A Week of Getting Back to Normal, a Trip to a Market and an Unexpected Health Issue - W/E 19th April 2026

I was looking forward to getting back into my normal routine this week. I like going away, as it's good to step out of your normal routine, but it's also nice to fall back into it. 

On Monday morning, I was looking forward to returning to shopping out of town. I know it could be argued to be a waste of petrol, but it is the one day each week that I use the car. The shops that I go to are much bigger and easier to negotiate, and I can always get everything I need in one visit, which suits me perfectly. I also like the change of scenery of travelling to a different part of Greater London. I've visited this area to shop on and off for over 25 years now and never really tire of it. There's always some new shop opening or bargains to find.

Today's shop was pretty straightforward. I did go to my favourite charity shop whilst there and I did buy a few things, which was probably a bit naughty, but I seem to be keeping within budget this month. (Photographs to follow in the Monthly Clothing Purchase post).

Anyway, I didn't have any vouchers to use this week for the first time in a while, so I spent over £100 on groceries and household items, which is a little more than I expected, but not an unusually high amount. We are now pretty well stocked though, so even if prices do go up in the near future, we might not feel it straight away.

Tuesday, was a pretty normal day, Zumba in the morning, a bit of work on a couple of sewing projects, a nap and a bit of reading in the afternoon before supper. OH and I started watching Slow Horses with Gary Oldman on Apple TV tonight. It was good and we watched 3 episodes in one evening.  There are 5 series to watch, so it should keep us entertained for a while.

On Wednesday, I woke up to a pretty grey day. I didn't need to go anywhere, so I decided to have a day at home working on some sewing projects. I started with cutting and sewing the cushion cover tops for the outdoor cushions. I decided to keep them pretty simple in terms of design and will be using some of the denim fabric that I bought from a charity shop last month for the backs. I just needed to buy some zips and then I could sew them together.

I then decided to do some work on a quilt that I'm making for the shed using lots of scraps. I finished the quilt top over Easter and then sandwiched it using some fabric from my stash and a quilt I previously made, but don't use as the fabrics don't match our current decor. At least this way it will get used and the original quilt will always be there underneath.

I did, however, find it tricky to quilt the rows due to the thickness of the layers. I had to unpick one row twice, due to unsightly puckers and uneven stitching, at which point I gave up for the day. I'll go back to it and do a few rows at a time until it is done.

After supper, OH and I went over to the allotment so he could plant out some climbing beans. Everything that is already in is growing well. There's not much room left for tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, courgettes and kohl rabi that we still have to plant out. We'll make room though. I watered the plot, whilst OH did the transplanting. I need to do a bit of weeding on my next visit.

On Thursday, I was back at the gym for Aerobics as usual. In the afternoon, I decided to tackle the ironing basket, which had filled up. I wanted to do it before the weather got hot and ironing became unbearable. I then watched a bit of TV for the rest of the afternoon.

We watched another couple of episodes of Spook series SlowHorses in the evening, which is very good.

Friday, I was able to have a lie in and read a chapter of each of my two current books. I then got up and showered and ready to go out for the afternoon. I decided to take myself off on the bus to a local high street outside of our borough, that has a proper old fashioned street market and lots of fabric shops. I used to go a lot and have bought a lot of fabric there in the past, but fabric wasn't my reason for going on this occasion and thankfully, I didn't buy any, as I have more than enough already.

What I went for were some zips for my outdoor cushion covers and I managed to get a couple for £1 each. I could only get black ones, as the stall I went to didn't have them in navy, but they'll be fine. 

I wandered up and down the market for an hour or two, checking out the stalls and a few shops on the high street. I stuck to buying just things that we needed, nothing exciting; bin liners, cleaning wipes, bun cases, incense sticks and a few food bits that we had run out of. It made a change going somewhere different to shop, but I didn't spend a lot of money. 

I made the mistake of getting on the wrong bus going home and it took me a very long way around, due to the route and a diversion on it. I was on the bus for more than an hour, which was a bit annoying as an alternative bus would have taken 30 minutes, so I was glad when I finally got home.

Later, I decided to make some homemade popcorn. I hadn't made any since LB was probably at school and we had a jar that had been in the cupboard for years and needed using. I cooked some up and put some salt and vinegar on them. It was so tasty. In spite of probably being well out of date, they tasted fine. I made each of us a bag to eat whilst watching TV later in the evening.

I then went down a rabbit hole on Pinterest seeking out different flavours to put on popcorn. I think I'm going to start making it regularly, as a low calorie snack and try out lots of different flavourings.

It was a very slow start to the weekend on Saturday. I'd had a bad back for a couple of days, which was a bit debilitating. It rarely happens, but something happened this week and it made moving around a bit difficult. Anyway, I stayed in bed reading a chapter of each book again (this takes at least an hour) and then eventually got up, shuffled around getting ready and had a late breakfast. I had a few bills to pay online, so I did this over breakfast and then did a couple of household chores. 

We were having OH's friend's dog to stay for the afternoon. He arrived around 2pm.  A bit later, I was putting something in the dishwasher, when I must have twisted round and felt excruciating pain in my back. it was so bad it winded me and really took me offguard. I then found it difficult to move at all. Eventually the pain receded a bit and I could walk a little, but I still felt very panicked, as I couldn't even walk up the stairs without feeling a lot of pain. OH ended up messaging a neighbour who is an osteopath and she kindly came around, asked me some questions, asked me to make some specific movements to assess what the problem was. She was actually amazing and really helped reassure me that it was probably a deep muscular issue on one side that should resolve itself over a few days. This also allowed me to focus on moving the other side of my body and I found I could actually move up and down the stairs, which helped to calm my fears.

The remainder of the weekend was mostly spent in bed or trying to move around and remain as pain free as possible and thankfully my movement is getting better slowly, but I think it may take a while before I'm properly up and about. Such is life, but it's horrible not to be able to move freely. I'll just have to take it one day at a time, take painkillers and use hot water bottles to control the discomfort. 

Not a great end to the week, but s__t happens, as they say, and it could have been a whole lot worse,

A Short Week, A Film and Another Visit to Yorkshire - W/E 12th April 2026

A long Easter weekend, was followed by a short week, made shorter by the fact that OH and I were heading up to Yorkshire again towards the end of the week. LB couldn't come as she was working and we wanted to get a trip in, just in case there are any petrol shortages in the near future and we can't get up there easily.

I was very glad to get back to the gym on Tuesday for my Zumba class, on account of eating way too much chocolate over Easter, despite the fact I didn't buy much. (We were given some) Unfortunately, my bike only got me part way there, before my tyre went flat with a puncture, so I had to walk most of the way and then all the way back, but I didn't mind as it was a lovely day. OH has since repaired it, bless him. It felt good to do some exercise though, and when I got back, I managed to figure out how to set up one of my bank accounts online, which I'd had trouble with in the past, which was a result. This will make life much easier. I also checked another account to find I'd got a nice sum in interest deposited this month, which I was happy for. It's going into the car fund which now stands at £2000. A long way to go.

I then decided to walk into our local town centre to get a few bits from Tesco that I couldn't get from Lidl before Easter. My new trolley bag got it's second outing of the week (it came to the car boot sale with me and was very useful for all the fruit I bought). I didn't need a lot, but still managed to fill it.

On the way back, I called into a local charity shop that I haven't been to for a couple of months and spent £10 on a few small but useful bits - no clothes. One was this new stainless steel plug, which fitted the sink in the bathroom perfectly and cost just £2. It replaced a temporary rubber one, which whilst it works well, does look a bit unsightly and we had guests coming this month. This turned out to be a complete steal as similar ones are over £20 on Amazon. It looks great too.

I also got a container to store chewing gum for my handbag (not very exciting, but useful) and this brown apothecary jar, which I think I'm going to use for Epsom salts.

I also picked up a couple of free books from a couple of local Little Free Libraries en route, not that I need more books, but they looked good. Here's a picture:

On Wednesday, it was another lovely sunny day, but this time forecast to be in the 20's (centigrade). Not wanting to waste the opportunity to get outside, I decided to walk to our local Lidl, to pick up a few bits, but ever frugal, to also claim 4 freebies I was due for the month on the Lidl app; some dates, a bar of chocolate (that I'll put away for crispy buns at some future date), a vegetable of my choice (peppers) and a bakery treat. I bought a few bits to make the trip worthwhile and ended up saving over £6 on the free items, which was pretty good. I got a good long walk in the sunshine too.

In the afternoon, LB and I were booked to go to our local independent cinema to watch The Drama, starring Robert Pattinson and Zendaya. As LB is now a member, she managed to get us both in for just £6, which was a bargain. Not the best day to be inside watching a movie, but we weren't to know how hot it was going to be and after all the walking in the morning, I enjoyed a bit of a sit down.  The film itself, was not what I was expecting. Not sure I'd recommend it, but it was okay and made for a nice afternoon out.

I needed to renew a library book after we left the cinema, so that was another item crossed off the to do list, saving me a fine.

When I got back I watered and fed all of my indoor plants and inserted the plant supports that I got from the car boot sale. They are much better than the ones I had before and were a good price. The plants look a lot happier with them in place.

Thursday, I got up and went to my usual aerobics class at the gym. I came straight home, instead of incline walking on the treadmill, as we were heading off to Yorkshire for a few days and I needed to shower and pack.

We set off by about 1pm. Getting out of London was the worst part of the journey and we managed to get to OH's mums for around 5pm. We stayed for a while chatting and then headed off to the hospital where OH's brother is an inpatient at the moment and visited him for the last hour of visiting time. When we got back, OH's mum had made us some supper, which was kind of her and we spent the evening chatting and watching TV.

On Friday, OH and I went into the next small town and did a bit of shopping, dropped into Boyes on the way to the hospital and then visited OH's brother again for a couple of hours before heading into town and having some lunch and a mooch about. 

When we got back to OH's mum's late afternoon, while OH cut the grass for her, I drove off to the graveyard in the village to clean up my parents' gravestone and put some bulbs on it, that I'd bought earlier in the day. I had a sit down in the graveyard, as it was a lovely sunny evening. It is a lovely peaceful spot, right next to the playing fields where I spent my childhood playing out. I then had a mooch around, identifying some gravestones of people I remembered from my childhood, some who were sadly similar in age to me, some belonging to the parents of people I knew at school. It's always very nostalgic for me going to visit my parents' grave, as we lived a stones throw from the churchyard all throughout my childhood. I then took a long route back through the village, just for nostalgia's sake.

In the evening, one of OH's brother's sons called round with his daughter, who we had never met - she's now 4. It was nice to see them and catch up with their news. We then took OH's mum out for supper at a local pub restaurant, which was nice and were back home and in bed by 10pm.

Saturday, was our last day in Yorkshire, as we were heading home in the afternoon. OH did a park run in the morning, followed by us visiting a local garden centre, where we bought a few plants and other bits we needed at home. We then met my elder sister in a local cafe for brunch and a catch up, which was lovely.  Her and her daughter are very busy organising the latter's wedding later this year. I'm looking forward to going to it.

A last cup of tea and chat at OH's mum's and then we were off on our journey back to London. It had been quite a busy weekend in Yorkshire, but we managed to see and catch up with quite a few people in the short time that we were there.

Sunday, back in London, was a chilled affair. I unpacked and headed out to the gym for my usual weekly workout, which went okay. I was tired when I got back though and didn't do a whole lot for the rest of the day. I even went up to bed at one point, as I felt cold and tired, but didn't actually sleep. I read a chapter of my book. I then got up and OH and I ventured to the allotment to do some watering. We also planted on some plants we'd bought in Yorkshire. I bought some polyanthus from a local flower shop, six for £4. Four of them have gone in my metal planters that hang from the garden fence, the other two are just on the table in the garden for now. They are very pretty. The garden looked a lot more green and lush when we got home. It's suprising what a couple of days of sunshine can do. Here's a couple of photos:

I also bought myself a pot of hyacinths that cost £2, for inside the house. I'll probably plant them out once they have finished flowering. They smell lovely.

After supper, we watched a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio called One Battle After Another on OH's Prime account. It was pretty good.  By the time I went to bed, I was looking forward to a normal week at home, getting back into my normal, if a little boring, routine.

A Quiet Easter Weekend in London - W/E 7th April 2026 - Part 2

Easter weekend got off to a lovely slow start this year. I think it's the first year in quite a few years, that I haven't had to work at some point over the weekend, which was nice. I had slept like a log on Thursday night, for the first time in a few nights, so I woke up feeling refreshed. I stayed in bed and read a couple of chapters of my book before getting up and showered and ready for the day.

OH was out cycling at the Velodrome all day on Good Friday, so it was just myself and LB home alone pleasing ourselves. The weather was a bit grey, with intermittent drizzle, but the neighbours on both sides had gone away for the weekend, so it was lovely and peaceful. I made a point of sitting in the garden a couple of times through the day, just enjoying the peace and quiet.

As a consequence, I didn't have to worry about making a noise using my sewing machine this weekend, so of course, I decided to carry on making some more fabric yarn. I made up another 30m of yarn and just have one more ball to stitch and the prep is all done. It's a completely relaxing and mindless task to make the yarn, which is why I quite enjoy it.

I also dug out another unfinished scrappy project that I hadn't touched in a while. I'd previously made lots of scrappy strips with lots of very small scraps, that I intend to make into a quilt for the shed, to match a cushion cover I made last year.  I set to working on it and by the time it was supper, I had half the quilt top finished, which was a suprise. It's coming along nicely and I'll probably work on it more over the Easter weekend. It's a great project to use up little pieces of fabric and it's quite fun sewing them into strips.

LB was working tonight, so it was just me and OH at home. We watched the new film version of Wuthering Heights on OH's Prime account. It was okay, not as bad as I thought it was going to be, based on all the recent hype, but OH was not impressed, as he'd read the book a couple of years ago and it wasn't really anything like the book. Definitely a bit of artistic licence at play in this production.  We followed this by watching another episode of The Madison, before heading to bed.

On Saturday morning, OH was cycling again and I headed to the gym. We planned to go out on Easter Sunday, so I wouldn't be able to go them, so I got my session in early. When I got back I did some more sewing, and finished the scrappy quilt top and the last ball of yarn. Now I just need to make the cushion covers this month.

LB was working in the afternoon and had a tough shift. We all just spent the evening chilling at home.

On Easter Sunday, we were all up early to go out to the Car Boot Sale. We often have a trip out on Easter Sunday if we're in London. It rained a bit on the way and was pretty cold and windy though, so not ideal weather. A lot of stalls were already packing up when we got there at 9.30, but there were still plenty to peruse. I bought mostly food. There's a good fruit and veg stall, so I bought some of the weekly shop there rather than at the supermarket. There was also a stall selling spices and other items and I spent a few pounds there. I bought one item for me, which was a dress for £4. It was a linen/viscose mix and quite pretty. Hopefully, I'll wear it in the summer months.  The only other things I bought were one Fatsia plant for the garden and a couple of plant supports for my indoor plants, so I didn't bring home lots of things that I need to make house room for.

On leaving the Car Boot Sale, we headed to a pub for Easter Sunday Lunch out and had a nice roast dinner. I will make our roast on Easter Monday instead.  It was nice not to have to cook. Later, after getting home, OH and I went to the allotment and did a bit more weeding and prepping. It's all looking very tidy and ready to plant out anything else we want to grow, it's just a bit early for the summer crops. We had our site inspection earlier in the day, but our plot was already cultivated and tidy, so I don't anticipate any problems from that.

Sunday evening, we had a family movie night and watched Hamnet on OH's Prime account whilst eating some Easter chocolate. It was a good film.

Bank Holiday Monday, was another chill day. I had a lie in and finished reading a book, then started another one from my TBR shelf, before getting up and ready for the day.

OH and I spent most of the day in the garden at home. OH potting on allotment seedlings and me tidying up the beds and doing a bit of pruning of dead wood from my hazel bushes. It was a gloriously sunny day, warmest we've had for a while, so it was the only place to be, as far as I was concerned. Things are springing back into life and it's lovely.

I finished making another sun catcher, which I've hung on the back door. I'd already made the strands of beads (mostly glass), but just had to tie them to a stick to hang.

I made a roast lamb dinner in the evening which was nice and then OH and I settled down to watching a couple of episodes of The Madison. We had a lovely Easter weekend, but I did eat too much chocolate, so it's back to being more careful this week.

Monthly Clothing Purchases - March 2026

This is the first Monthly Clothing Purchase post I have posted this year, as I didn't buy any clothes during January and February. March has been a bit different in this regard, as I have purchased several items, all thrifted from charity shops.

The first item I bought was this 100% viscose black and white floral dress, which was in a half price sale in a charity shop when we went up to Yorkshire. It cost £3, which was a steal.  It is similar in style to a couple of dresses I already have and enjoy wearing, but I liked the print and the longer length of this one. 

I did do some alterations to this dress when I got it home.  There was a small hole that I needed to stitch up and the dress originally had two ties at the neckline. I decided to cut these off and stitch up the neckline, as I preferred how it looked on with this done. I'm all for a very modest neckline. I really don't like v-necks or plunging necklines. I rarely show any cleavage. I will probably wear it with a sweater vest over the top, or even a sweater in the cooler months, but now altered, it will also look good worn on it's own in the summer months. I've already worn this dress a few times and I know it will become a firm favourite.

The second item I bought was this Kit And Caboodal knitted black dress which cost me £5. I've wanted a knitted dress for a while, but all the one's I've seen have been body con and tight and at my time of life that is not really a good look for me. This one, however, was a much looser fit and looked nice on. I can imagine wearing it with knee length boots and tights and it will probably look quite smart. It is an acryllic mix, so it doesn't really fit with my buying natural fibres preferences these days, but I liked it, it is in immaculate condition and was something I felt I would regret not buying.

I then purchased this 100% wool jumper that I found in a Buddhist Centre charity shop. It was made in Nepal and I love the multiple colours in it. It could be worn over almost any colour. It's slightly boho looking. I will probably look a bit like 'Swampy' in it, if you remember the guy who used to climb trees and protest about the environment or whatever. But I like it.

It was a bit more expensive than most things I buy in charity shops at £18, but as it's is made of natural fibre and was such a one off, I was happy to pay a bit more. I don't have many, if any, colourful jumpers, so this is a first. I'm hoping I'll get good wear out of it in colder months, providing no moths get anywhere near it.

I didn't really intend to spend any more money on clothing this month, but as the weather was quite nice, I did drop into my favourite charity shop whilst doing the weekly grocery shop and found a few more items for the coming warmer months.

The first was this pair of wide legged, barrel jeans in a pale denim wash. I really liked the way they fit at the back, and the flattering looser, wider legs. They cost £3. 

I also bought a pair of loose fitting denim shorts for wearing on holiday, if we go this year. They cost £2 and are a nice comfortable fit and will look nice with just a vest and sandals.

Finally, I found a pair of brand new sandals for £7 (originally £16 new). I like the ankle straps on these, which I find flattering, as I have thin ankles but wider calves and these seem to even out the differences.

I'm looking forward to wearing these items as the weather warms up.

In total then, it was quite a spendy month in terms of clothing, in that I spent £38 on the above items.  This does take me over my £20 per month thrifting spend, especially as I bought some denim fabric too, to make some clothes with, which cost £11, but I don't have any regrets, as I'm pretty happy with what I bought. I will probably need to go easy next month though and maybe even give buying clothing a miss altogether unless I see any super inexpensive bargains.

An Eye Test and Easter Week - W/E 7th April 2026 - Part One

The week leading up to Easter, started with a day out doing the weekly shop as usual. I had another voucher to spend at Tesco this week, this time £7 off a £50 spend, which was well worth taking advantage of. Due to all the talk in the media (mostly on YouTube) about potential energy/food shortages due to the war in Iran, it's been making me a little concerned, so I did spend some money stocking up on a few items, just filling out the pantry a bit, nothing excessive. I noticed that petrol had gone up another 3p to £1.45 per litre, which wasn't a lot. It's now gone up about 7 or 8p in the last two weeks since I filled up, so not really a dramatic rise, but I'm sure it will go up further yet.

I got a few bits for Easter weekend, mainly just some hot cross buns, items for a roast dinner and the odd treat. We don't really do anything too special at Easter. We're not going away, as LB is working and OH cycling over the weekend, we'll probably visit family again after Easter, when there's less traffic on the roads.

Monday evening, OH was cycling. When he got back, we watched the last episode of the Murdoch family documentary on Netflix, which was interesting.

Tuesday, I was up and off to the gym for my Zumba class in the morning. When I got back, I needed to get showered/changed and head off to an optician's for an eye test at our local ASDA. It was a bit weird going there, as it is on the same retail park where my last job was, so it felt a bit like deja-vu. It made me glad that I no longer need to go there to work.

Anyway, the test went okay, as there was very little change, which meant that I didn't need to buy new glasses or get new lenses put in. I did have to pay an extra £9 for a test that looks at the back of your eye, but the optician showed me the results and all was okay. It was interesting to see what the back of your eye looks like on the screen. In the end it cost me £33, but hopefully that will be the last time I need to pay for it. I may get some lenses put in some older frames, as OH has offered to send them off to an online company, along with some for himself and some for LB, which charges a lot less.

On my way back, I noticed that a local site where they were supposed to be opening a new Lidl store, wasn't advertising the store opening there anymore. It's an old petrol station site, so I expect they've run into issues with contamination. It's a pity, as it would have been very convenient to have a store there, but such is life.

I bought  a few bits in ASDA, including some pillow cases, that I am going to use for my hexi quilt, as I'm running out of fabric. They are almost a match, but for £2, were a good price and should be enough to allow me to finish it.

For the rest of the afternoon, I worked on making some more fabric yarn for another rug. I decided to use some clothing I don't want in this instance. I also applied for a job that took my interest today. I'm not sure if I'll hear anything. It's the first job I've applied for since leaving my previous job, so we'll see what happens.

In the evening, OH and I started watching The Madison on Paramount. They had a good deal of £2.99 per month for a couple of months, so it gave us the opportunity to try a couple of series on there. We started watching Marshals, an offshoot of Yellowstone, but we're not sure we want to continue watching it. We preferred The Madison, which is all over social media at the moment.

On Wednesday morning, I was up really late, on account of not getting to sleep until after 4am. As a consequence, I slept in until 10ish and then doomscrolled for an hour before actually getting up. I know I'm very lucky that I can do this, when most people have to go to work.

After a very late breakfast, as it was almost lunchtime, I decided to do some sewing on my machine, stitching the ball of yarn I'd worked on the day before. It measured 30m in length once I'd finished it, which was a good start. I think that this time around I will make less yarn, as I think I only need 80-90m, judging by how much was left over from the last rug I made.

After lunch, I worked on preparing other fabrics that I found in my stash to make into yarn. I think I'll aim to get all the yarn for the next rug made this month, as well as the outdoor cushions. It shouldn't take too long, as I did a lot of work on it today. It was nice to just spend a day at my sewing machine and not go anywhere.

In the evening, I made another Two Tin Chickpea Masala, which was nice. It's such a cheap meal to make,  as it contains no meat and it's nice to cook it from scratch using spices in the cupboard. I have to admit that I'm starting to get a bit anxious on account of all the doom and gloom on social media about the energy crisis. I need to stop watching, but then I don't want to be behind the news either.

On Thursday, I headed to the gym for 10am as usual for my class. I'm such a creature of habit, but I like to have a bit of a routine each week when I'm not working. For the first time since I started going in January, this class was actually full, which was amazing.  Great for the teacher who works hard to give us a great class. I'll have to make sure I book early from now on.  I think it was possibly partly due to it being the Easter holidays and people  being off work too, we'll see what happens next week. 

After lunch, I did a bit of shredding left over from the other week, as the rubbish was due to go out. I don't think I went far enough in terms of culling the paperwork, so once I've finished this current lot of shredding, I'm going to go back in and get rid of a lot more. I just don't need it and it is taking up space in the house. I only want to keep absolute essential paperwork going forward.

I put a bit of laundry away and put another wash on, and then I continued doing some more sewing at my machine, creating another ball of fabric yarn of 15m in length this time. I've now made more than half of what I need for this second rug. Future balls will be smaller than the two I've already made and I've prepped and pinned a few more, totalling 16m, ready for stitching.

Later, I decided to make a few treats for the Easter weekend. I had some sausagemeat and ready made puff pastry in the freezer, so I made some small sausage rolls. I also then made some healthy dark chocolate and peanut butter date treats for OH and some chocolate crispy buns with mini eggs on top, to eat over the holiday weekend. I didn't smother the crispy buns with chocolate, I only used one small bar, as OH is watching his calorie intake at the moment. (Not a good weekend for that) I also ran out of large paper cases, so had to make some super small crispies with some mini cases I had, which is no bad thing. It beats buying everything in and I quite enjoy making treats that we can enjoy, as I very rarely buy them. Here's a few photos:

On Thursday evening, after supper, OH and I headed to our local Lidl to do a shop. I had a voucher to get £5 off a £70 spend, which only lasted for another day or so, plus I wanted to get some of the veg that was on offer for Easter. I decided I would do next week's shop early to use the voucher and OH wanted to get some wine, coffee, whisky and chocolate, so he came with me. I did manage to get some veg, but only potatoes and shallots, as all the other veg on offer had sold out. Never mind. I should only need to go out to our local supermarket and get some fruit and a few other bits next week now, which is good.

It was nice to get home and look forward to a long weekend of just relaxing and enjoying the holiday. London has gone pretty quiet, as lots of people have left town for the weekend, which is all good as far as I'm concerned.

Financial Roundup - March 2026

 March has felt like a long month in some ways, especially with all the doom and gloom in the news every day, but we got through it. Financially, it's been a bit more challenging, mainly due to my own spendthrift ways.

I didn't keep as tight a rein on my spending in March, hence why I struggled towards the end of the month. I spent much more in charity shops, around £50 or so, which was in excess of what I had budgeted for. I was happy with everything I bought, but paid the price as I got toward the end of the month and had to use April's budget for the last weekly shop.

As a consequence, I need to really keep a tight control on spending in April, with very little room for any purchases other than food and household items. I just need to focus again.  Luckily, I don't have any birthdays or major expenses on the horizon this month, which is good. All the Easter eggs and food have been bought.

One positive from March, was that I did get my eyes tested and didn't need to buy new glasses, as my prescription had changed very little. I think I am going to take OH up on his offer to pay for some new lenses in some old frames I have, which is kind of him.

My dental check up is still overdue. I just can't face it and I will need to pay an additional £75 for a clean, as the dentist has said this is necessary. (I personally don't want it or feel it is necessary) I'm also concerned that they will find additional treatment to prescribe, although I don't currently have any issues. It's not good when you start putting off health checks because of financial concerns, it's a slippery slope.

Anyway, I'm hoping to receive some interest payments on some savings accounts this month, so if I'm desperate, I can always dip into those, although I'd much rather leave them where they are if I can. I'm also hoping to hear from some pensions which are due to start paying out later this year. I'm led to believe that they usually contact you six months before they mature, but we'll see if this happens. It would be good to have some updated figures with regard to what I can expect to receive on a monthly basis when I turn 60 later this year.

For now, I'm just plodding on, trying to keep things moving. whilst continuing to enjoy life without spending too much. I'm very fortunate that I have everything I need and don't want for anything.

Clock Change and Life Getting Back to Normal - W/E 29th March 2026

This week got off to an early start on Monday. For some reason, I woke at 6am and didn't really get back to sleep, which is unusual for me. I stayed in bed reading for a while, before showering and getting ready to go out and do the weekly shop.

There was quite a lot of stuff that I needed to buy this week, partly because of all the cleaning I'd been doing, I'd run out of a few household things. I also needed to spend £50 at Tesco to take advantage of another £5 off voucher. I managed this by buying a few regular items a little early and on offer. It increased my expenditure this week, but will even out going forward. I ended up saving over £20 in total and got a joint of lamb half price for Easter.

I also had a 10% off voucher to use at Lidl by way of the Lidl Plus app, so I saved another £5 here. It hasn't left me a lot for the final fifth shop of the month, but I will probably borrow a bit from next month's budget for that.

I did visit the charity shop this week, as I hadn't been for a couple of weeks. The sun was shining and I decided to see if there were any nice summer clothing items in store. I ended up spending £17 in total, on a pair of wide legged light denim jeans £3, a pair of denim shorts £2 and a pair of brand new sandals £7. I also bought a cotton summer dress, which was for LB, but if she doesn't like it, I may keep it for me, or take it back. It cost £5.

By the time I came home it had turned a bit chilly. I was absolutely shattered, I think on account of waking up so early. I had intended to do some more cleaning in the evening, but I just didn't have the energy. OH was due back on Tuesday evening, so I still had time to do a bit more.

On Tuesday, I woke up early again, read in bed for an hour or so and then got up and ready to go to my class at the gym. 

After lunch, I started to do some more cleaning, starting with the hallway, living rooms and then worked my way downstairs to the kitchen, which needed more work. It took me the rest of the day, but it felt good to get most of the rooms looking a bit fresher. The only room I didn't get to was the bathroom upstairs, but I'll tackle that another day.

OH got back just after 8pm after unexpected flight delays. It was nice to see him and he'd had a really good time, although he'd not been well for a day or so. I think a few of them had caught a virus that had made them feel unwell, nothing too serious though.

Wednesday, I decided to take a day off from the cleaning. After lunch, I took myself off for a walk. I hadn't been for a walk in a couple of weeks, so it was nice to get some fresh air.  It was certainly a fresh walk. It was quite cold and windy and then I got part way round and it started hailstoning, followed by blue sky and sunshine and then a little rain. Talk about wild.

I booked an appointment online to go for an eyetest next week, which I'd been meaning to do for a while. I've gone back to ASDA, as I received a reminder by post last week and their eye test only costs £24, as opposed to £30 elsewhere. I realised recently, that this will be the last time I will have to pay for this test, as I'll get it for free from October when I turn 60, which is a plus.

I also ordered some recycling bags from our local depot, as we were running low. We used to get free food caddy bags, but now have to supply our own. Anyway, that was another small job done. For the remainder of the afternoon, I sat and watched some TV, whilst sewing the binding on the rug I made. A very chill day.

On Thursday, I went to my usual class at the gym in the morning, which was good.  In the afternoon, I felt really tired and retired to bed for what I thought would be an hour's nap, but turned out to be a four hour nap, which was a bit self indulgent, but if my body needs it, then so be it.

When I woke up, I did a bit of reading and then came down and did some rug binding  in front of the TV. LB returned home later tonight. It was lovely to see her. OH and I watched a movie on BBC 4 based on a Julian Barnes novel, which was quite interesting.

Friday, was another fairly quiet day. I didn't need to be anywhere today, so it was nice to have a slow leisurely start to the day reading, showering, etc. I did some financial housekeeping in the morning, as it was virtually the end of the month. In the afternoon, I binge watched a Turkish series on Netflix called the Museum of Innocense, which was okay, whilst finishing the binding on my rug and then working on my hexie EPP project. Later, after supper, OH and I watched the movie I Swear on Netflix, which was really good.

Saturday morning, I had to get up earlier than normal, as our neighbour knocked to drop off their dog for the day. OH had gone out cycling, so I had to get up and get breakfast and spend time with the dog, who likes attention and cuddles. LB and I took it in turns to keep him happy, whilst I got dressed and later did some household tasks and a bit of blogging.

Later, after lunch, OH came home and we took him with us to the allotment and for a walk. Whilst at the allotment, OH spread some chicken manure pellets and sowed some peas and beetroot, whilst I spent my time weeding more of the paths around the plot. I got most of the paths done, just half of one path to do. In the second photo I left some self-seeded flowers in the cracks in the path, as they are pretty, but the weeds were taken out. I've just got the half of the path nearest to the camera left to weed, which shouldn't take long. Here's a couple of photos:

You can see the dog at the top of the first path. He's a sweetie. We had a nice couple of hours out in the fresh air though and got more of the plot cultivated which was good.

In the evening, OH and I watched a couple of episodes of a documentary about the Murdoch family on Netflix. It's interesting.

I was a bit thrown out by the clock change on Sunday morning, especially as I didn't get to sleep until well into the early hours of the morning. I read in bed for a while, finishing another book, this one about global food waste, which was sobering.

I then got up and ready to go to the gym, albeit a bit later than usual. OH came to the gym with me which was nice and we both had a good workout.

In the evening, I binge watched the last 5 episodes of The Other Bennett Sister on iPlayer, whilst OH was tinkering with his bike. It was so good, I really enjoyed it and it made a for a nice end to the week.