Ups and Downs - W/E 22nd June 2024

This post is a bit late, but I forgot to post it before we went away on holiday for a week, but here goes.  The week started with a long shift at work on Sunday. It was the first time I'd worked from 10.30am on a Sunday. Quite a few staff were off due to the fact that it was the first day of Eid Mubarak, so I was required to work extra hours. It was a pity that I had to work on Father's Day, but OH had gone out cycling for the morning, so at least he was doing something he enjoys. I left some gifts on the kitchen table for him, one of which was this vintage picture of a dog that looks remarkably like ours, god rest her little soul.  He liked it thankfully.

Work was super busy, but at least I got a lunch break and then had to do some online training. I was super glad to go home at 6pm though, after what felt like a long shift. When I got home, OH had finished putting in the flooring in the shed, which looked great.  

On Monday, I was due at work again from 1pm until 5pm. This meant that I had to do the weekly shop locally, which was no bad thing, save that I found the staff in local stores to be rude. I had to skip my morning run, as I just didn't have enough time this Monday.

Once I'd done the shopping and put everything away, it was time to get ready and go to work. This was hopefully my last shift for a couple of days, so I was looking forward to the break, as it had been a busy weekend work wise. Work wasn't the best shift I've had. I think I'm really in need of a holiday. It's been a bit of a grind lately. I've also been eating a lot, possibly emotional eating, but luckily I've not put weight on. OH thinks I've probably not been eating enough over the last few months, which possibly might be true.  Anyway, I was in bed by 9pm on Monday night. I think work had caught up with me. Luckily, my back has resolved itself.  Thank you for the concern expressed.

On Tuesday I had a day off thankfully. I was booked into my class as usual. I had a bit of time before setting off, so I pottered in the garden and picked the few blackcurrants that were ripe. I'll make them into jam when I've got a few more other fruits to add to them. I may have to freeze them for now. We're down to our last couple of jars of jam that I've made from previous harvests and foraging, so hopefully we won't run out completely if I can get out and about harvesting brambles this summer. It will be strange going without the dog. She was always so patient when I stopped on walks to forage. I'm feeling a bit low this week. I think her loss is hitting me harder as time goes on. At least the weather seemed a bit better this week, which was welcome.

I also did a bit of online banking and getting my finances up to date before heading to my class. The class itself was good. Afterwards, I walked down into the town centre to do a few errands. In the afternoon, I made us a beef stew with dumplings for supper and after supper OH and I headed down to the allotment to water and harvest soft fruit. We met our new neighbours who have taken on the plot next door to us. They have made inroads to the weeds and brambles that had taken over since it was given up.

On Wednesday, I had another day off work, so I went out for a run in the morning. It was fairly slow. When I got back, OH was out, so I pottered a little, had some lunch and then I took myself back to the allotment to clear the paths around our plot. There's an inspection coming up very soon, so it was as good a time as any to get it done. Here's a couple of photos of the cleared paths:

It took a couple of hours of shuffling along on my bottom rooting out the weeds between pavers with my special tool, which is invaluable for this job. Hopefully, this will suffice as our contribution, as we're away on holiday when there's a group gathering to tidy up the site.

On Wednesday night, I decided to do a bit of re-organising in the sewing room. I had bought some boxes to store my fabric in, but hadn't yet put some of them into use, so I started with that. Once I'd done that, I realised that I had a whole spare shelf in the alcove, as the boxes condensed everything and took up less space.  

As a consequence, I decided to put my craft books back on the shelf. They'd been housed in a bookcase that used to be in LB's bedroom, but when she no longer needed it, I took it and put it in front of the fireplace in the sewing room. To be honest, it was taking up valuable space in this room, which is already small, so it felt good to move everything back onto the shelves and mantle piece. The book case I decided to donate to the next Zero Waste event which was taking place a few days later. 

I needed to do a bit of vacuuming of the fireplace, as it was very dusty and there were lots of cobwebs, but it was nice to uncover it again. Just doing these two small things did make more space in the room, which felt good.

On Thursday, I got up and did some weights first thing. I thought about going to the gym, but wasn't feeling it. Besides, I've got the weights, dumbells and kettlebells I need to work out at home now. 

After breakfast, OH and I decided to pick most of the cherries on our tree in the garden, so we got the ladders out and picked as many as we could. There was a nice bowlful, which is plenty for me, as I'm the only one who eats them.

I decided to supplement the weights this morning by going for a walk. I was out for about an hour and covered about 4km or 6,000 steps. I have to admit that it was difficult in that I was walking in places that I used to walk with our dog and I found it very upsetting. I might need to try to walk in different locations that aren't so familiar to avoid this in future. I'm sure I'll get less upset as time goes by, but at the moment, it's still very triggering. It was nice to get outside in the sunshine though.

I stopped off at my favourite mulberry tree in the park whilst out on the walk and I ate quite a few mulberries that were ripe. There was so much fruit on the tree, much more than on my mulberry tree at home, but many of them weren't yet ripe.

After lunch, I spent an hour or so pottering about upstairs, putting laundry away, etc., then it was time to get showered and ready for work.

On Friday, we had arranged to go and collect LB and her vast amount of stuff, from her Uni halls in South London. I always enjoy going to bring her home for the summer. It's lovely to have her home for a while. OH and I set off in the car at around 10 am, after the majority of commuting traffic had died down. It felt like a long journey to get there. 

Luckily, LB had packed up most of her stuff already, so OH could straight away put it all in the car. I helped to pack what was left and started cleaning the room, as she was due an inspection with regard to returning her deposit.  By the time we'd finished the room looked better than when she moved in.

LB's stuff had increased over the year, so OH had to drive home alone with the car full to the front seat, and LB and I caught public transport home across London. We got lucky with connections though and weren't far behind OH by the time we got home.

The evening was spent sorting out LB's stuff and getting it put away in her bedroom. We got quite a lot done, but there's still boxes and bags everywhere and a lot more sorting to do. It will all get done eventually.

On Saturday morning I was up early to go to my usual free session at the gym.  OH was doing a tip run with lots of rubbish from the garden and building the shed. It was good to get it all cleared away.

I went to my gym session which was good.  When I got home, I got LB up, as she was accompanying me to the latest Zero Waste event. I had quite a few bags of clothes and other items and a bookcase to take this time. We had a little look around whilst there but didn't see anything we wanted. 

On the way home we dropped into the charity shop to drop off another two bags there. This has now cleared the top landing which makes the house feel a lot less cluttered. I can now start collecting stuff together for the next Zero Waste event. 

The remainder of the day was spent getting packed for our summer holiday. We were flying to the Greek Islands the following day for a much needed break.