A Change of Scenery W/E 23rd March 2024

The week started with me getting up early on Sunday morning. I hadn't slept well, and in the end I just got up and had a shower to wake me up. This, and the fact that OH wasn't cycling this week and took the dog out, did mean that I had lots of time to chill on Sunday morning and stitch. 

I was due at work on Sunday afternoon again, my first shift in 6 days. I love having so much time off. I can get on with projects at home and get my exercise in, which suits me perfectly. I worked a 4 hour shift, followed by some staff training afterwards, which we needed to stay for.

LB flew to Northern Ireland for a few days on Monday morning, to stay with a friend from Uni, so we caught up on social media on Sunday before she headed off.

After the Monday morning dog walk, I booked myself into the gym and headed off there. I had a good session and managed to use my headphones to listen to a podcast whilst I trained, which made the cardio part of the workout (not my favourite) much more bearable. Usually, I can't get a signal in the gym, but for some reason I could on this occasion, which I was really happy about.

Later, after lunch, I did some food shopping locally. We had arranged to go away for a few days on Tuesday. OH had booked us some accommodation in Yorkshire, to visit family. I was really looking forward to getting out of London. I still shopped though, so that we had food to come back to on Thursday. (It was all perfectly fine in the fridge whilst we were away and saved me shopping when we got back)

I had booked my usual class at the gym on Tuesday.  I walked the dog first and then went off to the class. LB was expecting a parcel to be delivered, which wasn't that convenient as we were going away later, but luckily it arrived before we set off. It was her new glasses and sunglasses from Specsavers. She'll be excited to get them. They had an offer of two designer frames for the price of one and as LB had seen a couple of frames she really liked, OH and I agreed to split the cost so that she could get both prescription sunglasses and regular glasses.

Once the parcel had arrived, I'd showered and we'd finished packing everything into the car, we set off to Yorkshire. I picked up a prescription at the chemist on the way out and, as always, I had packed a lunch and snacks for the journey.  We were lucky to have a relatively clear run and got there around 5.30pm, which wasn't too bad.

OH had rented us a house in a large village not far from where his parents live. We'd never stayed there before, so it made the trip a bit more interesting. We rarely stay in the same place twice, preferring to try out lots of different accommodation and areas and this property was pet friendly, had good reviews and was reasonably priced. 

We stopped off at OH's parents first and stayed there for a couple of hours chatting before heading to the accommodation.  It was very nice and recently renovated, so it was immaculate. We cooked a quick supper of some pasta I'd taken with us, and then we could relax for the evening.

On Wednesday, we returned to OH's parents, but stopped off at a couple of my favourite charity shops on the way. I bought some very lovely things there, to potentially wear at a wedding in a few weeks time. I'll post separately about my purchases from this trip, as I bought a few different things from various different places.

OH's sister was at his parents' house when we got there, so we got to catch up with her, which was nice and OH was able to do some repairs that his mum needed doing, so it was a sociable and productive day. Later, I went off to visit a couple of my favourite local shops for a couple of hours and then eventually, we left OH's parents and met my sister for supper at a pub not far from where we were staying.  We had a lovely evening catching up. It was good to see her and her husband.  Eventually, we got back to the house and chilled for the rest of the evening. It had been a busy day, but we'd achieved quite a lot.

Thursday, we were heading home. I woke really early as I didn't sleep well. I think I'd drunk too much diet coke the night before and the caffeine kept me awake. Anyway, I had a shower, packed up, cleaned up the kitchen and then I took the dog for a walk around the village and stopped to take a look at the local market. There was a stall selling dog treats, so I bought a few different ones for the dog.

We packed up the car and left soon after, but before heading back to OH's parents for a final visit, I got in my usual Boyes visit. I didn't buy too much this visit, but I did need some makeup that I use regularly, and LB needed me to get her a particular ball of wool to finish a project she had started. I can't return to Yorkshire without visiting this store. It's like a home from home. The area of the town in which it is situated, is a very nostalgic place for me, as both my parents were brought up in the area and we often visited our grandparents' homes there when we were young.

After a final visit to OH's parents, during which OH and his mum took lots of rubbish to the nearby tip, we set off for home, dropping in at the Tip Shop on our way, so I could take a look around. We ended up buying some great items that I was looking to buy anyway, at a good price. Again, I will post about these separately.

The journey home was pretty good too. It was so good to get home and get back to our normal routine. We always enjoy going away, but we love returning home.

On Friday, I booked myself into the gym. I needed to work off all the food I'd eaten whilst we'd been away. It's very hard to stick to my regular routine and calorie allowance when we're constantly visiting people and out and about. I hadn't eaten too badly, but I had gone over my calorie deficit most days.

When I got back from the gym, I had a lunch and then had a few hours to chill and catch up with jobs before I was due to go to work on Friday evening. Work was good. I even got to leave a little early, which was nice.

I wasn't working on Saturday, which was good. I didn't go to the last gym session of the term as I'd gone the day before, but I did walk the dog , as OH was cycling. It was a lovely sunny morning, so I wore my new sunglasses for the first time on the dog walk. We had a lovely long walk.

In the afternoon, OH and I set to work on our garden renovations. Initially, it was just clearing the existing structures and vegetation. OH proceeded to empty and take down the old shed and all of the remaining damaged fence panels. We were able to do this as our neighbours adjoining gardens all have their own fences insitu. Whilst he did that, I spent my time sorting out the shed contents and chopping up vegetation to go into our brown garden waste bins.  

Our local council are starting to charge residents for garden waste collection from the beginning of May, which made it all the more important to try to get on top of the garden before that comes into effect. OH doesn't want to pay a yearly charge, so we'll probably do tip runs when we need to get rid of our garden waste.  We do compost what we can too.

Our work in the garden was interrupted by hail, but we'd virtually finished at this point. It is now looking worse before it gets better, as it is filled with debris that needs to be taken to the tip, but at least we've made the most of probably the best spring day so far this year and got started. I'll show you the progress we made in another post.

In all, Saturday ended up being a very productive day for us and than later we could just relax and enjoy the evening. This week has gone by so quickly, but it's been a varied week and the change of scenery going up to Yorkshire was beneficial.

I hope you've had a good week.