Gastrocnemius Workout

Lulworth Cove

We spent this bank holiday generally lazing and then recovering from a long trek in Dorset. I have recently reconnected with my old tuition friend. She is quite the traveller and is a very outdoor physically fit individual. S had mentioned our previous rambling expeditions in Dorset to her and she was quite enthusiastic about trying another day trek . So we decided to go down to Dorset again. I have blogged about the Jurassic coastline previously and it is gorgeous. We have a standard path that we frequent which is rated as moderately difficult. Now I mentioned this at work to Mr W and he suggested we try the walk along Lulworth cove. He promised me it was not too strenuous and the views were well worth it. So I pestered S into trying this walk even though the websites had rated it as difficult. Silly me.

We reached Dorset after a 3 hour drive on Sunday morning. The weather was gorgeous and everyone south of Surrey seemed to have got the same idea as us. Head to Dorset. After a long drive involving discussions on work, economic crisis, country ratings ( both S and tuition friend are economists) we finally reached our destination with my bladder reaching bursting point. It was packed. I was quite certain now this walk would feel more like a pilgrimage given the vast number of cars and people at Lulworth. Boy was I mistaken.

Audience along the way

The walking path was a killer. It was strenuous from the word go. We choose to walk along the coastline as the views were truly spectacular. Most of the walking paths were uphill and the gradient increased as we progressed. We walked 7 miles which is not much but it took us 3 hours given the gradients. After crossing the first gradient most of the crowd gave up. There were many small pebbled beaches along the way which was where most people were headed. We trudged on.

Durdle Door

Tuition friend like a true pro came with a customised 3 litre water bag with an interesting large straw contraption to keep her hydrated and dry fruits for the walk. I came with chutney sandwiches, minimal water, mango juice, cherries and bananas, most of which was left in the car as S refused to carry that much weight up hill. I groaned and moaned through most of the ascents but the views at the end made it worth the pain. The high point actually managing to finish the 7 mile walk. It felt like an achievement. Lulworth cove is truly spectacular, choose a sunny weekend and head out for the perfect gastrocnemius workout.

Alive and kicking!

While I dust off the cobwebs on this page I realised I have neglected it for over a month! Ennui has taken over me. I am just plain bored with blogging. I think its because I haven't figured out what I want this blog to be. I want it to be a reflection of my life but that's too personal to bare to all and sundry. I want it to be a catalogue of all my culinary adventures but I don't quite have the skill or motivation to pen it down. I want it to be a diary where I record events I want to share but as I start typing down my thoughts I am constantly chopping down words/events as some things are better left unsaid. All this leaves me with little to say. So now after a month of blogging abstinence I have collected enough fodder for a few posts. May be that's what this blog will be, an irregular record of my thoughts.

Things that have changed in my life.

I am moving on, I leave my present job on June 19'th. Shortly after this I am off to India for 4 weeks, to attend the much awaited family wedding and generally spend some much needed TLC time with the parents. I start my new job in August so this allows me a gap of over a month after spending 4 years of working as a GDP.

I have now shifted my career path to a large extent. I am either nuts or its the ennui at work, especially with my current corporate employer. I am not a fan of corporate dental bodies, I agree dentistry is a business but it's also a service and if the only thing that drives you is profit it's a dreary job. I now move into community dentistry. After 4 years of being a self employed general dental practitioner, my view of NHS general dentistry is a tad jaded. I move onto full time employment where the work load will be less target driven or income driven where I hope to learn and make a difference or at the very least try something new. If it all goes pear shaped its back to GDP work at worst so I have nothing to lose. In case you haven't realised by now, I am just convincing myself this move will be good.

I will miss the people I work with, some of my amusing adorable patients, general dental work, my Mondays off (sob!) and the proximity between work and home.

I am excited about my new place of work, my clinical head ( she grilled me during my interview but she seems sufficiently motivated to encourage me to try new things in time) learning new skills, driving to work ( yes its still a thrill) and my fabulous new surgery.

I got my driving license I am legal to drive so keep off the roads.

I have seen a lot of turmoil in family and friends lives this past month. Its been painful for both me and them. I hope things settle down for all involved.

I have had a serious wake up call with regards to my health and my general out look on life. Its too short to worry about what the world thinks, to fret over petty matters. If you have your health in order everything else can be worked on. Its the basic building block and I need to get mine in order. As for life, its been good in most respects. I have people that care about me around me I could not ask for more. Life is like a tree the dead wood slowly gets cut off for there is no other way to survive and thrive.

I have been very lucky my profession allows me so many choices while other people are losing their jobs or having difficulty finding employment. People always need their teeth fixed, thankfully!

I have spent a lot of time with different people, friends and family this month. I made an interesting blog friend shes been trying to get me to train for a marathon in September but that deserves a separate blog post. I met up with an old tuition friend. We last saw each other in 1997! Yes, in India you have tuition friends, we got friendly on the bus journey into our tuition class, she was in the genius section, I was in the average one, but somehow our paths crossed in the accounts section. I spent a lot of time with my anchors from dental school, they keep me sane and are basically family. I spent time with a little pumpkin who like her mother has her finger on the pulse of baby fashion. Its been a good socialising month.

So those are life's updates in bits and pieces. I have also kept my stomach busy with many new places visited, new recipes experimented on friends . While all this was happening I also notched up another year. Yes and I'm still alive and kicking.