Here Comes the Sun

It feels like this weekend, and now the start of this week, have yielded the first truly unblemished sunny days of the year. In spite of the cold, it was brilliant to go for a run through Hyde Park this afternoon. The sun was shining and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I think it counts as one of the days that Alexandre Dumas described as "one of those rare and beautiful days in winter when England remembers that there is a sun." The fact that it's now almost 6 and still not bitterly dark yet is also a marked improvement over the past few months.

Attempting to shrug off the weird pain of this weekend, I've been decently productive today. Though, before engaging in a boring chronicle of my activities, I ought to justify the ambiguous "weird pain."

I'm not sure if the exercise was getting to me, or if this was just one of those times when my body decides it likes to play tricks on me, but I kept having random shooting pains throughout the weekend. Mostly on the left side of my back, but sometimes in my shins, or my knee, or (most recently) my forearm. It's bizarre, and I'd ignore it entirely if it wasn't absolutely caning half of the time. I'm determined to wait it out. I have a very laissez faire policy when it comes to my health: unless I break a bone, lose consciousness, or haemorrhage uncontrollably, I generally ignore it until it goes away. Or, as the case may be, ignore it until it puts me in enough pain to impede my normal routine. Probably not the smartest tack in the world.

In more amusing news, with T-minus 4 months to go until The Big Day, I've finally cracked open my first bridal magazine. Thanks for it go to my flatmate who brought it home from work with him. He's an accountant and apparently was working with the publishers of said magazine that day, and thought I might find it interesting/useful. The former? certainly. The latter? not entirely. Though I'm grateful for the average budget breakdown, the to-do calendar countdown, and various other images and articles, the majority of it reads like a wedding-themed fashion magazine: full of lots of pretty pictures, with the occasional bit of reason thrown in. As you expect with a fashion magazine (a high-end one, at any rate) it was almost 52% adverts and 48% content, with about 2% of that content being "promotions" (read: disguised adverts masquerading as articles) and another 8-10% as coupons and lists of local vendors one might find useful (see above: "promotions"). Again: not surprising, just entertaining.

I was pleased to see our chosen honeymoon destination (nestled away in the French Alps) listed as this month's go-to romantic retreat. I then laughed to counter the incredulity at how much more expensive they made the location appear (and all for the addition of some ski passes, facials, and massages...oh, and time at a gym/pool/sauna). Still, at least the many photos can prove fodder for my next enterprise of Reception Space Decorating. (Cue the dramatic music, Mr. Zimmer.) I agree fully with my future sister-in-law: the best part of being engaged isn't planning the wedding...it's getting your new place to live all figured out! Now if only my dissertation seemed so easy...