Sunday, November 26, 2006

Sunday morning

A perfect piece of Sunday morning music came on the radio this morning just as I was about to switch it off - Mahler's Adagietto from Symphony No. 5. I adore this piece although I can never quite decide whether it is romantic or melancholic. It immediately reminds me of the film Death in Venice, where it was extensively used, conjuring vividly to mind desperate longing and sadness. The piece was written by Mahler as a 'love song' to his wife Alma and depending on the way it is played can either be a funeral dirge or an uplifting and beautiful romance. I like it as both; it means something different each time I hear it. Perfect as I say for Sunday mornings and a gentle way to be eased into the day.

If I am disciplined today I should be cracking on with some reading and essay preparation for my OU course. Trouble is, I feel so tired from the week just gone by. Five days travelling to and from London and working yesterday in MK, I've been getting up at 6am every morning, leaving home just before 7am and getting home not much before 7pm every night. I realise its taken quite a toll and moreover I've been eating badly and that has been making me feel unwell. If anyone had said to me before that what you eat affects the way you feel, I would have been dismissive. However, I've really noticed the difference it has made to me this last week or two.

On the plus side my first box of organic fruit and veg arrived on Friday and it looks and smells lovely. I am going to be cooking tonight so will get stuck into making myself a nice roast dinner - got some lovely parsnips, carrots and potatoes. The apples are delicious although the oranges to me look a little pale and not quite ripe or are they supposed to look that way rather than that suspiciously bright orange colour you get if buying from the supermarket?

A roast dinner is for me the ultimate comfort food. If I do the same as I did last week, I make enough for two meals, so that it saves me cooking on another night in the week. As I say not getting home until 7pm means that I am normally not in the mood for making anything and tend to just eat a sandwich or have a bowl of soup. Fortunately there is an excellent restaurant at work so I've been eating my main meals there most days.

I've also notice that by not eating properly and not doing any exercise at all how I feel so much more tired than before and really do lack the energy that I've had previously. I think it's all related. Although the thought of doing half-hour or more on the exercise bike every night isn't particularly appealing, I know that once I get into the routine again, I will feel better and have more energy. Still only one more week in London and then back to MK for work.

I have mixed feelings about moving back to the MK office. One of the nice things about being in London is that we are very much away from all the politics and 'atmosphere' that is present in MK. Not to mention it is a much nicer and more comfortable building that I am working in currently. But not having the travelling every day will make a huge difference and allow me to get back into a more regular routine.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Mark, congrats on the veg box! Well done! I suggest you roast loads of those vegetables and keep them in the fridge. Then you can take a few out and make soup with them by adding a can of broth or tomatoes and parmesan cheese. You can make a pie of them if you put them in dish and add some gravy made with gravy granules, top them with some mash and bake. You can make a hot pot the same way by topping the veg and gravy with sliced potatoes and drizzling with butter or olive oil before baking until the potatoes are tender. You can mix roast veg with cooked bulghur or couscous and chopped fresh parsley and make a tabbouleh. You can pour a jar of curry sauce on them and heat through and have over basmati rice! Roasting the veg makes them flavourful, and once they're cooked, you can make dinners and lunches from them all week!