A Catch Up

It's been over a week since I've posted, mainly because I was getting back into a routine after returning to work. My first week back was okay, save for the commute by bike, which was made a bit more precarious by the Tube strikes, which created  a lot more traffic on the roads making some drivers more aggressive and agitated. Sadly, a woman was killed, quite close to where I work in Central London, after being knocked off her bike. It saddens and scares me to hear such tragic news.

Another reason for not posting has been the tragic war in Ukraine, which has constantly been on my mind for the past two weeks. I know it's probably not the done thing to mention such a heinous thing here in blogland, but I can't continue to post and just ignore what is going on in the world. It colours everything. I sent off some things via a local church last week and I am hoping they will be useful. I know someone who has a relative in the East of the Ukraine and is unable to get out, and my thoughts are constantly with them.

Anyway, at work, I felt I had made progress on my first week back, but on Sunday night I started with the symptoms of a cold. I had a really prickly throat for a day or so, followed by streaming nose, congestion, cough, etc. I had to stay at home on Tuesday, as I wasn't well enough to go back to work. I don't know if it was because I haven't had a cold for a couple of years or what, but this cold was a pretty horrible one. The most I could do at home was to just quietly sit sewing my new patchwork quilt. The only plus of being unwell, was that I made some progress on this and have now started to sew the diamonds together, so it is starting to take shape.  

Here's a picture:

Anyway, by Thursday I was feeling a lot better and after taking a PCR test, which was negative, I headed back into work. I decided to get the bus, as I still wasn't feeling 100% and didn't feel strong enough to ride the bike.  Work was okay, still not many clothing donations. It seems to be becoming a permanent feature of our shop post-lockdown, sadly. We are still getting plenty of other donations such as books, homewares, shoes, etc., but just struggling in terms of clothing. Could it be a sign that people are buying less and donating less? I doubt it, more likely people are still working from home and not dropping donations to us. Anyway, we do what we can with what we get. I was able to spend time pricing a few different things today, which is always enjoyable. It makes my work more varied when I'm not pricing clothing all the time, although I do enjoy it.

On Friday, I was feeling a lot better. I did a small top-up shop at ASDA. I found this week that I had more money in my bank account than I thought, as I'd taken some outgoings off the balance twice.  That was a bonus and I felt much less financially challenged as a consequence.

I ordered a few things off eBay this week. Just small, practical things that I need for the house, garden or my sewing projects. They didn't cost much, but I'll have a few parcels coming my way in the next few weeks, which is always a little exciting. I don't really feel the need to spend a lot of money at the moment. I think two weeks of having very little discretionary spending money, has helped to break the habit of buying things just because I want to. It has made me very focussed on what I need and what I don't. I don't really want for anything and with prices rising all around us, this is probably a good place to be at the moment. I have plenty of jobs to do around the house to keep me busy and out of the shops in my spare time.

In other news, the dog has recovered well from an operation she had a couple of weeks ago. She needed some teeth removing, which were causing her a lot of pain and some fatty lumps removing, and she seems to be back to her normal self, which is nice to see. OH even managed to remove a couple of non-dissolvable stitches that had been put in one of her wounds yesterday.

LB is back working front of house at a local theatre and seems to be enjoying it. It is good to see her getting out and about again, as she hasn't had any money to do anything for a month or two now. She has applied for her student finance for University and I now have to complete the parent financial assessment part of the application, but need to get information from work, as I don't receive paper payslips, everything is digital.

OH is going away for a few days this month on a cycling holiday to Spain with some friends. I'm sure he will have a great time. In the meantime, I need to check my passport and see if I have enough time left on it for our family holiday later this year. We're also going to Spain, but via a ferry and taking the dog with us in our cabin. It's the first time we've attempted this, so it will be interesting to see how it works out. We still need to get her a health certificate to travel though and find some pet friendly accommodation.

For entertainment, we are currently part way through the current series of Succession which is good. OH subscribed to NOW TV, so that we could watch it and we are intending to also watch the series called Mayor of Easttown with Kate Winslet, before cancelling the subscription. We've also really enjoyed watching all three series of Ricky Gervais' After Life on Netflix, which has had us in fits of hysterics at times, something that doesn't happen often. Laughing is so therapeutic.

I hope that you are finding things to lighten your mood in these dark times that we are living in.