Weekly Blog - W/E 2nd October 2021

Sunday morning was a little different this week, as OH was heading out to run the Hackney Half Marathon. He's been training for a few weeks and had run the 5K event a couple of years ago. It's a big event locally. His start time was 9.30am and I had agreed to walk the dog to meet him at the finish line around a couple of hours later. It's only a 20 minute walk from where we live.

LB had stayed out at her friends overnight, which was a pity, as she would probably have liked to be there too. I met OH after he came in, he'd run faster than he'd anticipated. We hung out around the event area talking to an ex-colleague of OH and watched other runners come in on the big screen. There were exercise classes going on by the main stage and cool downs for the runners, plus lots of food and beer stalls. 

It was the first time I'd actually hung around afterwards and it was a really nice atmosphere. We stayed a couple of hours and then came home. Next year, I'd like to go earlier and maybe join in some of the exercise classes which are all free.

On Monday, I only managed a quick walk around the block with the dog as it was quite rainy, before heading off in the car to the gym. I decided not to go as far afield as I normally go to do the grocery shopping, in an attempt to save what petrol we have left in the car. The class was good, I really enjoyed it and then I did the grocery shopping at a nearby Lidl. There wasn't a toilet roll in the store. People are obviously stocking up on those again too.

After lunch, I spent a couple of hours working my way through the overflowing ironing basket whilst binge watching a new to me series on Netflix called Clique. Later in the evening OH and I watched the first series of Manhunt on ITV Hub, which also seems to be very well made.

Tuesday, I was back at work. I spent the morning pricing clothing, as a volunteer was working their way through the Gift Aid donations. When I'd priced everything I could, I got the chance to do a job I haven't done for a couple of months, which involved sorting through some of the donated designer clothing in readiness for them to be listed for sale online. I quite enjoyed doing this for a change, as I haven't had a chance to do tasks like this for a good 6-8 weeks.

On the way home it was quite dark, so I wore my new fully reflective cycling jacket. It's hard to tell when you're wearing it whether it shows up well, but then I found myself following another cyclist wearing one and my bike lights lit it up really well, which means it would show up even brighter under car head lights. This reassured me of it's efficacy. I'm yet to test out it's waterproof qualities, but I'm sure I'll get the chance before long. 

The roads did seem a lot quieter coming home. It would be great if it was like that all the time, with people only using cars when absolutely necessary. This whole debacle over fuel shortages just makes us more determined to get an electric car next time around (and possibly a small generator in case of a power cut!!!).

Anyway, in other news, LB seems to have come down with tonsilitis at the moment. I think she's a bit run down. The doctor is supposed to be prescribing her some antibiotics, but they hadn't materialised by the time I got home.

On Wednesday, I started the day by doing my monthly financial round up. I was happy because my finances were on an upward trajectory once again, after the ups and downs of the Pandemic. I decided to set up a standing order to save more money into Premium bonds each month. I figure my regular monthly savings may as well be used to give me the chance to win larger sums, rather than the pittance of interest I get in the bank.

I had an appointment for an eye test at 12 noon. One more thing ticked off my to do list. My eyesight was virtually unchanged, but I decided to buy some new glasses. I picked a cheaper frame this time, but the lenses (varifocals) were very expensive. I am definitely going to get a copy of my prescription when I collect them and look online to see if they would be cheaper.

On the way home, I picked up LB's prescription and managed to find some toilet rolls in a local shop.  No shortage there.

After lunch, there were a lot of small jobs that I needed to do i.e. washing up, laundry, a couple of bits of sewing, etc. In the end, the couple of small sewing jobs turned into an afternoon working on altering a quilt that I started a few weeks ago. 

I ended up stitching the new backing to the quilt using my machine and then quilting it to the original quilt. I made a few puckers here and there and re-stitched the worst examples, but the small ones will just have to add character to the finished quilt. I also pinned on the new binding and started stitching it into place, until I had to break off to go and walk the dog. I'll get back to it another day.

It felt very satisfying to spend a few hours at the sewing machine, as it's something I haven't done in months and it's inspired me to do some more when I next have some spare time.

When I got back from walking the dog, I made OH and I a vegetable stew with dumplings for supper. We needed to use up some of the vegetables from the fridge and this is always a good way. Besides, it's very tasty too.

Thursday I was back to work. On the way I pass our local petrol station and noticed that for the first time in 4 days they had petrol. I'm afraid I made a call to OH so he could come and get some, as we need to be able to get to our holiday cottage in Whitby next weekend, and we didn't have enough for the journey. I then carried on to work and called him when I got there.

OH said that by the time he got there it was chaos, with police overseeing everything and cars blocking roads, etc. He did get filled up though, which was a relief. To be honest, if we weren't going on holiday, we just wouldn't bother to use the car at all, but in the circumstances, it wasn't an option. Anyway, we're all set now so we can stop worrying about it.

Work was good. Time just goes by so quickly and before I know it, it's time to go home. I guess that's a good thing, better than clock watching. We're getting short of volunteers lately though, which isn't so good. I'm just hoping we can get through to Christmas without too many problems.

When I got home, a recent Cherry's order had arrived. I'm starting to stock up on a few things for Christmas now i.e. advent calenders, chocolate, fizzy drinks, edible gifts, etc. It spreads the cost and reassures when there are shortages forecast.

On Friday, I took the dog on a long walk without any time restraints which was nice. When I got back I caught up on watching a few YouTubers I follow and then after lunch, I decided to finish altering the quilt that I had been working on earlier in week. It took about 3 hours or so to hand stitch the new binding on, but I was very happy with the finished result. Once I've cleaned the living room, which is long overdue, I'll put it back on the sofa and take a photo to show you how it turned out. I got a Lockdown deja vu feeling whilst doing it, mainly due to the amount of hand quilting I did during the various lockdowns last and this year.

On Saturday morning, before heading into work, I decided to start my Autumn/Winter wardrobe changeover. I took out all of the summer clothes and put them aside ready to bag up, once I've got my winter clothes out of the vacubags. I didn't get chance to proceed to that on this occasion, but will hopefully do it over the weekend. I created a pile of things I'm happy to let go of. There may be more once I get my winter clothes out.

Work was okay. I bought quite a few things that I'd put aside over the last month or so. Mostly very small things that I need for small jobs at home. I bought some new ceramic plant pots, as many of my plants are outgrowing their current containers. Plant's seem to me to be a little like children in that they need to be given room to grow. Their care is becoming quite time consuming the more plants I own. I do enjoy tending them, potting them on and finding the perfect spot in the house for them.

I also bought some new crockery for the kitchen - some lovely Denby plates and a couple of bowls.  They were half price and too good an offer to miss. We've never had Denby before in our house, and I just felt like treating us to some good quality tableware, as the price was so reasonable and the items are in immaculate 'as new' condition. I had to leave the plates at work, as they were too heavy to carry home in my pannier bag. Everything else came home with me though.

I had a very wet ride home tonight, so I was very glad to eventually get home and just relax at the end of my working week. OH had made a vegetarian shepherd's pie, which was nice. Later, I watched a bit of Strictly before getting an early night as I was really tired.