Light duties

Apart from the rare occasions when I'm actually properly ill, colds tend to hit me in one of two ways: I either feel low for a day or two and then get a few mild symptoms (usually a runny nose), or I just feel very tired. 

I mean, I've exercised a fair amount this week but nothing unusual and I'd planned to go for a run or at least get my steps in, today, but when it came to it, I was just knackered. So, I accepted I was probably ill and in the end I didn't do very much at all. Probably the highlights were a couple of longish (and delightful) naps and finishing reading the Bernadine Evaristo novel.

I have to say that when I started it reading 'Girl, Woman, Other' a couple of weeks ago I spent the first ten or fifteen pages worrying that I just wasn't going to connect with the book at all. And as this is the third of four books that I'd committed to myself that I would read - so I was going to stick with it whatever - I was worried I was set for another miserable read. 

But I very quickly fell in love with it and started carrying it with me as I moved around the house so it was always to hand when I had a spare moment. That's the sign of a good book! 

Anyway, I didn't feel today was a day wasted by any means. It's good to listen to your mind and body, and grant yourself a break when you need it. In fact, more than grant it: enjoy it! 

(You won't be surprised to hear that I took an early night and so I popped out onto the deck to grab a photo before turning in. Here are a couple of the solar lights that the Minx put in the apple tree.)

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-10.6 kgs
Finished reading: 'Girl, Woman, Other' by Bernadine Evaristo. I'm not sure that I can do this book justice over a few lines; it's absolutely stunning. It's written in an idiosyncratic style, which I thought would be difficult to sustain but BE makes it seem quite effortless and natural. Simply, the book tells the stories of the lives of a number of black women over several generations who are all interconnected one way or another, even when they aren't aware of it. It's hackneyed to describe a book as ambitious but I think this novel genuinely is. I'm quite in awe of it as a piece of writing. As with the two books I've read prior to this, I don't feel I can really comment on the subject matter in the stories told although it's quite horrifying. But, anyway, as you'll have surmised: WOULD RECOMMEND.