Happy Easter and goodbye lent! This year’s lent is over and I can now say hello again to tea with sugar!
I started off cautiously with half a spoon full. That wasn’t enough. Then a full spoonful. That tasted better, I enjoyed my brew but it didn’t feel quite right.
My next brew had 2 in. Too much!!
Back to 1 sugar, okay. Then I went for no sugar. Not horrible but definitely needed 1 sugar.
After a few different brews I have now settled on 1 sugar! A good improvement from where I started. But I still feel as if it doesn’t taste as good as they used to, maybe I have ruined my brews forever!!
Now a week on, tea with 1 sugar is fine!
My colleague has done much better and isn’t having any! He tried it and found it revolting. So good for him!
I think I shall have the odd sugarless brew and enjoy it, but 1 sugar is the way for me.
Tags: ash wednesday, easter, easter sunday, give up, giving up, good friday, hot drinks, lent, no sugar, shrove tuesday, sugar, tea, Tea no sugar
Well I’m still going strong with no sugars in my brew, but I’m looking forward to putting a bit of the sweet stuff back in!
I’ve been through highs and lows but the bottom line is It Just Doesn’t Taste As Nice!
My collegue on the other hand is loving his and definitely isn’t going back to sugar.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m drinking and enjoying my brews, but something is missing.
I wont be going back to two sugars after Easter but I will be putting half a spoon full in to see how that is. Maybe I’ll find that tastes worse and actually, I do now prefer sugar-less brew. We’ll see!
But at the moment it doesn’t feel that way. I had a philosophical thought this morning…
Tea without sugar is like drinking water instead of juice… I like water, and its healthier, but it’s just not quite as tasty as juice!
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Tags: easter, healthy, hot drinks, jesus, lent, sacrifice, shrove, sugar, tea, tea without sugar, two sugars in tea
For lent a collegue and I have decided to give up sugar in hot drinks.
It all came about when we were discussing what we’ve given up in the past and what we could give up. We both eat quite sensibly and don’t over-indulge on anything. I gave up chocolate last year so I didn’t want to do that again.
We realised that having 2 sugars in our brew was probably the most unhealthy habit and voila, no sugar in hot drinks for lent!
I’ve drunk tea before with no sugar and it’s alright but really not great.
Nonetheless I started this morning with my usual morning brew minus the sugar and although it wasn’t completely satisfying, it wasn’t a big deal.
After brew number 2 I’m staring to think this won’t be so bad!
A lot of people have said they stopped having sugar in their tea & now couldn’t stand it with any in. So we shall see!
#40DaysLeftToGo
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Tags: 40 days, 40 days and 40 nights, ash, ash wednesday, brew, builders tea, coffe, give up for lent, give up sugar for lent, give up sugar in tea for lent, lent, sacrafise, shrove, shrove tuesday, sugar, sweet tea, tea, teabag, tuesday, two sugars, wednesday
The other day I was stuck in a que due to a road traffic collision that had happened ahead. I later heard that a man was not wearing a seatbelt and had crashed into another vehicle and was thrown into the cars windscreen. Passers by say there was blood everywhere.
People that don’t wear seatbelts anger me so much that I feel the need to share a story;
One day I was driving home in my lovely little car when for whatever reason I lost control. The car swerved about across the road and zoomed into a 8ft steel fence at around 50mph!
The impact was so hard that the baseball hat I had been wearing over my ponytail flew off my head and ended up in the passenger footwell and my ponytail was undone.
I stepped out of the car shaken, but absolutely fine except for a slighty sore shoulder and a graze on my hand.
If I had not been wearing my seatbelt my body would have been thrown into the window, if not through it, and I certainly would be either critically injured, or more likely, Dead.
A seatbelt is the difference between life and death!
We are not invincible. Crash’s happen, no matter how safe you drive or how great you think you can drive.
I don’t even notice my seatbelt when I’m in the car. It is an inanimate object that rests lightly across my body. I automatically put it on everytime. I never forget. It isn’t uncomfortable. It doesn’t restrict my movement. It isn’t a nuisance.
Wear you seatbelt!
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Tags: a seatbelt saved my life, car, car crash, collision, dead, death, fire, i would have been dead if it wasn't for the seatbelt, I would have died, life, life story, rescue, road, road collision, road traffic accident, RTA, safety, seatbelt, survived, traffic
Hi Gear Atakama 5 
£69
5 berth
3000m
12kg
1 bedroom with divide sheet
2 doors
185cm high
Ease of Erection
This dome style tent is very easy to erect. There are 2 poles that cross and 1 porch pole. The poles slide into the outer sheet and that section is put up first and then the inside pod is clipped in afterwards, keeping the inside of the tent dry. It can easily be put up with two people and we did it in around 20 minutes, first time with no instructions.
Size & Space
The tent is a good size for two people (and a dog) for a weekend or a week away. It would fit four people with enough room in the porch for storage, however the sleeping space might become quite limited. I doubt that it would fit 2 double air beds.
The porch is large and spacious, easily fitting two camping chairs, a dog, shoes and food boxes. There is room to move around and sit while keeping sheltered and dry. The tent comes with 2 poles for putting the porch door up for added room, openness and shelter. 
Material Quality
The tent is of standard material and the quality is okay. Average. However during its first use we found that the elastic which runs through one of the poles had snapped. The poles were being slid carefully out of the tent with two people and had not been tugged or pulled at all. The elastic was frayed and had broken easily. Very disappointing quality! I had used my last tent for 6 years without ever needing to replace a pole.
Stability
During our use there was medium to little wind. The tent is quite floppy, for lack of a better word, and does not feel very stable for its height and size. However it held fine for our use and there are plenty of guy ropes which are strong.
Rain-proof-ness
This is where the tent completely fails and its 1 star rating becomes clear. This tent is useless in the rain. It has a severe design fault. The front door of the porch does not sit tight, therefore a pool of rain gathers on top of the porch door, at the entrance of the tent, which eventually weighs the door down, pushing it back behind the edge of the ground sheet and water runs into the porch.
This is awful! We went out for a walk, during which it rained for a few hours, heavy at times, and came back to find that the tent porch was sagging with a big pool of water on it and some water had gone inside the porch. That evening we tried to tighten the porch out and packed it out from the inside with towels as it started raining steadily. We watched in horror as water ran around our barrier and into the porch. In the end we had to leave the porch untouched to pool and that was the best way of keeping the water out. However the outer sheet of the tent was pushed back, leaving the ground sheet exposed. Not good!
There was also pools of water forming on the roof of the porch which had to be pushed up and drained off.
The main body of the tent which covers the inner pod was absolutely fine and completely waterproof.
We assessed how we had pitched the tent several times and looked at other people’s tents, who were all pitched in the same direction and location as us, and none were having this problem. My partner and I have been camping for 6 years and have never experienced this problem with a tent before. And we have camped in some dreadful weather with much heavier rain than we experienced over this weekend trip.
After our weekend we cleaned and packed the tent up and returned it to Go Outdoors, arguing how upset and disappointed we were with this tent. They sent the tent away for a fault assessment test and two weeks later we were given a full refund.
Ease of Dismantling
Generally good. Easily taken down and folded up by one or two people. The ground sheet is difficult to clean as it is attached to the inside pod so you have to be careful when rinsing it off.
Price
Reasonable for the size of tent if it was not for the leaking issue. 
Stay Clear!
This tent should be avoided completely unless you are likely to never encounter any rain. Otherwise it is completely useless. We were bitterly disappointed that this issue occurs as the tent was otherwise perfect in size and use. It is not too heavy for carrying and is an ideal tent for 2 people and a dog who want some space to sit inside when it’s raining.
On return to the store we looked at the display tent and could see that the porch on that one was also sat loosely. Therefore the problem was not only with our tent or how we pitched.
The fact is for Go Outdoors to refund our money shows that they have admitted themselves that the fault is there. It has completely put me off any Hi Gear tents and I shall be very reluctant to purchase from them again.
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Tags: 1 bedroom, 1 bedroomd, 12kg, 3000mm, 5 birth, 5 birth tent, atakama, atakama 5, bad, bad tent, bedroom, british weather, broken pole, Camping, camping for two, camping with dog, dismantling, divide sheet, ease of dismantly, ease of erection, ease of use, floppt, floppy, go outdoors, gooutdoors, ground sheet, groundsheet, guy ropes, Guy-wire, hi gear atakama 5, hi gear atakama review, hi gear tent review, hi-gear, hi-gear atakama, hi-gear atakama 5 review, leak, leaking tent, material, material quality, mud, nature, one man and his dog, Outdoors, pod, pole, pool, porch, porch fault, price, puddle, quality, Rain, rain proof, rain proofness, rain-proof-ness, rainproof tent, Recreation, refund, review, roof, rubbish tent, size, size and space, snapped eslastic, snapped pole, soggy, space, stability, stable, Tent, tent for 2 people, tent for 2 people and dog, tent for 4 people, tent for 5 people, tent review, tenting, travel, vacation, value, water, waterproof tent, Weather
Finished!
9 weeks of NHS training program and I am a runner!
This week is just as expected, 3 runs of 30 minutes.
I did the first run with the podcast, another with my own music using my watch and the final listening to the podcast again.
I haven’t found it easy. I’m not a super sexy, easy runner. But I did run for 30 minutes without stopping. Plus I always feel good when I finish. I struggle a little through the runs, sometimes I feel close to the edge of my ability .But I can always keep going and I can always finish!
It’s absolutely awesome! In 21 years of being fairly fit and active I have never been able to run for much more than a few minutes and now I am running 2 and a half, nearly 3 miles.
My pace is average, quite slow but good.
I’m going to make sure I go for a run at least once a week so I don’t lose fitness, but as long as I have time I will be running for 3 days a week and work to increase how far I go in 30 minutes.
For anyone considering doing this then I would say YES YES YES! Honestly I thought I’d never be a runner and even though I do lots of walking, climbing & play sports I have never ever been able to jog and this has got me jogging easily! For 30 whole minutes! When I started the podcasts 5 minutes of jogging seemed like a marathon but in a few weeks 5 minutes is nothing.
Everyone can be a runner with a little help from the NHS. Thank you so much!
- Week 8! NHS Couch to 5K (ruthturner.wordpress.com)
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Tags: 2 mile, 3 miles, 5k, 9 weeks, begin to jog, begin to run, beginning to jog, beginning to run, C25k, couch 2 5k, couch to 5k, fitness, free podcast, get fit, health, healthy-living, help, how to jog, how to run, ipod, jog, jog for 30 minutes, jogging, jogging for beginners, learn to jog, learn to run, Marathon, music, National Health Service, nhs, physical, podcast, run, run 5k in 9 weeks, run for 30 minutes, run to music, running, running for beginners, sports, start to jog, start to run, training
I feel great!
28 minutes runs! Get in there!
Each run is still tough. It’s a struggle. But the after feeling is fantastic. Every time 60 seconds left I get rocket shoes and get up to a near sprint at the end.
I haven’t been doing these podcasts regularly. Things have gotten in the way. But I’ve been doing them and I’ve completed each one!
When telling my friend he said “Why didn’t you do 30 minutes!?”. I thought this myself, I could do another 2 minutes! It’s only 2 minutes! But that’s what comes next and only once Week 8 is finished.
I’m still amazed at the progress I have made. I started this not being able to run for 3 minutes. I never thought I’d be able to run for 28 minutes. My pace isn’t bad either. 11/12 minutes miles! That’s good. I use MapMyFitness phone app to record the section I am running to get stats about speed and calories.
It is very important to me that I keep running. I don’t want to lose this new fitness I have. I don’t want to give it up because I know I will quickly decrease to being unable to run for very long again. I shall keep this up after completing and I shall keep my new stamina. Not only that but I want to improve! I want to up my speed! Faster, harder, fitter!
Bring on Week 9! Stay tuned for the final of my NHS Couch to 5K Experience!
- Week 7! NHS Couch to 5K (ruthturner.wordpress.com)
- Week 6! NHS Couch to 5K (ruthturner.wordpress.com)
- Week 5! NHS Couch to 5K (ruthturner.wordpress.com)
- Week 4! NHS Couch to 5K (ruthturner.wordpress.com)
- Week 3! NHS Couch to 5K (ruthturner.wordpress.com)
- Week 2! NHS Couch to 5K (ruthturner.wordpress.com)
- NHS Couch to 5K [Week 1] (ruthturner.wordpress.com)
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Tags: 28 minut, 28 minute, 9 week fitness program, Athletic, begin to jog, begin to run, beginning to run, C25k, c25k week 8, couch to 5k, download podcasts, fitness, fitness podcasts, free podcast, health, healthy-living, increase stamina, jogging, learn to jog, learn to run, Minutes, nhs, podcast, running, running podcasts, sports, stamina, training, week 8
