Gallygirl's "A journey of 121,226.67 pounds begins with a single penny" diary

greent

Secret_Saving_Squirrel wrote: »

I love the wacky festivals. We should have more of them in the UK.

We do have some weird and wonderful events around the UK, though, even if no cremations of papier mache fish These three are from my home county:


http://www.tetburywoolsack.co.uk/
http://www.shinkicking.com/
http://www.cheese-rolling.co.uk/index1.htm


x

gallygirl

greent wrote: »

We do have some weird and wonderful events around the UK, though, even if no cremations of papier mache fish These three are from my home county:


http://www.tetburywoolsack.co.uk/
http://www.shinkicking.com/
http://www.cheese-rolling.co.uk/index1.htm


x

Cheese rolling is my favourite

No carnavals or Saints Days this week :eek: - but there is one next weekend so normal service is resumed .

Nature notes - a few pics of sunrises from the roof terrace and the orange blossom is nearly out :T. Weather not so good last few days though .

greent

Lovely sunrise pics




My aunty used to live at the bottom of Coopers Hill (where the Cheese Rolling takes place) When I was young (back in the 70s and 80s) it was a much smaller event and easy to just wander up there and watch the mad fools throwing themselves down. That was, of course, pre 'elf and safety too - so it was crazy. Nowadays it's a much bigger event with lots of international interest, barriers keeping you away from the main area and huge crowds so that you can't see anything and can't park close by. And massive H&S issues, obviously. I still love it though (And I have a soft spot for shin kicking, because it's so daft!)

gallygirl

Updated as we're nearly two months in.

gallygirl wrote: »

Plans for 2016:

MONEY:

• Reduce mortgage. Due to buying new house and using offset money to part fund, as of 31st December we owed 51,440k net. That will reduce by 6.8k over the course of the year, obviously we want to reduce by more than that . Can't really set a specific target as need to see how spending out here settles - we're not going to start scrimping to meet an arbitrary target - but will continue to be sensible and see how it goes.

We have given a tenant notice and are going to sell house so that will clear mortgage . We've also got a two week booking for apartment (confirmed) and another probable booking for at least four weeks so that's good. New regs mean a lot of hoops to jump through if you're doing short term lets for more than a few weeks a year so we'll not seek any more and go for a long term let come autumn.



HEALTH:

• Reduce weight. I lost almost 3.5 stone a few years ago, have put most of it back on and now it's going to come back off again :rotfl:.

6 lbs off so far, slow but steady

• Eating healthier, drinking less and exercising more - the usual stuff . Mr GG also on board :T. More specific aims connected with this below.
• A new recipe per week, as per MWC's diary Achieved so far
  
• Walk wherever we can rather than use the car. Dolly the Shopping Trolley will be coming out to play :T. Need to be careful though as she may aggravate my back/side .Achieved so far. We've been very busy but I've walked five miles twice this week when I could have taken the car and Dolly had a nice walk last week as well .
  

SOCIAL (also related to health, but want to expand social circle):

• Go out with walking group at least once a week if possible. New season started late Sept, first walk was rained off, then I went to UK and came back feeling under the weather for a few months. Now feeling up to it so will look at agenda and pick some out - they do some VERY long, VERY tough walks which I won't be going on ). Both walking days coincide with pilates which I don't want to give up, hence only once a week with walking group.

Haven't done this, too busy to give over a whole day at present

• Take some bowling lessons - turns out new friend is qualified coach and she is very, very good :T. Decide if I want to continue - if so join club and get clothing and bowls .

Friend I'm going to learn with comes back next week so let's see how it goes.

LIFESTYLE:

• Spanish - explore having private lessons and find some tame locals to practice on :rotfl:

Now having private lessons weekly. Biggest problem is English grammar, not Spanish. Present participle, reflexive verbs and preterite anyone :eek:.

• Eat meals outside whenever possible and continue to embrace outdoor living

Done this till last week when it's been too bally cold :rotfl:.

• Visit three new cities - I will include our local city as we've only had one brief trip in 10 years

None visited yet. However we're booked for Cordoba, Huelva and Malaga. And yesterday I booked five nights in Madrid using Mr GG's points, we'll go to Toledo and maybe somewhere else while we're there :T

• Enjoy life with my best friend Mr GG :kisses2:
  

This is going well when we're talking to one another :rotfl:.

HOUSE:

• Move in to new house by end of January - rather than letting it drag on into spring as there is no real rush Done
  
• Bedrooms - 2 double beds required by early March at the latest Done
• Curtains - required for lounge (x2), our bedroom and replacement for one bedroom in apartment Done. Bedroom curtains x 2 hung, lounge arriving this week :T.
  
• Sort garden out - not that there's much of it, but learn how to prune citrus trees, dig up cacti I don't want (little ones, the 10ft one can stay for now :eek:), sort out pots, grow some veg Some progress and I wave to my ripening lemon when I fill the kettle
  
• Roof terrace - this is quite large and I'm not sure how best to use it. A few mini-projects (shouldn't take long to arrange but each shopping trip is generally accompanied by a long lunch ):
  
  1. Divide off a bit with plants Sort of done
     
  2. Put a rotary drier (in a heavy umbrella stand) in one bit - buy drier and base Undone :rotfl:- base I had wasn't heavy enough, we need to move our heavy one from apartment.
     
  3. There is a good wind-out blind like this but it needs a new front trim - source and have fitted. Not even thought about it
     
• Kitchen - although larger than I have at present it actually has less units. Plus the units are dusky pink :rotfl:. Reactions have included 'its better than I was expecting', 'oh', 'it's awful' and 'it's liveable with - for now'. I tend to agree with the latter and need to negotiate with Mr GG how long 'now' is . Then make plans involving knocking down walls and installing a few arches. Won't be started till end of year I expect. Still thinking
  
• Air Con - there is only one unit (and we haven't got that working yet ). We're having ceiling fans fitted but will need air con by the summer. We did have the one unit working as a heater but it's now packed up
  
• Pellet burner - decide if one is needed, research and have installed when kitchen work done. Done ahead of schedule :T. Esta Estufa is lovely and strutting her stuff at present . It means we can move the existing heaters in the lounge to bedrooms - but I need a 'man who can' to do it as I can't drill deep enough :eek:.

Not too bad .

smallholdingsister

Sounds great Gally. Especially eating outside.

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Sounds like good progress and great to hear about all the plans.

It's been blinking cold and damp here today

Need some sun


Tilly x x x

greent

Bowls requires special clothing??????

Popgirl

Hi GG

I have to admire your progress, achievements and plans. Spanish life certainly suits you, well done.


Madrid is on my visit list when we eventually land in Spain long term. Barcelona and Granada are too. Please share your travel tips after each visit.


Best Wishes
Popgirl

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

greent wrote: »

Bowls requires special clothing??????

Not more wardrobe space required. Ahem will be folding all his clothes MK style :rotfl:

apple_muncher

I've got your back on the grammar.

(But I won't do your homework for you...!)