Squirrel's Smiley, Smart and Solvent Diary

beanielou

Not a great situation squizz

Karmacat

Money sounds good, but poor Mr Squizz! Didn't realise he was open plan - that makes a big difference. No wonder he feels bad - I hope he can find a way to turn it around soon.
x

redsquirrel80

Hello... good weekend Got up Saturday and did a bit of gardening, got the maps out and planned a nice circular walk, then headed off to get picnic stuff and out to the Peak District. Parked at the most awful 'countryside' shopping outlet place - why do they build these things in nice villages?! Anyway.. got lost within five minutes - walked to where we thought the path was and couldn't see it, so ended up doing our planned walk in reverse.. lovely countryside, some massive houses (complete with barking dogs and peacocks), a stone circle, some moorland, woods, river, etc etc.. sat on the top of the moor eating lunch and planning future walks - we started doing a bit of the Pennine Way last year so decided we should get back to it, and that a tent might be necessary! Got a bit lost again, should have gone along a path through a wood but ended up in a field full of cows - who seemed to think we were herding them as they all headed off in front of us.. saw some deer.. realised we couldn't get out of the field without going all the way back through it (and the cows), so we tried to find a way out onto the road - I climbed up a really steep slope, through a nettle patch.. owww.. at this point Mr S shouted that he'd found a gap in the hedge he could crawl though, but I was too far up the slope and couldn't get back down :rotfl: .. so launched myself through the hedge (hawthorn..owww) and out the other side onto the road! The rest of the walk was fairly uneventful, except that the stings and scratched started to hurt quite a bit and I sunburnt my neck as the rucksack had worn all my suncream off. Fun day anyway - finished it at an old mill where we looked at all sorts of interesting flour, and bought ice cream.. then visited the horrible shopping outlet to buy drinks and explore the 'old fashioned' sweet shop.. bought parma violets

Sunday, we remembered about the farmers market (well, I did!). Some more gardening in the morning, then we headed over. It was more of a mixture than our usual one - some meat and veg etc but a lot of baking and crafts. Bought sausages and a painting (as you do), and had some lovely Caribbean curry for lunch (although it started raining so the rice got a bit soggy, and it is quite hard to eat curry goat (on the bone) out of a polystyrene container with a plastic fork!). Headed back home, where I made bread and then fell asleep on the sofa. Second homegrown courgette for tea (with chicken and spicy herby bulgar wheat, oh and homegrown spinach too).

Aaannd it's Monday again! Fairly steady week at work I think, only one meeting planned so far. Got my friend coming to stay on Friday so need to pop back to my flat at some point for a bit of tidying, but other than that it's a blank page at the moment!

Karmacat

You had a great weekend! Lol at the cows, but ouch to the hawthorn and nettles. Sounds brilliant - your mapreading is going to be put to the test, hey? :j

What's the painting like (being nosy here)?

Oh, and deep yuk to goat on the bone! And there was me admiring little furry pygmy goats at the agricultural show! :eek:

redsquirrel80

Actually we should trust our own mapreading more - the first path was there, as we discovered on the way back, it was just hidden at the end of a road by some bushes.. and we ended up in the field because we followed the footpath signs rather than the map!

The painting is an abstract red and gold thing, it's from a series called 'Eclipses' and looks like a very hot sun! It's very like one Mr S was admiring a while back but was too expensive, this one was only a fiver.

Lol sorry I should put in veggie disclaimers for you ("Karma don't read this bit" :rotfl:) - I won't tell you what else we bought that we're having for tea (non veggies can read here - venison liver)

Karmacat

:kisses3: Thank you!

And yes, trust yourself more - I like that too.

redsquirrel80

Phew - busy morning - almost constant emails coming through, plus a meeting/ training session. Also attempting to find good flights on Ryanair for July/ August...

And sending a few emails.. one of the things I was told when I started this job is that they "encourage staff to network".. build up contacts/ relationships with other departments etc, so I've been catching up with some people I met at the Away Day last week, arranging to meet up etc. I'm so unused to this sort of culture, and to be honest my instinct is to hide in my little corner and get on with things.. but everyone I've met has been lovely so far, I just find it a bit nervewracking I guess! They do a few courses on things like better communication and (sigh) assertiveness, which I am seriously considering.. going to have to get better at this stuff if I want to get on I think.

Karmacat

Wow! That sounds absolutely great Squizz - mind you, I would *definitely* be hiding in a corner. Take any extra training you can get, of course - and can I just be self centred on your behalf? Keep a separate folder for all the courses that you do - the next time you update your CV, you have a huge amount of detail that you can choose from.

redsquirrel80

Good idea - I kept a folder of course certificates/ materials from my last job and it was useful when it came to doing job applications. Here they have an online system that records everything you've done in the way of training, and you can access materials again, which is quite useful I think.

That reminds me - I need to put this job on my CV!

Karmacat

Aha! You had it sussed already!

I'm at a wee bit of a loss today - I've got an amazon parcel and a couple of mystery shop emails to do, but then I'm thinking, well, if I hire professional packers, I don't have to fiddle around with it all. There's also a wall of soundproofing to take down, but thats such a big job, I think I'll have to hire a bloke to do that too. Hey ho..... I feel like I'm going to be fiddling around the edges today - must make sure that doesn't happen. I posted on mine about the recycling. Yep, thats what I'll work on - and that will clear space up too.

Hope you have a good day - speak later
xx