If you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed my usual Saturday morning tweet, “Off to do @parkrunUK at _______ #loveparkrun”. I wake up each Saturday morning excited and enthused to go to parkrun.
It made sense that I attend the inaugural Stormont parkrun in east Belfast. The idea of a Stormont parkrun belongs to Mel Boyle working with the estate management to ensure all runners could make use of the grounds each Saturday morning.
This week is ‘OCD Awareness Week’. I have written previously about my struggles with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Here are some lesser-known facts about OCD:
The World Health Organisation ranks OCD as one of the top ten most disabling illnesses in terms of lost earnings and diminished quality of life.
I travelled to Cork for the Irish Blogger Conference and thought I would extend my trip with a visit to nearby Cobh. Cork is over 250 miles from Belfast; the journey is dull, mainly on motorways with four toll bridges and oddly, no traffic lights. I thought it would be best to make the most of a short break.
Technically I have been blogging since November 2014, however, I have written regularly since July 2015. I still call myself a fledgling blogger; I am eager to keep learning about writing and improve my blog as well as advance my ability on social media outlets (I am rather reluctant with social media). Thanks to organiser Fiona, I discovered an Irish Blogger Conference happening in Cork. I thought this would be a great opportunity to learn from others. The day before the conference, I went to Cobh (previously Queenstown, the final port for Titanic) where I visited museums and enjoyed the views while eating amazing food.
For someone who calls themselves a ‘space geek’, I have let the side down by not being aware that it is World Space Week 4-10 October. I stumbled across this accidentally as I found myself without anything to do on Saturday (apart from parkrun). What made this stumble better was discovering former NASA astronaut Greg H. Johnson was kicking off the week in Northern Ireland by giving a talk in the Ulster Museum.
