Not Quite So Low Spend October 2024

Buoyed by my relative success at keeping my spending low in September, I decided to continue in the low spend vein during October.

The start of the month coincided with my recovering from a chesty cold and so a visit to Home Bargains was in order to stock up on medications, i.e. cough linctus, lozenges, paracetamol, vitamins, plus other essentials that I use regularly, such as my favourite mouthwash, dettol, a few snacks and laundry products. I did throw a few extras in, some hair claw clips and some french manicure false nails, but these cost just 99p each. I also bought some chocolates for the Xmas tree and an Xmas gift for OH too. It all added up to a £42 spend. Fortunately, it's usually only a once a month visit.

My Pay As You Go gym membership needed renewing this month too, which cost a one off payment of £44.80, so I took care of that at the beginning of the month.

I got a little extra in my pay packet this month, as I'd worked quite a lot in September. This came in very useful, as we had a trip to Spain/France on the ferry booked and I needed to buy some euros to take on the trip.  I spent around £185 whilst on holiday, mainly on gifts for OH and LB for Xmas/birthday. I bought very little for myself, save for a few bits from Emmaus. I didn't really need or want anything. Besides, it was my birthday whilst we were away, so OH bought me a few bits for that and some new perfume when we got home, as it was cheaper to buy here than in France.

After returning from holiday, my spending did increase. I've been buying small bits and pieces for Xmas all through the month, and placed a £26 Approved Food order, so it definitely wasn't an ultra low spend month. I made a few charity shop visits this month too, buying a few bits for myself, OH and LB and in addition bought myself a sweater from Tesco and some inexpensive boots from Primark (for work) this month. I also treated us to one new set of towels for the bathroom. (A second set I bought at the beginning of November)

LB also furnished me with her Xmas wish list towards the end of the month, so I bought a couple of things from that this month and I gave a birthday gift of £30 this month too.

I was way too optimistic about my spending in October, after doing so well in September. I didn't spend all of the money in my account, I let some carry over into November and then at the end of November I will probably transfer some money to savings, depending on whatever is left. My total spend was, however,  £400 more than the previous month, so a bit of a fail on the low spend front. 

I can't see November being much better, but who knows. I'll keep you posted.

Another Busy Week W/E - 2nd November 2024

This week started with a trip to the Car Boot sale on Sunday morning, as OH wasn't cycling again. It was one of the last boot sales of the year, as they stop in two weeks time, so it was nice to catch a late one. I had a good wander around the stalls. I didn't buy a lot. A couple of vinyl records for LB, some food on the fruit stall including this lovely box of large satsumas for £4. 

I easily spend £2 or £3 per week on satsumas or clementines and this has so far lasted two weeks and will probably stretch to a third. I also bought some other food from a couple of stalls and a couple of other small items. Nothing very exciting, but I always enjoy a trip out and a mooch.

We then stopped off in Hertford on the way home for lunch in a cafe and a walk around the town. I had a lovely brie and cranberry toasty, a favourite combination.

This week wasn't supposed to be that busy, but I was given a couple of extra shifts at the last minute due to some unforeseen situation, so I ended up working more than I thought. Work has been fairly busy. You can tell that we're getting closer to Xmas and that Christmas shopping has started in earnest, which is good for business at least and means that shifts pass quickly.

I had a relatively quick shopping trip on Monday, as I was due at work for 4pm, so I had to get back and get ready. I did pick up a few bits for Xmas whilst out, not many though.

I was then working Monday through Thursday evenings, so I took it easy during the daytimes, just going to the gym a couple of times and then spending the rest of the time at home.

I finally got LB's Xmas list, which was particularly light this year, I think she needs money more than stuff at the moment, which is all good. A bit of this week has been spent ordering some of the things from her list.

I had a day off on Friday which I was ready for. I managed to do a bit more sewing, making the sofa cushion for the shed sofa. It's not perfect, but will look fine when in situ. It was good just to get a bit more of it done.

I then spent the rest of the afternoon watching Netflix and working on my hexi quilt, always a favourite past time when decompressing from work. I watched an interesting documentary about Martha Stewart and then a cheesy film. Got to be done sometimes.

I got some bad news on Friday, namely that I'd been given a fine when driving to work one night last week. I wasn't a happy bunny, but I'd momentarily stopped on a yellow box to let a van cross into a street and got caught on camera doing so. It is becoming more and more difficult to drive in London without getting tickets. It feels like an extra form of taxation.

On Saturday, I was due at work for 3pm, but I went into work a bit early, mainly because I wanted to do a bit of Xmas shopping, on double discount weekend for staff, which I didn't want to miss out on. There were a couple of things that I wanted to buy for LB and a couple of other bits for the house. I didn't find everything I wanted, but I'll try another store on Monday.

I got paid on Thursday this week and received some holiday pay, so I decided to treat us to a couple of sets of new towels, as some of ours are getting past their best. Here's a picture of the sets I bought:

(I love the William Morris design.  One thing I don't mind buying for the house are good quality towels (bathroom or kitchen) and bedding. Well worth the investment)

Work was okay on Saturday night, it passed quite quickly and I got to leave a bit early which was a good end to an unremarkable but busy week.

Approved Food Mini Haul - October 2024

In my weekly blog post last week, I made reference to having placed an Approved Food order for the first time in months. For anyone who doesn't know anything about Approved Food, they are a company who sells mostly out of date products, although by no means everything is out of date. Some items have short dates, some long, some items are long out of date whilst others are only a month or two out of date, but mostly only a best before date as opposed to a use by date, so they can be still safely eaten way past the BBE date.

As I've already stated, I haven't placed an order in months, partly because many of the items they sell are things I don't eat anymore, i.e. crisps, chocolate, sweet treats, etc. so I've deliberately avoided placing orders as it creates temptation to have these kinds of foods in the house, especially whilst I've been trying to lose weight. Now, however, I'm more on maintenance and I do eat the odd treat here and there, but I still try to be careful and not eat really calorie dense foods, so I've tried to be careful what I've chosen to buy in this order to minimise temptations.

The reason I placed the order was that there were a few things that we use regularly or that would allow us to control our consumption more easily which you'll see as I go along on this post. So here's what I ordered with Xmas on the horizon and a very busy time at work expected over the next couple of months. Here goes:

These were the main offers that I was drawn to when I received an email from the company in my inbox. The box of 10 x 2 slice packets of Soreen fruit loaf was on offer at £1 for the box. These are great little items to take to work or travelling. When I'm working long days at work and need to take a packed lunch, they are great to pop into my lunch box as a sweet treat that isn't too calorific, containing only 150 calories per pack.

Similarly, the lotus Biscoff biscuits, which incidentally are packets of single biscuits like you get in a cafe with a coffee, and are another thing that I can take to work or limit my consumption by eating one biscuit at a time or maybe two. The biscuits themselves are 30 calories each, so again, they will be useful for work or just dunking in a cup of tea. I never buy biscuits, mainly because it's too easy to eat one after another until the packet is gone. 

I do admit that the plastic packaging is excessive on these, but surely it's better to use them than for them to be just tossed into landfill. I could even use them crushed as a crumble topping or to crumble into yoghurt or other desserts. This box contains 300 biscuits and also cost £1, which is totally insane, but it has been out of date for a very long time. I did try one as soon as the order came and they are only very slightly soft, but this doesn't bother me at all.

Talking of tea, these PG Tips Decaff teabags were a good deal too at £2.99 for 140 teabags. Branded teabags are so expensive these days, so to get some at a reasonable price really appealed. They are past their best before date, but I like my tea weak anyway, so I doubt that it will affect my enjoyment of a cuppa.

With Xmas on the horizon, I bought this Cadbury Yule Log for £2. It is not yet out of date, but will be by the time Xmas rolls around. It will still get eaten though. It's a bit indulgent, but if I eat thin slices it's not too bad and I do like a Yule Log at Xmas.

I also bought the Schweppes Bitter Lemon tonics for drinking with the odd glass of gin at Xmas. They are slimline and therefore full of sweeteners, but I doubt a couple of bottles will hurt. They cost 50p each. The SanPellegrino are also a purchase for Xmas as a treat. I look forward to drinking these. They are Pomegranite and orange flavoured and are only 68 calories per can. They cost £2 for the six cans.

Also with Xmas in mind, I bought some treat sized bags of Maltesers for £2.99. They tend to be a bit more expensive than this in the shops and I like to eat a small bag sometimes to treat myself. If I open a box or pouch, I'll eat the lot, so this way I can be a little more disciplined at 99 calories per bag. Also, I use them in my hand made advent calendar by putting a few Maltesers in some of the little homemade pouches I use for each day of the calendar. I'm thinking of doing this again this year. Otherwise, they can be taken to work in a packed lunch, or put in Xmas crackers or stockings as an extra treat, although I doubt they'll last that long.

Other food items included a couple of pouches of Tikka sauce at £1 each. We use these regularly and they were in date until sometime next year. The two multipacks of crisps at £1 each were also thrown in, as I buy these weekly for OH to eat. (I only eat lentil or corn snacks these days, so I rarely eat them) The mini apple pies are also mainly for OH, but I may eat the odd one at only 100 calories each pie. These cost £1.49 and were just a day out of date.

The final few items were toiletries, namely a Nivea shower gel for OH which was £1.25 (I use a bar of soap, so never use shower gel, but OH likes to use one) and the refill pouch of Carex hand wash, which I bought to bulk out the order. The handwash costing £2.50 didn't really work out cheaper than buying handwash elsewhere, but I like the idea of the pouch refill rather than buying two bottles and it is almost on a par with buying handwash at Poundland, which I often do.  The two small packs of cleansing wipes were a great handbag size and at only 39p each, I threw a couple into the order as they can be very convenient to have in your bag when you're out and about.

I ended up spending the minimum amount to place an order and with the £3 delivery charge, it came to £26 in total, which didn't break the bank. I'm pretty happy with what I ordered, I think I did okay, so let's just hope I can resist over-eating the biscuits. Wish me luck.

A New Week - W/E 26th October 2024

This week started with a lie in. I wasn't working on Sunday for the first Sunday in a while (save for our holiday). It was a morning of OH speaking to/messaging various members of his family to see how everyone was after the sad news the night before. We didn't head up to Yorkshire, as OH's two sisters were at his mum's. He was planning to travel up later in the week.

We stayed home today. OH wasn't cycling as he's recovering from an injury, so we just chilled at home. I spent the morning changing my wardrobe over to Autumn/Winter, which was overdue. I also went through the drawers where I keep t-shirts/gymwear, etc. and I decided to donate quite a few things that I just don't wear anymore. It felt good to get all the summer clothing packed away until next year.

I chilled for the rest of the day, had another nap in the afternoon, as I felt very tired and then later after supper, we watched TV. We're watching Jilly Cooper's 'Rivals' on Disney at the moment, amongst other things, which is quite entertaining.

On Monday, I got up, ready and headed out shopping as usual. It felt nice not to have to be back for work in the evening. I could take my time and have a good look around, especially with Xmas on the distant horizon. I did buy a couple of small bits for Xmas, but didn't really see much that I wanted to buy at this point in time, as I'm still waiting on LB's Xmas list. I did venture into my favourite charity shop too and despite being on a lower spend month, I did buy a few bits of clothing for my winter wardrobe. I stayed away from anything black for a change, as I need more colours adding to the mix. I had a lovely day, in any case and then headed home.

On Tuesday, I was booked into my usual class at the gym. It didn't get off to a great start, as there was a heated argument between a couple of people attending, which seemed a bit unnecessary. Anyway, things calmed down and the class was okay. 

After class, I came home and had some lunch and then I decided to go up to my sewing room and start work machine sewing the shed sofa cover together, or at least, what I'd done so far of it. It started off okay, but I made a few errors and had to unpick some bits and resew them.  The top corners of the cover where three or four different seams meet was tricky to get right. I did the best I could.  It's not perfect but I'm hoping it will still fit when I try it on the sofa again. It felt good to get this done and very relaxing to have an afternoon sewing.

I also did a slight alteration to a jacket I thrifted the other week. I removed the collar and then stitched across the top, as I much prefer the jacket collarless. I also changed the buttons, which were way too big and looked cheap, replacing them with some nice vintage ones from my stash. I was happy with the result and will be much more likely to wear it now.

OH meanwhile, did some work on sanding and undercoating the upstairs landing. It's made the upstairs a bit messy with dust, but it will look a lot better once finished. We just have to choose a top colour now. We've had bare floorboards up the stairs for years now, since we took up the stair carpet about 3 or 4 years ago, so it feels good to finally start to tackle them and make them look more finished. I'm hoping we'll have it all finished and possibly LB's room too by Xmas, but we'll have to see what happens.

Wednesday, was my last day off before I returned to work on Thursday. As a consequence of not needing to be anywhere, I decided to have a lie in. It's quiet here at the moment, save for building noise from next door, as our neighbours are away. I eventually got up and showered and went down for a late breakfast.

After lunch, I made some small egg muffins for snacking and made another apple crumble, as I needed to use up more of the cooking apples OH's mum had given us. I then picked up my hexi quilt again and did some work on that which I enjoyed. I've really loved having free days to do as I please this last week, it's been so restorative.

On Thursday morning, I woke early as OH was heading off to Yorkshire to visit his mum. I was also booked into the gym first thing, so I headed off there for a workout. When I got back, I got quite a few jobs done. I sorted some laundry and put more on, I also changed some bedding and tidied around upstairs. I placed an order with Approved Food, which I haven't done in an age, but a couple of bargains were hard to ignore. I didn't spend much and stuck to things we will definitely use. I find that they have less food on the site now and more beauty products, which are usually of the expensive kind, so I rarely shop anymore. I may do a little haul when my order arrives. 

A couple of items I'd ordered from eBay came today too, one, a lipstick was okay, but not quite the shade I had hoped, but I'll still wear it. The second was a foundation that I've been wearing for a while.  I think it is discontinued in shops now, but I often find things on eBay that I can no longer find anywhere else, when I want to continue using the same product.

I was due at work for 5pm. It always feels a bit strange going in when I've been off for a stretch. I had plenty of challenges to quickly get me back up to scratch though, lets just put it that way. The night wasn't too busy but passed quickly and before I knew it I was heading back home to an empty house, which also felt a little strange.

On Friday, it was nice waking up and knowing I didn't have to go anywhere until later in the afternoon, so I could have a lie in and a leisurely breakfast. I spent the day at home, planning future sewing projects and doing odd jobs. Work in the evening was okay. It's been a strange week at work, one minute it's much quieter than normal and then there's an influx of people, not the normal steady flow. Probably because it's the end of the month and a lot of people are waiting to get paid.

Saturday was much the same as Friday, but I was working from 2pm. I didn't get to the gym in the morning as I was feeling too tired after not sleeping well. Work passed okay and we got to leave a bit early.  When I got home, OH was back from visiting his mum so we caught up on his news. The funeral has now been arranged and luckily I've got a gap in my shifts around the exact time. I just need to tell my Manager and ask for my rota to remain unchanged for that week and we should be able to go to Yorkshire for a few nights.

Another week that has whizzed past. Less than 60 days to Xmas now (you can tell I work in retail) and I need to start thinking about starting my main gift shopping, as I like to be finished by the end of November and not have to venture to the shops in December.

I hope your week went well.

Home, Back to Work and a Sad End to the Week - W/E 19th October 2024

Apologies for not posting in the past two weeks, but with our holiday and then a busy week at work when I got back, I just didn't find the time to blog. However, I've now got a few days off from work, so I thought I'd catch you up with what I've been up to this week.

We got back to London after our holiday late Saturday night and on Sunday I was back at work for 12 noon. It felt strange going back after being away for a week, but it was busy and the shift passed quickly and I was back home for 6.30pm.

There'd been some drama locally whilst we'd been away, which I had read about on our street Whats App chat. Some ladies had been pushed over in our street and their car stolen in front of them, which was horrible and is not a common occurrence, so was very shocking to hear of.

On Sunday night, OH made us supper and we chilled in front of the TV. We're currently watching a new season of Industry and The Hardakers, a new series on ITV set in Yorkshire.

On Monday, I was up early and off to do our weekly shop out of town as usual. I then came home and got ready and went to work. It wasn't so busy tonight and we got to leave a little earlier. There was more drama in our street whilst I was at work, with police and ambulances attending a property across the road from our house. We don't know what was going on there, but by the time I got home they'd all left.

On Tuesday, I was back at the gym at my usual class. I was keen to get back to exercising, as I'd put on a couple of lbs on holiday, due to eating what I liked and not worrying about it. The class was a bit different from normal but okay. I then had to get ready and go to work later. 

On Wednesday, I was up and at work again for 10 am this time. I very rarely work mornings, so it made a change for me. It was very busy though. I had arranged to meet a couple of friends later in the afternoon, so I came home, got changed and headed out again to our favourite local restaurant. We hadn't met since June, so it was nice to catch up with one another's news and have a nice meal. I was home by 8pm and spent a couple of hours watching TV with OH.

Thursday, I booked into the gym and headed off there in the morning. They had  new Stairmaster machines in the gym, which I tried out. I quite enjoyed using it and you seem to burn calories quickly on it, which is all good, so I'm incorporating it into my usual routine from now on.

Once again, I was at work for 2pm until 10pm, but doing a different job to my usual one. It wasn't the best shift I've worked. Anyway, on Wednesday morning, a little bird had flown into the store, a robin I think, and had been flying around for two days. Managers and pest control had tried to get it out, but it seemed to evade all efforts to free it. We were still trying as I left. I do hope it got out eventually.

I wasn't working for the rest of the week, which felt great. On Friday, we were looking after a neighbour's dog again for the day, so I went out with OH to take him for a walk in the morning. We dropped in at the allotment where my dahlias seem to be still doing well, so I did a bit of dead heading. We had a nice walk and then stopped off at a local cafe for a drink on the way home.  Once home, I didn't want to go anywhere. I was quite happy pottering around, sorting and hanging laundry, having an afternoon nap and then watching Netflix after a busy few days at work.

I got a nice surprise on Saturday when I checked my work schedule. What I thought was a busy week coming up had been halved and I was working just three shifts instead of six. This meant that I now have a good few days before I need to go back in and I am glad of it.  There are lots of things I want to do at home, such as a bit of work in the garden, cleaning, changing over my wardrobe, etc. Lots of new people have started at work in the last couple of weeks, most of them taken on for the busy Xmas period, so thankfully the shifts have been shared out amongst more people, which I'm perfectly happy for.

Anyway, OH and I ventured to the gym on Saturday morning, to the free gym session. I had a good workout and then made my way home. I had a lazy afternoon at home, doing some banking to pay some bills, finally catching up with blogging pals after two weeks of being absent from blogger and just generally taking it easy. It gave me a much needed break from all the recent busyness. 

I decided to remove the sofa cover that I'd started to make from the shed, partly because it needs sewing together by machine and partly that now the weather is getting colder, it's getting a little damp in the shed and I don't want it to go mouldy before I've even finished it. Having it inside the house will hopefully motivate me to do some work on it.

On Saturday night, OH and I sat and watched some television. It was nice not to be at work for a few days. However, late on Saturday, OH got a phone call which wasn't good news and although it wasn't completely unexpected, we weren't really expecting it. OH's father had passed away, peacefully thankfully, after being unwell for a very long time, so it was a sad end to the week.

A Week Away - W/E 12th October 2024

On Sunday this week, it felt so good not to have to go to work. I had booked the week off and we were travelling to Portsmouth to catch a ferry to Bilbao in Northern Spain. The ferry was due to leave at 9.45 pm, so we didn't need to set off until much later in the day. As a consequence, I spent the day packing, pottering and generally getting ready for our holiday. I also had a nice leisurely breakfast and lunch, trying to use up items in our fridge before we left.  It was indicative of how busy the past few weeks have been, that I was actually looking forward to being on the ferry for 36 hours with little to do but relax and chill.

We eventually made it to the ferry with half an hour to spare. It was exciting boarding the ferry, as we hadn't travelled on one for many years. Our cabin was okay. It didn't have a window or tea/coffee making facilities unfortunately, but it was perfectly adequate. I had packed way too much stuff though and not organised it into what I needed on the ferry and then for the rest of the holiday, so we had to take it all upstairs into our cabin.

Once we'd settled in, we headed down to the bar for a drink as the ferry left the harbour. It was super busy in the bar with very few seats or tables left. Obviously, everyone had had the same idea. Luckily, a table became free, just as we got our drinks, so we sat for an hour before heading back to our cabin and beds.

The first night I didn't sleep too well. There was a bit of noise from the bunk beds, but OH got up in the night and tightened something up, which stopped it. When we woke in the morning, it was a bit rough and we felt a little nauseous. We wandered up to the outside deck thinking fresh air would help, but it was very windy up there so we came back in. I joined in with a 'Morning Stretch', which was organised by the entertainment team, but we had to do it sitting down to stop us falling over. 

There were very few people around and out of their cabins because of how rough the crossing had become. We returned to our cabin for most of the rest of the day, as it was the easiest place to be and we didn't feel sick when lying down. We had a TV, so consoled ourselves watching old black and white movies on it and I did some work on my hexi quilt which was a life saver.

Later, we ventured to the cafeteria for supper. I just had a bowl of soup and a yoghurt in case the crossing got even rougher overnight.

On Tuesday morning, we docked in Bilbao for the first proper day of our holiday. We immediately made our way to the city centre where we stopped for breakfast in a small bar. We couldn't believe it when we got 2 hot drinks and two large slices of tortilla for 7 euros. Such a bargain.

We then headed to the Guggenheim  where we spent a lovely few hours looking at all the beautiful artwork. OH had wanted to visit this gallery for a long time, so he was very happy to finally get there. I enjoyed an exhibition by a Japanese artist which was showing. He turned out to be a favourite of LB's. It was a pity she wasn't there with us. We may have bought her something from the gift shop to compensate her.

I also particularly enjoyed the top floor, which had amongst other things an exhibition of pop art including work by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichenstein and Jeff Koons. I particularly liked his 'Tulips' and 'Puppy' which was a large floral covered sculpture of a dog outside of the museum. Unfortunately, it was covered with scaffolding at the time of our visit, but it was still good to see it.

After our visit, we stopped into a cafe for lunch and then drove on out of Bilbao to Saint Sebastian on the northern coast of Spain near to the border with France. We stopped here for a long walk along the beautiful beach and promenade and admired the mandalas carved into the sand.

After an hour or so we headed off to drive over the border into France to stay at our accommodation in Biarritz. We'd never been to Biarritz before, but could remember it always being used in French lessons at school as a place to go on holiday. We booked into our accommodation there which was very nice. It had a lovely pool with water jets, a gym, sauna and boules court. I tried out the pool and sauna which was very relaxing after a busy day travelling and sight seeing.

On Wednesday morning, I woke up and got into the shower. I was all soaped up and with shampoo in my hair when the water stopped. Turns out there was maintenance going on and it was going to be off for an hour or two. I was not impressed that we hadn't been warned. Anyway, luckily, enough water had gathered in the bath for me to rinse all the soap and shampoo off myself with a glass and get on with the rest of my day.

We headed into Biarritz town, which was a 15-20 minute walk from our apartment. It was forecast rain in the afternoon, so we wanted to make the most of it before the rain hit. We had a walk around town and ended up at the beach where there were a couple of dozen surfers out catching waves. We enjoyed just sitting and watching them for an hour and then retired to a very nice restaurant for lunch. Fortunately, this was when the rain hit, so we missed getting wet.

The beach at Biarritz

Later in the afternoon, we decided to drive out to a local Emmaus centre. I'd heard people on YouTube talk of these on their videos, but I'd never visited one when I'd been in France. It was interesting. They had tables and shelves of crockery and glassware, furniture, clothing, crafting supplies, pictures, etc. etc. I bought a few items of clothing and some MacDonald's Coke glasses for LB as she likes them.  They were 50 cents each. It was interesting to thrift in France for the first time and to work out how you paid for your items. It was not quite like going to a regular  charity shop. You had to first get a ticket from each section of the store and then take all of the tickets to the cashier to pay. 

The skies really opened whilst we were there, but luckily I was inside and OH was in the car. We then returned to our apartment and enjoyed the facilities i.e. the swimming pool, gym and sauna before chilling for our last evening there.

Thursday was a big travelling day for us. We needed to drive from Biarritz and get as far north as we could in one day. It was my birthday the following day and we didn't really want to spend it driving on the motorway. The day went okay really and we made quite good progress. We stopped off at a few services along the way and booked some accommodation in Rennes for the night. We reached it by about 6pm. Rennes is a historic city that is the capital of Brittany and has many historic buildings. We stayed on the outskirts in a hotel and didn't venture into the city that night as OH was tired after driving all day. Instead, we went to a lovely nearby restaurant for supper and had very nice burgers. It was very full and obviously a popular place to eat, but they managed to squeeze us in without a reservation which was very kind of them.

The next day, my birthday, we headed into Rennes for a couple of hours. We mostly explored the area around the university which has some very historic buildings. It had a lovely feel to it. I think LB would have liked it there. We sat in a cafe alongside all the students and enjoyed a drink and people watching before carrying on with our journey.  We were heading to Dinan, which is another lovely small historic town in Brittany which is about 30 minutes from Saint Malo, where we were catching the ferry home the following day. We were staying in a hotel alongside the river. It was very picturesque. Here's a few photos:

 

Before heading to the hotel, we stopped off in a small square so OH could grab a bagette for lunch and had a little walk around. We then paid a visit to another Emmaus on the outskirts of town. I didn't buy much here, but there was lots of lovely glassware and crockery. I did buy some french ceramic yoghurt pots which I needed, as I regularly use these to make small jellies and desserts in and I'd been keeping an eye out in the supermarkets for them, but couldn't find any.

Our hotel was lovely and we retired to our room for a couple of hours to rest before heading down to the bar for a drink and then walking into town. Dinan was a beautiful little town with lots of lovely shops. Unfortunately, most were closed by the time we walked into town. We found a little restaurant and had a lovely meal of chicken and potatoes, the chicken we cooked ourselves on a hot stone which was interesting.

We had a lovely evening and then walked back down the famous old street pictured above to get to our hotel. Here's a picture of the nearby viaduct lit up at night, it looked beautiful:

We had another drink in the bar at the hotel and then headed to bed, as we were up early the next day to return to the UK by ferry from Saint Malo.

On Saturday morning, we got up early and went down to breakfast. I cooked my own egg in a little cast iron pan and we had lots of lovely food to choose from. We then packed up the car and headed off. We just had time for one last stop before catching the ferry and that was to visit the seaside resort of Dinard which was very popular in the early part of the 20th century. We didn't stay long, just passed through really on our way to the ferry, but it was interesting to see another seaside resort on our travels.

Saint Malo (taken from the top deck of the ferry as we left the harbour)

We then boarded the ferry at Saint Malo, went up to the top deck and watched as we headed away from Saint Malo and out to sea. We'd had a lovely trip to Spain and France, probably one of the best we've had, but we were ready to go home. The journey was 8 or 9 hours long on the ferry, which was longer than I expected, but this time we at least had a cabin with a window and tea and coffee making facilities and the journey wasn't as rough as our outward voyage.

 

When we got back to the UK, we called in on LB on our way home, as we passed close to where she lives on our drive back to London. It was nice to see her and see how cosy her and her friend have made their flat. It was a nice end to our week's holiday.

A More Balanced Week - W/E 5th October 2024

This week started with a shift at work on Sunday. It was very busy again and I was just glad to get through it and get home at a reasonable time to be able to eat with OH and then chill out watching some TV. 

OH has recently subscribed to Disney+, as they have a crazy low offer on for a few months, so we started to watch Only Murders in the Building, which I've been wanting to watch for a while. It was quite entertaining. We then started to watch the BBC series Nightsleeper.

I've been struggling to sleep lately, as my cold has now progressed to my chest and lying down often causes coughing. I can't wait for it to clear up and to be able to get a good night's sleep again.

On Monday, I had my last consequetive shift at work for a couple of days. As I wasn't working until 5pm, I took myself off to do the weekly shop out of town again. I wanted to get it done so that I could just relax on my two days off on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Part of the reason for heading out of town was that I needed to pay a visit to Home Bargains and buy some things that we use regularly. I ended up spending £42 in there. It always comes to more than I expect. As most things are inexpensive, I always end up throwing a few extras in the basket.  

I then did part of the grocery shop at Tesco where I used another £4 off voucher. They seem to be sending me them quite regularly at the moment. The rest of the shop I did at Lidl where I got a free microwaveable rice sachet and a loaf of sourdough through Lidl plus. Not to be sniffed at.

When I got home, I just had time to get some lunch before getting ready for work. Work was a bit quieter tonight. I started off doing one job, then was changed to doing another. It went okay, but by the end of the night, the tiredness of working six consequetive shifts started to take it's toll and I struggled to get everything I needed to done. I was so grateful to finally leave and go home, knowing I had two days of not working ahead of me and I could try to recover from this cold.

On Tuesday, I was booked into my usual class at the gym. It was a good class this week and I did the best I  could. Whilst there, I renewed my yearly gym membership, which is Pay as You Go and cost £44.80. I then did a couple of errands on the high street before heading home for lunch.

It felt so luxurious to not have to go to work today. I did some laundry and then settled down on the sofa with a cup of tea, to watch Netflix and chill for the rest of the afternoon. I figured that my body deserved a rest with everything it's had to suffer this last week.

I was feeling a bit better by Wednesday. I still had a lie in, just because I could, as I didn't need to go anywhere or do anything in particular. I tidied around a little and then decided to do some work on my hexi quilt. I wanted to cut out the hexies to start a couple of new blocks, as they would be something I could easily take with me when we go to Spain/France. We'll be spending 36 hours on the ferry to Bilbao, so it will be something to entertain me.

I also emptied the ironing basket, so I could put all my clothes away. It's getting to that time of year when I need to do a wardrobe changeover again, to autumn/winter clothes. I'll probably leave it a week or two yet, but it's worth getting prepared for it.

I did receive a call from work asking me to go in, but I declined as I really wanted to recover properly from this cold and I was due back for three nights the following evening. Sometimes, I just have to put my health first.

On Thursday, I decided not to go to the gym, as I intended to go on Saturday morning and I didn't want to overexert myself whilst still recovering. Instead, I stayed home and did more work on prepping some hexies. It was nice to just have a couple of homey days, recuperating and doing just what I wanted to do and not rushing off here or there chasing my tail. Later, I did have to get ready and head to work, but I at least felt relatively rested and ready to go back.

Work wasn't great on Thursday night. Something happened that affected me for the rest of the shift, something I really could have done without. I won't go into details here though.

On Friday, I just took it easy at home again during the day. Work in the evening was okay, better than it had been the day before.

Saturday was a much better day. OH and I both went to the gym in the morning, which felt good and then we walked onto our local high street to do a few errands and decided to stop off and have brunch in a really nice cafe. I had the ubiquitous Poached Eggs on Avo Sourdough, but it was beautifully presented and tasted great. It was a cafe that I've wanted to visit for a while, so it was nice to finally get the chance.

Work on Saturday night was much better than it had been the previous couple of days. It was very busy, so passed very quickly, without too much drama. I was very happy to get to the end of what has been a much more balanced week for me, although it has had it's moments.

I hope you had a good week.