A Busy Work Week and a Visit to Yorkshire - W/E 14th September 2024

This week started with an earlier than usual shift at work on Sunday. I had to take the bus to work, which is rare for me, because OH needed the car to go to a cycle race. I was scheduled to work from 11.30am until 6pm, so I got up early, got ready for work, did a few jobs, made a packed lunch and headed off up the road with LB, who was also heading to work, and caught the bus in.

I was working in a different role to what I thought I would be when I got there, but it was the same role I'd been doing for the whole of the week, so at least it was familiar. It was busy too, with lots of people out shopping. It almost feels like London has filled back up again, with everyone coming back at the end of the summer holidays.

I have to admit, I do like September and October. I used to love going back to school as a child and being born in the autumn, I definitely feel an affinity with the season. I just love it, regardless of what the weather is like. It's my favourite season.

As I left work, there was a heavy rain shower. OH came to pick me up in the car and then brought in a takeaway for supper as a treat. He'd finished laying the decking boards after getting back from his race, so the garden looked a lot better.  The boards still need to be painted with preservative, but it's nice having them back in place again.  It makes going out in the garden a lot easier.

Here's a picture:

As working Sundays go, it was a pretty good one.

On Monday morning, I dropped LB off at the station to go back to her flat. There was a crowd of people outside and it transpired that the trains weren't running due to some sort of incident on the line. Luckily, I'd hung around and waited and was able to run her back home. As a consequence, she decided not to go back to the flat after all, as she was working locally the following day and going out in the evening and would go from home, despite having few clothes left at home to wear.

After dropping LB home, I decided to head out of town for a few hours shopping, to pick up a few things that we needed. I love my Monday's shopping out of town. It's just nice to get out and about sometimes, and preferably on days when it's not very busy.

When I got back, I had time to make some lunch and chill for a couple of hours before getting ready for work.  LB, meanwhile, got ready and headed out to meet some friends for a birthday celebration.

Work tonight, was very different. I was put on a new to me section that is very busy and quite demanding. I'd only worked on there once before, months ago. Anyway, I had to help out elsewhere for an hour or so and got quite behind with my own section, so I was up against it to get finished in time. I did get help from some colleagues thankfully, without which I would have struggled. I was shattered by the time I left to come home.

On Tuesday, I was booked into my usual class the gym again. LB headed into work and I headed to the gym around the same time. LB was going straight back to her flat from work, so we said our goodbyes in the morning. It's been lovely to have here home for a long weekend. She did get some good news before she left in that her reduced student loan had been increased slightly due to an additional application I made. Better than nothing.

My class at the gym was okay. I felt much better this week than I had the week before. When I got home, we needed to book some accommodation in Yorkshire, as we were planning to pay a visit to OH's parents for a couple of nights. We'd not been back to Yorkshire together since the family wedding we attended at the end of May. (OH had gone alone a few weeks ago on his bike) I was looking forward to getting out of London for a few days. A change of scenery can be very therapeutic and after a really busy and eventful summer, especially the last couple of weeks, I felt like I really needed a break. 

I had one more shift to work on Tuesday night, so I just got my head down and worked through it.

On Wednesday, we got packed up and headed up north for a couple of nights. OH had an appointment in the morning, so I managed to squeeze in a quick visit to the allotment to harvest before we set off. It was midday before we were able to get on our way, but we had a good journey up and got there around 3.30pm and spent the rest of the afternoon at OH's parents.

We had booked into a local hotel on this visit. It's not one we've stayed at before as it isn't dog friendly, so it wasn't on our radar, but now it is. It was quite close to where OH's parents live and it also had a gym and swimming pool, so we made sure to pack our gym and swimming gear.

After leaving OH's parents, we headed back there and booked ourselves into a Power Pump class, followed by a short session in the gym, a swim in the pool and a little sit in the sauna. It felt so lovely to be able to do these things where we were staying and was well worth paying a little extra to make our stay a bit more of a relaxing break. We then had supper in the bar, whilst OH watched the cricket. My only complaint was the pillows on the bed. They were way too firm for me and I didn't sleep hardly at all. If we stay here again, I'll definitely bring one from home.

On Thursday, we were up early and headed to a nearby Aldi to get some porridge/granola and fruit for breakfast. We then came back, ate that in our room and I headed to the pool for an aqua aerobic class, whilst OH did a Pilates class.  My class was good. Far more energetic than I expected and I followed up with a swim and a sit in the jacuzzi pool. It felt like we were really enjoying life. Sad I know. We then showered and headed back to OH's parents for the day. 

Whilst OH stayed there to spend time with his dad, I headed out for an hour or so to a few places I like to visit whilst I am in Yorkshire, one of which was the local tip shop, where I managed to bag some more cast iron weights for my barbell, some lighter ones this time, which I don't currently have, so that I can increase the weight more incrementally. These cost just £5 and were a bargain, so I was very happy to find them.

I also like to pay a visit to my parents grave and put some flowers on their grave and clean it up a bit, as it tends to get covered in grass cuttings through the year. I always feel better for doing this. In the evening, I'd arranged to meet my sister and her husband at a local pub for supper and it was lovely to see them and catch up with all their news. The food was good too.

I managed to sleep much better on Thursday night, so felt much more refreshed. We didn't use the gym or facilities on Friday morning, instead we packed up and checked out and headed back to OH's parents, as we had to leave quite early due to the fact I was working in the evening and had to get back to London for 5pm. We spent a couple more hours with them and then set off. Unfortunately the A1, the main route back to London, was completely closed southbound, which entailed a huge cross country detour, but we still got home in good time for me to get to work.

Work was okay, but I was very happy to get to the end of the shift and get home and relax. It had been a long day. LB was home when I got there, as she was working the next day, so it was lovely to see her again too.

On Saturday, I was looking forward to a relaxing day, before working at 5pm, but I got a message from work asking me to go in at 1pm. OH was out most of the day cycling, LB was at work and then going back to her flat, so I agreed to go in early. 

I did need to drop some things off at a local Zero Waste Event though, so I set off to do that. Unfortunately, the venue was virtually unreachable, as they'd made no traffic zones all around it. I couldn't even get close enough and may have even incurred a fine in trying to do so. I was not happy. Why stage an event somewhere it is virtually impossibly to reach? It has really annoyed me. I'll just have to wait and see if I do get a ticket. It will make it a very expensive donation that didn't even happen. I ended up taking the stuff to a charity donation drop off bin around the corner from my house and may make it a habit to do that in the future.

Anyway, I had lunch, got ready and went to work. It was a long day at work, punctuated by a break and working in two different areas, but I was glad to get home, knowing I had the day off the next day.

It's been a very busy week this week, but fitting in a visit to Yorkshire was long overdue, so it has felt like we did achieve something this week.

A Thorough Clean, A Move and Getting Back to Normal Life - W/E 7th September 2024

On Sunday morning, I woke early after not sleeping well. I was due at work and had mixed feelings about going back, on account of the virus I'd had that week. In any case, I got up and started to clean the bathroom. LB had her future flatmate coming to stay later in the day, before the big flat move on Monday and I needed to clean the main areas, to banish the bacteria from the virus before he arrived and before I went to work.

I finished cleaning the bathroom and worked my way down the stairs and into the main reception rooms, making sure to clean the most touched areas with a bleach solution. I then decided to call work and speak to them about going in later. My stomach didn't feel 100% and I was concerned that I might still be infectious and didn't want to cause an outbreak in my workplace. Fortunately, my manager was very reasonable about it and allowed me not to go in until later in the week. I was very grateful for this, as I could continue to blitz the house and make it as clean as I could and back to being a healthy environment.

Once this was done, I could finally have some breakfast and then get a shower and get ready for the rest of the day. I just had a bit more cleaning to do, mainly in LB's room and in the car, as OH was picking LB's flatmate up from the airport later in it, whilst LB was at work. It was a relief to finally get everything done. I could then start to look forward from what wasn't a very good week healthwise last week and get prepared for the move the next day.

Monday was the day of the big move. I wasn't actually feeling too well as the nausea had returned, and LB had been unwell overnight, but she managed to pack up the rest of her stuff and OH picked up the van. At the last minute, I decided I probably wouldn't go, as I wasn't feeling great, but OH persuaded me to go so I didn't have any regrets later. He and I took the van and LB and her friend went on public transport. Unfortunately, they had a nightmare on account of trains being cancelled and so we ended up at the flat first.

I was a little disappointed to be honest. The flat wasn't very clean. Don't get me wrong, it had just been re-painted and looked good from that point of view, but there was paint dust everywhere and the fridge wasn't clean. I just went ahead and cleaned the fridge and kitchen worktops, so they'd at least have a reasonably clean kitchen. There was also a bathroom window with no glass in it, which was a security issue, so we had to arrange for someone to come and board it up.

LB and her flatmate eventually arrived and started to unpack things. They, of course, were thrilled with the place, which is the main thing. We were just shocked at the lack of care, once you have handed over the large sums of money involved.  Anyway, the agents arranged for a cleaner to call the next day, sent someone to board up the window and we finally felt we could leave them to it. It was starting to look homely already. It was a long and tiring day though and I was glad to get home and go to bed early.

On Tuesday morning, I woke up after sleeping really well. The house felt quiet without LB in it, but I'm happy she's off being her independent self. She's braver than I was at her age.

I was booked into a class at the gym on Tuesday morning, which I went to, but I wasn't feeling well when I got there, so I struggled through the class. It was just a bit too much too soon. I made sure to thoroughly clean any surfaces of equipment I used whilst there. The rest of the day I spent at home, catching up with a few tasks I'd neglected. By the end of the day, I was starting to feel a lot better and could eat again. I'd just had hardly any appetite for a week.

I spent the evening working on my hexi quilt, whilst watching a couple of movies on Netflix. OH was out at the cycle track. I'm looking forward to life getting back to normal. All this illness has been very disruptive.

On Wednesday, I woke up feeling okay, which was just as well, as I was due back at work in the afternoon. I had a chilled morning at home before getting ready for work. Work was good, save that I was a bit rusty and made a mistake, which was a bit frustrating. I hate making mistakes, it makes me question myself, but it's probably a good thing to question yourself from time to time and not get complacent. I was glad to get home though, as it was quite overwhelming being back after being ill.

I didn't sleep too well, woke at 3 am and didn't get back to sleep for a few hours. My mind was still churning over the shift at work. Eventually, I managed to drop back off to sleep and then had a lie in until quite late.

I was back at work on Thursday night and hoping I'd have a better shift and settle back into working. Work did go a little better, but was very intense on account of it being very busy. I need to get into the habit of pacing myself in this situation. I came home and my brain was completely frazzled. Needless to say it took me a while to get to sleep, but I slept well when I did.

On Friday, I had a day off. I booked myself into the gym and took myself off there for a good workout. It felt good to get back into my normal routine and to feel well again. OH took the day off work and started working on the decking outside the back door. I'm looking forward to when it's finished and will post another picture when it is.

I didn't do a whole lot in the afternoon, save catch up on Blogger and YouTube favourites, put away some laundry and chill. I was due back at work on a four day stretch from Saturday, so I took it easy. LB came home late on Friday night, ready to work on Saturday and Sunday locally. She'd had to come early as the trains where she lives weren't running over the weekend due to maintenance and she'd have struggled to get here otherwise. It was lovely to see her and catch up with her week.

On Saturday morning, I got up and showered and had a leisurely breakfast. OH continued to work on the decking outside. I then went out to do the weekly shop locally and saved £5 off my shop using a voucher. On the way home, I dropped into LB's shop to say hello and I dropped off some treats for her lunch. By the time I got home I just had time to get some lunch myself and I was off to work.

Work was busy again, but not quite as intense as it had been the first couple of nights back. I think I'm getting back into it more and getting more confident and familiar within the particular job I've been doing lately. 

On the whole, this week has been one that I am very glad to see the back of. I don't say that about many weeks, but it's not been a particularly positive start to the month for me. I'm hoping next week will be better.

Low Spend September 2024

Yes, I know I've said this before in other months and then gone on to spend way more than I intended, but this month, it really is my intention to have a low spend month. I won't promise a no spend one, as this is virtually impossible for me, but low spend might be manageable.

With LB moving into her new flat on the 2nd day of the month, the main expenditure in this regard is over and done with. Anything the flat now needs, she and her flatmate will need to buy themselves. I am planning to put some money aside each month to help her with paying utility bills, as it is all new to her and I think she'll need the financial support this year, but hopefully, other than this I won't need to buy anything else for her.

The summer months have been expensive, with a wedding to attend, a holiday, the garden renovation, flat hunting, dental treatment, paying deposits, buying what was needed for the flat, etc., so it's quite a relief to come to a point where I can finally stop spending money, hopefully. I'm all spent out and need to just have a rest from spending and start doing a bit of saving instead.

I'm looking forward to just picking up my patchwork and working on that. It costs me nothing (although I did buy some more pillow cases to use the fabric to finish the quilt top) but these cost just £4, which isn't a big expense. I am happy to sit doing this for hours on end rather than going out and spending money. I'm hoping that I will mostly only need to buy groceries this month and very little else.

I probably will still pay the odd visit to a charity shop during the month, as it is Second Hand September afterall, but I will be very mindful of what I buy, it will have to be something useful and needed. I don't need much at the moment. I have plenty of clothes that I enjoy wearing, for both work and play, I have more houseplants than I have room for, a pile of stuff I need to donate, work to do at the allotment/in the garden and plenty of craft projects to get on with, so I will occupy my time with these things and with going to the gym, exercising and eating well.

We may pay a visit to Yorkshire at some point this month to visit family and we have a ferry crossing to Europe to use, which we may use to go to France, if I can get some time off work. Getting out of London, even just for a couple of nights, would make a very refreshing change at the moment, but we'll just have to see how things pan out.

I'll try to keep you posted with my progress this time around and hopefully I'll have more success than in more recent attempts at low spend months.

A Very Mixed Week W/E 31st August 2024

This week began with a lovely dog walk on Sunday morning with B, our little visitor. He's such a sweet dog. Very easy to walk and have around. I forgot what it was like to go for a dog walk and how relaxing and recuperative it is. We had a long walk, but I forgot to switch my phone on, so I didn't record my steps which was annoying, but never mind.

In the afternoon, I needed to do a food shop, as we had virtually nothing in the fridge to eat. I stayed local to do this. I've been buying extra food items for the past few weeks, to put aside for LB to take to Uni next week. It all helps take the strain out of her student budget and I don't feel it too badly when I spread it over a few weeks. It should help keep her in some things for a while. 

I ended up going to bed for another nap later after lunch, as I was still feeling tired. I really needed these two days off to just restore my equilibrium. Stress just builds up without my realising it and I need time to unwind from it.  When I woke up, I made a chicken casserole for OH and I for supper, with some chicken thighs I'd taken out of the freezer. It made a lovely change.

As a consequence of napping in the afternoon, I wasn't feeling too tired at bedtime, so I had a shower instead. LB was heading out late to a nightclub with her friend, and hadn't even left yet.  OH and I were planning on getting up early on Bank Holiday Monday to go to a car boot sale and then I was due at work for 1pm when we got back, so I needed to make sure that I would be work ready, as I knew it would be a tight turnaround.

On Bank Holiday Monday morning, we went to the car boot sale as planned, taking our visiting canine with us. OH wasn't feeling too well, but managed to go with me, he walked the dog whilst I wandered around the car boot. I didn't take a lot of money with me, just £25, as I didn't want to bring back lots of unnecessary stuff. I only had a couple of hours to look around, and I was uber conscious of needing to get back for work. To aide me, I set a timer on my phone, so I wouldn't go over time and end up being late. The car boot was a 30-40 minute drive outside of London, so we had to allow enough time to get home too.

I spent about £11 and bought a couple of dresses, a couple of pairs of pants, a scarf, some underbed storage, some wrapping paper and a t-shirt. I did okay. Not everything I bought fitted that well, but I guess that's how it goes when you don't try things on. I didn't pay more than a pound for any item of clothing, so it wasn't a big deal. In terms of the clothing, I did like one pair of pants and one of the dresses though, so that was a win.

Work on Bank Holiday Monday afternoon was steady. It started off very busy, as there was quite a bit of stuff to do when I took over my usual role. I was asked to work later until closing, which I agreed to do. It did make it a long shift, but I got an hours break, which broke it up.

On Tuesday morning, I was booked into my usual class at the gym. I'd not been for a couple of weeks, so it was nice to go back. 

In the afternoon, I was due to go to an enrollment day at a college out of town, but it turned out to be a bit of waste of time, as the course I wanted to do wasn't even running this September. I enrolled for next April, but I doubt it will go ahead then unless they get a sudden influx of interested students. I was a bit disappointed, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. Luckily, I decided to drive there at the last minute, instead of going by public transport and I'm glad I did, as I'd have been very annoyed to go all that way on public transport for essentially nothing.

When I got home, I chilled in the shed with LB, who was sorting through her stuff to take back to Uni and re-packing. I'm going to miss her when she goes back. I've so enjoyed having her home this summer, despite the fact that it has passed so quickly. She's always good company.

On Wednesday, LB and I headed out of town for a trip to IKEA, to get a few last minute bits she needed for her new flat. It was the last day we had the chance to do this, as OH was heading to the Scottish Borders at the weekend and taking the car, so we had to do it before he went.

It was a long day shopping, most of which was spent in IKEA. The queues for the restaurant where we had lunch, and the tills were long. LB got everything she needed and was very happy. I spent way more than I intended when I came upon the plant section and bought two new house plants and some pots too, as I'm always needing to pot things on and needing bigger pots. Here's a picture of the very reasonably priced house plants I bought:

This one which is quite large, cost £9 and the one below, which is larger still £12.

Unfortunately, later in the evening I started to feel unwell. I think I must have caught what OH had at the weekend, which I think might be norovirus, as I felt very nauseous and was a little sick. I was due at work the next evening, but called in and said I wouldn't be coming in. I then spent 36 hours in bed sleeping mostly. I could barely get up without feeling dreadful. LB also came down with the same virus and also spent Thursday in bed.

On Friday morning, I woke feeling OK, which was a relief. My manager had wanted to give me a shift at work that day, but I felt that as this virus is very contagious and I didn't want to pass it on to anyone else, this wasn't a good idea. It's ripped through our household in a matter of days, so it could possibly affect numerous people in the workplace and it hasn't been pleasant really. It's wiped us all out.

OH was supposed to head off to Scotland on Friday morning, but he was still not feeling too good, so went back to bed. He was very disappointed, as he'd trained hard for the cycle race he was supposed to be competing in and this virus had come at the worst time for him.

B's owners came back from their holiday on Friday morning and took him home. It was lovely to see how happy he was to see them again. We'll miss him. He's been a little sweetheart.

I spent Friday pottering at home. I potted on some house plants, did some bits of pruning in the garden, sorted through some donations for the Charity shop and the next Zero Waste event, packed up the food items I'd bought for LB to take to Uni and did my month end financial reconciliation (it's been a very spendy month). LB, meanwhile, spent the day packing up a lot of her stuff, as she's working the two days before the move and won't have time on those days. OH has hired a van for us to take her stuff this time, as her flatmate is coming over with their stuff too and it won't all fit in our car.

On Saturday, I was feeling OK again. I had to go out and pick up an item I'd ordered from Argos for LB from our local mall, as it was the last day they were holding it for me, so I ventured out to do this. I decided to cycle there, as I didn't want to get on public transport in case I was still infectious. I made sure to keep my distance in the store and avoided close contact with anyone or unnecessarily touching any surfaces. I picked up the item and came straight home. OH came with me and we cycled to a few different places on the Olympic Park that he was interested in, before heading home via the allotment to harvest some more crops.

It got us out in the fresh air and gave us a bit of exercise. I'd missed a gym session this week because of the virus, so any exercise was better than nothing.

I didn't have anything else planned for the day. I just chilled in the afternoon and then went to bed early.

It's been another busy week with lots going on, not all of it good. I'm hoping that once LB gets moved into her flat, that things will calm down a little, life will be a little less expensive, I can get on top of the house, get back to doing some patchwork and we can get back to working on the garden renovation.  Summer has been a nice distraction, but we need to push on with it while we still have good weather. Even if we only get the decking finished, it will make a big difference and make the garden look so much better.

How's your week been?