Day 661

Day 661...

We have reached the end of the working week...well I've now worked one and a half days, Ethan has managed three days and Simon will start back next week!

But today my work day was actually spent in work and was pretty productive. I had stuff to print and file, spreadsheets to update and re-organise, emails to respond to and create, new starter information to collate and prep, signs to create, print and laminate, newsletters to start and schedule and banking to do. So, yeah, a pretty productive day.

On the way home I stopped by my dad's as he'd asked me to pick up a prescription to drop by our local pharmacy as his car is once again not working. His car had stopped working just before Christmas and the garage had been able to repair it and get it back to him just a few days ago. Initially it seemed to work fine but it didn't last long and yesterday it had 'died' again. He has someone coming out to look at it tomorrow in the hope that they can get it to the garage as there is no way that it is safe enough for him to be driving it. Such a shame as it's a lovely car (Jaguar!) and this isn't what you'd expect from such a high quality brand.

Finally home and it started to snow! But it didn't last long and instead just left a covering of slush! But I had other things to occupy myself with as we'd had a butchers delivery today and I needed to split the order into meal size portions; just sausage, bacon, steak, beef mince and elk burgers!

It was then that I nearly did myself a mischief! Heading out to the freezer in our garage I walked up a few steps and onto some paving slabs and could feel myself almost fall over! The combination of the material of the paving slabs and the frozen slush/snow was not a good mix, in fact walking on the slabs was almost impossible. Thankfully the other surfaces between the house and the garage were slip free!

And that was Friday and now it's time to start the weekend...I think we maybe having a binge watch of RuPaul's Canada Drag Race!

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 660 - Back to Work

Day 660...

Thursday and my first day back to work since before Christmas, and it was an easy return to work as it was only a half day and I got to work from home.

My focus today was to complete the pre-school accounts for the last term, update all the banking, respond to emails and to create a cash flow forecast for the next few months.

The benefit of working from home is that I am able to work uninterrupted and in a much quieter environment. And by about 1pm I had achieved all that I'd set out to do. I then spoke with my deputy manager to get caught up on how the day was going as I won't see her when I'm in tomorrow, and then I could stop for the rest of the day.

Simon and I had hoped to go out for a walk but by the time I'd finished all my pre-school work the cold and frosty morning had turned into a rather damp and grey afternoon so we decided not to bother. While I'd been working this morning Simon had cleaned around the house and so this afternoon we could both just chill for a little while. Simon had his digital art and I had my jigsaw.

By the end of the day it was time to brave the cold outside and head out to the gym for a weights workout; the second of this week. I now need to figure out how to find the time to jump on the exercise bike at other points in the week...or rather not talk myself out of jumping on the exercise bike!!

See you tomorrow.

xx

Day 659 - Last Day of Holidays

Day 659...

We have a Wednesday and my last day off before returning to work tomorrow. Simon had been due to start work yesterday which had been delayed due to our power outage but on checking his emails late on yesterday discovered that his team were down a couple for various reasons and so everyone had agreed to delay their return until Tuesday next week.

This meant a much more relaxed start to the day and once we had breakfast out the way we decided to indulge in this weeks 'Book of Boba Fett' episode. Another great episode as far as we were concerned and we are really enjoying the start to this series.

Next we popped out to our local Lidl to pick up a few bits and pieces plus I had a voucher for £20 that needed using (a promo from sorting my car insurance out the other week!). 

It was then time for the main task of the day - taking down all our outdoor Christmas decorations. This meant the removal of 3 lots of snowflake stake lights, 2 small trees, 1 set of Christmas tree shaped stake lights, one garland, one Mickey wreath, baubles from the trees, tinsel from my tiki statue, two lots of string lights, one snowman, one penguin and one Santa!! We also had the three indoor trees, one small indoor tree and three indoor garlands to pack away as well!

We moved a few things around in the shed and got out all the various storage boxes ready for packing away. First off we packed all the indoor decorations away as they were all disassembled and just needed putting in the correct storage boxes. Next we packed away my new Mickey wreath, two small trees and garland and the three sets of snowflake stake lights; these were all straight forward as they were all battery operated.

Next we tackled all of the 'plugged-in' lights. The blow moulds were easy to unplug and pack away along with the Christmas tree stake lights...

My view last night...

...and my view this afternoon!!

But then it was time for the string lights. I decided that if I could make sure they would stay on a static light effect that I wanted to keep them out and re-arrange them. A little playing around and we found that both sets would stay on static in between powering on and off. Next I wanted to take both sets down, untangle them and then re-position them. I decided that lights in the garden look so pretty and that 'flashing' lights mean Christmas while 'static' ones are simply pretty for anytime of the year.

We have been able to take one set the whole length of the garden and thanks to Simon we were able to fix them to the fences by way of a few screws. Now I can have lights in my garden all year round.

Glad to be back inside from the cold it was time for coffee and jigsaw and while I pushed pieces around the puzzle board Simon pushed pedals around on the exercise bike!

Well that was today and tomorrow I will be back at work, although it will be just a half day and a day working from home as I have the fun of the termly accounts to complete!!

Right I best refill that glass of wine and settle down for the last couple of episodes of the latest season of Queer Eye (and try not to cry!).

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 658 - No Power!

Day 658...

Well, today was supposed to have been back to work for Simon and Ethan but that didn't quite happen. 

We were up and making breakfast and I'd just filled the kettle with some water, and as I placed it down and flicked the switch we lost power. Not to worry we thought it was probably just the kettle tripping out the electrics but nothing had tripped. Then we realised the whole house was without power rather than just the sockets in the kitchen. Ah, we had a problem.

Simon jumped on the phone to Western Power to report the fault. However because we had to call using a mobile phone we had a slight issue as the mobile phone signal here is pretty bad. Sure enough half way through the phone call and we lost the signal. We had thankfully done as the operator had requested but that had made no difference. By this time I'd noticed lights on in our neighbours houses and so we started to think that maybe the fault was with our house only.

It was then my turn to jump on the phone, but this time I used Ethan's phone as he is on a different network and had a slightly better signal. I phoned the electrical company we had recently used for our electric car charging point to see if they could help. And while I did that Simon had to drive further into our village in order to get a mobile phone signal so that he could text his boss and let them know that he wouldn't be 'logging on' first thing! 

Thankfully about an hour later our electrician had arrived and promptly told us that there were a 'ton of Western Power vans' at the bottom of our lane...mmm so maybe this wasn't just our house. Anyway, he doubled checked our supply and confirmed that the problem lay with the power company and not us - phew! Just then our power came back on...only to go straight back off again! And at that point all my neighbours appeared from their houses to say that their power was now out!

So Simon and Ethan were unable to work. Thankfully, we have a gas hob so I was still able to cook breakfast and then boil water to make cups of coffee throughout the day. We decided that the only thing we really could do was to start taking down the Christmas decorations. I have a number of larger decorative pieces that I have displayed and so I gathered them all together first and got them packed away in their specific boxes. We could then start on each individual tree...there were three of them to pack away and I am quite particular about how all the tree decorations are packed and stored!

Around 11am we had a phone call from the power company to let us know that they were still trying to locate the problem and that they suspected the issue was somewhere underground, but that they were hoping to get power restored by 6.30pm! Ah...a new plan for the day was needed. We did a little more 'undecorating' and then headed out for a spot of light lunch at a local Starbucks as we knew we would be able to recharge our phones there and get a decent coffee.

We arrived back home hopeful that the power might be back on but as we turned the corner we could see all the power company vans lining the main road and men in hi-viz jackets walking about. Oh well back to more 'undecorating'! Although we did make sure to dig out the box of candles just in case;our house is relatively dark and we knew as the afternoon went on we would need the light however minimal that the candles could provide.

And then the power came back on...and two minutes later it went off again! But by around 3.30pm it came on and stayed on (well it's still on as I type this!) although I think we all thought it could go off again at anytime. This meant that we could get all the decorations taken down, boxed up and moved into the loft until next year. I still have the trees to pack away as although they are all dismantled I need to get their storage boxes out of our garden shed and it was too dark and cold to be messing about outdoors, so that will be a job for tomorrow. 

A little more drama (well inconvenience) to add to the day was that our refuse bins did not get collected as they should. Guessing staff shortages due to you know what, but I have raised it with the council so we will see what happens.

To round out the day Simon and I headed down our 'gym' for a weights workout; my first time in at least two weeks...perhaps even longer! But it was worth it and I really need to get myself refocused as far as workouts go.

With the power still on I think it's time to watch some more Queer Eye - just loving this new season!

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 657

Day 657...

Today marks the end of our Christmas break...sort of. Both Simon and Ethan are back to work tomorrow while I still have a couple of days to go, so there is that feeling of day-to-day life returning.

Molly messaged me this morning with a photo to show that they had taken down their Christmas decorations today. Because I will be at home the next couple of days while the men of the house are working I've decided that I will start to take ours down then. I have three trees, multiple ornaments and outdoor lights to sort so I will approach them all in a steady fashion. I love all my Christmas decorations and always hate taking them down as everywhere feels so empty...Simon on the other hand tolerates the clutter that Christmas brings and always looks forward to 'getting the house back'!

We had a very slow start to the day, so much so that breakfast was more like brunch! Early afternoon we headed out for a coffee; a chance to just have a little time for Simon and I and chance for Simon to drive the car. He is loving it, in fact I've never known him enjoy a car so much before!

We arrived home just at the right moment as we had an Amazon delivery arrive and the lady delivering was looking rather confused and was struggling to find our house and that of a neighbour and so we were able to come to her rescue just at the right moment. Our delivery now means that we have a set of dip bars to add to our gym. Simon had tried the set that Dan has and was surprised at how neatly they stored away and had quickly found a pair online. Once inside the house the bars were assembled and of course had to be tried out. I can't see me using them but never, say never!

This afternoon Simon jumped on the exercise back for a 45 minute workout and while he 'cycled' I moved some jigsaw pieces around. As you can tell my idea of exercise and Simon's are quite different, but I think once I am back into our normal routine I really need to get focused with using the bike and alternating that with gym sessions.

And that kind of rounded out our day, very chilled and laid back and no doubt will see a few more episodes of Queer Eye and Canada's Drag Race watched this evening with the obligatory glass of red to hand and some dark chocolate.

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 656

Day 656...

Today was more of a routine kind of day after the hustle and bustle of the festive period.

We started the day with the collection of our weekly grocery shop - yipee! A sign that life is returning back to it's usual routine. Although the service was that bad today that I decided to provide some feedback to the store. I couldn't find anything online that would allow me to feedback to the store direct nor could I find any other means of contacting the supermarket so I resorted to twitter. I always think it's a sad state of affairs when the only means of communicating is by taking to social media. But by mid-afternoon I'd had a response and have now been able to 'direct message' them with some more information...let's see what happens next?!

With the shopping packed away and a late breakfast/early lunch eaten (hence the need to get my grocery shop today!) we decided to head out for a walk. We've missed getting out and about for our walks but as today was another mild day for the time of year, and dry, it was too good an opportunity to pass up. We managed 3.4 miles in an hour and four minutes.

This afternoon I was tasked with looking over Simon's website that he's recently updated; I had a read through of it all to make sure everything read correctly and there were no errors. After that we took a little time out and while Simon drew and I sorted some jigsaw pieces we watched the Disney Christmas Day Parade which was filmed at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

And then it was time to jump online with some of my Disney family for our Disney Dream Girls podcast family Sunday afternoon quiz! Our Sunday quiz started during the first lockdown and had become a regular Sunday occurrence, but as our lives have started to look a little more normal it has been difficult to get us all free at the same time. But today four of us were able to hook up online, have a chat and answer some questions. I actually won although that does mean that I now have the task of setting the questions for the next quiz!

I have an evening planned of 'not very much' that will most likely involve red wine and probably the latest series of Queer Eye!

See you tomorrow.
xx

Day 655 - New Years Day 2022

Day 655...

Welcome to the New Year, and welcome to 2022...I wonder what this year will bring us and whether we will be in a better place this time next year? And whether we will have anything like our previous 'normal' lives...I sure hope we do!

But today started with another hotel breakfast to set us up for the journey home. Once checked out we headed over to Molly and Dans for a coffee and a little catch-up.

We left their house around 11.30 am arriving home at 4.10pm, so a total of 4 hours and 40 minutes. The great thing about the hotel that we'd chosen to stay at was not only did they have charging points (this will now be a prerequisite of any future hotel stays!) but that the charging points were free! The charging points were of the lowest charging rate available and so the time taken to charge the car was lengthy but as we plugged it in each time we parked up we ensured that we started today with the maximum charge possible.

We had decided to make our first charging stop at one of the services that we'd used on the trip down because they were super fast chargers, easy to use and there were four available. When we arrived all four were being used but we decided to wait and see if a slot became available. We could see from the screens on the units that a couple of the cars were almost fully charged and sure enough a few minutes later a space became available. So we plugged in and walked over to Starbucks for a coffee. We enjoyed our coffee and by the time we headed back to the car we had about a 90% charge which was brilliant.

We then set off with our next charging location in mind. Simon has been watching how the charge works, how quickly the cars 'estimated mileage' drops and with a little research has now got a pretty good idea of how far we can get between charges. 

Our second stop and our second coffee saw the car get up to around an 85% charge which was more than enough to make the last leg of the journey home. We made much better time on the return journey because we weren't having to wait around too long for charging units to be available unlike on our journey down.

As this journey was around 190 miles we would have stopped once for a toilet break/coffee stop in our previous, petrol, car so the difference is now we have to have two stops instead of one. The whole driving experience is much calmer and feels less rushed and taking that little bit longer really did not bother us at all. We have said that now we have a better idea of what a long journey entails we will know to plan ahead and expect to take longer.

Interestingly we have chatted to a number of electric car drivers over the last two journeys and everyone has been happy to share their moans and groans and their successes. One driver today confirmed what we had already suspected that the colder the weather the worse the performance and consequently the warmer it is the more miles that can be done! Perhaps we will became fair weather drivers from now on!!

Arriving home it was time to unpack and put things away and for some reason I became rather emotional. I always seem to struggle emotionally at this time of year as we move from the hustle and bustle and joy of Christmas into the lull of the start of a new year. It always feels rather melancholic for me as my thoughts turn to packing away decorations and returning to the humdrum of everyday life. But I think arriving home today caught me unawares as my thoughts turned to Molly and her not being at home anymore. I am so happy that she has found Dan and is making a life for herself but I do miss her so much. She is my partner in crime and I miss having her around. I know this will pass because I am used to her living away from home for periods of time but for the moment it has hit me a little more than I'd expected.

Saturday is done, so I will see you all tomorrow.
xx