Tete en l’Air’s Feet On The Ground Diary

Tete_en_l'Air

Poor Bluey has been nothing but reliable since the weekend, it's very upsetting!

I loved that mental image of the Birdies too

Tete_en_l'Air

Gah, I HATE Ciao! Why does it take so long to rate people? Don't know whether to bother any more, just copy them across and let people rate me!

tinkerbel

I do that, I've never rated anyone ! (because I dont know how though!)!!
I got a few nasty messages about my lack of rating though I still haven't got my first £5 which I have been waiting a while for though!

Tete_en_l'Air

How did you get nasty messages Tink? On comments on your reviews? I never even read those to be honest, the site just isn't user friendly enough.

I've just been through and copied all my Dooyoo reviews into Word documents so I have them for the future, just in case! My eyes have gone square though. I've also copied one into Ciao and as I say was trying to go back and return rates but it's just so tedious so going to stop that for now! Need to do some rating on Dooyoo though and also write a review for there.

Also still need to look at hotels, don't know what I've been doing all day so far, my head's full of cotton wool!

poddle911

ah poor Tete, hope you have an easy afternoon and feel better soon!

Tete_en_l'Air

- [STRIKE]Continue to research hotels in Pisa and Florence - esp Pisa[/STRIKE]
- 2 Dooyoos - NONE!
- Copy 3 to Ciao - Two!
- [STRIKE]Catch up on all rating for [/STRIKE]Ciao [STRIKE]and DY [/STRIKE] - Ciao is such a nightmare to navigate!
- [STRIKE]Make back-up copies of all reviews - just in case![/STRIKE]
- Check Lloyds internet banking to see if interest has been added - forgot
- Look into scratchies/surveys (sorry Dinah!) - forgot
- Read last 1.5 chapters of The Subtle Knife - too poorly!

Morning,

There I was thinking I'd got nothing done yesterday but did get a few things crossed off my list considering how rotten I felt. Feel a lot better this morning but I ususally deteriorate after being in my office for a while with no natural light or air

I was worrying a bit about not fulfilling my rating quota on Ciao and had this hairbrained idea that if I went into each review and rated all my raters then it shouldn't be too difficult or long and at least I'd have an equal number of rates to ratings. Each fo my reviews only have about 13 rates on and I did two before losing the will to live - I don't know what it is about the site that makes it so slow to navigate! So what I might do from now on is just try to rate about 5 reviews from the new reviews list (is there one?) per review I upload, just for the kudos you know. I did do all my backup copies of my reviews so far which was a bit mind-numbing but at least it's done. I have more reviews of Muller products than anything!

Got our hotels booked last night! :j We're staying in Florence for two nights and in Pisa for one. The three nights came to £190 so OH paid that and I've paid the £150 for the flights and parking at the airport, not too bad I don't think! Getting really excited now - we go on the 8th so that's one month today!! Need to persuade myself that I don't need a whole new wardrobe for it though!

A house came up to let yesterday in one of the villages we've been looking at, but even though it's on the edge of a duckpond (squee!) it's very old with all single glazed windows and TILED floors all through the downstairs, wood upstairs. We're both very cold creatures anyway and the energy efficiency was an F so we're not even going to view it. Although the rent is £500 per month, we'd be paying an extra god knows how much in heating bills. I was a bit upset and saying we shouldn't be looking at old houses if they're going to be a nightmare but OH won't hear of it. I just don't know. Newer houses have driveways and big gardens and double glazing, old ones are terraced and cramped and cold. Unless they're not cramped and cold in which case they're lovely and too expensive! Gah! Sorry for the ramble, I actually don't feel as down about it as I probably sound there. It was nice to see a house come available in the sort of area we want at least.

Eek, long post, I must be feeling better haha!

- [STRIKE]Check Lloyds internet banking[/STRIKE]
- Go into Lloyds and ask about taking money out and current int rate
- 2 Dooyoos
- 3 to Ciao plus rates
- Look into scratchies and surveys

Will also try and read a bit more af my bloomin book but going to the cinema tonight (Precious) so might not. Hope everyone's well this morning!

ETA - checked my ISA and interest has been paid. £15 less than I had calculated but still it's £254 of free money Hmm, can I put that in my 'extra earnings' total I wonder? Would it be too cheeky? I think I might!

Birdie85

Hi! Glad you're feeling better today and yay to going away in a month's time! The hotels look lovely- I'm so jealous!

I think it was very sensible to not view the house, it does sound like a money-sucker! Shame though, but at least there are more properties cropping up! I saw a sign in one of the local estate agents saying that demand for rental properties is outweighing supply right now and they were asking for rentals urgently so maybe that's the problem at the minute?

ETA: Think the girl in the office got the hint yesterday about the perfume after I stomped off complaining about 'a funny smell making me feel sick'! The office is blissfully neutral smelling! Ahhhhh.... loverly!

Tete_en_l'Air

Yeah maybe. I'm hoping that this demand is from people who want to buy but can't so hopefully they'd be in a slightly different market to us in that they'll want as cheap as possible so they can keep saving, whereas we don't mind spending as bit more, we just don't want to pay over the odds. Maybe I'm being naive! I might add to my to do list to sign up to the rental sites so I get alerts of new houses...

Having a good old think about finances this morrning. I've decided I'll transfer my ISA to Nationwide as they're the best rate which you can transfer money into (2.75 - not amazing but better than nothing). I'm going to take £2,250ish out of my ISA leaving a nice round £7k, not hoping to spend all that on a car though, hoping to get one for about £1,500 if I can. Then trying to decide whether to put the remainder straight in the MOF so at least it's there if I need it sooner rather than later... I think it makes sense but I'm being silly thinking of my diminished savings! Once we're settled in a house I'd like to try and pay about £1k of it back this year though and at least I know things like car expenses and Christmas are paid for from my little savings funds... Musings musings!

ETA - good news about the perfume!!

Birdie85

That sounds like a good plan. What are you planning on using the £7k savings for? You're so good with that, I'd be tempted to just transfer £1000 straight accross into the MOF if I saw all that money in an ISA! Which is why I have no savings....

poddle911

Hello! Glad you're feeling better too How was the film? I went to see Whip It and now I want to roller derby!

Birdie's right - it's probably best not to view somewhere if you can already sense problems, but it's a good thing that properties are starting to come up. Fingers crossed that there is a sudden influx of old/beautiful/spacious/warm rental properties soon (and your MO fund will be a bit fatter too!)

Yes, definitely count your ISA interest as extra earnings! I would if I had any

*following short interruption to actually do some work*

Sounds like you're very disciplined in terms of saving - i think your car/ISA/MOF plan is super sensible

I'm glad your subtle hints worked Birdie! :rotfl: