I do love a walk on the beach ![]()
It’s very hard sticking to those tech boundaries!
Sounds like you’re doing brilliantly with the exercise @GenesisDevice
Those steps on your part time working days are amazing.
Your body certainly tells you when you have pushed it for sure.
Thanks for sharing your routine ![]()
Can’t beat a beach walk @Nichola75
Love it when sea just rolling gently and not too much wind.
Also get some great lighting on the water in winter in The Highlands
Definitely a popular topic you posed @DuncanB, and really interesting how many ways we all keep track of our lives. It’s so cool that you have such a selection of fish vans!!! 1000 miles per week sounds bonkers, he must enjoy driving as much as providing sustenance. Beginning to plan a road trip for this summer actually, it may well stretch to hundreds of miles and include lots of food! The closest to your fish vans here would be a paletero passing in summer singing about their ice lollies in Spanish! Sadly there’ll probably be less of that this year with the other kind of ICE being around ![]()
Glad to read you’re finding your Oura helpful too @Spangleystar, it’s been a revelation for me seeing my various statistics and being able to work with or respond to them, like the physiological stress you mention. Restoring energy is essential too, like dear @Jules says. I am indeed in California, in the San Francisco Bay Area, somehow coexisting with the threats of wildfires, earthquakes and tech billionaires ![]()
Funny you should mention the sun here as it’s often filtered through Karl the fog, like today, but it’s definitely cured my former SAD! Nothing quite like dosing up on vitamin D naturally. Sounds like you’re in my old neck of the woods on the south coast so I trust it’s as beautiful and open-minded as ever. We might have been neighbours!
I love that you found tracking stuff helpful @Bearnasty and wonder if those undiagnosed traits might really benefit from the order you find in keeping track? For me seeing facts written down really helps quiet anxiety or when thoughts are racing. Perhaps you might find an Myeloproliferative neoplasms ('MPN') symptom tracker useful, especially early on when treatments are starting and changing more often? Here’s one that Nurse @Heidi_BloodCancerUK has shared that you might find useful: https://uk.mpn.your-symptom-questionnaire.com/
And dear @Erica and @Nichola75, isn’t this thread a lovely reminder of just how supportive and widespread we forum members and our experiences can be?! It’s so great to read what helps us. Lots of new ideas too!
Just a thought but as people have mentioned how important music is maybe we could resurrect the Friday jukebox club?! I’ll add a link to it for newer forum folks: The Friday Forum Jukebox Club!
I really miss jukebox Friday!
See you there on Friday in that case, @Nichola75 ![]()
Ahh from one coast to another! Yes it’s still beautiful, calm and friendly. We’ve only lived here for the last 6.5 years having lived in Greater London prior, but it’s proved the best move, surrounded by green space and footpaths- I realised how much that mattered to me and we got in 2 months before Covid Lockdown ![]()
Does the road trip you’re planning involve the Pacific Coast highway- it’s on my bucket list to go from Cali to Washington that way, so stunning. My work takes me to the US multiple times a year but mostly to the East Coast and Southern states, which food wise is not for me! I’ve been to San Fran a few times love the healthy West Coast vibe, but my favourite place is Portland, Oregon - simply for the kookiness (the Brighton of the US!) and I’ve never been to Washington State which is an essential trip for a lifelong Twin Peaks fan ![]()
Love the Friday Jukebox- bring it on!!
PS has anyone else been craving Kedgeree since @DuncanB mentioned it! The fish van is in our village this morning so off I go ![]()
Oh @Duncan @Nichola75 @Willow I loved the Friday Forum Jukebox club, it was the highlight of my week and reminds me what an eclectic mix of music we enjoy and listening to each others choices really broadened my horizons.
The interest in it faded naturally and I don’t know why.
Thanks for your kind words @Duncan and it’s good to see all the different ways people are staying motivated.
The 1,000 miles a week is bonkers but the guy and the company he sells for is based in Scrabster in Caithness (where people get the boat to Orkney) and covers a big geographical area.
Friday Forum Jukebox Club sounds great. I’ll check it out ![]()
Excellent @Spangleystar I don’t put eggs in my Kedgeree which I know a lot of people do.
I use the recipe on The Pinch of Nom Website as basis of my Kedgeree
Ha yes I do like to be beside the seaside, @Spangleystar! So you’ve probably seen more of the US than me with those work trips, how cool to be able to travel so widely. I have travel envy! I also prefer it on this coast (AKA the Best Coast) after the grim subtropical humidity whilst living in NYC ![]()
Lucky you to live where you are, I miss the Downs and Brighton and my loved ones there a lot, it will always be home. I’ve heard that comparison with Portland too, haven’t visited yet though as I keep finding stuff to explore around California. It’s funny as I describe Brighton and Hove to Americans as the San Francisco of Europe!
As for our road trip, it’s early in the planning but I think we’ll be headed back down to the High Desert around Joshua Tree, maybe even via the coast road. Apparently it is never fully open as there are always sections falling into the Pacific! Then maybe up through the Sierra Nevada mountains to Truckee and back down to sea level. A kind of loop of some new and some familiar places. It’ll be our first proper road trip with our newly adopted dog so I’m especially excited to show him around this beautiful “golden state”!
I’m loving reading all these amazing Scottish place names, by the way @DuncanB, bet they look almost as craggy and wild as they sound!
Didn’t realise you had links to Brighton and Hove @Duncan
It’s a small world. My wife and I lived there from 1988 to 2022.
Changed a lot over the years for sure.
Scrabster definitely a harbour town @Duncan
Caithness actually quite flat.
Some brilliant hills over on the West.
Road to Lochinver and Ullapool has some dramatic hills and scenery.
Love the islands too. Isle of Islay (the whisky island) and Isle of Harris two of our favourites.
Been to quite a few others. Mull, Orkney and Shetland
Oh wow it really is a small world @DuncanB—we might have been neighbours for years in Brighton and/or Hove, actually! Definitely a lot of change, including those wind farms getting built offshore and bonkers cost of living. Although the latter prepared me well for here ![]()
Thank you for all those Highland recommendations, I like to keep note of places I intend to visit. Wish I’d spent more time in Scotland beyond Edinburgh when it was closer! I tended to travel as far as I could get when I flew and it almost felt like cheating to fly within Britain. My grandma lived on Skye and the landscapes up there sounded so awe-inspiring, I’m sure they still are in the grand scheme of things.
Definitely small world @Duncan
We lived in Central Brighton for first 5 years then moved out to West Hove.
You’re not alone in not having ventured very far beyond the cities in the Central belt
At least you made it to Edinburgh.
We have been to Skye but after they built the road bridge so hence why I didn’t mention it as an island.
We use to fly to Islay and Lewis via Glasgow.
Was great could get Friday night flight up stay at a Premier Inn on airport complex and then early morning flight on the Saturday.
Probably not environmentally friendly but a good option to maximise holiday time on the islands ![]()
I too am a tracker! Mainly steps/exercise on my watch and have started tracking calories on MyFitnessPal as noticed I was getting a bit portly (too many biscuits). It’s definitely made me more aware of what I’m eating and although I had a healthy diet anyway, it’s really encouraged me to add even more veg whilst reducing biscuit consumption.
I don’t track sleep as I find the watch uncomfortable to wear at night as I’m very sensitive to things. Was wondering if the Oura ring is less noticeable as that would good.
I’ve signed up to do the Walk of Light Step Challenge so that will make sure I’m moving around.
Excited to check out Friday Jukebox as I have very eclectic music tastes, from Bikini Kill to Barry Manilow ![]()
Hello there @Barry1, how have you been? Hope the diagnosis is sinking in okay still. Personally, I can’t help myself with biscuits haha. I even make us batches of chocolate cinnamon ones. Now I’m making my own mouth water!
Anyway, I wear my Oura overnight and don’t notice it at all. I think wearing a watch would annoy me, and my other half’s iWatch or whatever it’s called regularly slips out of place so readings can be spotty.
Just thought, many here might be interested in the Walk Of Light, it’s really fun to do a sponsored walk for Blood Cancer UK, I did it one year over here! It’s next month so there’s bit of time to prepare: Walk of Light 2026 charity walk | Blood Cancer UK