My Month in Numbers 2013: July

Hello hello.

How do you fancy joining me as I untie July from its moorings and send both it - and all its statistics - gently downstream towards August?

Good, let's make a start ...

July was the 1st time I set questions for us all to try to answer and this month's inaugural 'communal count' asked ...

And, as I'm the host, I felt obliged to answer both questions. You however got to pick and choose, because guests are allowed to be fussy! Here are mine:

Between 10-15 = How many individual items I carried around in my everyday bag this month
This included my core essentials of: purse, phone, keys, tissues, mints, black Bic pen, notebook, sunglasses, lip gloss, Ibuprofen and fold-up shopping bag ... plus ... occasionally [depending on the weather or whether I want to carry everything]: a fold-up shower proof mac, a bottle of water and my camera. [I really wish there was something weird in there so I could explain all in a funny story ... but it turned out pretty average really! I did used to carry a plastic zebra everywhere with me. But you knew that already, right?]

Meanwhile ...

330[approx]= how many photos I took [give or take a few I deleted straight away and a few I most likely forgot to count!!]

Not all of these were memorable moments, glorious landscapes and fabulous days out though. Nor were they a collection of every meal I ate [although I did take my fair share of foodie shots while on holiday]. No, some were photos of craft projects, blurry images and things I'll no doubt delete later when I clean up my hard drive.

And I only printed 5 photos all month - a sure sign I'm in a scrapbooking lull ... to say the least. [Edited to add: after scheduling this post I printed off lots of photos of my twice yearly crafting retreats to put in my album ... so maybe the scrapbooking's picking up a little!]

Now then ... why don't we look at a few of these 330 photos in question  ...

6 hours = the delay we had  between setting off for our city break the first time round ... and when we actually began our travels. 

2 minutes = how far we were from home when the ignition lock of our car jammed up and our trip ground to a halt.
The lock died while we were still in the petrol station filling the tank for our drive down to Lincoln!! This meant we had to push the car off the forecourt and sit and wait for rescue. Once home I updated my Dad via text ... and this is the genuine - yet highly appropriate - typo I made while meaning to type 'someone's coming':

Considering how I felt at the time ... the error makes perfect sense to me!

Anyway .. the locksmith [who we waited all day for] let us down and we ended up borrowing a car for the week instead. But finally we were on our way ...

36p = the fee to cross the toll bridge into Lincoln:

Crossing this bridge always marks the beginning of our breaks away in Lincoln - once we're on the other side of that we're in holiday mode! And, after waiting all day to get there .... it was a welcome sight.

78,000 = the number of people who attended the RAF Waddington Airshow the day we were there:

And no, I didn't count them all myself. The organisers believed it was the gloriously sunny day and, importantly, the very clear skies, that brought everyone out in such numbers. We'd arrived before 9am and bought our tickets when we got there ... yet by 10am they were turning away anyone without a ticket!!

Imagine how pleased we'd have been to have had our car breakdown before even setting off, then waiting 6 hours to even begin the trip, only to finally get there then the following day get turned away at the gate!!

100 = the number of steps climbed to reach the roof of Lincoln Cathedral:

Considering how many times we've been to Lincoln before, and that James lived there for many years, we did quite a few 'touristy' type things on this trip and a roof tour of the cathedral was one of them.

 

Due to restoration work on the exterior of the building this wasn't their usual roof tour [where you actually go out on to the roof and can see for miles and miles.] No ... this was something more intimate ... more Pillars of the Earth:

The 90minute tour took us behind and indeed above the scenes of the Cathedral, up into the space above the vaulted ceilings where we could see the actual construction of the building. The tour guide even pointed out some of the maker's marks left by the men who worked on individual beams ... in the 13th Century!

It was a wonderful experience so, if the opportunity arises ... go and try it yourself. Go stand where the medieval craftsmen stood and admire their work.

132 = the number of steps climbed to reach the the top of Redcar Beacon [which was one of my Scavenger Hunt photos last year]

Just as we did in Lincoln, we did a few tourist-type things once we were back home too including our first trip up this new tower which sits on the beach. [Everyone wanted a new pier ... but we got this instead ... we're still trying to keep an open mind about it!]

There's actually a room up in the beacon called the 'Sky Lounge' which you can book for the day ... and I couldn't help but ponder the possibilities ... anyone for a day of crafting overlooking the sea?

And, as we're speaking of steps ... I finally got a pedometer!! And I can now bore you with all kinds of statistics!!

3752 = the number of steps my current morning walk route takes:

It also took 28.15 minutes and I covered 2.62km.

What it doesn't mention is the 3 blisters I have from my new walking shoes. 1 of which I actually got from the gel inserts I added after getting the first 2!!

21/31 = the number of days I blogged. Which may well be a personal record. I seem to have a lot to say at the moment!

4 = the number of books read all of which I pinned to my Pinterest board of books read this year. 4 definitely seems to be my steady monthly average.

And finally ...

6 = the number of items from the Summertime Scavenger Hunt list I blogged.
However ... I actually found more than that which I'll be sharing in the weeks to come. In fact there's only 1 photo left for me to take and I'll have found all 21. Which is just as well ...

... because my friends have persuaded me to join in their 52 week photo project now! But those are numbers for another month ...

-----------------------------------------------------------

So, that was how my month added up now ...

Here's how YOU can join in:
If you've never joined in before there's a lot more information on the Month in Numbers page - including a 'How To' guide to inspire you. [You don't need to follow any guidelines other than those I'm about to set out below ... everything else I'll leave up to your own creative  interpretation!]

**Please note: I can only 'pin' a post to the board if it contains at least one image/photo. Otherwise I can only leave a comment and smile at you from a distance**

So ... if you want to share a link to your Month in Numbers post / photo / layout etc for me to then visit, comment on, and pin to the communal Month in Numbers Pinterest board then ...

• Leave a link to your numbers in a comment on this blog post ... but ... 
• When you swing by my blog to drop it off - please leave a comment for me while you're there. Not because I'm needy ... but because it's nicer if you don't just throw your link on my table and leave without saying hello!  
• Please remember to link to my blog in your post. As much as I'd like to think that everyone who reads your blog already knows what 'My Month in Numbers' is [hey, it's nice to be popular, right?] ... the truth is, they don't. So unless you explain to your readers where the idea comes from and how they can join in too, they'll never know.
• And finally ... please try to take time at some point in the coming month to visit and comment on a few of the other posts too. It really does help build a community both around My Month in Numbers .. but also around your own blog space.

If - after reading through all the info on the Month in Numbers page of my blog - you still have any questions just get in touch. My email's in my right sidebar as are the links to my Facebook page and Twitter.
-----------------------------------------------------------

I'll look forward to reading your numbers ... and the stories the numbers unlock.

And you can drop back tomorrow to collect your questions for August's Communal Count.

Julie :-)