A Rainy Day Catch Up

I'm sat at my computer, it's raining outside and I need to walk the dog, but she won't go out if it means getting wet, so I thought I'd post a little catch up.  There's not a whole lot going on, so not much of a catch up.

Work is going okay and I'm happy to be back to my new normal. Sales are very slowly increasing week on week and we have plenty of stock and donations to keep us busy, just not large numbers of customers.  We've been having sale events on different sections in the shop each week, which has helped to keep money coming in.

Central London is still very quiet though and I can understand the concern being expressed by the Prime Minister and others, that if people don't return to work in cities soon, many more companies will go out of business in the coming months. As far as we're concerned, I'm hoping that won't be the case, as charity shops historically tend to do well in downturns, when people try to save money by buying second hand, but who knows.

We are getting lots of applications from new volunteers, which is good and we now have a largely new team of people helping to stock the shop.  My job share position recruitment process has got as far as shortlisting candidates and online interviews will be held very soon. I may be sitting in on some of them which should be interesting.

Our shop is currently open 5 days per week from 12noon to 6pm, but I think from next week we will be increasing that to 6 days to try to maximise income. I'm not sure if we're extending opening hours yet, as there are few people around before 12 noon in the area around our shop.

I'm still cycling to work three times per week, even if it means dodging rain, as I just can't bear to go back on public transport, unless it's absolutely unavoidable. I need to start thinking about getting lights on my bike and wearing better waterproofs, as we get closer to the autumn and winter.  OH has given me a rain proof jacket that I can wear, so I'm going to try that out next time it rains on my journey. 

I think I'm getting physically stronger and my stamina is improving as time goes on.  I can ride in higher gears for longer and don't get so tired on certain uphill stretches, which is all good. The time it takes me isn't really reducing, mainly because of everyday obstacles, such as extra sets of traffic lights and road works that I have to navigate on each journey.  Neither is my weight really going down, but I think my shape may be very slowly changing and inches may be very slowly coming off, as muscles develop. I'm hoping so anyway.

I'm enjoying the current cooler temperatures, although not the rain so much.  It's good to see brown grass greening up again though, when I'm out on dog walks. Our tomatoes in the garden have been getting blossom end rot, I think because of getting too much water from rainfall.  A good problem to have really. We can afford to forgo a few tomatoes for more water.

This last weekend, I got to sewing the quilt pieces together that I cut the other week.  Both the back and front have now been assembled and tacked to the duvet wadding and I now just need to stitch them in place using my machine and machine quilt the whole thing. It felt a little like being back in lockdown, when I did a lot of quilt making.

I managed to drag the dog out after all, she was very reluctant and it was a very short walk, but she did her business and then we came home. She hates the rain. We were going to go out for lunch, but I had a parcel due for delivery and didn't want to miss it, plus the local café we wanted to try was full so we may go out for supper instead. I might spend the forecast rainy afternoon on my sewing machine or ironing. 

What are you doing today?