An Italian friend of mine posted a picture of her wood-burning stove and a pile of logs alongside it with a comment: “Noi pronti per i giorni della merla .... Non vi temiamo.... “ = here we are ready for the blackbird days … we’re not afraid. It seems that the last days of January are known as “i giorni della merla - blackbird days, often the coldest days of the year. Presumably called the blackbird days because we see a lot of blackbirds at this time of year. A bit of weather poetry.
I didn’t point out to her that wood burning stoves are really bad for the environment, producing an enormous amount of carbon dioxide. I’ll save that for another day.
Walking through a room where the radio was playing the other day I caught the tail end of something about the government planning to make changes to our urban environment so that nobody is ever more that 10 minutes walk away from a green space. It sounds like an excellent idea but I’ve not been able to find any more details of the plans. Any articles I have found in that regard date back to 2011 - so it clearly something that’s been around for a while, although little has been done. It will be interesting to see if anything concrete -no, not concrete, green and growing! - comes of it this time.
Whoever wants government to provide more green spaces in cities must have been reading articles like this one that tells us the “access to green spaces in urban areas (is) correlated with lower rates of depression, anxiety, insomnia, asthma and high blood pressure.
I think I knew that already and have long considered us very lucky to live in a place where we have open spaces within two minutes walking distance from our house.
Related to that is this article about fitness tips.
It was the headline, as always, that attracted my attention: “Have dinner for breakfast: 33 easy, expert fitness tips you will actually stick”. I thought it was going to be going on about how eating a hearty breakfast was really good for you, much better than skipping breakfast. In fact, it told me simply that most of us don’t get enough protein early in he day and so are more likely to snack. I think I knew that already as well.
I liked this tip:
“Rub your palms together vigorously before getting out of bed
It might sound strange but doing this for a minute or two each morning increases energy levels, helping us to perform with more efficiency. It’s a good starting point for anyone who is feeling stiff or struggling with mobility.”
It’s not stiffness (apart from arthritic fingers) that’s the problem, it’s the reluctance to leave my warm nest first thing in the morning. Something that increases energy levels might do the trick. I’ll try it out and see if I remember to report back.
None of this fitness and mental health stuff mentioned coffee but coffee was in the news yesterday with reports that a cappuccino from Costa contains five times as much caffeine as the the same drink from Starbucks. I have often been heard to ramble on about the disgustingness (in my opinion) of Starbucks’ coffee. But perhaps it’s not that even a small coffee from Starbucks is the size of a small bucket that puts me off. Maybe it’s just that it doesn’t give me enough of a kick. However, now I feel vindicated.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment