GLP 02

Colour on the wall and what the tin says its should be

The second of my Gardening Leave Projects has been painting the bathroom. Apparently, if I do a good job I may get to paint someone else's bathroom - fingers crossed.

There isn't much to paint actually. The room itself is quite small and when the tiled area, the window and the door are taken into account there is just one wall and some fiddly bits.

'We' settled on "Waterfall". According to the brochure this would be an off white with a blue-grey cast. This should pick out the marble effect in the tiles and brighten the room without it looking too sterile (which isn't a term normally associated with my house).

As the first coat went on I wasn't that impressed. It seemed very pale but then again it was going over a moss green, and covering dark colours with lighter ones can often be difficult. It certainly provided contrast. I decided to reserve judgement and apply a second coat.

By the time the second coat was going on I was definitely not impressed with the colour. It was much bluer than the tin suggested. It also looked familiar but not being that into the color of walls I didn't take too much notice.

Now that its done I'm not impressed at all. It is too blue. And since I've mentioned that I'm not that keen on the colour I have noticed that its the same colour as Ciaran's bedroom. After I said that Fiona pointed out that its also the same colour as the kitchen - I had to go check - I had no idea the kitchen was blue.

Now that it's had a day to dry and I have seen it in artificial light, in daylight, and in today's dreary light I am more convinced that it needs to come off.

Back to Homebase and start again next week. I don't like tester pots as unless you roll them on the always leave a patch where they were, and I suppose I have the time...

GLP 01

First on my list of Gardening Leave Projects: Paint the back fence.
Actually this hasn't been on the list that long. The new fence only went in last August, so that's not too bad for me.

Fence as it was this morning:

After application of a bit of my gardening leave:

Tick Done.

A productive day. I don't care who you ask.

Busy Doing Nothing

Fiona and I were out at Culzean Castle last weekend and happened across the Forces Exhibition. This is a display of historic military equipment and operations.
There was one group that caught our eye, but not for the obvious reasons.

We came across a display from Gardening Leave. This charity provides horticultural therapy to veterans.

The reason we were attracted to the display was their name of 'Gardening Leave'.
Originally this term was a UK Civil Service term for someone sent home from work on full pay. The person is a regular employee, with all the benefits and restrictions of that position, but just not required to attend work or perform any role (or a only much reduced role). Nowadays, it is the term normally applied to someone who has resigned their position, but has to complete their notice period.

Two weeks ago, I resigned from my job of almost 21 years and have been gardening ever since. Pity I chipped the back garden back in 2011.

So for the next 10 weeks I get to have a nice holiday while only occasionally attending the office to advise the 5 people who have been identified as taking over my role on all the things they don't even know they don't know.

Naturally its not a holiday. I have to be available to come into the office, so I can't be away unless I actually take holiday. But other than that I have been told to relax, take it easy and enjoy.

However, Fiona has identified a list of projects that need to be done and has suggested that others may also have their own lists.

I've already been to Homebase for paint...

Summer Time review

I've already shown that I have struggled with my "Get Lean" campaign through the summer.

A week in Crete with all that food and beer and the disruption to my routine. I did get back on track by the end of the month, and can say that at least after the summer I am, at worst, the same as going into it.

Activity wise I'm doing well. The summer didn't really stop me getting out and about: July and August's stats look pretty good considering

I have started using my heart rate monitor while I'm on my bike. This has had the effect of dropping my calorie count during my cycles as it can generate a more accurate estimate of energy used. So its a tradeoff - lower reported calories used versus more graphs for me to look at.
I also have a cadence monitor n the bike giving even more data although not a power monitor despite attempting to get that working. It seems that a Garmin GSC is a speed and cadence so it doesn't report the power no matter how you adjust the sensors. These have only been on the bike since the 20th or so of August but already I can see that my Max heart rate when I'm out with Fiona is about the same as my average heart rate when I'm doing my lunch time cycles.

Of course, my plans to continue on my campaign have taken a beating...