We have moved to more optimistic premises

Hello all, and welcome to my new blog. I felt like it was time for a change. The title "Lacking Expectations" had started sound too much like negativity, and I'm trying to adopt an attitude that's all about the positive.

Since the start of this year, I embarked on a weight loss programme. Over the course of twenty weeks, I have slowly but surely managed to shed 24 pounds. I'm going to keep going until I lose another six pounds or so, and then I will work on maintaining a BMI of 23. Getting back in shape has had a hugely positive effect on me both mentally and physically. I am wearing size 12 jeans for the first time in my adult life. That's not to say I can fit into every size 12 I try on, but the ones I am wearing right now are 12s and they are fitting me very comfortably.

Every few years we get a summer that really stands out in our memories. A lot of this has to do with the weather. The last three summers will go down as the summers that never really happened. In addition to absolutely woeful pissy wet weather, 2007, 2008 and 2009 for me were about recovery from consecutive miscarriages, large doses of clomid that nearly sent me off with the men in white coats, surgery and, last summer, losing my job and turning 40. So this summer, we have decided that hail, rain or shine, we will make it a summer to remember.

At the end of last month, we booked a weekend away in Co Clare for our anniversary. The package included a surf lesson for John. The following weekend he booked another one, and I went along for the trip. I've only tried surfing once, and that was years ago in Australia. Let's just say I quickly realised that surfing is a skillful pastime, and that bodyboarding is much easier and more my bag. So a few years back John bought me a little boogie board. I hadn't used it in about four years, mainly due to my self consciousness and horror at the thoughts of having to squeeze into a wetsuit. Well now that I'm 10 kg plus lighter, I decided it was time to bite the bullet and buy a new wetsuit.

So off I trotted to the nearest surf shop on the seafront where I purchased a particularly fetching little black and pink rubber number. I'll spare you a photo of me in it. I'm not *that* confident about my shape yet to be posting those photos. Anyway I grabbed my little boogie board and spent a fun filled hour or two in the water catching wave after wave. The sun was splitting the stones, and the waves were nothing like I have ever seen this side of Australia. Years ago my granny used to comment that anything new fangled or fancy was "like America at home". Well this was like Byron Bay at home.

Each time I caught a wave that brought me into the beach, I just screeched with excitement like a six year old. The only way I could describe the feeling of being propelled through the water is like when playing Mario Karts and you catch the rocket that sends you zooming around the race track. Just pure speed and fun.

When I was paying for my wetsuit, I noticed an ad posted at the counter for a studio apartment to let nine miles away from the town where we were surfing. John and I went back after our surf to get the phone number, and it turned out that the flat belonged to the people who run the surf shop. They live in the downstairs part of the house, which also has a recording studio. So basically these people are a couple of English hippies in their forties, whose kids are grown up and have left home, and they spend their time between surfing, teaching surfing, running a surf shop and a recording studio. They also own three dogs and a cat. My kind of people. So we decided to take a lease on the flat for the summer, so that we can be nearer to the sea and the outdoor life for the next three months. We figure for what it will cost us in rent for three months, we would easily spend in a week's off season sun holiday. So this way we will see far more benefit for our money.

So that's the plan for the Summer. Sea, surf and hopefully sunshine. And very little sitting around moping about our childless life. I hope. Ok, I'll probably have the odd wobbly day, but who doesn't. But for now, we are concentrating on getting back the fun in our lives. Getting back to life. So tune in next time to read about our first ever camping trip, to the campsite in Fanore, Co Clare made famous by that Fr Ted episode with Fr Noel Furlong (Graham Norton) and the St Luke's youth group doing Riverdance in a two berth caravan. And the tent we bought which could house a medium sized family. And the yummy yummy crab which our good friend Paul caught and we devoured on the campsite. And.........! We've taken up salsa dancing again, after a break of over five years. It's all go in the Jane and John house this year.