Spring Fatigue is in the Air *

Monday and Tuesday have been sunny here, with daytime temperatures around 10'C (50'F). Still no spring flowers to be seen, though - so we're still far behind for example Germany and Britain. And in spite of the relief to be rid of the snow, my main spring feeling so far seems to be tiredness... *

On Monday, I went for a similar walk into town and back as exactly a week ago, although I took a slightly different route. My main goal was again the police station; now to pick up the ID card I applied for last week. 

My knee seemed to be in protesting mood already when I set out, so already a few hundred meters from home I hesitated, and thought of turning around... But I have noticed before that often it actually starts to feel better after a while, so I decided to continue. (I think by now the pain is primarily in certain leg muscles rather than in the knee itself. For which I'm also experimenting with various exercises at home. But as so often, not all easy to find the right balance between activity vs rest...)

This time too it did feel better after a while (and walking slowly). And when I got to the southern end of the city centre, I got on a bus there that took me one stop (a few blocks) closer to the police station. I did not have to wait long there this time, as they had a separate booth open for people just there to collect IDs. (As I suspected, my hair in that photo looks horrible. Hopefully I won't have to use it for too many purposes...)

My second errand was a visit to the only remaining physical photography shop left in town. They recently announced via the local newspaper + social media that they will be retiring and closing the shop towards the end of this year - unless they can find someone willing to take over. That reminded me that I have some boxes of old slides that I've been thinking of perhaps getting transferred to a USB stick. So yesterday I brought one, and asked them to do that for me. They are photos from a journey to Germany way back in 1983. I don't know what condition they are in as I have no working apparatus to view them with any more; so I'll wait until I get that first lot back to I decide if maybe I'll have some more done.

Then I sat down  in the sun on a bench for a little while, to rest and drink some water. Next, I went on to visit a shop selling leatherware - bags and gloves. I was hoping to find a pair of thinner gloves to wear with my walking poles now that it's getting warmer outside. My winter ones are getting too warm, but I still feel I want some kind of gloves with the poles for a good grip. Yesterday I was wearing a pair of cheap garden gloves, but if possible I wanted to find something a little bit more elegant...

And I was happy to find these, with leather on the underside, but a "ventilated" top:

They weren't cheap, but turned out to be included in a 25% off sale, so still a good deal! (No doubt they'll still be too warm in really hot weather. But just now they're perfect.)

Then I walked via part of the city park towards home, stopping for a while at the sculpture shown in yesterday's post. I had had half in mind to perhaps try and catch a bus from the travel center - but arrived at the conclusion (for the umpteenth time) that this wouldn't really save me many steps (if any at all - and no time either). So I walked on... Sat down briefly a couple of more times along the way instead (on a stone wall vs a bench in the cemetery). 

Felt exhausted when I got home, though (even if not really in much "pain") Lay down to rest - and ended up with a two hour afternoon "nap"... *

Still tired today, I just went for a half hour slow walk close to home, including a visit to a small neighbourhood shop for a few fruits & vegs. And I don't think I'll venture much further afield tomorrow either.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springtime_lethargy