Just Gilly

  I have a queer thought process when it comes to dieting. If I'm wanting to lose weight I'm all in - healthy, low calories food, lots of walking, refraining from biscuits and cakes. Smashing! But when I'm not actively wanting to lose weight (even though I'm never not wanting to lose weight - but you know what I mean?) I have to be the opposite to all that. Like, I'd never refuse a biscuit if I'm having fish and chips for tea. I won't eat a salad if I'm eating out because people will think a fat person eating a salad is just them trying to lose weight and failing. Even if I really fancy the salad I'll pick the fattening unhealthy food because I'm fat and that's what people expect. It's crackers and I bet no one is even thinking these things anyway. Like today for instance, I'm at my sister's. She's taken the dog for a walk, just half an hour. I could have gone, nice evening etc but I'm lazy when I'm fat and something ...

  Don't you just love a Saturday? I love a Saturday. It's my day of rest, sod a Sunday. I get the paper first thing (Scottish Daily Mail). I have my breakfast (yogurt, berries and granola) then I curl up on my enormous chair, with a coffee, and read. I very rarely read the whole of an article. Sometimes I just read the first few lines. Once I get the gist I move on to the next story. I'll have some lunch (love a ham & cheese omelette) then I read the TV supplement. Anything new? Anything interesting? Anything I want to set the recorder for? And then lastly I do the crosswords and sudokus. I'm happy!  I hope those of you who are mums or who have a mum had a lovely day last Sunday, and managed something nice. I'm a long way from my mum but she was so excited to get my card she opened it on Saturday! I didn't get a card from Isaac addressed to Gillian but I did get that bottle of wine lol. He's a cracker.  Now I will readily admit that my memory is shocking...

  Mark was listening to a podcast a few weeks ago when he realised he had the 'thing' they were talking about - a condition called Aphantasia. It is defined as -  "the inability to visualize. Otherwise known as image-free thinking. People with aphantasia don’t create any pictures of familiar objects, people, or places in their mind’s eye. Not for thoughts, memories, or images of the future."  Only 3% of people have this and he was quite blown away when he heard that 97% of people can see pictures in their head. For instance, think about a pink giraffe with orange spots. You can see it, in your head. Mark can't, and never has been able to. He also has limited internal dialogue. When I constantly have thoughts running around he doesn't. He can deliberately think about things but it doesn't happen involuntarily so to speak. Neither of us knew of this as I guess it's not really something you ask someone - hey, you can see pictures in your head like everyon...

  Yesterday afternoon we had Bumblebee put to sleep. He was almost 16 years old which is good for a cat. The last couple of years he'd been getting a bit rusty and creaky. And the last couple of days saw a big deterioration. This morning he hadn't really moved and hadn't eaten anything. He even turned his nose up to a piece of beef. The decision was made and the vet called. It was so very sad, he was a lovely cat and a great mouser in his day! At about 2pm I heard a crash and found him on the floor next to his bed. I actually thought he'd died, but he was still breathing. I think he'd tried to get up and his legs had given way, and he'd just fallen onto the floor. So I popped him onto my knees and he lay quietly until it was time to go. The hardest thing is knowing exactly how long you have left with them. Just 2 hours of cuddles and that's it, it's over forever. So many memories of Libby only a few weeks ago. It was even the same vet. Obviously, I can...

  We've returned to The Hideaways outside Dundee. We booked a really good rate last year for 4 nights in The Romantics. This was their first property and is a converted bothy, a delightful cottage. All their Hideaways have hot tubs, saunas, hammocks, roll top baths, log burners but the newer ones are purpose built and have lots of glass along the front to make the most of views. On the day of arrival the owner called and asked if we'd like a complimentary upgrade to their newest and bestest property. Yes please, thank you very much. The Stargazers, we've stayed in twice before. It's lovely and has a warmed relaxation room as an addition. Alas that evening we went to enter the hot tub and it was cold! The owner came straight up and did her thing but unfortunately it was still cold the next day. The engineer wouldn't arrive until the day after so they offered us 3 solutions. Move to the original Hideaway that we booked, move to The Lovers which wasn't available un...