Reach for the stars...

niccatw

Holibags booked. :j We're off to Yorkshire for three nights. Otley. (Yes, we. My friend is coming. I did ask her if she could afford it. I suspect our definitions of "afford" are slightly different. And it would have cost me double the price to go alone. :eek: Which I personally think is shocking. So I chose not to lecture her.)

And £99 for three nights bed, breakfast and dinner is not to be sniffed at. And there's a pool and a jacuzzi so we're sorted for sitting back and reading my book (which I'm refusing to start until I'm on my holibags.)

We'll likely pop into York and Harrogate, but if you know the area, do give us your tips!

Charity shopping was successful. I got a brand new hot pink Nike top for £4. And a sparkly purpley Top shop t-shirt for £3. And a Tom Wolf red dog tooth tunic top for £3 (that one is for work). I also got fabulous dog tooth trousers. They were from a vintage place so were more expensive at £20. But they fit beautifully so I no longer have to wear trousers half way down my backside like the kids do!

I still haven't found that elusive cobalt blue item of clothing I'm after. Which is hardly surprising given it is elusive in it's dictionary defintion in that I don't have a clear mental grasp of what that piece of clothing looks like! :rotfl: Maybe Otley will hold the answers.

So not a lot of money saving or debt payment going on today! I may be teetering on the verge of the wagon. I hope you're ready to pull me back!

Butti, when is it you're headed up this way? We're off on 25th April. I can't remember if you said Easter or "the wedding" weekend.

MatyMoo

Oooh, lots of lovely places to go around there :T Some ideas to get you going.....

Just a littler further north and you are in James Heriott Country - Thirsk (where his actual practice was, Ripon is quite nice too.

No trip to Harrogate is complete without a trip to Betty's Tea Rooms and in York you have the Minster, The Shambles, the Viking Centre and the Castle Museum.

If you are driving down there is a great road that takes you from the M6 near Kendal right the way across the N Yorkshire Dales to Bedale (where they filmed some of the series All Creatures Great And Small) on the A1 - I think it is the A684 but check a map! Lovely, lots of scenery and much better than motorways

niccatw

Ooh, thanks Maty! Anything not be stuck on the motorways for ages. Will check it out. I sense 4 days might not be long enough!

I'm grumpy today. Another day where I have caught up on my sleep (which is good and was much needed) but I have missed a gorgeous sun shiny day. Which would have been perfect for walking through a coupleof massive parks near me.

Ah well. The clocks have gone forward so I can probably do it of an evening now.

Now, must get organised in time to settle down for the Dnacing on Ice final. I want both Sam and Laura to win!

Butti

Lots of things to do round Otley Nic.
James Herriot Museum in Thirsk
Aerial Extreme (High wire course) close to Bedale
Like Maty says Harrogate and York (very good pub in the centre of York - will try and remember it.

I don't study in the middle of the night anymore - I is a girlie swot these days (75% for my last essay - have probably already told you this 6 times as can't quite believe it) and my hands sieze up.

B

niccatw

Who would have thunk it! The A684 has it's own wee wikipedia entry. Is there anything the internet cannot tell us! No wonder our student at work was constantly on her mobile. She was probably googling every question we asked. (I believe she is what is temed a "native" to all this technology malarky, unlike any-one born before the Apple generation. Who don't even get jokes. My friend was moaning about Orange not being able to get her ipad because Apple had run out. Obviously I couldn't let that be. So I threw a banana into the conversation. I think the irony was utterly lost. Or perhaps I'm just not as funny as Ithought I was. )

I have been to the gym again. They gave me quite a lot of abs work for my last programme to makes sure my core strength was strong enough to walk 26.2 miles without giving me backache. Ouch! I want a washboard stomach already! I want it yesterday! Oh. My. God! I'm no-where near the strength of some of the folks at the gym and I cannot imagine getting (or wanting to go) there! I wonder just how long it took them to get their stomachs or iron! But I don't wonder for long. These are people who can lift weight over their heads in sit ups and do it repeatedly and quickly for 50 or more sit ups. :eek: Either I hallucinate severely in the gym (which is entirely possible) or these people really do exist! I can only assume drinking bottles of Sol at my friend's upcoming birthday night out is a no go for those diehards! (I can just about hold a plank for 30 Nicca seconds! None of your one elephant, two elephant malarky!)

Today has been an NSD. But I don't have energy left to check any bank accounts. Pay will go in at midnight tomorrow and then I'll need to transfer to bills account pronto as this is a 5 week month ending on pay day (normally I have a week to transfer money), so I'll update then. I also have another cheque from second job as they didn't manage to get the BACs pay system up and running in time for pay day this month. Here's hoping that'll be sorted this month to save me a trip out of my way during the weeke and past a charity shop I'd never otherwise pass!

niccatw

£288.05 out of my RBS bank acount but not yet in my RBS loan account. Same with the £66.66 from Co-op and £6.09 from A&L. So we're now under the 5k mark.

However there were lots of vans with various drainage logos out on my street today and I didn't see one saying Scottish Water so I'm back to wondering whether I'll get a letter from the factors. And again whether it is wise to transfer the rest of the money over to that account. And again why they bother with a call centre that can never tell you anything other than "there's nothing on my system" and "don't worry, we'll invoice you if there's anything to pay". Deja vu!

I'm also waiting on the single person's allowance to be allowed on my council tax (my lodger is a full time student), so that should bring it down 25%.

I've not had a good start with NSDs this month; 1st was my friend's birthday so I was out; 2nd I was a little fragile and needed some-one to bring me food to my door ; 3rd I was visiting my friend and her 'ickle bambino and we went to the beach and inevitably had to have chips (it was too cold for ice cream!) and today I was organised to take lunch in with me. Neither do I have lunch ready to take in with me tomorrow.

And I know I won't sort it out in the morning even if I persuade myself I will this time! I'll still fall out of bed at the last possible minute and forget all about it!

On the plus side, one of tomorrow two all am/all pm meetings has been cancelled! :T
21 days to my holidays...

Jesthar

*hugs* Proud of you Nicca

Sorry I've not been around much of late. Mum came to visit, and we hit the garden big time, widening the sunny side border in preparation for more veg this year. Also planted a load of seeds, some of which are already sprouting. I have twelve runner beans, twelve french beans, twelve leeks, some pea plants, some tomato plants, some lettuce and some bedding plants too. How's your allotment group going?

psychopathbabble

Well done on getting under 5k with the loan!! Hope you have a fabby holiday. It's not that late yet, quickly make something for lunch now!!

Hope you are well besides that xx

niccatw

Hey there :hello:

Thank crunchie it's Friday! And I have a lovely chocolate cake with flakes and toffees on it to eat. And caramel shortcakes . Courtesy of the person who has been on work experience with me. I really enjoyed having her but, wow, it's been crazy busy! On Wednesday night I thought I'll just have a wee lie down for 5 minutes.... I woke up at 11.30pm, had some supper and went back to sleep! That's not normal, is it?

RBS loan currently at £4824.04 with another £300 winging it's way over which will bring it down to 4.5k .

I'm being tempted by a new TV though! The one I have is my parent's old TV. I think it might be the same age as me . It certainly takes up the entire corner of the room! The two guy on either of my shoulders are deep in battle! ("Get it." "No, don't be daft." "Och, yours is about to give up the ghost." "So, you'll survive." And so it goes on!)

I'm thinking a sensible compromise might be to allow myself to get one when the RBS loan is paid off! Which possibly seems like an extravagant reward, but when that loan is paid off I will no longer have to give RBS £288.05 per month, so I figure I can keep that money for one month before tackling the next on the list (which will be the Northern Rock one).

See the fundamental mistakes I made were 1. Looking at the Makro leaflets left on my desk at work. 2. Texting gadget friend who loves his telly about plasmas, LCDs etc. etc.... inevitably that lead to me saying "This is what I want for a telly..." and him saying "Here's a fantastic option" and me going "Oooooooooooh!" WANT, WANT, WANT!

So, going by Martin's money mantras....

Skint: Do I need it? Not yet (though technically I suppose it's a luxury). Can I afford it? Yes (but at the expense of putting that money toward my debt) Have I checked if it's cheaper elsewhere? Yes

Not skint: Will I use it? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes. Have I checked if it's cheaper elsewhere? Yes.

Ok, I'm off to put the kettle on and check out the demotivator with a cuppa.

NSDs going badly this month! 4th Bought lunch. 5th NSD1 (only because I'd forgotten my bank card when I met my friend for dinner so I now owe her!) 6th Bouht printer ink after a fight with my printer. It won. My nails are still suffering the aftermath! 7th Bought lunch 8th (today) Bought diesel to stop the car beeping at me (on my cashback credit card ).

Hmmmm! Saturday I'm off to the Framer's Market and Sunday I'm getting my hair cut! Uh Oh! Must try harder!

niccatw

Haven't been back to the community gardens yet. Not for lack of trying. They just seem to be having a few technical difficulties at the moment (read, possible infighting over the way it's run! Could be wrong just my gut feeling) and when I have been we've mostly stood around a camp fire chatting about the possibilities. Which is fun but isn't doing! But I'm on it! Happy gardening!

And I'd maybe have food in the house to actually make lunch too! Which would have been handy this week as I've been out and about so much!