Physically Fit

August 10: Silly me on the Töffli

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The three motorised things in my life … the covered Vespa (which I don’t ride at the moment), the Töffli and the lawnmower

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Look at how shiny the bike is now that Rene cleaned it with the jet hose! Some paint came off as well, but hey … it’s clean …

Turned up a bit late for work today. Not because I had the first-day-back blues, but because I didn’t open my eyes. Silly me.

Jumped excitedly on Bruce the Töffli, keen to see how smooth the ride would be after his service and … spluttered to a stop after 200m. Luckily I was still close to home, so I pushed the bike back, tried unsuccessfully to start it again, accepted defeated and walked to the bus.

When I came home, I saw Rene and he said, “Oh yes, I turned the petrol switch to ‘off’ while you were on holidays so the petrol didn’t leak out.” Ahhhh yes … the petrol lever … located on the right side under the tank. If it’s pushed all the way forward, it turns off the flow, if it’s facing straight down, the flow is open, and if you push it backwards, it goes to the reserve tank, which I learnt about the hard way.

You’d think I would have thought to have a look, seeing as it’s caught me out once before? Ah, no. It seems my knowledge of bike mechanics needs a lot more work. But the short ride I did, to get the petrol flowing, felt great and the speedometer works now too! Woo hoo!

At least I can count the 40 minutes of walking to and from the bus as my exercise for the day! I walked past the corn fields, which have grown huge in the past two weeks. I always love seeing the ‘hair’ on the corn. A few years ago I saw it when it was purple and red, which reminded me of punk grandmas with bad frizzy perms. Today, the ‘hair’ was burnt brown. I wonder if it will be a good crop this year because it’s been so hot and dry, or if that makes the corn not as sweet?

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You my, brown haired corn. Singing tra la la la … (apologies, Van Morrison)

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The grass is turning green again too

After breathing a sigh of relief about the bike, I wrote a review of the first of two books I read on holidays, Bruno, Chief of Police which you can read here if you fancy.

And then I pottered around the garden for a little while. The gladioli are blooming and my geranium planter boxes on the upstairs balcony are going gangbusters.

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The glads in bloom … to the right is a small patch where the glads from last year died, and then a few more orange ones are blooming

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Healthy! The two geranium pots add some much needed colour to the brown exterior

Wishing you a wonderful day.

July 22: Glory-ious Days

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This afternoon, I raced home from work on Bruce in order to miss a big thunderstorm – didn’t take any photos of it approaching, but snapped a few shots after it had passed.

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Sunset on the Alps, taken from the front yard

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The brown, brown grass of home

It’s raining again now, 10.30pm, and boy do we need it. (That cool breeze will also make sleep easier tonight!)

Yesterday afternoon, after I wrote the post about what I’ve packed for our holiday, I met Claudia at the Marzili (public pool area) and finally snapped a few decent shots of the Aare – what bedlam it is on a hot day! This was Tuesday afternoon around 2pm (admittedly it is summer holidays).

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The steady stream of people walking back to the camping place to jump into the river again

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One of several places at the Marzili where you get out of the water. The rubber boats have to go down further to a dock area

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Have a paddle or a swim

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People put their clothes etc in waterproof bags, which also provide some buoyancy as you float or swim along

I’d like to buy a waterproof phone case so I can make a little film of the journey. Won’t be swimming for a while though, as all this rain will make the water murky and dangerous.

And last but not least in this photo-fest, proof that Dr Bronner’s liquid soap is not good as a shampoo for me. I’m getting my haircut tomorrow, and I think I’ll just let her wash out the weeks of … ??? whatever it is – soap scum? – and start again in Sicily, maybe with a bar of Savon de Marseille?

My friend SJ likes the home-made shampoo soap bars she can buy in her town. Do you use a soap bar for your hair too? Any suggestions? Because there’s got to be something better than this below! Maybe I should try the Ariana-method, from Paris-to-Go, and just use water combined with a good scalp massage?

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My greasy-feeling but clean head of hair

Wishing you a wonderful day.

July 16: Vincent-esque

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On my ride home from the city after lunch with Leonie, I finally stopped to take a photo of the new flower field and all the colours. It’s nice, but just doesn’t have the pizazz of the old field – perhaps not seeing the Alps behind makes it somewhat lacklustre?

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The new flower field is blooming well. Lilies and dahlias and glads and sunflowers and …

The wheat is being harvested right now. And I mean right now. It’s just after 10pm and I can hear the machines working overtime. They’ve chopped the tops off and collected the wheat, and the stems remain behind to be made into hay bales. They’re making hay while the moon shines.

I think this scenery would make Vincent van Gogh reach for his brushes, don’t you?

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Blue and yellow – great combination

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Picture perfect. Imagine some swirls in the sky!

I cleaned Liliane and Rene’s house for four hours today. That’s enough fitfor15in15! Whenever I’m at their house, I jump on the bathroom scales – seems I’ve lost another kilo. Unfortunately, the dress I bought in Spain in 2011 still doesn’t fit comfortably. Maybe I should just accept it as a post-Camino memory and move on?!

Tomorrow, Liliane’s 91-year-old mother Hertha arrives. I can’t wait to see her again, she’s a crack up! She called me last Friday to say how much she’s looking forward to visiting. She only lives 35 minutes away, but comes three times a year for a two-to-four-week holiday. Plenty of giggles will be had next week – our last week before we go to Sicily!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

July 15: Close encounters

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No, not on the bike! With the camera! 🙂 (I can hear my mother breathing a sigh of relief from here!)

Today, after work, Iva cooked a barbecue lunch for Pastora and I on the terrace at the office. And then Iva and I jumped in the Aare. I need a waterproof case for my phone so I can take some action shots as it truly is a wonderful experience I want to share! The water was a gloriously refreshing 19.5 degrees.

My 15 minutes of exercise today was walking along the river and then swimming back to the office. We were gone for about 40 minutes, and I think 10 minutes of that was swimming.

Here are my afternoon ‘close encounter’ snapshots from the garden. I enjoy the results of the olloclip we bought in Strasbourg for my birthday and should use it more. Several of the cacti have flowers at the moment. What a treat.

Wishing you a wonderful, colourful day.

July 6: Stop horsing around!

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We’re all full of the joys of summer in Switzerland right now. It’s the tail end of a heatwave, everyone’s cooling off in the nearest pool of water, sleep deprivation hasn’t quite kicked in yet because of the humid nights, but, for me, I think the horseflies have stolen the show.

I’ve seen a new side of The Usual Suspects. A relaxing afternoon by the pool becomes an interpretive-dance fest. Everyone’s slapping and squirming and yelping and jumping out of their seats. They’re vicious little creatures, the swatters and swattees!

In German, horseflies are called Bremse. In Swiss-German they’re called Breme. The verb ‘bremsen’ in German means ‘to brake’, and these blighters certainly put a handbrake on proceedings! We seem to have plague proportions around home at the moment.

I’m currently sporting six fresh bites from today, and a few old ones from the weekend. All the welts will fade if I leave them alone. After being bitten so many times recently, I can safely say the bite on the back of my leg from a few weeks ago wasn’t a horsefly. These welts are tiny in comparison, hardly itchy and aren’t on fire!

Work went well today, Bruce the Töffli ran smoothly, I visited Rene in hospital and he’s pretty well, and I only lost one round of cards this afternoon against Lotti, Eve and Paul. And tonight we watched a cracker of a tennis match between Djokovic and Anderson, which stopped at two sets apiece because of bad light. I thought Djokovic was a goner having lost the first two – I want him to be gone to give Federer a better chance of becoming the first man to win eight Wimbledon titles!

Swimming was my fitfor15in15 today. About 15 minutes of laps – some breaststroke, mainly freestyle. I really enjoy, but am quite hopeless at, swimming and may look into finding a bigger pool to do some more serious lap workouts!

Had a bit of a blowout on the no-sugar program, by eating a mini ice cream tonight. It hit the spot, I have to say! 🙂

Wishing you a wonderful day.

July 2: Karma Police

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Ha! What a day! I’m barely able to write this post from unindented exhaustion!

I rode to work this morning and saw police on the other side of the street, doing speed checks. So as I saw cars approaching me I motioned for them to slow down. Surprisingly, people waved or acknowledged to say thank you. Very un-Swiss for a stranger to acknowledge you!

Driving on, I laughed to myself that the Karma Police will get me for telling the drivers the radar was ahead. And then five minutes later … I ran out of petrol …

Karma … and then some.

I pushed the Töffli, which I think shall stay called Bruce, for 10 minutes to work, went to work and then afterwards set off on foot to the nearest petrol station, two kilometers away. In 32 degree blazing sunshine (not complaining, love the warmth!). Lugging my bag with my computer, jacket and helmet was a bit bothersome.

The first petrol station didn’t have the special petrol needed for scooters, so I walked on. The second further on didn’t have it either. I asked at an auto shop. No joy there but they directed me to a motorcycle shop … Further. They didn’t have it but they said try the petrol station nearby. Further. No dice there so I called it quits and caught the tram back into town to meet Claudia to go swimming in the Aare. I needed that 20 degree water!

After a lovely swim, my first of the season, Claudia and I walked to the hospital where Rene is, and I visited him for about 20 minutes. He’s in good shape and wants to come home tomorrow. He told me the bike has a reserve tank for such occasions and after learning how to switch it on via explanations and hand gestures, I jumped on the bus to go back to the scene of the crime.

Ha! Not happening. Not even one stop down the road, the cable that attaches to the overhead wire came loose (we have some electric buses in Bern) so we all got off the bus. I figured stuff it, what’s another few kilometers. So I walked back to work.

The bike worked and I drove home, stopping at the local petrol station which has the special petrol.

Rene reckons the petrol must have been siphoned out of the tank because it should last longer than four days. I’ll keep a closer eye on it next week!

When I arrived home it was 6.40pm and I jumped straight into the pool to cool down again. What would we do without water?!

Wishing you a wonderful day.

July 1: Back on the horse

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From the beginning, I’ve always said JUST 15 minutes a day. The simplicity of fitfor15in15 originally focused on doing just 15 minutes of exercise a day. Then I fell out of love with that idea for some reason – my motivation went south.

Some goals had been reached, I felt better and fitter, and then I just stopped caring. I think half of that hard work over the first four months of the year was lost in just a few weeks. So, it’s time to re-start the engines, jump back on the horse, re-join the circus … however you’d like to describe it! And it will be slowly slowly.

Have you thought about what you’d like to achieve in the next six months? I’d like to get moving again, get back into doing my stretches and go for more runs in the forest. I’d love to run 10km by the end of the year. Not in a race, just on a nice forest trail. And I’d like to return to the workout/exercise videos that I really enjoyed at the height of my fixation!

It’s 27 degrees inside the house (with windows and doors open!) at 10.30pm – now’s as good a time as any to start again, right?!?! I’m about to do 15 minutes of stretches and lunges with the hand weights. This is going to be interesting (and sweaty)! I thought about going back to January 1 and re-doing everything from the beginning, in the same order, but it’s too late to go walking now!

My friend Leonie and her kids Maya and Sebastian came over for a swim this afternoon. It was 26.5 degrees Celsius in the water. The Aare river is already 20 degrees too, and with the warm weather predicted for the next week, it may even reach about 22 degrees – not bad for a river coming directly from the Bernese Alps. Could the pool reach 30?!

We had a great afternoon and not one photo to show for it. I really enjoy Leonie’s company and not just because she’s a fellow Aussie. Lotti and Fritz joined us in the shade of the tent as well. Lotti told me Rene is back in hospital – they think he had a little stroke a few days ago, so he’s staying in for observation. I really hope he’s going to be ok. The doctors are worried a bigger stroke might follow.

On that sombre note, I’ll sign off … wishing you a wonderful day.

June 30: Didn’t that go fast?

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Clear blue skies today and …

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… the moon tonight. It will be a full moon in two days

Leo took this shot of the moon. I hope the skies are as clear on Thursday when it’s full. Loves me a good fullmaaaaoooooooon, I does! 🙂

Will keep this post short today. It was wonderfully warm and sunny, unfortunately a bit too hot for the work Pastora and I did – counting all the karate clothes and moving boxes and things while making the inventory. I rode straight home and jumped in the pool.

Still feel like a kid at Christmas on the bike, even if I was overtaken by an electric bicycle on the flat. (I keep telling myself the man had longer legs than me.) My niece suggested the bike should be named Brad, but I already have a Brad in my life and I’m well and truly over him. So far Bruce is still the leader (not hard seeing as Brad was the only suggestion!).

One of the two new plants, which I promised to mention today, has me stumped. The Celosia venezuela was easy to find because of its magenta prongs, but the second has me baffled. It’s quite tall and could possibly be another Campanula variety? The flowers are a beautiful blue and have very obvious petals. Any takers?

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New plant number one – Celosia venezuela – the magenta spiky one in front of the lavender

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And do you think this is another Campanula variety?

Can’t believe half the year has gone! How would you rate the first half of this year? I’m pretty happy with how it’s gone so far and hope you are too (and hopefully I’ll be struck by ‘exercise lightning’ tomorrow and be back on the bandwagon for the next six months!).

What will I do on December 31? I can’t very well keep a blog titled fitfor15in15 when it’s no longer 2015, can I?! Should have thought about that a bit harder.

I haven’t mentioned the I Quit Sugar program for a few days because I find it boring talking about food, but it’s going well (not perfect) and I’m really watching what goes in. As hot as it was today, I resisted the temptation for ice cream! That’s a win.

Wishing you a wonderful day.

June 29: Zoom zoom zoom!

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The new bike, known in Switzerland as a Töffli (which I spelled incorrectly yesterday), proved to be a worthy stallion this morning and afternoon.

It takes 30 minutes to ride to work, which shaves 20 minutes off my commute time. I park at the top of those mega-steep steps, so I still get a bit of a workout. Maybe I should make a new goal to be able to run up those steps non-stop (at the moment, walking them without stopping would be a win!).

The wind was cool, the light was gloomy but the Alps were visible through the clouds, the seat was comfortable, the fumes weren’t too overwhelming and I just loved the buzz and hum of the straining engine.

Leo is slightly amused by my excitement over something that 14-year-old kids are allowed to ride to school. We also think there’s a rule here, that if you’ve lost your driver’s licence, you can still ride a Töffli. So maybe people will see me and think I’m a teenager, or a lawbreaker. I’m fine with either.

On the way home, I stopped at the shops, because I can do that now 🙂 and bought two plants to fill some holes in my garden layout, and some laundry liquid. They all fit wonderfully in that fetching plastic green basket on the back. If you missed it yesterday, here’s another angle 🙂

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I’m also particularly fond of the muffler rust, as you can tell

I overtook a few bicycles and was overtaken by everything else. There’s a long slow hill on the way into town, where I felt like running beside the bike to help with the speed, and on the way home, I was worried about the motor blowing up. S/he was flying down the hill!

Which brings me to my reader request. I think the bike needs a name. I’m quite partial to Bruce, because it’s old-fashioned and reliable. Very apt.

Do you have any suggestions for this gallant steed? Should it be male or female? I’m open to all suggestions. The bike make/brand is Alpina, s/he was born in 1983.

It’s been a day of good fortune today. This afternoon we discovered a loop hole in an electronics company’s advertisement. It said you could take all your working Apple smartphones and tablets back to them to recycle and you would receive money towards ‘Apple products’. What the advert failed to clearly state was it had to be another Apple smartphone or tablet, as if you were doing an upgrade.

So with a little bit of hassle we managed to make our point that even though one part of the ad said swap old for new, it didn’t actually say the new had to be a phone or tablet. Just an Apple product. I’m now the proud owner of a new wireless computer mouse, a green iPod Nano to carry when running (it has a workout app as well) and a CHF50 iTunes voucher. All for the grand sum of CHF16.

What’s also brilliant is we have now Kondo’d our electronics! We took in two iPhone3s (neither worked so we didn’t get any money), an iPhone4, my dead iPhone5 from earlier in the year (again, no money) and my old iPad. I have been wanting to get rid of those electronics and all the associated cables for a very long time. Clean drawer! Relief!

On that note, it’s time for bed. Tomorrow I’ll take photos of the two new plants – forgot to do that – as my 30-Day Challenge (which is sporadic at best!) continues.

I look forward to reading your bike name suggestions! 🙂

Wishing you a wonderful day.

June 27 and 28: Weekend wrap

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Saturday and Sunday served up plenty of sunshine so we made the most of it by being outdoors.

Saturday we worked in the garden and I did some small things around our house and Liliane and Rene’s too. Even though we’d spent the previous evening at dinner together, we all joined forces again in the afternoon for cards and dinner around the pool (for the first time ever, I didn’t lose a game!). I still find it so amazing to only turn the lantern on at 10.30pm.

Today there was an airshow in a neighbouring suburb, so we all stood in the garden and gawped at the heavens, watching the nine small planes do all their spectacular stunts. A forest blocked some of the view, over the Wohlensee, but all the loop-the-loops and high-up action kept us entertained for 20 minutes, and then they just all flew away again. It was almost sad – the way they couldn’t even wave goodbye!

We walked to Lotti’s house for her birthday gathering this afternoon, a good 40-minute wander in the sunshine on the path that I only ‘discovered’ earlier this year, that’s directly behind the house. Once home, a quick dip in the pool and a play on my new toy (see the last photo), ready for tomorrow’s commute to work, and two episodes of House of Cards wrapped it up.

Overall, it was a very social weekend, with maybe not the right sorts of foods consumed (Lotti’s birthday cake and a few other small sweeties) and not enough exercise completed to counteract the beer calories consumed, but wonderful fun.

In case you missed my post from yesterday, please click here to read the latest guest contribution to fitfor15in15, from personal trainer Richard Wheeler. He has some excellent tips, which I will be taking on board, for (re)starting your fitness!

Signing off with a mixture of photos from the week. Some wouldn’t load a few days ago, but most are from this weekend.

Wishing you a wonderful day.