A New Week - W/E 27th May 2023

I was glad to start a new week this week, especially after the lost few days during the middle of last week. I'm not sure what happened there, I might have had a virus, as I'm not normally as tired as I felt that week. This week, however, my energy levels seem to have returned to normal.

On Sunday, OH was running in our local Half Marathon. He's entered for the last few years, as he really enjoys it. I took the dog over to the finish line to see him run across. We then hung out at the event which covered half of a huge green space close to where we live. There was a main stage and bar, food stalls, charity tents and other attractions whereby people could try out different exercise classes. I watched a Soca Aerobics class on the main stage which was excellent. Quite a lot of people joined in and it looked great fun. I wasn't really dressed for it and to be honest I was too much of a coward to join in, but I'd have liked to.

We had a few drinks and chatted to a friend of OH, who had also run and just generally chilled and enjoyed the atmosphere. There were over 20,000 runners this year, which was incredible.

We eventually made our way home. A neighbour called round for a chat which was nice and later I did some household tasks and laundry before chilling for the rest of the day.

On Monday morning, I had a bit of an accident on the dog walk. I accidentally tripped up in the park due to a hole in the grass the size of a shoe. It was my fault, I was looking at my phone and not where I was going and went down with a bang. I always feel slightly vulnerable when this kind of thing happens and in this instance, I felt a bit bruised and shaken, but luckily I wasn't badly injured.

In the afternoon, I headed out to do the weekly shop. I had a limited budget, as it is almost the end of the month, so I tried to keep spending within the amount I had left. I had a £2 off voucher at Lidl, plus a coupon for a free bakery item and a free packet of biscuits.  I don't normally buy either, but free food is fine by me. 

I also had a £3.50 voucher to use at Tesco, so I just used it to go towards some dog food that we needed. I also went to Home Bargains, but stuck strictly to what I went in for and only spent just over £4 there, which was good for me, as normally its a £30 spend minimum. Everything just came within budget, but next week's shop will have to come out of next month's budget. Most of the week is June anyway.

On the way home, I posted off an online sale and then I could go home, unpack the shopping and chill in front of the TV for the rest of the afternoon, binge watching the new series of Selling Sunset on Netflix.

Tuesday, I was up early and I decided to do my home exercise routine again this morning, instead of going to the gym. It always gets my day off to a good start.

After walking the dog, I came back and had a salad for lunch.  I then retired to the sewing room for the rest of the day to do some work on my 1" square patchwork project. After a few days of being out and about for various reasons, all I wanted to do was stay home and do something meditative like quilting. I did also take some photos for a quilting update post, which you will probably have seen by now.

Later, I caught up on the first day of the Chelsea Flower Show, which took place this week. OH is recording it for me every evening. It never fails to get me in the mood for gardening.

On Wednesday, I did my usual morning dog walk and then headed off to my Soca Aerobics class.  When I got back, I decided that as it was a lovely sunny day, I would do some work in the garden.

The main area that I needed to tackle was at the end of the garden. It was looking a bit overgrown with lots of bindweed growing and I'd promised LB that I would clear it up, for when she comes back from Uni, so that she can hang her hammock back up.

Here's a couple of before pictures:

It didn't take too long, probably a couple of hours. After all the clearing, I dug over the area of soil at the end to try to eliminate as many bindweed roots as I could. The dog helped! I'd forgotten how tiring digging is, as it's been so long since I've done any. I had to stop and take a break, but I was pleased with the end results:

You can now see that there is an area of ferns down this end of the garden and my mulberry tree is in the foreground. It is doing well and has lots of fruits growing on it this year. I can't wait to eat them.

Excuse the mess that is the fence where the dog is laid. She can't help but scratch away at it, in an attempt to see through into the next garden.  Such is life with animals.

We could probably do with laying another row of paving slabs where the soil starts and then maybe plant up the edge that is left. I'm not sure what, if anything, could withstand the dog scratching around in this area though. Anyway, it looks much better than before and I may now venture down here and sit and read on warm days. 

Whilst talking about the garden, here's a couple of pictures of the salad leaves that OH is growing in the raised beds. I picked some leaves for the first time this week for lunches. It should keep us in lettuce fr a while.

After finishing work in the garden, I retired to the living room to watch Tuesday's Chelsea Flower Show, which is the day that the medals are awarded. It's always a little exciting. Afterwards, OH and I took down our old mini greenhouse and put up a new one. It was OH's surprise birthday present from me. The old one,  I bought from the charity shop where I used to work for £5. (The shop was in the centre of London and there was very little demand for greenhouses there!) It lasted us two or three years before it started to fall apart. The roof had collapsed recently and was irrepairable, so we desperately needed another one. Hopefully, this one will last us a while.

On Thursday, I was up at 6.30am to get ready and go out to my volunteering session. It was very quiet today. Sadly, an elderly volunteer passed away a couple of weeks ago.  He volunteered with another lady who was a good friend of his, so I had a chat to her today and offered my condolences. 

There is a lot of change going on where I volunteer at the moment, with staff leaving, redundancies, new posts being advertised, changes in how things are done. I've been volunteering there for over 6 months now, which has gone by so quickly.

Anyway, I rode there on my bike for the first time in months today, as it was sunny. OH encouraged me to get back on my bike and I'm glad I did. I need the exercise desperately. I think at times I lose confidence in cycling in London and find it easier on the bus, but to be honest, now I'm not working it makes sense to cycle, as it costs nothing and keeps me moving.

When I got home OH and I had lunch and then loaded up the car for a tip run. Following our forays into the garden the previous day, we were left with a big pile of rubbish to dispose of. Before heading out, OH dismantled the old raised bed covers to take the rusted chicken wire to the tip and it has left us with lots of wood we can use as kindling next winter, which he chopped up once we came home.

Whilst out at the tip, we dropped into B&Q for some more compost. We were going to buy some pavers, but forgot to measure the ones in situ and couldn't find a trolley instore, so we left it for another day. We then did a small top up food shop in ASDA for the Bank Holiday weekend. Whilst in there, I spotted some nice items of inexpensive summer clothing that I wouldn't mind buying. I might treat myself next month if they still have them.

Last stop was the car wash, but about a dozen people had the same idea, so we gave that a miss until another day too. Life's too short to sit in a queue for the car wash.

On Friday, I decided to put away most of my winter clothing, as the weather seems to have turned warmer now, finally. It definitely emptied the wardrobe, although there are quite a few things in the ironing basket that should fill it up again. I really need to tackle it this weekend. 

Instead of slobbing around in casual clothes, as I usually do, I decided to put on something a bit nicer, along with some costume jewellery. Sometimes it just gives you a bit of a mood boost to make an extra effort with your appearance.

I had a very long walk with the dog today, well maybe I should say slow walk, as we didn't go that far, but stopped a couple of times to sit in the sunshine which was nice. By the time I got home it was 1pm.

The afternoon was uneventful, I had a few things on my mind and couldn't settle into doing much. I read a little and did some laundry, but not much else. 

Another Bank Holiday weekend ahead. Hopefully, I'll be a bit more productive over the weekend.

Hope you have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend, whatever you are doing.