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

poddle911

Birdie85 wrote: »

The silly thing is, I kind of hate FB yet I can't cut myself off from it!

I totally agree with everything that's been said - including this It's just fascinating! I get annoyed by the oh-so-hilarious/witty comments that obviously require loads of effort - too much time on your hands!!

Hope I'm not guilty of any of these - gulp!

Birdie85

Dinah, your status updates are fine! They don't annoy me because they're not about The Wedding of the Year twice a day!

Mine are usually the odd random comment or if I'm bragging that I'm going away, but I know nobody actually cares! I hate pity posts when people just want people to say nice things to them! Sad!

Swinstie73

Not a big fan of Facebook, only went on cos my sister in Canada is on it (we can chat sometimes) and only have one picture unlike some who have 900 pictures (like to have a nosy though).

And it will come as no surprise (cos I can't re-master roller skates at 34) that I don't even know how to use it - I now feel very old!

Tete_en_l'Air

Oh Swinstie haha, you make yourself out to be a biddy!

Very quiet on here today, surely nobody's WORKING on a FRIDAY?!

I've been out for lunch with one of my bestest friends and we're organising a girls' holiday for October (cottage in the Lakes ), as well as a weekend in London and one in York over summer, so I've just opened myself another piggy bank in my account for 'holiday' savings, will try and put about £50 a month into that as well as my £50 car saver and £25 Christmas fund. That said though I have my MOF more or less sorted now, depending on how much I spend on a car of course!!, so things won't be as tight with me trying to put as much as possible into that.

Going to take my money out of my ISA tomorrow which will be a bit of a wrench but then that meansI can start car hunting which is exciting!

Off to try and finish this review and get it posted before 4.30 so I'll have at least done one this week!!! (Still can't get my USB stick (with all my reviews to go onto Ciao on) to work, only at work not at home thank god, but don't want to ask the techies because there's nothing work-related on it!) Have a good weekend everyone!

Flower08

You're sounding alot more positive about things today - thats great and your weekends away sound lovely aswell!

OH and i were talking today and decided what with the move and everything we probably wont be able to afford to go abroad this summer, but instead think we will have a couple of weekends away. Already got one planned in York in August - a friend is getting married there so we thought we would make a weekend of it.
OH wants to go camping in Wales one weekend - so should still be nice to have some time away!

Feeling all positive - finally got the moving house fund over £900, £1000 is my psychological barrier, but it feels like we are getting there will hopefully bumb it up to about £950 within the next few days. Wooo!!

Tete_en_l'Air

Hi Flower, yep still feeling really positive about everything - glad you are too! £100 is not a lot to save to get you past your barrier, you've done so well! York is a lovely place to go to for a weekend, so many nice shops and cafes!

So, Monday Morning Stock Take!:

Went to the bank and drew £2,200 out of my ISA, leaving £7,060 in it. I would have taken an extra £50 but I felt all flustered when I was in there with OH hissing "Don't be too loud when you say how much you want!" in my ear (his world is full of demons and robbers whereas mine of full of fluffy bunnies and rainbows!) - I had to ask how much I had exactly and couldn't hear her when she said, and it all seemed a bit rushed for - for me - such a big transaction! Sigh. Anyway. Going to take Friday off this week and possibly pop and see a couple of cars I've seen on Autotrader. One I really like though is £2k which won't leave much left over for the old MOF but we'll see what happens.

MOF itself is looking a bit confusing as I used it for the flights and also to book the hotels, the figure in my sig is minus the flights but as OH was paying me back for the hotels it should have broken even at the number in my sig, but now OH's money has gone in but no hotel money has gone out. There's a £2 discrepancy between the balance and available balance so I'm wondering if each one has just taken a £1 deposit? Will see when the payments clear I guess. I wish they could just take it all at once so it's done with!

The good news is that my CA balance hasn't moved over the weekend and I have £3.02 left in my purse out of about £38 so must have been quite a frugal one! I only bought our tea one night and some blistex so all's good. This good walking weather is doing wonders for my bank balance!

14 days to pay day. I'd like to have a good £100 left over if I can to go towards spending money for Italy, as soon as my Holiday Pot clears on my account I might move it straight across. Trouble is, I keep thinking of items of clothing I'd like to take away with me!

Swinstie73

Aw Tete, what a brilliant amount to have in your ISA, think I've got about £1.5K!

Glad you mentioned walking, me an OH have walked all weekend and really enjoyed it, so we're going to try and do more (if we get a good summer). He is more of a Samba trainers and bottle of Irn Bru bloke whereas I'm trying to be sensible and take water and have decent walking boots (not bought them yet), what sort of stuff do you need to take? Walks so far haven't been too strenuous but I'm guessing you should have a few supplies incase of accidents etc., i.e. getting lost!

Tete_en_l'Air

Haha Swinstie, we were just laughing at some people yesterday - out on the Moors with a pushchair! In fairness I don't think they were going very far but they still looked funny! Ooh in Scotland you'll have loads of lovely places to go! To be honest I've spent a fortune on walking stuff and it's definitely worth it if you enjoy it because once you've got the kit it's just the cost of petrol and your packed lunch for a day out.

Most important is a good pair of boots - not shoes, you need to support your ankles. My first pair were Karrimor which is an OK brand, I got them for about £25 in a discount sports shop, once I got into it though I wanted a better pair, fully leather and waterproof and got some Brasher boots for £60 in TK Maxx. Good thick walking socks are also essential, normal socks have a tendency to rub, £10 for a pair of socks is a good investment :eek:

Waterproofs - essential because even if it's a nice day at home, once you get up in the hills/moors it's a completely different weather system. if you're only starting out a pac a mac might do you but once you start going more seriously you'll want a proper waterproof jacket and even some deluge trousers (waterproofs which have poppers all up the legs so you can quickly throw them on over your trousers) - I've never used mine since I bought them but got caught out in the Lakes without them once and had to drive all the way home in soaking trousers, was horrible.

Any trousers will do you, just make sure they're comfy and allow you to move - jeans aren't advised because if you get caught in a shower they take ages to dry!

It's important to have layers so you can add or take away depending on how cold it is or how hot you get! I wear a sports bra (it really makes a difference even just walking), a breathable t-shirt (from walking shops) and have a variety of tops - I have a thin zip top which just keeps the cold air off when you're warm from walking, a 'windwall' fleece which has special windproof technology and is a bit thicker, but not fleecy inside as this will make you sweat, and my waterproof jacket which is really thin. I mix and match these top three dependiong on the weather.

Erm, what else? Sunscreen definitely! And insect repellent for walk in the woods, not such a problem on mountains and stuff. Tie your hair up and/or use a hairband as it's always windy, sunglasses helps this as well. Lipbalm. Tissues are a definite - my nose always runs once I get going, I think it's to do with your body heating up! Camera! Mobile. A decent map if you're going off the beaten track - the OS Expolrer maps are what we use, alongside instructions for walks we find online. A good map is invaluable - we once went about 2 miles off course on the way down from Scafell and only noticed because we noticed the shape of a particular tarn was replicated on the map - if we'd carried on we'd have ended up about 20 miles from the car!

What else? I always take plasters in case shoes do end up rubbing, baby wipes or antibacterial gel. Plenty of water and food Some sort of hat, even a light one on summer, to cover protect your ears from the wind. Gloves if it's remotely cold, though I often find my hands are warm from the exercise anyway. OH also has one of those silver shock blankets and some glow sticks haha, but I hope we never have to use either of them!!

Obviously you'll need a bag to carry stuff in too and if you're serious about it you'll benefit from looking at proper walking bags with padded straps, and chest straps to distribute the weight and which sit away from your back a bit to stop you sweating!

That sounds like a lot of stuff and it is a bit full on, but we do do long walks in quite isolated areas/up mountains etc and because it's a long term hobby for us I'm happy to spend the money and be comfortable. If you're just looking into it for now I'd say try and get yourself some cheap boots like I did, a kagoul and a little haversack to carry stuff in, and maybe do some well trodden easy to follow walks and see how you get on!

Sorry for the 'rambling' (arf) post, hope you get into it and enjoy it, definitely beat schlepping round the high street of a Saturday!

ETA - gosh that's long!

Tete_en_l'Air

Hmm, so thinking of things I need to do.

- 2 Dooyoos
- 2 Ciaos
- Sort itinerary and budget for Italy
- Make hair appointment
- Phone up about contact lenses (I think they've got the wrong prescription down!)
- Go into town to look at that pair of jeans I saw on the internet...
- Visit Granny
- Second Princess seam on dress
- Victoria Sponge
- Finish the blimmin book!

Lara44

Tete, in your sig is that 88 books read this year so far?! Omg, that's v. impressive