Tag Archives: summer

Getting Ready For A Photo Day And A Lifestyle Shoot

We’re having to get extra stuff done today. We have declared next Wednesday ‘photo day’, where we will take photographs of our Alojamento Local rental property and put it onto booking sites.

But there’s still a bit to do such as varnish and put up the furniture, sort out the decorative side of it and touch up any scuffs and scratches. There’s a stack of paperwork that needs doing too.

But tomorrow we aren’t able to do any of this due to A New Life In The Sun arriving for the ‘lifestyle’ shoot. This is the day Lou and I get to hold hands and skip along the beach while the kids splash in the river surrounded by a picturesque mountainous backdrop while being filmed for TV.

So far they’ve just filmed us clearing the forest, doing building work and generally getting stressed about timelines and budgets. So tomorrow will be nice to see a different side to us and the meaning of our move to Portugal. We want to work hard and be successful, but our family and quality of life is important to us and getting a reminder of that with occasions by a river beach or at a lively festa is integral to that.

But we’re obsessed with making this whole move work. Which means working harder than we’ve ever had to work, mostly done in heat I’ve never encountered before. If we want to enjoy more days at the river beach, then making the business a success is vital. The master plan unravels without it. And Ralph Waldo Emerson was spot on when he said,”Always do what you are afraid to do.”

Being afraid keeps me hungry. Less complacent.

So anyway, I’ll leave you with a few pics from today. It’s not the finished photos for the booking sites, of course, but it is starting to take shape!

Let me know what you think so far!

Water Retention

I might jump on the scales a couple of times a year. I generally don’t judge my physical progress by what the scales will say. There are so many factors that can confuse the weighing scales that it simply cannot give me an accurate account of my progress.

One of the biggest of these misleading factors, especially in the summer months, is the swelling of the body due to water retention. This not only makes me look physically more bloated, but it can add several pounds on the scales.

It can be a confusing time for those who are closely monitoring their progress on the weighing scales, as they become demoralised by having put in so much effort in maintaining or losing body weight yet not getting the rewarding numbers on their scales.

So here’s the sciencey bit…

Water accounts for around 60% of a person’s weight. For the average person, this represents 42 litres. We turnover 2-3 litres of water per day. The temperature and the exercise intensity will determine how much we sweat (the biggest loss of water) and therefore will determine the water requirements needed to replace this water in the body.

The body compensates for this loss of water through fluid conservation hormones like aldosterone, which allows the kidneys to retain more fluid.

In my experience I meet many ‘weight loss’ gym goers who panic at the numbers on the weighing scales without actually acknowledging that their body is cleverly keeping them alive and well and doesn’t care that they want to lose a few pounds. It is totally natural to have bloaty times and, whether through environmental, behavioural or ageing processes usually comes down to one thing…our hormones.

But it is extremely important to remember that long term positive habits will always trump an occurrence such as water retention. Once you commit to a process and consistently carry it out then you will see the results that you want. In the meantime, you just have to accept that the human body is a wonderful machine that is working to keep you healthier than what the weighing scales ever will. And maybe the scalese are a machine you can do without.

Maybe I Should Learn The Rules

At some stage in the 90’s when I was in middle School (middle schools were a thing then) the game British Bulldog was banned by many schools due to the amount of injuries in the playground that had occurred whilst playing it.

At the time we had the ‘health and safety gone mad’ people blaming everything from UK Law to Europe for banning a much loved kids game. And even now the ‘this is because of woke culture’ gets screamed out as soon as something is risk assessed. However, British Bulldog was never banned by any laws, it was just a number of head teachers that had noticed the game getting out of hand in the playground.

In fact, as much as we might think that this health and safety craze and the compensation culture started by mine and the younger generations, it is worth pointing out that back in 1878 a grocer got compensated £15 (£750 in today’s money) for claiming that he slipped playing blind man’s buff.

A one off incident? No, not at all. Amongst the many successful claims for compensation was the man who was awarded £50 in 1890 for injuring his eye while throwing rice at a wedding. Or what about the shipbuilder who won a £1000 claim because he swallowed a fishbone in 1900?

So I don’t really blame a headmaster in 1993 for banning a fairly rough game before a kid got his arm broken. They didn’t want to get sued.

But the game has survived. Not only is this a game played during children’s football coaching drills but it is also a favourite at summer sports schools. Over the summer holidays I am on the coaching team at my local multi sports summer school. And when Bulldog was introduced the kids went wild for it. But there are a few tweaks to the original rules that I grew up with. Maybe I should’ve learnt them beforehand. Asking seven year olds what the rules are when I’m their coach for the day put me on the back foot!

Nevertheless Bulldog, Bench Ball and Dodgeball are now games I know how to play without the dangers of broken bones. Dodgeball, for example, is nothing like the 2004 movie. Who knew?!

So tomorrow I’ll be much more confident in leading a game I now know the rules of. That is, of course, unless tomorrow’s schedule includes conkers. Because that got banned back in the 90’s at my school too!