Up Up and Away

Spent the evening in Strathaven at their annual Balloon Festival.

This year the balloons actually flew. Last year it was windy enough that nothing was even there when we showed up.

I've never been close to a hot air balloon before. Its very impressive. I was amazed at how quickly they could go form rolled into the back of a car to inflated and airborne. We we standing close enough to feel the heat coming off the propane burners as the air was warmed for them.

One guy didn't even bother with a basket - he just strapped himself in and was away.

Another surprise was the parachutist. Nothing was said beforehand but suddenly everyone seemed to notice a guy in a parachute had jumped from one of the balloons.

I never got a good count of how many there were. Looking back at the pictures though there must have been a good 12 to 14 of them.

Holiday Ends Now

• Monday Night badminton - resumed last night
• Ciaran at school - resumed yesterday
• Term time school work schedule - resumed yesterday
• lunch time cycle when working from home - resumed today
• Cubs back on - resumes tonight
• Term time Gym schedule - resumes Wednesday (if the hot water is working by then)
• Hitting my target weight - I am trying...

Overall I am down on where I started and still heading in the correct direction. I can also convince myself that I am now laying down muscle!

I think the break in my routine for the holidays - different working and exercise regime, different eating, has played havoc with my diet.

I am now back to where I was at the start of the holidays and trending downwards again, so that at least is good.

I have also noticed something odd - after updating my Garmin, today's calorie count for my cycle was down on previous cycles. This was despite being reasonably close to my best pace. I expect a bit of variation but 30% drop? I don't know if this is an update issue or the fact that I was using my heart rate monitor which is paired with the Garmin. I'll have to keep and eye on it.