JustGiving Page Up and Running!

My JustGiving Page for my London 10k run is now ready to roll! 

To sponsor me, please visit www.justgiving.com/EmmaDavis10kRun or text EMDA52 + amount in pounds you want to donate to 70700 (eg. EMADA52 £5).

I'm very passionate about supporting CALM. They are a national, who run a helpline and website to offer immediate assistance to men who are down or facing a crisis. They also work to challenge the culture that prevents men from seeking help when they need it and to challenge stereotypes that prevent men from talking about the issues they face. To find out more about CALM and the work they do, visit their website. 

My target of £500 would help to run the phone line for just one day. One day that could make a massive difference to many, many people’s lives. As I have witnessed, it is not just the lives of these young men that CALM is helping to save, but also the devastation and heartache of every person that knows and loves them.

Go on. You know you'll forget to do it later, so click through now to sponsor me.

Last year's 10k runners for CALM.
Looking forward to getting my snazzy vest!

A Quick Catch-Up....Exciting Times Ahead!

So much for my new year's resolution to regularly update my blog. I have been doing firsts, including some random acts of kindness and eating Scottish delicacies. But there's an upcoming first that I'm quite excited about. I've just been accepted to run this...

The British 10k London Run

...in July, to raise money for this...

CALM

Exciting stuff. And  I never thought I'd use that phrase to describe physical excersise. More details to follow, including how to sponsor me (yes please), but just wanted to share the news. 

Four Quick Fire-Firsts and my Movember Mo...

This week I have mostly been contemplating the fact that this Friday would be Nathan’s 21st birthday. I know I have a lot to say, but I’m not sure that I feel like writing it at this very minute.

I also know I have a tendency to waffle when it comes to writing (who am I kidding, and speaking too). And we have something of a first backlog on our hands here. So, I give you four firsts, each described in less than 50 words…

Give away a book with an inspirational quote written inside

Ali Smith's Boy Meets Girl on its way to Norwich

Left a book that uses Blind Date’s Cilla Black as a metaphor for interchangeability of gender roles on a train to Norwich. The quote came from Dr Suess. No idea whether anybody picked it up, but I like to believe it’s making someone happy!


Spend a day somewhere new in the UK 

The (blurry) pier of Brighton lit up at night

Took Glenn to Brighton for his birthday (completely selfless act). Loved the independent shops in the Lanes, loved the free deckchair use on the pier, loved the pebbled beach and the bars’ laid-back atmosphere. Did not love the pressure to buy an engagement ring or the price of cockles.


Try a new sport 

Perhaps looking the other way would
have helped with my technique....

Went to a driving range (the waffle potential here about whether this counts as a sport is endless - good job I am limited). Provided quite a few comic moments for my fellow golfers but was surprisingly good by the end (i.e. the ball actually left the floor). Top Golf fun is highly recommended…. 

My high score of.... 42!

Eat sushi off of a conveyor belt

Overpriced novelty, but I still love sushi. That is all you need to know.

If you’re looking for any other details, you will just have to ask!



Now, onto a first in the making…

I thought November would be a good time to start learning how to knit and to complete my first of knitting something; Christmas gifts are usually cheaper homemade. So I downloaded a few books for knitting for dummies onto my Kindle, including one called Manly Knits. Inside, I found this little gem of a knitting pattern…

Now, November is also a good time to grow a moustache and take part in a campaign to raise awareness of issues that affect men. While I would struggle to take part in Movember in the traditional way (do not even jokingly suggest otherwise, please), I thought I would hijack the Movember campaign as part of my efforts to raise awareness of another issue that affects thousands of men (and their families and friends) every single month.

So far, I have just about learnt to cast on, knit, purl and bind off. I will keep you all updated on my Movember Mo as it starts coming along… 

A few firsts I snuck in while your backs were all turned...

I was going to start this post with the phrase "I can’t believe it’s been a month since I last updated my blog." But, actually, I can. When I read back on diaries I tried to keep in the past almost every other entry starts with "I can't believe it's so long since I last wrote in here...". So, in an unofficial first, this time I will believe. But not writing does not mean I have not been completing my firsts. In the next few days, I will update you on all the things I've been too busy getting on with to actually write about...

Start a Career

Ok, so the prep work has been going on for years now (along with a bit of reckless travelling and occasional binge drinking) but within the last month I have finally landed myself a job that I believe I want to continue working within for the rest of my working career. Maybe not this exact job forever, but within this line of work, with this kind of company.

The only result when you search 'Career Woman'
on Wiki Commons...  a charicature by Honoré Daumier... nice.

And I kind of landed into it by accident (well, let’s say by making my own luck.) 

Week 1...

There have been a couple of firsts already this week. Thursday marked a year since the death of my brother. I cannot explain how awful I felt that day. Even after I had worked up the drive to get out of bed, I climbed back under the duvet at one point and considered staying there (and not just for the day). 

I had deliberately made sure I had no work planned for the day; I knew I would be in no state to concentrate. But my family had plans for the afternoon and evening, which included a trip to the cemetery, a picnic in the park and a trip to see Rhys Darby AKA Murray from Flight of the Concords - we thought that's where Nathan would have been that evening if he was still with us. I think this was a fitting way to mark the day. And I actually enjoyed the show. In some ways it is good to have some time as a family where we have a shared sense of grieving. Sometimes it is all too easy to carry on about our individual lives without acknowledging that we're all thinking of him. 

Today has been another first. My lovely little niece, my first and only niece who was born a few weeks after Nath's death, was baptised. She looked so lovely in her little white dress and was so good. Despite not being particularly religious myself, and despite the obvious trials of family get-togethers when one person is so obviously missing, it was a really lovely day.

That may seem enough for my first week of ‘firsts’ but I feel the need to do something else. 

"When you feel helpless, help someone." - Aung San Suu Kyi

I saw this quote recently on a website for a project called We-are-lucky (a brilliant experiment in giving, you should take a look if you haven't heard of it already). Helpless would be one adjective I would use to describe how I feel at the moment. I feel helpless in the face of what has happened. Helpless to control my emotions. 

But, most of all, I feel helpless to help other people. In particular, I feel helpless to help the rest of my family.