or remembering road signs.

I’ve since got hold of my own little bike, which admittedly needs a little bit of love. I’ll fix this one up and use it for the next few months while I get the money together to do the full test, as I don’t intend to stay on a small bike for very long if I can help it.

 

 

There’s been a surge of motivation this month to be productive, so I’ve got some new little seedlings on the go for the garden, ready for when its cleared and ready for new plants. My friend gave me some red sunflowers that she’d been growing, so these are now happily sitting outside. Well… one of them is, the other sadly got ripped apart in the storms we had before it even got to flower. I’m in the process of growing lavender, roses and wildflowers to add the garden, and luckily these were all safe inside. I’ve been conscious in my flower selection to not only grow plants that are easy to keep alive, but also plants that are good for bees.

As my birthday falls in July, we went away to Lincoln to celebrate. Our little group of friends drove up to Lincoln together to have a night out in Bierkeller, which is a German themed bar. There’s a live band, copious amounts of beer and drinking games throughout, so it was a really good night and everyone had a great time. Although we were all nursing rather sore heads on the way home the following day!

 

For my actual birthday we had a few friends over for dinner. This year fell on a Monday so we ordered a massive takeaway and ate out in the garden together. It was lovely just to spend time chilling out in each other’s company.

 

Following our trip Mike and I then had the week off together, which was exactly what I needed. We aren’t going away on a holiday this year, given that we’ll be getting married abroad next year, but it was nice to spend time together, and not be at work. My friend and I had brought a paddling pool as a bit of an in joke, but it was invaluable for the heat wave we had that week.

 

It was almost too hot to do anything, but we were perfectly content sitting in the paddling pool, catching some sun and eating any junk food we could get our hands on – seriously, it was a terrible week for food.

 

Toward the end of my week off some of the girls and I decided to go on a little adventure to find and explore Urban Jungle. We’d spotted it when looking at Google maps, and it looked to be very close to us. Fortunately we were right as it was one of the hottest days that week, a little cut through the woods meant it took no more than 10 minutes to get there.

Being in the middle of the heatwave the weather was glorious. Absolutely perfect to wander around looking at all of the weird and wonderful plants. The place is far, far bigger than we’d first thought. We’d assumed it to be a regular garden centre with a café and the odd few tropical plants but the place was absolutely huge, and the café seating was set in amongst a vast green house of jungle plants, complete with bridges over a koi pond.

 

After a long walk around looking at everything the Jungle had to offer we grabbed some food and a coffee and just enjoyed the nice weather before finally caving and buying the various plants we’d spotted on our walk round. I got hold of a little hanging display, and picked out three beautiful plants to go in each of the buckets, including a hanging string of hearts which I’ve wanted to find for a little while now. Fortunately everything I picked out is easy to keep, and needs barely any care.

At the end of the month we also travelled to Reading for the christening of our friends little girl. Mike and I being among the chosen Godparents for Kara, felt a huge sense of responsibility being part of the ceremony. I’ll admit, it was a little awkward at times. Being a Christening, the parents and Godparents have to make a lot of promises, which is fine, but some of those are of a very religious nature, so for two people who don’t believe in God, it felt a bit forced and almost like we were being dishonest in some way.

 

Either way, it was a lovely day, and we’re arranging a date to spend some more time with little Kara so that she can get to know us better as we didn’t get to see much of her on the day.

Immediately after the Christening we travelled from Reading to Colchester to attend Mikes nephews 18^th birthday before heading back to Norwich, so we certainly racked up the miles that day. Given that we’d left the house very early that morning we didn’t stay long but it was lovely to drop in and wish Josh a happy birthday and we were glad to have made the detour.

 

I feel like lots happened in July, so I’m a little apprehensive that August will be a lot calmer by comparison. Not that we’ve run out of things to look forward to, as this month Mike and I will be sorting more bits for the wedding next year!

 

What did you get up to in July? What are your August plans?

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