Winter Sun

I was an extremely lucky lady this month, to have been taken away for a week of winter sun, to the beautiful island of Madeira. The trip coincided with a) one of the drearier weeks of the year and b) with my birthday! In case you’re trying to place in your mind’s world map where exactly Madeira is, I’ll help. It’s north of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean, and therefore closer to Morocco than Portugal (which it is part of). So although Madeira is in the EU, it is blessed with beautiful sunny, warm weather all year round. Which explains how I ended up there! I have to say, having a blast of sunshine in January really does lift your spirits. I know we’ve had a mild winter in England (compared to the last few years), but it was just wonderful to feel the sun on my face again 🙂 I will be sharing lots of my pictures in up-coming posts, so you will get to see a bit of what it’s like.

On my actual birthday I really wanted to visit Garajau, a seaside town near the capital Funchal, because of the beautiful statue which stands at the headland. It is a miniature version of the Christ The Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, which I have always wanted to visit. 

Christ the Redeemer statue, Garajau, Madeira

Ponta do Garajau, Cristo Rei, Canico, Madeira

Sunshine + statues = enjoying my birthday!Incidentally, I just heard a report on the news today about the possibility of London having its very own Christ the Redeemer statue placed at the top of Primrose Hill to mark the end of the London Olympics and welcome the 2016 Rio Olympics. The idea is still being discussed, so we will have to wait and see what happens!

Dreaming of a White Christmas?

I woke up the other day to find the world covered in a rather thin and threadbare blanket of snow. I was at first disappointed, as I still get that feeling of wonder and excitement when I see the snow for the first time; although soon I was relieved as I had to drive to work as school was still open. Here are some of the magical times I enjoyed in the snow last year.

Denham Village, Buckinghamshire

Tobogganing in Goettingen, Germany

Autumn sunshine and alarm clocks

I’ve been neglecting my blog  for a while, so sorry about that. It feels as though there are so many situations or conversations that I am part of every day where NLP comes up, and that in essence is what I want to talk about in my journal. I can’t blog fast enough for the number of ideas buzzing around my head!

When I was a teenager, one of my favourite lyrics to quote was ‘I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day’ (Smokey Robinson) but as I have got older, I find that I need a bit more help keeping that sunshine in me when outside it’s grey and cold. To help me with waking up in the mornings (one of my daily challenges) I have finally invested in a ‘dawn simulator’ clock, which gradually gets brighter and brighter until your choice of wake-up time, thus waking you up in a more natural and gentle way. The very word ‘alarm’ says it all for me, so I will test out my new toy and let you know how I get on.

There’s nothing like sunshine to lift the spirits, and my recent weekend in Barcelona did the trick. It was a welcome break, where I lapped up the last blast of autumn sun rays.

 

View from Montjuic, Barcelona