A More Interesting Week - W/E 15th June 2024

This week began with a day off on Sunday. There was a summer fete taking place on the common in a part of the borough that I used to frequent a lot when LB was small. We used to go every year. There are always stalls, entertainment and a dog show, and it was always a nice afternoon out with the added bonus of contributing money towards the local community. 

I decided to walk there. It was about a half an hour walk away. I wanted to get some steps in, so I set off and then OH met me there after hiring a Lime bike (electric bikes that you can hire to get around London). He'd been out cycling and needed to shower before coming back out.

When I got there I looked around a couple of stalls. My first stop was the plant stall, of course. I bought a couple of small nasturium plants for 50p each, as some that I'd sown hadn't grown. I also bought a beautiful and delicate geranium which was a white/purple colour and another indoor trailing plant, each of which cost £2. Here's a picture of the pretty geranium flowers:

I then bought a black dress and a book from another stall. The book was this biography type book about Debbie Harry of Blondie fame for £1. It looked really interesting.  By this time OH had come to meet me and we wandered around a little more before getting some food from one of the food stalls. Today, it was burgers and a salad bowl, followed by some almond cake, washed down with elderflower cordial. All very home made by dad's on the BBQ and very tasty. We ate it whilst watching local teenage bands perform on the event stage.

We spent a nice nostalgic few hours there and then walked home. It was lovely to go out and do something together and OH got a rest from building the shed, which he desperately needed. When I got home, I started reading the Debbie Harry book and it really is quite a good read so far.

On Monday, I got up and went for a run. After a day off resting, my pace was a little faster than it had been of late. I'd really slowed down since running the 5K.

I then got changed and headed out to do the weekly shop out of town. I somehow managed to tweak my back whilst shopping in Lidl by lifting something from a shelf. Not good. 

I did my usual stop off in my favourite charity shop and found a few nice things to wear for the gym and take on holiday with me. It's my fortnightly treat to myself to visit this shop, as I always find something I like and it's very reasonably priced with very few items costing more than £5.

Tuesday, started with my usual class at the gym, which I always enjoy. When I got home, LB was home for a few hours.  She'd been to visit a store where she's applied for a summer job, so dropped in to see us. It was lovely to see her and catch up with her news, even though it's only been a couple of weeks since we all went to the family wedding.  She's been very busy finishing work at Uni to meet deadlines and still has a bit more to do this week before she's finished for the summer. I'm looking forward to having her home for the summer months.

OH took the day off work on Tuesday and Wednesday and focussed on getting the shed roof and doors finished so that it was watertight. It's really taking shape now and it is so exciting. It's surprising how dark it is inside the shed with the roof on though, so I need to figure out how we're going to light it, as there's no electricity supply unless we run a cable from the house. I'm sure we'll figure something out.

In the evening, I was due at work. Work was surprisingly busy, so it passed pretty quickly.

On Wednesday, I woke up with a sore back, so I decided to give my run a miss. I had lots of jobs I wanted to do before I was due to head out and meet some friends for supper.

OH did more work on the shed. All that's left to do is to put in the floor, paint the front with preservative and paint a finish to the inside, but we can do that anytime that we have spare time. He's done an amazing job building it. It has saved us so much money. In total it will have cost us just over £3000, which for a garden building of this size, which virtually gives us another room and storage, is great value. It would have cost so much more to get someone else to put it together.

I now need to make progress on the sofa cover and think about making or finding a curtain to partition the part of the shed we're going to use for storage, which was always the plan.

In the evening on Wednesday, as mentioned, I met a couple of friends for supper. It was nice to catch up with them and their news. One friend has become a grandma since I saw her last, which was very exciting. I took a little gift for the baby, which I've been told the parents liked, which is good.

On Thursday, I decided to do some cleaning. It was long overdue. I focussed on the two reception rooms, which I needed to change over for the summer months. We tend to use the front reception room in the summer and then retreat to the smaller snugger back reception room through the winter, as it is much more cosy. I'm a bit late doing the changeover this year, but better late than never.

I completed the cleaning on Friday after going for a run and to an appointment at the doctor's. Once again, I was vacuuming up all our dog's hair, which I didn't really want to do, but some guests we've got coming later in the summer probably won't want to see it on the furniture, so it had to be done at some point. I'm sure bits will keep turning up unexpectedly for months to come. I also did a bit of cleaning in the kitchen, which is the next room that needs blitzing. I may attempt that next week.

Also on Friday, a barbell that I'd ordered arrived. I decided to buy one online to use alongside my dumbells and kettlebells, once the shed is fully built. I was finally able to put the weights we'd bought from the tip shop in Yorkshire onto it and try it out which was very cool. They are plenty heavy enough for me for a long while yet.

I was working on Friday and Saturday evening this week and didn't really do much before work on Saturday, save going to the gym and doing a bit of shopping locally on my way home. Work was busy both nights. 

Whilst I was at work on Saturday, OH started work on the shed floor, packing out the ground under the floor joists with the gravel we'd bought and pavers, so that the flooring could be laid.

It was a slightly more interesting week this week, with definitely lots of progress being made, which made it a good week.