Weekly Blog - W/E 11th September

This week has been about getting back to normal after having the virus. I took it easy on Sunday as I was tired after working on Saturday. I spent most of my time just reading, walking the dog, watching TV and YouTube.

On Monday, I decided not to go to a class at the gym, I'll go back in a week or so when I'm hopefully feeling a bit better. I did do a grocery shop in the morning and then spent the afternoon working my way through the mound of washing that LB is behind with. She had gone away for a night to visit a friend outside of London, so I took the opportunity to get into her bedroom and get some of it done.  Luckily, I could dry some of it outside on the line, the rest was dried inside.

In the evenings lately, we've been watching a short series called Mrs Wilson on Netflix. Only three episodes long, about a woman who was bigamously married to a man who worked for the British Secret Service in the 1940's and beyond. It was based on a true story and I quite enjoyed it. We're also watching the new series by the writers of In the Line of Duty called Vigil and we're enjoying that too.

Tuesday I was back at work. I'm still doggedly working my way through the donations, which seem to just keep building up when I'm not there, so it feels like I'm just treading water most of the time. There's nothing I can do about it, I just have to keep chipping away.

On Tuesday night, we watched a film on Netflix called Worth, starring Michael Keaton, about how the US Government compensated the victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.  A really good film, well worth watching and a very timely reminder of this terrible event around the time of it's 20th anniversary.

I had a nice productive day off on Wednesday. I placed another Cherryz order, did a bit of laundry and then took the dog on a leisurely walk in the morning, before heading off to ASDA and Poundland to do a bit of top up shopping. I picked up a prescription and got some more lateral flow tests en route. I mainly needed to buy things I'd forgotten to get on Monday or that we'd run out of since. 

I hadn't been to Poundland for over a month, so I enjoyed having a mooch around. I always manage to spend around £30 when I go there. On this occasion, I bought a dress and some leggings which accounted for nearly half of what I spent. I noticed lots of empty shelves in ASDA, which they seem to be disguising by moving things around and making some changes to the store. Call me cynical, but I suspect it's more about hiding the shortages as a result of reduced deliveries. I haven't struggled to get anything really yet, but you can start to see that there is less choice available in some aisles. I'm not going to start stocking up though. 

Later in the afternoon, I headed out to meet a couple of friends from the gym at our favourite Persian restaurant. On my way there, I stopped off at the bank to get some cash out and dropped into Primark to buy some new bras. I'm really enjoying wearing some that I bought there a few months ago, which I find really comfortable and supportive, so I bought a couple more whilst I was passing. I can now get rid of the uncomfortable ones that I've been hanging onto.

When I got to the restaurant, it was so nice to catch up with my friends and do something social after the last few weeks of self-isolating and staying away from people. We had a lovely meal and a good catch up on each other's news and we're thinking of doing the same thing on a monthly basis, rather than every 3 months or so, which will be nice.

Thursday, I was back at work. I was super pleasantly surprised when I got there, to see that the donation cage that I work on was virtually empty, with just a few bags left to sort. I couldn't believe it. One of our kind volunteers had worked very hard to clear it, bless her. I am in her debt, as I didn't seem to be getting anywhere with it. At least now I can try to keep on top of it.

I still had a few bags to process, so I did that and then I was able to process some of the clothing on the pricing table, which has been sat there for a good while. Things are now starting to look clearer around the clothing section, which is good, but we did have some electrical problems with the steamer today, so we couldn't use it, which was a bit annoying. I now need to try to process piles of other stock when I get the chance, such as the shoes and bags and scarves, which are currently piled high. We're getting there slowly, but there's always so much work still to do. It's just the nature of the job.

On Friday, I had a quiet day at home before OH and I headed out in the evening to the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall to watch pianist Pavel Kolesnikov perform Bach's Goldberg Variations.  We stopped for a bite to eat on the way, nothing super special. I had a salad and OH had a sandwich. OH had booked us seats in a box, which was a treat, so there were only 4 other people in there with us. The performance was very good. We really enjoyed it. We stopped for a drink in a pub in South Kensington afterwards, before heading home on the Tube. I rarely travel on the underground these days, so it was strange for me travelling all the way across town.

Saturday I was working. I spoke too soon about keeping on top of the donations, as there had been another avalanche of them all stacked up both inside and outside of the cage. In addition, I found out that the steamer was kaput, so we're currently waiting on a new one being delivered. It's very difficult without one, as many items need steaming before they can be put in the shop. I did my best to work through as many donations as I could, but there was still half a cage when I left work. I'm starting to feel a bit overwhelmed if I'm honest. 

It's been a mixed week this week, with some nice social events for a change, to break up and distract from the working week. I'm glad to get to the end of the week though and have two days to just relax and do my own thing.

Hope you've had a good week.