Pip's Squeaks: When life is a juggling act

Back in the day when I was blogging regularly I seem to recall having lots of space in my day. Time is a luxury that has long fallen by the wayside! These days it seems my life is scheduled to the hilt, and my timetable is governed by both exercise and the dogs.

As an example, during the week I walk the dogs Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, and work out on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. I run Monday and Wednesday nights and walk the dogs on Tuesday and Thursday nights. On Friday the dog walker usually takes over in the afternoon, but if not then Hamish and I juggle the dog walking depending on who gets home first (or more often, how long I stay at Friday work drinks). At night the cats take over - spending the night in bed with us and demanding their own attention.

On the weekend I usually run in the morning, then come home and walk the dogs. Sunday mornings are for grocery shopping. Weekend afternoons end up being a mix of dogs and housework/gardening. Long gone are my long Sunday bike rides! I bought a membership to the Zealandia Sanctuary (where I used to be a volunteer), but I never went because if I was going to walk it felt wrong not to take the dogs.

Don't think I'm complaining, because I'm certainly not. The tradeoffs do frustrate me - I'd like to say we were further ahead in our plans to paint the house inside and out for example. However owning two greyhounds has brought a huge network of people into my life. Similarly, I have a network of friends I would never have met if it weren't for my running. I stopped running with my squad for a few months for budgetary reasons, and quickly realised squad membership is a need, not a want, as far as quality of life and mental health go.

I offer up this long weekend as an example. Once upon a time Labour weekend marked Hamish and my anniversary of starting dating, as far as we could recall. It used to be a time for lounging around doing nothing much, eating too much and drinking good wine. Halfway through I've managed a beautiful Saturday trail run, several loads of washing, a fair amount of housework, a working bee in a friend's garden, and a Greyhounds as Pets off leash run. Hamish and I are now sitting here, having just finished some excellent fish and chips from Gooseshack, Emmie asleep on the sofa next to us.

Life is certainly different from how it was ten years ago. If you'd told me back in 2000 when we were living in our Ponsonby apartment that I'd now be living in a ramshackle villa with three cats and two dogs, and that I'd be working in middle-management for the largest Government agency, I probably would have laughed. If you'd told me I'd be spending a good part of my weekend running beautiful trails I probably would have died laughing.