Showered with frustration

It's turning into an odd autumn...

Since a rather horrified neighbour called at our door early last week we have been without the use of our shower which had been leaking into their newly redecorated bathroom. Until our tiler gets in contact and/or a new tiler is found and whichever of them gets on with making us water tight we are stuck having bathes or very odd showers whilst sat in the bath (too impossible for me to deal with but Heather's an expert). It's surprisingly frustrating even though the bathes themselves are strangely calming (mind you tomorrow I have a meeting so calming is less what I want, fast and wakeful would be better) and just a tad decadent (bubble bath being essential).

All the bathing fun is just a wee drop in the ocean of some rather seasonal depression though: we are down to much lower levels of light and shorter days already; we are starting on the boring road to an entirely root veg filled weekly veg box; work is getting duller and duller as we await some excitement like the changeover to the next funding period while at the same time also having lots of meetings at which we have less to report than would make them exciting; I have a newsletter to write and a website to update but getting round to it is proving hard and even my happy distraction of dress making is tough as I'm losing patience already and haven't even finished H's dress let alone started mine. I've just lost my energy lately and having lunch in doors away from the rain, having only my 18 minutes of walking to and from work as my exercise for the day is all taking its toll. And just as I'm slowing into flabby winter hibernation the world seems to be holding parties and social stuff for the first time in months...

So now I'm hoping I can get my rather unmotivated and unusually flabby arse in gear sufficiently to get into swimming and maybe belly dancing again so that I have a bit of energy injected into my day. Fixing my lunch hour so it's not so cabin feverish would be good but I'm not sure how. That said when my MSc starts in January that will help keep me over busy. I'm also trying to wean myself off my daily Metropole Mochas. That is going to be hard but it's a special request from my Missus as it becomes an expensive habit over the course of a month and is hardly useful so I'm gonna try my best. And I'm trying to arrange some social stuff as any deadline/goal helps me sort stuff out in a way I never manage without some sort of cut off point (that's the main problem with work at the mo actually - endless unchanging frustration with no point at which to be able to feel something is completed or achieved).

However any ideas for perking me up at the moment would be much appreciated. Currently emails from nice work and non work folks are keeping me just about chipper at work but something needs to change as badly as I normally cope with winter this year could be really horrible if I can't wake up my routine and shake it up a bit... I'm trying though.....

In the meantime it's off to the daily challenge of bathing and hair washing without splashes, leaks or soap bubbles escaping the tub... much fun... !