March must do’s – what to read, eat and basically do in the month of March.
Must do’s. Everyone has a list as long as their arm of what they plan on doing, yet still we end up in our rut of work, eat, sleep, repeat. Life is for living and damn well living it to the fullest in my opinion. You may have a 40 hours a week job but that doesn’t mean you don’t have time. Think of after work and weekends and god forbid, getting up a little earlier. I’ll admit these dark mornings and evenings make it a tad more difficult to get into the swing of things but by god live a little. I have been without watching shite TV for the past year so I will not be starting bad habits again so here’s a post to kick your arse into gear/inspire you gently to make the most of yourself.
WHAT TO READ:
Whilst on my African trip our group sort of formed its own little book club, swapping and sharing novels. It was a great way to pass our hours on the overlander, but it also opened up my ‘writing palette’, shall we call it, to new and different genres. For this month I would love to suggest a book called The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris.I came across this book on the shelves of the book store at Auschwitz would you believe. After being taken on a tour of the camp, I took it on myself to learn more about what happened and the history of Auschwitz. My research took me to films, documentaries, internet searches and finally books. Ok so it isn’t exactly non-fiction, but it is based on a true story. ‘…a sincere…moving attempt to speak the unspeakable’ – The Sunday Times wrote and believe me, by the end of the novel you’ll be soaking up your tears with your t-shirt. I won’t ruin it for you, everyone on our tour raved about it. If you want total brownie points, read up on Waterstone’s blog on “discovering the extraordinary sotry.”
In order to keep this literature ball rolling and to stop myself from switching on the drivel of reality TV I have done the unthinkable and committed to a book club. Who knows what to expect, knowing these girls there will be gin. Next on the list is The Vegetarian by Han Kang. I’ll keep you updated.
WHAT TO EAT:
Or more to the point, what not to eat I would say. It’s lent and so comes the time where we give up trivial things like chocolate or crisps or something stupid like tea (no one can survive without caffeine in my opinion). Let’s start by stating that the African diet, or what I was fed during my month on the continent was vastly meat (that and rice). For me, it made sense, give up meat. I have read copious amounts of articles and heard so much chit chat about the subject that there must be some clout in the environmental impact meat farming, not forgetting what it could do to your body. It’s only 40 days but it could be the start of something much bigger. This is it then the start of a vegetarian gluten free new me, I won’t be the first if my friend google is anything to go by. I will let you know how it goes.
WHAT TO DO:
I’m back in the beautiful surroundings of Chester, ok it isn’t the Serengeti or rural Italy, but this place is my home. I have spoken to so many people on my travels and still the pull of home is stronger than living abroad. There is something special about this little city of mine and I want to find myself and my little niche here. Just FYI you don’t have to live here to enjoy my little snippets, visit for a day, a week or be lazy and enjoy from home through me.
I am looking forward to being a total nerd and getting my board game on. Storyhouse, every Sunday at 4pm has an open session, best bit…. it’s free! On my list as well is to try out the new and improved Chester market where there is an abundance of independent eateries, I’m chomping at the bit to try. Death by tacos – yes please. Pairing these with my determination to try all the new coffee houses that have popped up, I hope to be quite the busy bee. Finally, I will be hitting my gym again hard to beat my post Africa bulge in time for the summer. I am tempted (very tempted) to sign up the 8 week challenge at Warrior training Chester but for now I’ll ease myself in with my usual circuit classes.
