Day Five

Quite a busy day. Not woken by early traffic, but only because I slept with my bedroom window closed, I think. It was so chilly last night, felt like winter!
Again beat the alarm clock for my 8:45 pill by a couple of minutes. Mustn't get complacent, though.
Breakfast al fresco, at least for about fifteen minutes. A sudden squall drove me inside. Work called anyway. It's been a bit busier now the summer holidays are over.
Lateish cup of strong coffee, about an hour before my ESOL class in the afternoon, preceded by a meeting with our "boss". Who told me and my assistant teacher that in four months of classes we've used up way more than the proportion of our budget (which was much reduced from last year anyway). I can feel a rant coming on about a government that has the wrong kinds of priorities...
The class went well enough but I had prepped with students in mind who didn't turn up (which always seems to happen when I prep stuff), so we had to adapt quite a lot and I'm not sure I managed to match the material (Looking for a job and Job applications) to all the students in the classroom.
Came home to find a message from my younger brother and his wife in response to my letter to the family about ADD/ADHD, a very positive reaction that shines an honest light on their own situation. We're on similar paths, working hard to stay sane in a totally crazy world!
My very bright young private student came in for her Tuesday afternoon ESOL lesson. She's been coming for several years and has made wonderful progress from very little English to taking good grades home in her last year at High School. Proud of her.
After she left I sat down to take care of a translation job due at my client's by tomorrow late afternoon and honed that piece until it shone and is now ready for me to re-read in the morning and "ship" off.
By 8pm I was ravenous, hadn't had anything but breakfast all day, which is quite common. So, despite quite a bit of school work still waiting, I had a large bowl of home-grown lettuce (harvested the day before) with an organic tomato and some organic ham, sprinkled with some organic Fairtrade cashew nuts, plus a couple of slices of toast made from sourdough bread, with a little organic butter. (Yes, I do try to eat organic and Fairtrade products as much as I possibly can, even though they cost an inordinate amount of money. But I have long noticed a big difference in taste and the impact food has on me, so this is well worth it.)
Will see how this goes. I would have preferred tatties but the bread was going stale and I hate throwing out food. In the past I've noticed that my joints are much more stiff the morning after eating bread or pasta or rice, or fresh tomatoes. Seems they increase acidity a lot more than potatoes or cooked tomatoes, for example. And when my joints stiffen up, my sleep gets disrupted.
While eating, and after, I watched a couple of episodes of detective series (Gently..., Montalbano) on the iPlayer; now it's time for bed but I feel totally "wired".
Is Concerta making a difference? Not sure; it's hard to tell because I have a long history of irregular days, periods of intense, highly focused, mostly intellectual work that alternate with slumps in which I can't be bothered to do anything but watch TV – which I guess is ok and necessary and goes with the territory of being a freelancer, but is also really quite exhausting.
I don't know...

Day Two

Back from an evening out with walking friends, saying farewell to a couple who are heading south (primarily for health reasons). A sad occasion, but a happy evening filled with laughter.

The day started sluggish, I was woken in the middle of the night by a lorry clattering noisily past the house – Scotland Transerv need to get their a--- kicked for letting the main road into Oban go to the dogs.
Found it hard to go back to sleep and even harder to wake up properly.
I've decided to take my one pill a day at 8:45am; any earlier and I'll be stressed out all night for fear of oversleeping...
Once I was up I was fine, got into the swing of things, breakfast was the usual healthy affair: a mix of rolled rye and barley with fresh and dried fruit and berries, lots of hot water and some fruit juice to give it a bit of taste. Glass of carrot juice, glass of water, lovely strong coffee. Plus: lovely weather allowed me to have breakfast al fresco, reading my favourite paper.
Almost forgot time (what else is new?) and ended up running a bit behind on getting produce out of the garden and into the kitchen in time for lunch for a friend.
Salad of home-grown Lollo rosso, with tomatoes, avocado, a few shavings of carrot and fresh home-grown herbs, with a balsamico/olive oil dresing and a generous pinch of sea salt; plus freshly dug up potatoes and home-grown mange-tout peas with a fresh tomato gently cooked in olive oil. Yummy – out of the garden, into the pan! Nothing can be better.
Later I spent about three hours digging up more tatties, as well as dandelion roots and doing a general spot of weeding. Very physical work - my back and wrists don't much like it any more but it's satisfying in every other way.
Then it was time to get cleaned up for dinner at Soroba House Hotel. Had a G&T followed by a very small glass of white wine before switching to water. Chef Tim McKechnie did us proud. He produces wonderful meals with an imaginative, modern twist. (I must try his Sunday carvery one of these days...)
My choice was poached salmon with a colourful array of fresh veggies. Dessert was an amazing gateau (I think it was coffee-flavoured chocolate = moccha, with a hint of sea salt), beautifully presented with a "waterfall" of the lightest of frothy vanilla-flavoured cream.
When I got home I felt the need for a walk so took myself down the hill to the Corran Halls and back up again,  not too energetically so as to digest all the lovely food – I don't usually have breakfast, lunch and dinner...
A good day; the lovely weather helped. Miss the cat, though, really miss her!