I want to hire a skip in Edinburgh!

Edinburgh skip hire from Pentland is ideal for businesses and individuals in Edinburgh, south-east Scotland and the Midlothian region who are looking for Edinburgh skip hire companies. We’re an Edinburgh skip hire company providing skip hire services in Edinburgh for domestic and business purposes. We can hire out skips in a variety of sizes, and as well as Edinburgh skip hire services we can also give you guidance around the permits you may need to hire a skip and use it properly. We will hire a skip to most locations within 30 miles of Edinburgh, and the cost of your skip hire will vary depending on your location and the size of skip you need to hire.

What kinds of skips do you hire out?

Pentland Skips in Edinburgh has a variety of skips for hire. Your choice of which skip to hire will depend on your needs. We are narrow-access specialists and can deliver skips to even difficult locations – ideal for the twisty, narrow streets of Edinburgh. The price of your skip hire and the size you can use may vary according to your location, and we can deliver skips to locations within a 30-mile radius of Edinburgh.

Our mini skip is the smallest skip we have for hire. The mini skip’s cubic capacity is 1-2 cubic yards (0.76-1.5 cubic metres), and its dimensions are (height) 2′ 6″ (0.76m) by (length) 5′ (1.52m) by (width) 4′ (1.22m). Hire this skip if you need a skip for a low volume waste project – that’s around 25-35 black bags of refuse. This skip is available to hire for locations within a 30-mile radius of Edinburgh. Hire our mini-skip from just £65.

A midi skip is the next size up, but also suitable for low-volume waste projects. The midi skip’s cubic capacity is 3-4 cubic yards (2.5-3.5 cubic metres), and its dimensions are (height) 3′ 2″ (0.97m) by (length) 6′ (1.83m) by (width) 4′ 3” (1.29m). Hire this skip if you need a skip for about 35-45 black bags of refuse. This skip is available to hire for locations within a 30-mile radius of Edinburgh. Hire our midi skip from just £80.

A 6-yard skip is large enough for 45-65 black bags of refuse – a skip to hire if you have a medium volume of waste. The 6-yard skip’s cubic capacity is 6 cubic yards (4.6 cubic metres), and its dimensions are (height) 4′ (1.22m) by (length) 8’6” (2.6m) by (width) 5′ (1.52m). This skip is available to hire for locations within a 30-mile radius of Edinburgh. Hire our 6-yard from just £115.

Our most popular skip for hire is the maxi skip, otherwise known as the builder’s skip. The builder’s skip’s cubic capacity is 8 cubic yards (6.1 cubic metres), and its dimensions are (height) 4′ (1.22m) by (length) 12′ (3.66m) by (width) 5’6” (1.68m). A maxi skip will take approximately 65-85 black bin bags full of rubbish. This skip is available to hire for This skip is available to hire for locations within a 30-mile radius of Edinburgh. Hire our maxi skip from just £140.

A large skip is suitable for hire to those who have very bulky loads of refuse – it can fit approximately 180-210 black bags of rubbish. The large skip’s cubic capacity is 12-14 cubic yards (9.2-10.07 cubic metres), and its dimensions are (height) 5’3” (1.6m) by (length) 13’8” (3.66m) by (width) 6′ (1.84m). This skip is available to hire for locations within a 30-mile radius of Edinburgh. Hire our large skip from just £195.

Why hire a skip?

People hire skips for all sorts of reasons. Building work and house renovations for your Edinburgh home will be completed quickly and more easily when you use our Edinburgh skip hire service to clear debris. If you’re decluttering or spring cleaning your Edinburgh flat or house, hire a skip from us for an easy way to get rid of your unwanted items – no repeated trips to the council dump. House clearances can be made easier and less stressful with a hired skip. And skip hire isn’t just for work inside the home – if you’re landscaping your Edinburgh garden, a hired skip from us can help you get your gardening work done with the minimum of bother.

Where can I put a skip?

Whether you’re in central Edinburgh, Edinburgh suburbs or out in the sticks in the Edinburgh region, before you hire a skip, please make sure you can place your hired skip on private property. Skips can be placed on public roads but you may require a permit, so check with your local council to see if you need a permit to put a hired skip on the highway. Our Edinburgh skip hire firm has services to help make hiring a skip easy. Our “wait and load” service can allow you to hire a skip without needing a permit. We also offer a same-day drop-off and up-lift skip hire service, which could reduce your skip hire costs and your permit costs. To use this service you’ll need to book your hire skip in advance.

Anything else I need to know about Edinburgh skip hire?

Our Edinburgh skip hire company does have a few rules and when you hire one of our skips you agree to abide by them.

Our hired skips are for general waste only. Please do not use our hired skips for white goods like fridges or freezers, or put tyres in our hired skips. It is absolutely forbidden to use one of our hired skips to discard hazardous waste, toxic waste, gas cylinders or asbestos. If you wish to dispose of any of these items, hiring one of our skips is not for you! For help discarding these items, you’ll need to get in touch with your local council, for instance, City of Edinburgh Council, Midlothian Council, East Lothian Council, West Lothian Council and Falkirk Council.

When you hire a skip from us, you must not set fire to the contents! Please also be sure not to overfill a hired skip – stick to level loads. Our drivers will offload overloaded skips. 

We are WeCollectAnyScrapCar.com – a scrap yard (now vehicle recycler/dismantler) established 40 years ago, based in Wembley, north east London. We are London’s largest vehicle dismantler. We will collect your scrap car, deal with the DVLA vehicle scrapping paperwork and pay you cash for your unwanted vehicles. We are specialists in environmentally friendly car removal and vehicle scrapping. We also offer a spare vehicle parts service, offering nearly new car parts for all makes and models of car and vehicle, British and foreign, including Mercedes, BMW, Volvo, Saab, Audi, Bentley, Jaguar, Rover, Mazda, Volkswagen, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Renault, Citroen, Peugeot, Chrysler, Ford, Land Rover, Mitsubishi, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, Suzuki, Subaru.

Our scrap car collection service will pick up your unwanted vehicle at a time convenient to you from any location within 25 miles of our office in Wembley, London, using our recovery vehicles, and ensure its safe and environmentally friendly disposal. We will pay you cash for your scrap car. To get a quote and find how much money you could get for your unwanted car, click to use our quote finder. We are London’s largest car dismantling service and are qualified by the Department for the Environment as an Authorised Treatment Facility specialising in environmentally friendly car recycling. Scrap vehicles entering our “end of life” handling process are subjected to several stages of treatment aimed at maximising the recycling potential and minimising the environmental impact. When you use our car disposal service, you can be sure that our up-to-date facilities and trained staff will ensure that your vehicle is dismantled safely, legally and professionally.

wewantyourscrapcar.com is the online home of Auto Solutions 2000, a scrap yard based in Nottingham in the East Midlands. We specialise in scrap car collection and vehicle scrapping with the minimum impact to the environment. We are a fully licensed scrap yard, recognised by the Department for the Environment, and we are on the Public Register of Authorised Treatment Facilities (ATF), legally committed to environmentally friendly car scrapping. We have state-of-the-art facilities allowing up to 80% of a car to be recycled, according to UK and European directives. We also provide car salvage services to the insurance industry and the private sector, stocking over 500 repairable damaged vehicles at our Nottingham scrap yard, and adhering to guidelines set by the Association of British Insurers. To combat car crime, we require ID to gain access to salvage sales

If your car’s MOT, tax or insurance has run out, you may receive a fine from the DVLA, points on your licence, or even be at risk of prosecution. If you have an unwanted car, why not unlock its value? Organise free scrap car removal with us – we will pay you cash for your scrap car and ensure it is disposed of safely and legally. We offer free vehicle collection from a variety of East Midlands locations covering most areas within 50 miles of our Nottingham scrap yard. Click here to see a list of towns and postcode covered by our free car removal service.

Some information about the Samsung Galaxy Nexus
taken from:
http://www.flagshipfones.co.uk

The black version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is soon to be joined by a light, bright newcomer – the Samsung Galaxy Nexus White 16GB is on its way. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus White 16GB will be available in the UK in early February 2012 and is sure to be a smartphone to be seen with, gracing the hippest of hands and trendiest of trousers within days of its release. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus was, on its release, the first device to feature Google’s newest Android 4.0 operating system, the sweetly named Ice Cream Sandwich, and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus White 16GB is also graced with this state-of-the-art OS. Many specialists, basing their proclamation on the recent decision to upgrade Samsung’s 2010 Google Nexus S to Android 4.0, consider buying a Google device a great investment for the future.

On first glance, the two most striking things about the Samsung Galaxy Nexus White 16GB are its screen and its sleek minimalist looks. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is only the second device in the world to come with a 4.65-inch capacitive Super AMOLED HD display with 1280×720 pixels (the first, in case you’re wondering, was the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7!). The Samsung Galaxy Nexus’s Super AMOLED HD display features a brand-new state-of-the-art touchscreen technology which makes the Samsung Galaxy Nexus’s touchscreen brighter, thinner, less reflective and more energy efficient. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus White 16GB’s screen is concave, reducing reflections – this feature is a popular takeaway from a previous Samsung smartphone, the Nexus S. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus White 16GB’s high-definition display and 720p-resolution video means that it lends itself beautifully to many uses, from gaming to browsing the internet, without scaling. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus White’s HD OLED display gives dazzling colour accuracy and an auto-brightness setting means that brightness will adjust automatically depending on whether you’re in a dark room or sitting in the sun.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus White’s minimalist looks are, in fact, facilitated by the screen. For the Samsung Galaxy Nexus White, Samsung have done away with buttons on the front of the device, relying solely on use of the on-screen icons for navigation. Despite the worry that this could mean losing some screen space that could be used for cool graphics or text, this doesn’t seem to be the case on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus White – lots of apps can go full-screen and make full use of the HD display. A notification light is hidden beneath the Samsung Galaxy Nexus White’s screen and if you miss a message, call or email, it will flash to let you know. There is still a function for on-screen notifications, and they can now be cleared by dragging them off the screen with your finger – or act on them straight away by using the notification menu to access your phone settings. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus White has a dedicated on-screen task manager button, which makes accessing your applications and swapping between them super-easy, and there’s a new way to install widgets using a new lab in the launcher menu. – all functions of the new Google Ice Cream Sandwich operating system. If you’re on a capped mobile-data plan there’s no need to worry – there are controls on mobile data usage.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus White’s Ice Cream Sandwich operating system brings with it several space-age and often exclusive features. NFC (Near Field Communication) technology is a way of sharing information between devices and was embraced by Google some months ago. On the Samsung Galaxy Nexus White NFC technology has been taken to the next level – you can now use your Samsung Galaxy Nexus to pay for goods and services (rather like an Oyster card on London Underground). And NFC technology is used on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus White in the new, Ice Cream Sandwich-exclusive feature Android Beam, which allows you to share information – such as contact details, websites, YouTube videos and maps – between two NFC-enabled devices simply by tapping them together. Another Ice Cream Sandwich-exclusive feature on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus White is Face Unlock – a fun app which remembers what you look like so that you can use your face as your password. Just pick up your Samsung Galaxy Nexus White and point the front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera at your face to unlock your phone. Flip the Samsung Galaxy Nexus White over and there’s a 5 megapixel camera on the back – also capable of filming full HD video in both 720p 1080p.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus White 16GB naturally comes with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and WiFi Direct, and inside the Samsung Galaxy Nexus White 16GB is a 1.2GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and 1GB RAM. There’s no microSD slot but, as the name Samsung Galaxy Nexus White 16GB suggests, there’s an ample 16GB internal storage capacity, all of which is available for your personal use for apps, because the Samsung Galaxy Nexus White 16GB shares your internal storage between media and apps.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus White 16GB is a stylish smartphone – it’s easy to use and packed with features, and the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS has ample potential to keep you in fun apps for years to come. A wise investment.

 

Some information about hiring a container
taken from:
http://northwestcontainers.co.uk

If you’re looking to hire a container and you’re in the north west England region, you’ll find the secure hire container you need at Ainscough Metals, based in Wigan, Lancashire. Ainscough Metals have a selection of metal storage and shipping containers for hire and can help you to select the metal container that will fit your needs perfectly.

Ainscough Metals have metal containers available to hire to businesses or to individuals. Our metal storage containers are available in several sizes. Choose from 20 feet x 8 feet or 40 feet x 8 feet. If you need a slightly smaller storage container or shipping container, Ainscough Metals can also supply containers in smaller sizes – 10 feet x 8 feet and 12 feet x 8 feet.

Ainscough Metals’ metal storage containers are as secure as they come. They are made of high quality steel and feature a highly secure Coverlock multi-lock locking system. Coverlock is a two-part assembly which totally encapsulates and protects the padlock. It’s welded directly onto the door frame to form an integral part of the structure. Coverlock will accept the MUL-T-LOCK high security padlock which features telescopic pin tumblers and drivers, case-hardened shackle-hardened steel lock and restrictive copy key. You can be assured that when you store something in one of Ainscough Metals’ storage containers, it will be as safe as houses.

Why would someone want to hire a metal container? You’d be surprised at how frequently hiring a metal container could be the answer to your needs.

If you’re renovating a house, redecorating or having building work done, you might need somewhere you can store furniture and belongings until it’s time to move them back in. Why go to the bother of lugging everything across town to an off-site storage facility, then lugging it all back again? Hire a storage container from Ainscough Metals and you can keep all your belongings close at hand. When you hire a storage container from Ainscough Metals, not only do you save yourself the hassle and expense of moving goods to a new location and back again, you can get at them any time you like.

Builders and renovators also find hired metal storage containers from Ainscough Metals very useful – storage containers are an ideal place in which to store equipment, tools, materials and machinery, keeping them out of the way while they are not in use, safe while no one is onsite, and minimising mess and fuss in the workplace. Landscape gardeners – both professionals and amateur enthusiasts – also find storage containers from Ainscough Metals invaluable. Storage containers are fantastic for keeping muddy equipment and tools out of the house, provide a safe storage space for expensive machinery like strimmers and lawnmowers and also keep plants and shrubs safe from harm and out of the way while they’re waiting to be transferred to your garden.

If you’re buying a house and caught in a chain, why not use a hire storage container from Ainscough Metals to solve your storage problem? When you use a storage container to store your belongings, you can vacate your old home sooner, so the sale isn’t held up, and keep your furniture in a storage container while you’re waiting for your new house to be ready. When you store your belongings in a storage container, you can save money by renting a smaller interim house or staying with family, and as our minimum rental period is just four weeks, there’s no need to sign up to a long-term contract with an off-site storage facility. You may even be able to keep your belongings close at hand by pitching the storage container near to your temporary home.

If you run a retail business, you may find that you occasionally have an excess of stock and nowhere to store it – this could be due to seasonal fluctuations or fashions. Hiring a steel storage container from Ainscough Metals could be the answer to your storage needs, allowing you to store your stock safe and dry, either on or off your premises.

Steel storage containers from Ainscough Metals can be used to store just about anything you can think of – shipping containers have a multitude of uses. We have even seen them adapted architects and used as cafés and homes!

Ainscough Metals’ terms and conditions are flexible. With a minimum storage container hire term of only four weeks, you can pay by the day or by the week, and choose long or short-term hire (long-term hire only for 40-foot storage containers). Rates are negotiable for longer-term hire. Ainscough Metals can deliver metal storage containers to wherever you wish – costs for storage container delivery are quoted on a case-by-case basis but click here for a guideline.

If you’re interested in hiring a shipping container, please get in touch with Ainscough Metals either by using the contact form on our website or by calling 01942 820 144.

 

Some information about Salvaged Car Parts
taken from:
salvagedcarparts.co.uk.

Owning a car can be a pricey business. Of course, there are the daily outgoings like petrol and the yearly money drains of insurance, MOT and tax. But we’re usually prepared for those. It’s the occasional expenses that can knock you off your roost – the cost of breakdowns, repair and spare parts can really add up.

You can save money on spare and replacement car parts by using salvaged car parts. Salvaged car parts are a savvy way to repair your car with quality spare parts while protecting the environment.

What are salvaged car parts?

Salvaged car parts are quality spare auto parts which have been reclaimed and recycled from cars, bikes and other vehicles that have been taken out of use. Some salvaged car parts come from cars which have been written off by the insurance industry or failed an MOT, and some are from members of the public who sell us their unwanted cars.

Are salvaged car parts safe?

Yep! Of course, salvaged car parts can come from cars which have been taken off the road, so we can understand why you may be concerned that salvaged car parts might be unsafe, or damaged in some way. However, when a car is written off, it’s usually only one or two components which fail or which are damaged in any way. Even when a car is in a crash, it’s very common for most of the parts to remain safely intact and perfectly usable. When a car is recycled and broken for salvage parts at a trusted breakers yard – always choose one recognised by the Department for the Environment as an Authorised Treatment Centre – unwanted vehicles are safely dismantled by trained and highly skilled mechanics, who are experts at identifying and removing good condition components suitable for reuse as salvaged car parts. A reputable scrapyard will never sell you a salvaged car part which is unsafe or not fit for purpose – your safety and quality of salvaged car parts are of utmost importance.

Where do I get salvaged car parts from?

The best place to get salvaged car parts is from an Authorised Treatment Centre – usually a breakers yard and scrap yard which is listed by the Department for the Environment as specialists in vehicle dismantling and recycling. ATCs can identify and source the perfect salvaged car parts for you quickly and easily, and you will be pleasantly surprised at how convenient their services can be. The salvagedcar parts industry has had a makeover in recent years and the modern scrap yard is a sleek operation, more akin to a catalogue shop. Many Authorised Treatment Centres maintain computerised stock lists of all the salvaged car parts currently available, and can find them for you within minutes. There’s certainly no need to clamber over piles of old cars to find the salvaged car part you need.

How much money can I save by using salvaged car parts?

Plenty! Brand new replacement car parts can cost a small fortune, whether you are buying them through a car repair business that will fit them for you, or sourcing and fitting them yourself.

A used car part will probably set you back around half the price of a new part, and a salvaged car part will often last as long as the same part bought new. Over the course of a car’s lifespan, using salvaged car parts can help you save a significant amount.

Stock up on salvaged car parts.

In fact, salvaged car parts are such good value that it’s sometimes worth buying a few common parts before they break down and keeping them in stock, so that when the inevitable happens, your salvaged car part is ready and waiting to be fitted. For example, windscreen wipers are notorious for snapping – who hasn’t had a windscreen wiper break in a frost? A salvaged car parts dealer can supply you with a salvaged windscreen wiper for just a few quid. They’re easy to fit, so be prepared by picking up a couple of salvaged spare windscreen wipers.

How do salvaged car parts help protect the environment?

Salvaged car parts help protect the environment in more ways than you might think! First and foremost, if you use a salvaged car part, you are using materials that have already been acquired from the earth and shaped into the part you need. Using a salvaged car part means there’s now no need for the same amount of materials to be acquired to make a new spare part. And that’s not all – making spare parts takes energy, fuel, and further materials. So when you use a salvaged car part, there’s no need for a manufacturer to use that energy, fuel and further materials in the manufacturing process – so using a salvaged spare part saves the manufacturing resources of using a new spare part.

And it’s not just about saving resources. Using salvaged car parts supports the recycling industry, and according to European directives, up to 80% of a car can – and should – be recycled. The more of a car we can recycling by reusing its components as salvaged car parts, the less waste we have to send to landfill sites, and that’s great news for the environment.

www.stuffaboutstuff.co.uk is a website dedicated to bringing you lots of information about a wide variety of things, helping you to find info about the stuff you’re interested in – whatever that might be. We have links to all kinds of websites that will help you to find tons of interesting things to make life easier and more fun.

One of our favourite links is for Hills Motor Parts. Hills Motor Parts are a scrap yard based in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, near Wigan and Ormskirk, and are one of the UK’s leading specialists in car dismantling and vehicle scrapping, salvage and recycling. With thousands of second-hand auto parts available at their West Lancashire scrap yard, they are a reliable and knowledgeable supplier for used spare car parts, stocking a huge variety of quality car parts for cars, bikes and vehicles of every make and model. If you know what part you want, call them on 01695 551973 or search on their website to see if they have the used car part that you’re after, or give them a call and speak to one of their friendly team. They can provide almost any spare part and there’s no need to drop into their premises to pick it up – they are happy to provide parts via post. They can also provide spare tyres, both new and partworn, GPS navigation systems and car stereos and audio systems, and they supply and fit windscreens.

The team at Hills Motor Parts are specialists in recycling cars, which has helped them build up their extensive stock of used auto parts – at any one time they have around 2000 dismantled vehicles on their scrap yard in Skelmersdale, West Lancashire. If you have a car which you no longer want or need, and you are in the West Lancashire area, perhaps in Wigan, Ormskirk, Orrel, Burscough, St Helens or Southport, or perhaps further afield, consider getting in touch with Hills Motor Parts and arranging for them to collect your scrap car. Hills Motor Parts can usually collect your unwanted vehicle within three days and, unlike some other less scrupulous scrap car dealers, they will make sure that your paperwork is correctly completed and registered with the DVLA, and give you a Certificate of Destruction, thus proving that you are no longer the owner of the car and absolving you of responsibility for it from that moment forth. Listed as an Authorised Treatment Facility by the Department for the Environment, Hills Motor Parts are diligent in the use of their state-of-the-art recycling equipment to recycle as much of your scrap car as possible – up to 80% of the car, according with government guidelines. If you have a car that you would like to scrap, call the scrap recycling team on 01695 551 97.

As well as providing used car parts and car recycling services, Hills Motor Parts sell quality cars in many makes and models. Use their website to browse some of the vehicles available from their base in Skelmersdale, Lancashire. The vehicles offered include salvage vehicles, stolen recovered (Totally legal! Hills Motor Parts work in partnership with the police) and vehicles repaired to the highest standard.

If you’re not in the north-west of England or West Lancashire, try www.isalvage.co.uk for national auto parts – they have partners all over the coutnry including Nantwich, Cheshire; Salford and Oldham Manchester; Bristol, Essex, Salford, Manchester, Oldham, Tattershall, Lincolnshire, Shropshire, Suffolk, Aldershot, Hampshire, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Hullbridge, Essex, Billericay, Basildon, Highwood, Chelmsford, Bristol, Poole, Dorset, St Austell, Cornwall, Wales, Hengoed, Mid Glamorgan, Gorseinon, Swansea, West Lothian, East Whitburn, Leven, Fife, Dumfries.

Maybe you have a website that you’d like to advertise? Why not put a link on http://www.freewebsitedirectory.com/ – it’s a website portal which is edited by real people, which features listings for thousands of websites, categorised so it’s easy to find whatever you need. Categories include Arts ,Business, Computers, Education, Entertainment, Health & Fitness, Home and Garden, Internet, Kids and Teens, News & Media, Non-English, Recreation, Reference, Romance, Science, Shopping, Sports and Travel. It has an article directory too, which makes it easy for you, as an expert, to submit any articles that you have written as an expert in your field. Take your first steps towards journalistic stardom and scribble us a piece to share your knowledge on your favourite subject. Current articles include works on bus ways, lighting, life insurance and mobile phones.

Speaking of mobile phones, I’ve just found out that I can basically write about anything I like when it comes to this artcile, so I think I might just bang on about mobile phones for a while. My mobile phone is an ancient Sony Ericsson that is so old that all the numbers have worn off and the screen has got a big black creeping blob of dying pixels expanding over the screen. My friend referred to it as “phone cancer” the other month and I found that quite funny, except that a couple of months later I was having a conversation with a friend during which I referred to my phone as having cancer, and suddenly realised that our other friend who was present, though not involved in the conversation, had lost her dad to cancer three years ago. Awkward! Anyway, my phone is pretty rubbish but it does the job, if doing the job is texting and calling. This morning, though, I accidentally deleted from it the only game I had, which is mildly annoying. I do sometimes wish I had an iPhone because everyone around me seems to have one, but then again I think it might be one of those things that you don’t need until you have one, then you think you need one, and I’ve seen two many people get addicted to and obsessed with their iPhones. I spend so much of my time plugged into electronic devices of some kind that I sometimes quite value the time and quiet that occasionally not having access to the internet affords me. Last New Year I spent five days in a cottage in Cornwall where we had no internet access, and I found it really peaceful and refreshing not to be constantly bombarded with information. I was more relaxed than I had been for years. That could, however, have been related to the fact that we drank red wine pretty much all day every day. Ah, fun times. Being in the countryside was amazing too. I miss the countryside very much and now that my parents no longer live in the middle of a load of fields it’s not as easy to escape to the country – my home from home is gone. One day I hope to live in the countryside again, although I can’t see it happening for quite a few years now, which is a shame. Being in the city all the time makes me feel sad sometimes. When I have a great big sky above my head I feel as though I can breathe properly, which is never the case when I am in the city. I want to look out of my window and see fields and greenery, and to open my window and hear nothing but the distant mooing of cows. Here, when you open the window, you let the outside into your house in a bad way – people walk past the window swearing loudly, shouting at their children and spitting, and the smoke from their cigarettes drifts up and through the open window, polluting the air in my home without my permission. If a neighbour wants to listen to music loudly, we are forced to do the same. In the countryside, no one can hear you scream. Of course there are downsides to living in the country, just as there are upsides do living in the town. In the town, everything is conveniently situated – five minutes in the car or a 30 minute walk and I’m at the supermarket, a five minute walk and I am at a beautiful park. Ten minutes drive or half an hour to get a bus and I am in town, and if I want to go out for an evening and drink, a taxi home is about eight pounds maximum. And I’ve got a corner shop less than a minute’s walk from my door. I can go to the shop in my pyjamas if I want to. None of this would be the case if I lived in the countryside. My friend J lived in the country for a few months while she and her husband were looking for a new house to buy and she found it beautiful and peaceful but lonely and inconvenient. There were little things, like she couldn’t take her baby out in his buggy to calm him down because the cars would go at 60mph on the roads near her house and there were no pavements, so she felt unsafe. I’ve kind of run out of steam on that particular topic for now so I might write about something else. I’m kind of hungry, I should probably eat something. I have some of my favourite yogurts in the fridge, I might get one of those. Or I have some little snack boxes of dried fruit and nuts, I could have one of those – that’s probably better since it has more protein in it and I need energy for later. I wonder what I should make for dinner tonight. I think he might have some chilli left over so he will probably have that for tea. I made a lovely salad last night from spinach, orange, fennel, walnuts, olives and halloumi, so I might have that again – it was super yummy. And I can throw it together tonight after Zumba – hooray, it’s Zumba night! Although it’s Zumba night four times a week at the moment. I am so happy and grateful for Zumba, it’s amazingly fun and makes me feel ace! I swear that without Zumba in my life, this last year with all the stress of unemployment and infertility would have sent me completely crazy. It has been one of the best coping mechanisms I have ever found. I wish I could get my friends to come to Zumba with me. J comes of course, and L, but they aren’t really close friends. What I need is for my friends to get as ridiculously into it as I am so that they understand me when I talk about it and don’t look at me like I’m crazy. It has changed my mindset around exercise so that I don’t ever think of it as a chore or as something that’s not enjoyable, and I never, ever think of it as something that’s done as a penance for eating food. It’s a special treat for me that keeps me mentally happy and alert as well as physically fit, and it makes me aware of and grateful for my body in a positive way which no other exercise has ever done. I enjoyed running, but I didn’t always look forward to it. Sometimes the last thing I wanted to do was put my trainers on and go out on the streets, and when I got out there it was hit or miss from session to session whether I would enjoy it or not. I would have to force myself to get out and stay out. I can only think of about two or three times in probably over 150 Zumba classes when I haven’t had a good time, and each of those times my lack of enjoyment has been because I was preoccupied thinking about something else and didn’t feel good to start with, rather than about not enjoying the class. I remember one time feeling upset because I had found out about someone else’s pregnancy – yet another – and crying my eyes out as I walked up the road to Zumba, and yet within 30 seconds of the first song beginning I had a massive smile on my face and felt 100% better. Well, I’m going to stop writing for now and do some other stuff but perhaps I will write some more at some point on this particular piece.