Day 724

Day 724...

Hello Friday and welcome to the day after the night before.

Last night we had an absolutely fantastic time seeing White Lies play at Rock City in Nottingham. They were, as always, brilliant. We were able to secure a pitch pretty close to the front of the audience and we had an unobstructed view of the stage for the whole gig.

They had a young band called Vlure as support who knocked it out of the park. Full of energy and performed as though they were in front of a massive arena audience. Their lead singer even came into the audience to get up close and personal. It was a great way to start off the evening.

White Lies played a mixture of new and classic songs and killed every one. The atmosphere was phenomenal and the ticker tape finale during 'Bigger Than Us' was a perfect ending to a cracking show. Please indulge me while I share some photos...

And I know it was a great concert because I don't think me ears have stopped ringing since, my voice was all croaky until late morning and I can feel it in my feet and legs!!

So after the excitement of last night it was with good fortune that I had today off from work. Having worked some extra hours, and having a few more extra to work next week I have had today off in lieu. It has been a quiet day, although at times infuriating.

I've been able to help my deputy out at work with a few questions that arose over the day. I've done a few household chores. I nipped to our local Lidl to pick up a few bits and bobs, although note to self; do not visit Lidl on a Friday morning when it's relatively busy and filled with mainly older people who are more than happy to meander around the store (in their masks!!). Nope, I want to be in and out as quickly as possible grocery shopping is a 'must do' not a social occasion! 

But the ongoing saga of the day, and the thing that has been rather infuriating, has been waiting for my butchers delivery to arrive. Everything was looking rosy with an expected delivery time between 9.10am and 10.10am. By 10.20am nothing had arrived but I wasn't overly concerned so I went to Lidl hoping the delivery would arrive by the time I returned - nope!

So I jumped online and followed the delivery link only to discover that my parcel was back at DPD's depot because 'your parcel was refused, as the contact name was not recognised' - err what? No-one had been to the house so how on earth could the parcel be refused? After much searching on their website I found an online chat option...but no-one responded! So I downloaded their app and again tried the online chat only to be told that I wasn't connected to the internet when I knew that I was - argh! My next option was to contact the butchers online to see if they could do anything.

At that point in the day Simon broke for lunch and so we decided to take a walk out. It was grey and a bit blustery, but it was dry and so we took our usual route of 2.4 miles in 44 minutes. As we walked in the door my phone started to ring and it was DPD calling!! Turns out that contacting the butchers was the best thing to do as they had chased the delivery for me.

I was told by DPD that they had tried to deliver my parcel but that we had refused it because it was not in our name. Okay so where do I start with that; first it is in our name but more importantly no-one had attempted a delivery at our house. To which I was told 'but our driver said...' At that point I reiterated that we had not seen their driver but that we have a very similar address to ours in the next village and that they might want to check where exactly their driver had been! I was then told they would go away and investigate for me...nearly four hours passed by and no return phone call as I'd been promised but then there was a knock at the door and low and behold my parcel was delivered. Thank goodness for that!

This then meant the end to my day was sorting 5kg of bacon, 100 sausages, 1kg of steak mince, 1kg of chicken, burgers and a few steaks into meal sized portions for the freezer. While I did that Simon finished work for the day and took some time out to complete his zone two training on the exercise bike. 

And with all that I think it's time to stop for the day and see you all tomorrow.
xx

Day 723

Day 723...

Today it will be a relatively short blog post as I am writing this at the end of my working day and before I get ready to head out for the evening.

It was a full day in work as I ended up working extra this afternoon to cover a member of staff who was off. This also meant that the afternoon was spent attending an online 'leaders and managers briefing'...not the most exciting of meetings!

But the morning was filled with the usual sort of stuff plus I was able to update the router that we use as our provider had sent us a new one with our renewal of contract. So when we had a lull in proceedings I was able to swap one out for the other and then go around all our bits of technology to ensure they could all connect to the new router. I thought I'd remembered everything until this afternoon when I went to print something and couldn't understand why the printer was refusing to work and then I remembered that as it's wireless it too would need its connection updating. But all being well by the end of the day everything was working as it should.

It was then home for a coffee and time to get changed and do my make-up ready for going out later. We have tickets to see White Lies at Rock City in Nottingham, this will be our third time seeing them since November. And the last time we saw them at Rock City was back in 2019 when we had VIP passes...

VIP meet and greet February 2019

...and while there's no VIP this time around I am looking forward to seeing them turn it out as always. Plus we have been so lucky to see them in a small venue doing a stripped back gig in Bournemouth last November...

...and then again at an even smaller event at Rough Trade in Nottingham a few weeks back as part of their album launch.

Me and Harry!!!!

The last time we saw them in a full concert was in December of 2019 at The O2 Acadamy in Brixton as part of their anniversary tour to mark 10 years since the release of their debut album. 

December 2019 - Brixton

They are such a great band live and we are looking forward to another fantastic gig...I will report back tomorrow.

See you later.
xx

A Little Catchup

So what have I been up to since my last post...well let's see...

The last few days of the week have all been about preparation for the weekend, and more specifically my pre-school's Christmas Fair.  An annual fundraiser that is great fun and raises much needed cash to keep our pre-school going.

Friday night saw me baking...muffins and cupcakes are my speciality!  They may not be fantastically decorated but boy do they taste good (even if I do say so myself!).  So I made blueberry muffins, apple & cinnamon muffins, chocolate chip muffins and chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and a bit of Christmassy silver shimmer!

Saturday saw me don my elf outfit as I took up my traditional role of designated Santa's helper for the day.  The morning was spent getting the stalls ready for the afternoon when Santa arrived and opened our fair.  I looked after Santa in his grotto and saw lots of very happy (and a few scared looking) faces as children came along to see him.  We had a great afternoon and managed to raise £920 for my pre-school which was absolutely fantastic.

Then Saturday evening I was out with Simon to go see White Lies at our local concert venue, the infamous Rock City Nottingham.  A venue we used to frequent in our younger days and hasn't really changed; it was great to reminisce and see a fantastic performance by the White Lies.  I've been wanting to see this band for ages and it was great to finally see them and in such an iconic venue.  I would highly recommend seeing them, they put on a great performance.

Then to today, well we had an early start as our youngest was off to school...for rehearsals for the school production that happens this week.  She is part of the back stage crew!

I then had the pleasure of chatting with my good friend and co-host of the Disney Dream Girls, Michelle, as we recorded two pieces for upcoming shows.  Firstly we have the start of 'Minxmas' on the 9th December, which is the coming together of various Disney and Orlando themed podcasts as we all share our Christmas thoughts and memories.  And then we recorded our first proper episode of the Disney Dream Girls where we get chance to hear Jim Korkis share his passion for Disney, and talk all about princesses.

So a busy few days I think you'll agree...busy but very productive!