State of mind

Last week wasn't too bad. My knee remained troublesome until Saturday.

On Friday I worked from home in the morning and then went to my Dad's in the afternoon for his birthday. We went out for a meal at the Pen y Bryn in Colwyn Bay, which was good, and then hung out for the afternoon.

On Sunday my knee felt better enough to go for a bike ride with Andy, although we went on a flat route. It was the first time I rode properly with the SPDs and it was pretty good. I only forgot to unclip right at the end of the ride and I remembered just in time.

On Monday I did the initial session of the beginner's running course with Andy, which was very hard. I sort of assumed that because I was doing OK with the bike and at the gym, that I would be OK with running, but I wasn't. I got a really bad stich and my calves hurt. Last night it was the next session, which was again hard, but the instructor gave me some tips on reducing the stitch and said that people who cycle a lot quite often have calf problems when they start running because the foot is much more stationary on a bike. Anyway it looks like I'm doing the 5k in August, which is a scary prospect.

Today was the first badminton in quite some time, with the new floor. It was fun, but I couldn't get around the court anywhere near as fast as I could before. I think the different exercise hasn't helped, but hopefully should get back into it soon.

On the weekend it's a bike ride with Andy and then a meal for Vicky's birthday. Not sure about Sunday yet. Hopefully going to go to the gym after work tomorrow.

Not much else to report. Played most of BioShock Infinite over last weekend while I was resting my knee, and it was very good. Not much left to go so I'm looking forward to seeing how it winds up.  I also forgot to mention that recently I picked up a battered but working 3DS XL. The original 3DS was too small - it makes so much more sense as the XL. I've been playing Luigi's Mansion 2 off and on, which is good fun. Still ploughing through A Clash of Kings, which is a good read. I want to reread some of the Culture books though, sadly Iain Banks has died.

The Xbox One looks to be a giant fiasco already - when the time comes I think everyone I know is going to look at the PS4 instead. Given what Microsoft has done to turn the 360 into an advertising box I was already dubious about it's successor.

Feel like I need a holiday. Work is getting me down. I'd love to book a trip to Berlin in the summer to see the city in the sunshine, but I need to sort out a new car come next payday so I can't really afford it. I suppose I could look into going somewhere in the UK, but these days there doesn't seem to be any point in suggesting a group holiday unless it's all couples, and going by myself is a depressing prospect.