Sepa seeks freedom

Sepa74

Well, my Radley stuff arrived, and I'm very pleased with it. The handbag is just that little bit bigger than my old one, which was a touch small!

I just bought tickets for my brother and SIL and nephew to fly from Milan to Reggio Calabria in the South of Italy. When I made the offer I thought it would probably cost about the same for them as it would cost for me to fly to Reggio from London...

How wrong I was!! It cost nearly twice as much, including £60 to allow a 6 month baby to sit in his parent's lap!!

Unbelievable. Grrrr.

Anyway, that is the Christmas presents sorted for the entire Italian branch of the family (my brother is short on cash so they wouldn't have made it down if I hadn't offered to pay, so I figure I'm treating everyone, even the family who live in Calabria!) and my brother said he would pay for my fare to visit them for Niccolo's christening in Jan or Feb.

Where has the sun gone? It's a bit rude! I have washing to get dry, dontcha know?!

It's been quite an expensive week, this week. Food is the biggest chunk of money. Work has been pretty busy, and I've just not been taking my lunch in as much as I would do normally. It really adds up! I also had a meal out of the house yesterday as I was singing in a choir concert and needed to grab a bite to eat between rehearsal and the performance.

But apart from that this weekend has been a pretty good one, except for the cost of the flights I've just booked. Next week will be a lot more expensive as I have some Italians over for the weekend, and I have a dual policy of a) never cooking when I have Italians visiting - either they cook or we eat out and b) never washing up when Italians are around - I don't rinse the suds off the dishes before letting them dry... que schifo!!... disgusting!!....

Have a good MSE week, everyone.

Sepa74

Hi all,

Well, I've had a very expensive week! It became obvious on Thursday that the bathroom wasn't going to be finished by the weekend, so I decided to jump on L@stm1nute and book a hotel for them. I'm very pleased, as I got a secret hotel deal at an excellent price in Kensington Olympia. I paid for dinner for the three of us on Friday night, but they paid most of the rest of the weekend, so it wasn't too bad. We spent the afternoon and evening playing tourist, mainly just walking around London - down through Green Park, past Buck House, through St James Park, had lunch at the cafe there, and then walked up through trafalgar square (what is going on in trafalgar square?! I didn't even want to get close enough to find out!). Then down the Mall (I think?) past horseguards parade (TWO guards on duty, nice!) and then around Westminster, including photos of Big Ben!! and then to the Abbey... sadly we missed it being open, and were also too late for Evensong. Then we walked along embankment and got on a bus to Fleet Street where we had a drink in the George IV pub and glanced in the Cheshire Cheese, although there was no where to sit. We walked past St Bride's, my favourite London church and then up to St Pauls... avoided the protesters, and then caught a bus to Tower Hill. They were very impressed with even the outside of the Tower... they hadn't realised it was a full blown castle!

Then we walked over Tower Bridge, and I told them how it had been 'sold' to the Texan, and then along the South Bank past HMS Belfast (the husband turns out to be a WWII buff, bizarrely) and then up to London Bridge where we had fish and chips in the George.

So they had their fill of fine old London pubs, and all the London sights, and we had a really pleasant day. It's fun playing tourist guide every so often

In other news, the zip in my knee boots broke, so I had to go shopping for new boots. How sad! Chapel St market came to my rescue and I found some really comfy leather boots with a sensible sole for £28. Bargain!

I just heard from my friends. They missed their flight £500 to get one this evening.

Have had a big tidy up today. About time! My cleaner hasn't been for a month, and the house is horribly dusty because of the bathroom. She is coming on Tuesday come hell or high water.... ie whether the bathroom is ready or not.

The wretched bathroom was meant to take one week, but has now taken over two. I keep telling myself that £1500 is worth a lot of hassle (his quote was £1500 cheaper than the other guy). So the hotel for my friends has come out of the contingency money. I am getting VERY sick of not having a shower (getting a flushing toilet on Thursday was a major milestone!) and the dust and the general bother. Hopefully it will be sorted in the next day or so.

It's been a pretty eventful week.

On top of it all I've been feeling very low because I am now single (again) and nearly 38 and the hormonal clock is ticking away with a vengeance. I even went so far to look at IVF prices today! But the problem with being a single mother is that I have no family support. Even if I went home to Australia my family is very scattered, and my mother is already a nearly full time carer for my sister. I would find myself pulled in more and more to caring for my sister if I went home

Anyway, hopefully this down period will pass, and I'll keep thinking about the IVF vs waiting for a boyfriend option and see where I end up.

It's amazing how strong the urge to procreate is!! I'm not quite 38, so could have another 5 years of this :eek:

gallygirl

London is great as a tourist when you know your way around!

The bathroom will be worth it in the end .

Time to get on mat ch.com methinks hon xx

Absolutely

Hi

Just had a quick scan through your diary after you posted on mine, thanks. Very interesting reading.

The biological clock is indeed a very very powerful thing. I had ivf (albeit with a now-ex husband) and I have a beautiful daughter. We then went on to have twins - conceived naturally.

Who knows what life holds??

By the time my daughter is 16, I will be 49, but I will be 49 and Mortgage Free hopefully!

I look forward to reading more.

Sepa74

Hey GallyGirl, I'm an e-harmony lass, the last two boyfriends were 'discovered' there. The problem is that people who are unattached in their late 30s are generally unattached for a reason... and I don't exclude myself from that assessment either, although 5 years of therapy means at least I can have a relationship.

Hi Absolutely... thanks for reading my diary, I appreciate it! I have a tendency to write long rambling, posts, so congratulations for making it to the end!!

Lois_E

Sepa74 wrote: »

Hey GallyGirl, I'm an e-harmony lass, the last two boyfriends were 'discovered' there. The problem is that people who are unattached in their late 30s are generally unattached for a reason... and I don't exclude myself from that assessment either, although 5 years of therapy means at least I can have a relationship.

Hi Absolutely... thanks for reading my diary, I appreciate it! I have a tendency to write long rambling, posts, so congratulations for making it to the end!!

Same goes for people in their 40s.

Hope you find somebody soon. Being single is depressing enough when you're "grown up", but it must be far worse with a biological clock like yours. (((hugs))) I have the opposite problem. The men I meet online all want a younger woman than me that they could have a family with ... or else they don't like kids and don't want a woman who's already got some, so I don't fit their criteria.

Sepa74

Hi Lois, it's a tough old world sometimes, isn't it

I've had a dreadful MSE week! I've been working extremely hard lately, so the whole taking lunch in to work has gone out the window the last couple of weeks, and what a difference it makes going to Pret every day on my spends. This week will be pretty bad too, although I may be able to get some cheap soup from Mr S later in the week.

I worked until 11pm on Friday night helping the lawyers review a contract. Didn't get home until midnight! I also had to review the changes to the contract this afternoon. I am having Wednesday off as a little holiday, so I really hope my boss tells me to take it as time in leiu... he shouldn't really, as I am paid by the day, so if my day runs to 11pm, then that's tough for me, however he is very reasonable, so will probably just 'forget' I had the day off on Wednesday when it gets to timesheet time at the end of Nov.

I've also had this cold that's going around, and have spent a small fortune on over the counter medicines. My throat was so bad I even went to the doctor on Thursday just to check it wasn't tonsilitus. The doctor suggested a spray for the throat which did the trick.

I am really finding this weather hard because I keep overheating, especially when I'm in bed (having a low grade fever hasn't been helping either)! I started using the winter duvet a couple of weeks ago, and don't want to take it off now only to have to put it back on in a weeks time!

I noticed one of my cats has started drinking lots and lots of water, so I whisked her off to the vet yesterday... 1 blood test and £114 later, the vet says she is in the early stage of diabetes... talk of 2 injections a day for at least several months... I really don't know how I would manage it - she would just start living under the bed!

I am now putting her on a completely wet diet, and we'll see if that helps, although it is expensive, and wasteful too - the amount of packaging organic wet food comes in is ridiculous! Whatever happened to tins?! She has to have the organic stuff because of a skin condition.

On the plus side, however, the bathroom is this [] close to being finished and is looking great! Another couple of visits from the guy doing it and it should be pretty much completed. Yay!!! I am loving my new shower, too.

It's 6pm and completely dark

[Deleted User]

Gosh those are some hours you put in!- fingers crossed reasonable boss comes through when it comes to having some of the time off!

poor cat, hope the different diet works cant imagine cats are that easy to keep still and inject!

Hear ya on the depressing dark evenings roll on summer again I say...

Sepa74

Well, we got the contract signed at 7.30 last night, so all the extra hours were worth it.

We were working on the wording of the contract right up until the 11th hour, and we're bl**dy lucky there was an evening board meeting happening, otherwise we wouldn't have had anyone in the office able to sign it! I don't know what I would have done had that happened. Burst into tears or something!

Got confirmation from the vet that my cat has diabetes I'm having a little holiday-ette tomorrow (a well deserved one!) so she's off to the vet for the first treatment. I'm also going to get a Will drawn up tomorrow afternoon as part of the November 'make a will for a donation' month. In between times, I hope to write a couple of articles... if I manage to do that, then I will have earned the same money as I would have had I been at work, so that would be great! I am meant to write one article a month, but although I managed reasonably well in the first half of the year, I have really struggled since July. I'm three behind :eek:

Right, I'm off to bed... goodnight all!

SeriouslySeekingtoSave

Lois_E wrote: »

Hope you find somebody soon. Being single is depressing enough when you're "grown up", but it must be far worse with a biological clock like yours.

Hey thank you Lois we need an addendum to that statement! I'm single and very happy in that state In fact I won't touch 99% of men here with a barge pole and it constantly staggers me that the population in England isn't through the floor ie what on earth are the women in this country (and the rest of the world most of the time) thinking?! [ducks to avoid flying implements of wrath from various outraged posters....]

I however don't want kids so I feel none of the 'standard' pressures to settle down with a guy. I'm really sorry to hear that you're blue Sepa