Weekly Blog - W/E 23rd October 2021

Back in London after our holiday in Whitby, it was back to normal for me this week. The week started with OH calling to say he'd crashed his bike on his Sunday ride. He was okay, but had to make his way back home on the train, as there was a mechanical problem with his bike. 

I went out on a dog walk, only to find there had been a violent attack on someone 200 metres from our house. Police had cordoned off the road and a forensic tent was set up. I heard later that it hadn't been fatal, which is good, but not a nice thing for the victim nor to come back to after being on holiday.

Anyway, the rest of Sunday was uneventful thank goodness. I spent most of the day catching up on financial stuff after our holiday, reconciling receipts, writing a grocery shopping list, etc. Other than that, it was a pretty chilled day. I ordered a few bits on eBay, that I'd put off ordering, as I didn't want them to arrive whilst we were away. I also placed a Cherryz and a TK Maxx order of a few things mostly for the house.

Monday, was a bit busier. I was due at the gym at 10am for my Zumba class. My teacher's father had just died, which was very sad. She's had a lot of difficulties in the last couple of years and this just added to them. However, she soldiered on and took the class inspite of this, which was good as always.

After leaving the gym, I headed off to do the weekly grocery shop. We needed a lot this week, as we'd used everything up when we went away, or took what was left with us, so the fridge was virtually empty.  In addition, the toaster had given up the ghost the day before we went on holiday. It started fusing all the electrics in the house, so I needed to buy another one.

I started off at Home Bargains as I needed a few toiletries that I knew I could get from there. I bought mostly food, but a few other things got thrown in, as they always do when shopping there. When I came away, the traffic was terrible and I couldn't get to Lidl to do my grocery shop, so I had to stop off at a very large Tesco store and do it there, in the hope that the traffic would have eased by the time it was done.

I managed to find a toaster in there that I liked. When looking online, I hadn't found any I liked. They all seem to be over designed these days with all sorts of knobs, retro styling and decorative touches that aren't to my taste. The one I eventually bought was very simple, both in looks and workings, which suited me just fine. I did have to opt for the 4 slice though, as they didn't have the 2 slice in stock, so it takes up a bit more room on the kitchen counter.

By the time I got home from doing the shopping, it was past 3pm. I caught up on a bit of YouTube watching and then headed out to walk the dog. In the evening, after supper, I had a shower and participated in some self-care (eyebrows!) in readiness for returning to work the next day.

On Tuesday I had to go back to work. It felt strange getting back on my bike after a week of not riding it. When I got to work, I found out that our Manager was going on leave at the end of the week, which I wasn't expecting. I got stuck in and by the end of the day, I felt like I'd not really had a holiday at all, which is usual for me on returning to work.

On Wednesday, I was quite tired after cycling to work the previous day, so I didn't really do much for most of the day. I had to go up to the optician's to pick up my new glasses as they were ready, but afterwards I just chilled at home, sorted a bit of laundry, did a bit of washing up and binged on Netflix in the afternoon.

On Thursday, I was feeling a bit more rested and headed back to work. It was a strange day with a lot of distractions. I just about managed to get most of the things done that I needed to, but it wasn't easy to do so. I borrowed OH's Garmin today and used it to track my ride to work for the first time ever. It was 10.25 km or 6.2 miles each way, which was about what I thought, but it was interesting to measure it and see the speed I was riding at. It kept me amused on the ride either way in any case.

In the evening, OH and I started watching a new series on Catchup called Paris Police 1900. It's a historical police drama, set in Paris at the turn of the 20th Century. It's a bit gruesome, but it was very watchable. 

On Friday, I read in bed for a while and then got up and took the dog for a walk. When I got back my TK Maxx order had arrived. I'd ordered a couple of candles for the autumn/winter season, a small rug for the living room, a new sheet for our bed, some pillowcases, a new salad spinner and oven dish, a gift for OH for Xmas and a Hylauronic Acid serum for me. I'd made sure to spend enough to qualify for free postage, but everything I bought was needed, either to replace something worn out or because we'd run out of it.

My Cherryz order had also arrived the day before, but I'd been too tired to open it when I got in from work, so I opened that too and put everything away.

In the afternoon, I decided to retire to my sewing room and try to make a new apron for work. The ones I made during lockdown are getting a bit scruffy and are not a particularly flattering fit either. I'd bought a pattern probably six months ago, to make a 1940's style apron that is quite fitted, but hadn't touched it since, so I proceeded to cut out the pattern pieces and find a few fabrics from which to make it. 

I hadn't done any sewing for a while, so it was quite exciting to get stuck into a new project from scratch. I love the feeling of using up fabrics from my stash, as I still have so much fabric to find a use for.

Anyway, the pattern used way too much fabric, with a wrap around skirt at the back, which I just didn't need and straps over the shoulders that attached to the back skirt. In the end, I amended the pieces I'd cut out to make it halter necked, with a tie back. This used about a meter of fabric which was better.

It took five hours to finish, as there were no written instructions on piecing the garment together and it took a lot of time to work out the best way to adjust it and then sew it all together.  I did baste some bits before machine sewing them to make sure it would work, but the finished item was okay and a bit more flattering.  I might need to do a few more minor adjustments when I make the next one, but I think it will be quicker, as I will have more idea of what I'm doing. I made a little drawstring bag to carry it in too, as always, so it was ready to go. I took it to work on Saturday to give it a trial run. It held up okay.

Talking of Saturday, I had to be in earlier to cover the shop from 10am in the Manager's absence. Luckily, OH does a double dog walk on Saturdays, which made it easier. When I got to work, I ran the vacuum cleaner around the shop and captured all the dust bunnies. I can only do this if I get there before the customers start coming in.

Unfortunately, the day got off to a terrible start, as when we opened the till wasn't working and we had to figure out ways to keep taking payments without it. We muddled through and eventually, later in the day, it did work okay again, but it made it very difficult to reconcile the figures at the end of the day and I had to stay quite late to do what I could in this regard. Not a good end to the week and typically it happened as soon as the Shop Manager went on leave. I feel like recently there's a bit of a jinx in this regard.

Hoping for a better week next week.