This Week

This week has been a bit of a rollercoaster. Monday wasn't a good day for me. I didn't sleep well on Sunday night, so I woke up feeling very tired. I headed off to the gym for my class. It was good and did energise me, but by the time I had done the weekly shop, got home and put it all away, I was feeling exhausted.

I decided to go back to bed for an hour or two to catch up on sleep. Next thing I knew, I woke up at 6.30 pm. I really must have been tired. Anyway, it was then time to walk the dog, so I headed out. Whilst I was out I checked the scratchcard that you earn when you shop using Lidl plus, to find that I'd won a £20 off voucher for use on the weekly shop next week.  It was a nice surprise, not to be sniffed at.

Tuesday was a better day, mainly because I'd had a good night's sleep. I got up, showered and then headed out with the dog in the morning and we had a nice walk around an old disused golf range close to where we live. It's very natural and wild and a real tonic to stroll around. Lots of butterflies and bees and a river running alongside.

When I got home, I decided to make some long avoided financial changes. I've had some shares for several years that really haven't been performing well. I chose and bought them myself, on one of the many share buying platforms that have sprung up in recent years. I hoped they would perform better, but several of them just haven't and don't seem likely to in the near future.

As a consequence, I decided to sell some of the shares and cut any losses. It's just too depressing watching them continue to drop in value. I have kept the shares that were doing well or that were due to pay out dividends in the next month or so, but some of them I will later sell and just keep profitable shares going forward. I'm also not going to buy shares for the forseeable future. I just don't have the knowledge to choose them successfully. I think I'd be better off buying into funds that are professionally managed, rather than buying individual shares again. It was an interesting experiment, but ultimately one that partially failed. Sometimes, you are better off just sticking to what you know. 

Later on Tuesday, OH & I went down to the allotment where I picked some gooseberries to make more jam. OH had already started using one of the jars I made last week, so I needed to make more.  I spent some time weeding the paths around the plot, as inspections are coming up at the end of this month. I also harvested some more beetroot, which I pickled once I got back home.

On Wednesday, I woke up feeling the need to get serious about doing more exercise. I decided to use my Lockdown exercise routine and do a few weights and floor exercises. I always feel better for doing them and it was the same on this occasion. It gets the day off to a positive start.

I had a good walk with the dog this morning, but the rest of the day wasn't that productive, which is okay. In the late afternoon, I headed out to meet some friends at a restaurant. It's the first time we've all got together this year, so it was lovely to spend time together.

On Thursday, I woke up to rain, which felt good after all the hot weather. I took the dog out on an urban walk, as I was notified on Whats App the day before, that there has been a predatory male, who has preyed on multiple women in our neighbourhood open spaces in recent months. It's very disturbing, I'm hoping the police catch him very soon.

I made another batch of jam today, almost four jars, except I spilt some. I had to run LB to work this afternoon as she'd hurt her ankle. I got a message to say that a suspected predator had been arrested - he was 16yrs old, which is quite shocking. Not 100% sure if he's the culprit or not. Two other teenagers have also been arrested in the area this month for groping incidents.

Friday was a slightly cooler day, which I was thankful for. I managed to do a bit of ironing in the morning before it warmed up and by early afternoon, it had cooled off again and clouded over. A bit of light relief from the heat.

Later in the afternoon, I ventured out into the garden and picked some more blackcurrants. I also did some pruning of some shrubs and trees that were getting a bit out of hand and smothering other shrubs in the garden. I also potted on one of our larger indoor house plants, as it was getting a bit tall for it's current pot. I then continued with some more ironing, so I was a little more productive today.

On Friday evening, we watched some of the artists performing at this year's Glastonbury festival on TV, which was a great end to the week.