October with Penelope and Parker

And so we say hello to November… I’m really not sure how that happened – Christmas doesn’t feel that long ago!  October was another month spent at home – I have enjoyed being based in the UK with work and spending weekends relaxing with Mr P, seeing friends and enjoying a spot of Sunday sailing.  The month has flown by, as always, thankfully with plenty of sunshine too.  Here’s the best bits:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Anna Parker (@annaeparker)

Take 12 Trips

For this months #Take12Trips I had a day out at Blenheim Palace with my oldest friend.  I have never been to Blenheim before despite it being only about 90 minutes from home, so we decided that we would be princesses for the day and head to a palace!  What a stunning spot. Despite it being a relatively warm October day the grounds were really quiet and we had a lovely mooch about enjoying the fresh air.  My favourite bits were the butterfly house and the maze.  The butterflies weren’t the common or garden type… they were massive and just beautiful.  The maze we did get a bit stumped by – in our rush to find the middle, we went in the out having not read the instructions.  The ‘out’ is the end and so we instead spent ages finding our way to the ‘in’!!  And what a surprise to find the rose garden in full bloom rather than dead headed!

The great outdoors

Sailing has taken up a fair chunk of the month – the Hamble Winter Series happens every Sunday of October and November on the Solent.  So far there has been next to no wind so we haven’t had much excitement – but it has been nice to hang out with the boys again, meet some new crew, try and get ourselves slick at manoeuvres we were good at a few months ago and enjoy eating cake, drinking tea and a sneaky pint of shandy after racing!

As the fair-weather runner that I am, I have absolutely made the most of days working from home and got up in the dark to start work early then broken the day up with a run around Southampton common.  Always good to get fresh air and the day is always much more effective after I have run any stress out of me!  I always get ‘into’ my running after the summer, I guess I am getting fit for next summer!!

Work bits

I seem to have spent a disproportionate amount of time in London this month – but for the first time ever, I have ‘seen’ some of what is right outside the office door.  My team had a team build one afternoon followed by supper at the Bleeding Heart in Farringdon.  For our team-build we were split into 2 teams and we had a treasure hunt around The City and St Paul’s to complete.  It was fascinating – not least because there is so much history there is only metres from the office, I just need to remember to either look up more often or read the blue signs that are fixed on to so many buildings.  We have found our new local – Ye Olde Mitre, which in fact is really a part of Cambridgeshire despite being tucked away just of Hatton Gardens – so a successful event all round!  We also proved we don’t ever look up – there was a photo round, and a picture of a quirky statue.  Everyone thought it looked familiar, but we couldn’t place it.  In fact it is a sculpture adjacent to the entrance of the office…  I got back on a plane too this month for the first time in a good few months as I was off to run a course in Belgium for a few days – nice to be away again but I had forgotten how much time gets wasted in travel time…

Time with friends

I had one particularly enjoyable weekend seeing my girlfriends – on the Friday night we de-camped to a barn in the New Forest for a hen do and put the world to rights over a fair few bottles (let’s be honest, a fridge full) of prosecco.  I then shot up to London to enjoy a birthday afternoon tea with my university friends at the Landmark.  On another weekend when Mr P was away, I managed to successfully cook for 4 of the crew of my boat – a fun evening of good food, company, wine and banter.  Great preparation for an early start for sailing the next morning!

A busy month indeed!  Roll on November, the heating is on – I’m ready for you!