Tuesday 5 October 2010

October already!

Wow - I am having trouble accepting that it is October already. Two and a half weeks until Labour Day (hooray - public holiday!), and then the very slippery slope to Christmas.

I had a great time at orchestra on Monday - still playing first oboe until the real first gets back from holiday next week. Our next concert is going to be a Last Night of the Proms one, and we ran through the Sea Shanties this week. Including the "Home Sweet Home" oboe solo, which is one that I absolutely adore from the LNotP. And I got to play it - I was over the moon! I've enjoyed playing the first oboe solos for the last few weeks - I might have to see if the real first oboe wants to share in the next concert...

The weather has picked up fantastically now - we've had a few days of glorious sunshine, including the weekend, so I took the opportunity to go out for my first real run since we arrived. In fact, my first real run in over a year - the lead up to moving meant that the running really slacked off. I didn't quite manage to make 5K, (running - overall, I covered just over 7, but that included the walk back home) and I was definitely slower than I had been (I managed 33 minutes before my legs overruled my brain and slowed to a walk), but it was really invigorating, and I'm very much looking forward to the next time I can get out. I am going to have to look at getting some new insoles, though - I have a lot of blisters! My legs are also only just starting to forgive me... Part of my run took me back along the Hutt River, and I managed to see two kingfishers as well as an inquisitive silvereye once I'd started walking. It really is a lovely area to run in - either completely flat or gently undulating, and beautiful scenery to run past.

We may get a chance to explore further afield this coming weekend - we are car-sitting for a friend who is holidaying in Oz - it is going to be lovely to get the chance to have wheels underneath us (particularly for the weekly shop - I am really going to be stocking up on the heavy items!)

I'm also very excited - Richard O'Brien is going to be the narrator for the next NZ tour of Rocky Horror, and we've got ourselves tickets for the Friday night. It's going to make it a really fun few weeks - we start with the orchestra concert, then the following weekend we are seeing the Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, and then the weekend after that is Rocky. Yays!

3 comments:

Wisewebwoman said...

Oh do go easy with the running Jo, I have seen appalling things over the years and when I trained a group I always did the 1-1 and built up from there. I've seen people go out on one run and never run again due to injury from over exertion. Back ankles, feet, knees and legs.
if it ever hurts, stop. If you can't sing coherently stop.
Lecture over.
Oh I`d love to see and hear you perform, my play has sea shanties - would you recommend anyƉ
Xo
WWW

R J Adams said...

I've just read through your last three posts. It seems so strange - daffs and grape hyacinth in bloom in October!

Your cold-type ills jogged a memory. When I first came to America I had one cold after another for the first five years. Then, quite suddenly, they stopped. There are obviously different strains of viruses in different countries, and it takes a while for our bodies to build the antibodies to fight them. yet the experts say that isn't true; air travel has homogenized them all. Bah! What do they know?

Glad to hear you're still enjoying New Zealand.

Jo said...

Thanks, WWW - I am being careful - I am trying to build up my stamina carefully - it'll get easier when the weather gets better and it isn't a long while between runs!

Hmmm - there are so many sea shanties - I love Spanish Ladies, and also The Saucy Arethusa. Heart of Oak is another good one. In fact, there's a good list on here:
http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/sea-shanty/0sea-shanty.htm
And, of course, you've got Drunken Sailor, the Hornpipe, Blow the Man Down :-)

RJ, I'm still getting used to the flipping of the seasons - though I'm definitely looking forward to the warmer weather! I think I have picked up a lot more short illnesses than I had in the UK - there, I would have one cold which would just hang around for ages. Here, I'm getting one cold, clearing it, then coming down with another a few days later. Fortunately (touch wood), I've not had a resurgence of the allergic reaction, nor have I had anything which has really laid me low. I think that you are right in that my body is just getting itself used to all of the foreign germs!