Feet, Fresh Air and a Cake with a Drinking Habit

This week has been a mix of working as a foot health practitioner, a busy few shifts of the marine strandings hotline, visiting Widemouth Bay with my dog Summer, practising a stout cake and doing housework. A glamorous lifestyle, I’m sure you’ll agree. Someone alert Vogue.

At work, it’s been all about feet. They carry us through life, get squeezed into questionable shoes and rarely receive a thank-you. Thankfully, I rather like looking after them. There’s something lovely about helping someone feel more comfortable—although spending your working day with feet does give you a very different idea of what counts as an exciting before-and-after picture.

Summer and I also visited Widemouth Bay for some sea air. I love being by the ocean: room to breathe, something beautiful to look at and a welcome break from thinking about everything I ought to be doing.

Taking a dog adds another layer to the experience. I’m admiring the coast; Summer has a whole world of smells to investigate. We both appreciate nature, just through slightly different departments.

Back at home, I’ve been practising making a stout cake. Because apparently a cake made with ordinary ingredients wasn’t enough of a project—I needed one with a pub connection.

“Practising” is a particularly useful word when baking. It makes repeated cake consumption sound like professional development. You can’t possibly know whether you’ve got it right without tasting it. Then tasting another bit to confirm the first bit. I take quality control very seriously.

Of course, there’s also been housework. The washing, the cleaning and all those little jobs that somehow reappear the moment you finish them. I would be much more enthusiastic about laundry if it stayed done for longer than eleven minutes.

Housework has a remarkable ability to make you feel both busy and as though you’ve achieved absolutely nothing. You spend ages restoring order, turn around, and there’s another mug. Where did it come from? Has it been breeding behind the kettle?

Still, there have been good things tucked between the ordinary jobs: helping people at work, time by the sea with Summer and giving myself permission to try something in the kitchen without needing to get it perfect first time.

That’s something I’m learning to appreciate. A week doesn’t have to be spectacular to have lovely moments in it. Sometimes it’s enough to get out, take a breath and enjoy a slice of your ongoing book research.

Enjoy the rest of october because november is all about phobias! 

Debbie x