Seeking Warmth

A hot shower, delicious cocoa - with Baileys, thermostat ON, cats nearby, sweaters, what MORE do I have to do to get warm??? I'm even using red font colour in an attempt to impart heat to my chilled self! I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, after all, it is mid-January and I live at 52 degrees North, but the thermometer said it was above freezing and there was no wind, so I thought I was safe.

Wrong. I went down to ride Maroz and pretty much as soon as I began pedaling, my sensors told me it was colder than expected. After a few minutes on the bike and then at the stable mucking out the stall, I warmed up, but then I cooled off again once Maroz and I went out for our ramble. I could tell that even a lot of trotting / cantering wasn't going to beat this one off, so I gave him a decent time out of his stall and then we headed back to the stable. By this time, I felt like I was hemorrhaging snot and my poor nose was feeling very put upon and chapped, so I was happy to get back on the bike and warm up again.

I did, a little. The problem was that I was already cold enough that the exercise didn't really kick in and then I was home and still chilled. And here I sit... I wonder if it feels so cold because it's a coastal cold and the damp tricked me and snuck in under all the thermal underwear, turtleneck, wool, and fleece-lined windbreaker I was wearing? Maybe, just maybe, the ONLY cure is a nap! Now that sounds a lot more sensible than bicycling around like an idiot and freezing various bits of myself. Except...I'm not tired.

I think I'm being overly theatrical because I know that in a few hours, Mike and I are getting back on the blasted bikes and cycling to The Hague for a movie (The Visitor) with Kim and Aaron, and I'm not ready to be back outside yet. Yes, we DO see a lot of movies, but there's a good reason. We bought cards last summer that we pay €18 / month for, and can see unlimited movies. That means the card pays for itself in less than 3 movie viewings / month. Perhaps that is more movies than we would normally average on a monthly basis, but when we signed up for the cards, we saw a lot of movies on the horizon that we knew we wanted to see and so made the committment. Now they are a good excuse to get out regularly and see what new nonsense the film industry wants to throw at us. It means that we will see shows that we might not ordinarily want to spend the €€€ on, but now can justify. It's been fun, too, as I've branched out in my movie viewing and been pleased with some of the choices we've seen. Interestingly, two of the movies that spurred the original purchase of the cards, The Mummy III, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, were both so pathetically bad that we were sorry we went! Incidentally, Aaron set up a blog for us to discuss our latest movie viewings: http://postvisualization.wordpress.com/

Well, I have warmed up a skosh, but am planning on retreating under a blanket with a book (The Condé Nast Traveller Book of Unforgettable Journeys - Great Writers on Great Places) and hopefully a cat or two and see if THAT does the trick!