My Month in Numbers 2012: July

Hello hello.

Well, another month has passed us by. Another month which, despite having involved more Christmas projects and a hailstorm, was in other ways a summer month. Just about ...

Let's see how July stacked up ... in numbers [if this series is new to you, you might like to check out the details here.] Now let's get started ...

2 = the number of plastic sacks we filled with shredded paperwork after a mammoth organisation + filing session:

only 3 = the number of important[ish] letters regarding our current mortgage ... which I shred by accident.

In my defence I had been keeping them in separate 'To shred' and 'Not to shred' piles. Then something clearly went awry ...

4 years = the time lapsed between this year and the date on the last neatly organised , highlighted, stapled and properly filed away bank statement I found. Don't get me wrong, the last four years of statements were all there, in a neat pile, in a cupboard but they hadn't been filed away.

And this struck me as a bit odd ... so I asked myself ...

... what happened sometime in the Autumn of 2008 to have so distracted me from being my old hyper orderly self?

What was it that could dramatically reduce the time I spent on domestic organisation?

And then, the mists of time cleared and I remembered ...

In Autumn 2008 ... I started blogging.

Aha ....

Mystery solved.

Henry IV Part 1 + 2 and Henry V [plus Richard II ... even though that wasn't technically on in July but the very end of June] = the new Shakespeare adaptations which made up The Hollow Crown series on the BBC:

I so admired and enjoyed this series: from the immersive, believable, acting to the sometimes distractingly good costumes [all those leather work and quilted jackets ...oh my.] If you missed it, and you get a chance to see it sometime ... even if [and especially if] you've never enjoyed Shakespeare before ... give it a go.

And, should you need any further convincing Tom Hiddleston [above] spends most of his role in leather trousers. You can thank me later.

270 = the age of the chapel we visited last Saturday:

It's one of those places I must have passed-by hundreds of times without ever giving it much thought. Then on Facebook a local tourism page mentioned that this chapel - on the site of some alms houses - was having an open day. And, while we're not church goers, we do like a bit of history ... and we are quite nosey ... so we swung by and took a look.

The signs outside, by the side of the road said 'Chapel Open Day: Photographers Welcome'. How nice was that? So, we happily took photos of this tiny place of worship which has never been out of use.

The window above the altar shows the founder of the hospital / chapel / school on the right, and his brother on the left [who - useless trivia alert - was married to Samuel Pepys' cousin. Bet you're glad I went now aren't you?]

1 hour + 2 x 4cm blisters =  As the weather has improved a little I decided to take myself off on a brisk morning walk. I got around 20 minutes in when a blister or two began to develop.

I really need to invest in some proper walking shoes or trainers. But they scare me. In fact, my feet shrivel up at the very thought of it! That said ... I don't like the 15 minute:1cm blister development ratio that happened last week either, so I may have to get over my fear of sporty footwear after all.

This drier [kind of] and [mostly] mild, weather has made a difference to my get-up-and-go though and I've also been on several bike rides this month.  One of which took James and I past these guys:

Cute but so, so noisy when they realised we hadn't brought them anything to eat!

13 + 1 = the number of ships + acrobatic jet-skiers counted along the coast: 

This energetic neon coloured sight is really not the kind of thing you expect to see on the North East coast but on this day, in that sunshine, you really could have been anywhere in the world.

5 = the number of times I tried to capture the strange romance of the lights of the heavy industry reflected in the  tide at dusk.

With each shot I tried ... it just kept getting more and more blurry. More and more out of focus.

This was the fifth and worst:

Or maybe it's the best too ...

Funny how a lovely softness and abstract feeling can emerge when you least expect ... or plan for it.

Maybe there's a life lesson in there somewhere.

Maybe it's just an out of focus photo.

Maybe both. Depends on the mood I'm in when you ask ...

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And on that philosophical note - here endeth my numbers for this month ... how about yours?

Everyone's welcome to join in:

• with a blog post - as long or as brief as you like;
• with a single important number - or a list of statistics;
• with a single photo - or many;
• with a scrapbook page - or none;
• with any method which makes sense to you.

Then ...

•  Drop back here and link me to your contribution - this can be any time at all during the coming month;
• But ...please don't just fly by and air drop a link to your own numbers ... stay a while and leave me a few friendly words at the same time.
• I'll swing by yours and comment too then,
• if your post has at least one photo/image for me to 'pin' - I can add your vital stats to the Month in Numbers Pinterest board where lots of others can view your post and visit your original post;
• And finally ... if you do want to take part in this communal counting caper ... please find time during the month to visit and say Hi to at least a couple of the other Month in Numbers bloggers too [I know lots of you do so already - and I think you're lovely!].

Right .. I'm off on my own blog-visiting rounds now ... see you there no doubt!

Julie :-)