Posted: 08-02-2018
Wow January flew past so quickly with so much going on, I’ve only just noticed it’s been a while since I last blogged – so thank you to the person who kindly pointed this out.
My trip to Manchester was a great success despite my apprehension, I managed to fit a few things including a trip to the science museum which has a huge hall dedicated to the fabric industry. My relatives worked in the Lancashire cotton mills, so this is of great interest to me. I also fitted in a photoshoot but not until after attending the Beyond the Gaze conference. BtG as it is affectionately known is a very important, forward thinking piece of research into online sex work. The conference brought together academics, sex workers, police and support organisations all with the same agenda – to help understand and improve safety for providers of sexual services. I spent the entire day feeling supported and part of something positive, we were all ‘on the same page’.
Immediately after the conference I went straight to a photoshoot with the photographer I’ve been using for the last year or so, Phil has a fresh style, he doesn’t use any lighting not even flash and keeps any editing to an absolute minimum. Unfortunately Phil broke his foot soon after the shoot, so hasn’t yet been able to go through everything yet. The photos from his camera require a bit of resizing, after picking out which of the 600 are the best to use. I’ve popped a couple up which can be found towards the bottom of the photos page, and will add more as they become available. We also made another video this time can be viewed here it’s of me getting myself ready and is pretty much what I do before any booking. I don’t wear a lot of make-up I am not interested in plastering on a mask, I do however always make an effort to look my best enhancing rather than hiding my features.
New Year has also triggered a few new interests, I’ve taken up Yoga and I attended a one-day cookery course. I’ve been aware of the benefits of yoga for some time however I wasn’t sure if it was really for me, couldn’t make the set beginners classes and I also imagined the non-beginner classes would be full of experienced lithe and bendy yogis. A highly convenient opportunity arose for me to have a little go without pressure so I took advantage of this, paid my money and went along. I took to it like a duck to water, enjoyed it so much I’ve been to 5 classes in just over 3 weeks. I find yoga fits in perfectly with my training regime because it’s not taxing so doesn’t compete for energy resources, provides me with some great stretches and relaxation techniques. The venue and people involved are so warm and welcoming, that I come away feeling as if I’ve just been given a huge whole-body hug.
The cooking however is quite a different experience my relationship with food is often a difficult one, which can become a bit of a battle. I decided to go on a one day course to try and improve this, and also improve my appreciation of cooking. The one day experience certainly gave me a good insight into the sort of thing which goes into restaurant food, I don’t however foresee me ever recreating the recipes at home, not least because of the amount of wine which got splashed around. I have however been inspired enough to start buying and chopping shallots to add to my breakfast eggs and oats concoction, instead of using bags of chopped onion bought from the CO-OP frozen section.
I started February off with a Park Run if you don’t know these are casual running races held at the same time in numerous locations across the UK and the World. These days my I’m not training for running and in fact my coach doesn’t want me doing any significant amounts of running, or cardiovascular training in any form. I have therefore prepared from a very limited base of running, and was pleased to finish in the top half of the field, and very highly in my age category. Not bad for a rainy day in the lakes.
At the moment the only plans for the remainder of February are a rock night in a pub in a far off city, which I know I shall enjoy immensely, and possibly a DJ night closer to home. No more weekends away until the end of March which should give me time to finish off the never ending piece of coursework. I might get this Master Practitioner qualification yet!
Best push on
Ruth x
