Horace's Biting the Bullet Diary

Horace

Hello peeps - another slightly spendy day yesterday and today - today being bottled water, reduced price bread, a cooked chicken breast in the butchers and a pack of 6 small lamb chops also from the butchers. Yesterday I bought a box of pinks which I am trying to tend on my kitchen windowsill bought for £1.50 at a local greengrocers.

I tried on some of the MnS clothes bought last week - the jeans will have to go back because they claim to sit on the waist yet they sit on my thighs despite being a size 14:eek: the shirt doesnt fit well either and I think it has a faulty sleeve - I may exchange these for more skirts.

Mum is on the ball with regard to the house so she is chasing up with her solicitor. I noticed that there seems to be an alarm in the house too as I only noticed the pad for it the other day but upstairs there are motion sensors and a huge red panic button - we have no idea where it is connected to and no-one seems to know.

I had a lovely surprise just now - I visited my postbox after my trip to the bin with a bag of rubbish (am clearing out my office) - I received a small parcel containing 4 lovely bitter chocolate and lime green cushion covers made by a friend in Scotland with love:D I spoke to mum earlier about my car and she suggested that I drop it off at the garage on Wedneaday afternoon and ask them to drop it back on Thursday after it has been done. She also mentioned that she had contacted a curtain shop in Redditch which has a wonderful reputation and they will come and measure up for free. She is going to pop in there next week and pick up some samples for me to choose from.

Chev - dad won't eat spag bol so it has to be meat and two veg - he is even more fussy than me (although I wont eat fish, shellfish or mushrooms or offal). Mum is his main carer and I dont think she can get help because she is over 70 herself. He is becoming extremely selfish. The doctor cannot do anything about the shakes as he already knows that dad has congestive heart failure and we have been waiting for him to die since 2003 (tough I know because he could die at any time). There is nothing more that can be done, we just have to wait. Mum won't leave dad in anyone's care and she won't leave her garden probably fearing that it will die if left to me to sort out.

Actually, when I was at the butchers today I noticed a pack of 6 lamb loin chops (NZ no less) for £3.99 so I have bagged these up in twos and put them in the freezer - I shall stake some to mum tomorrow as they are fairly small but still a good meal and if dad decides not to eat all of his then so be it. It is not fair for her to eat like a sparrow just because he has no appetite.

We chatted this morning about the MnS thing and she asked how I felt about it and I said that I was quite excited as it will be a totally new experience and that I would be working in a few departments. Mum reminded me that I come from a long line of shopkeepers although neither her nor her siblings followed that route until my uncle worked for MnS in their warehouse after his redundancy. Shopkeeping is in our blood and we seem to be quite good at it.

Horace

Jeepers when will it cool down? My flat is like a sauna so I have my tower fan wafting me.

It has been quite a busy day today with loads of jobs searched for and some applied for at R*mploy this morning. One would be uber ideal as it wuuld be 10 mins walk from new abode.:j

I attended the MnS workshop session today and did rather well on the tests - certainly with two of them I know I got 100%, on one I got 85% (the pass mark being 75%). I completed one test in 34 seconds despite being given 15 minutes to complete it - I scored 100% on this one:j There are more tests tomorrow and then we will see who is selected to go and work on the shopfloor.

I had a call whilst I was in the middle of a role play exercise (I was about to start mine as the tutors were fiddling with the paperwork) - it was someone ringing me about a job and sort of interviewing me on the telephone unfortunately, I had to apologise and end the call because I was called back into the session -no doubt I havent got that job or even the offer of a face to face interview:(

Eyebright

Sounds like you are doing really well at the M&S workshop Horace, that's great news!

Hope your mum and dad are doing ok

It was nice of your friend to make you some cushion covers!

Horace

Not checked in for a few days I know so blame the weather and tiredness. I finished the MnS thing with two long tests on Tuesday apparently I scored 30 on one of them when the pass was 31 but I was being put through anyway as I scored 100% on the role play as well as two other tests with 85% on another - they worked out an average percentage of 79% (how they got that figure I have no idea) now I need to wait and see what happens.

Took my car for service and MOT today and walked back to mum's and had lunch there before I was driven by dad's taxi service back to the garage. After the garage it was a nip into Ald* for some bits and a mooch and I espied a lawnmower reduced from £39.99 to £34.99 it has a grassbox and a safety cut out switch. I didnt buy it as I am under strict instructions not to buy anything because the vile vendors could still wriggle out of the deal which will be a swine for me as I have given notice that I am leaving on 30 June.

Talking about giving notice to my landlord - I arrived back about half an hour ago to find 3 lads hanging about on the doorstep so I asked them if they were waiting for someone and they confirmed that they were waiting for a letting agent to come and unlock Flat 5 - my flat! My flat is in no fit state to be viewed and I certainly wasnt told that viewings would be starting now. The lads have taken my number and are re-scheduling to the end of next week so my bank holiday weekend will be spent tidying and boxing stuff. I may have put them off renting as I have said that the girls upstairs are noisy as there isnt any soundproofing between the flats so you can hear everything. Still, I would have appreciated being told to expect strangers viewing my flat:mad:

Horace

Had another terrible night's sleep - my back is really sore and I have no idea what I have done to it, not taking painkillers either.

Heard a knock on my door at 7.30am and I answered it in my dressing gown to find it was the landlord's handyman wanting to try front door keys. He got short shrift from me regarding the letting agents and said that I would have appreciated some acknowledgement from the landlord about my impending move and when viewings are likely to commence. I asked that the letting agents let me know when they intend to bring people around because I don't want them giving the impression that the flat is a furnished one when it contains my own furniture.

Just back from the shops - one bag taken to charity shop, more huge plastic bags with zips bought from cheap shop (these are handy for carrying larger items and I shall use Herbert's old t-shirts that he left here to wrap my delicate glass items and pack them in boxes and bags. This morning I have cleared the airing cupboard - I put the shelves in above the water tank as a handy place to store towels. In fact I shall leave behind some shelves that Herbert put up for me (Herbert being an ex bf whose name has been changed to protect the guilty).

Nearly had a prang this morning too - thank goodness for sharp reactions, good brakes and good driving from the other driver. I inadvertently pulled out on him/her -I looked around the bend and waited and waited before pulling out when suddenly my vision was filled with a large car coming at me at speed:mad: The speed limit on that bit of road is 20mph - the other driver was certainly doing in excess of that thankfully I and the car are unscathed but my nerves are in tatters.:(

Heard the news on the radio about Martin Lewis selling the MSE website for £87million to Moneysupermarket.com now one wonders what will happen to the forum and whether or not it will close, become a paid for exercise or be covered in spam?

LondonGirl252

Hi Horace!

Sorry Ive been away so long but exams are finally over and I'm caught up on your diary!

Sorry to hear the landlords seem to be difficult, they have to tell you when they are planning to enter your flat... I'll never forget coming home to 3 huge men in mine a couple of years ago, they were so foreign they couldnt explain what they were doing there and I wasn't exactly calm either I thought I was being robbed!!!

hope you're OK after the near miss, glad it wasn't worse, people drive way too irresponsibly

Martin certainly won't need to worry about money if he bags that tidy pile!

good luck with M&S! Sounds like you nailed it!!!

Horace

Hi LG - glad to hear that your exams went well.:j

My landlord can be a pig sometimes and he hasnt acknowledged my letter of intent to move out and has just asked various letting agents to let themselves in (how embarrassing would it be if they let themselves in and I was sunbathing naked in my lounge?:eek:).

I am a lot better after a mug of tea and some procrastination on the internet. I am surveying my office as it is the smallest room and shouldn't take too long to sort out and start putting things in piles. I will be so glad to leave this cold and noisy flat:j

The MnS thing is a bit complicated because they can only take 2 people on each month and at the end of it there still might not be a job although we are likely to get offered one and we won't need to go through the complicated application procedure. I would love to work at MnS or even at Compass (whose regional office is 10 mins walk from my new home). One thing I learnt is that 38% of MnS's workforce are women over the age of 50 so there is hope for me yet:rotfl:

I have realised that I have to notify a whole load of people when I move and need to arrange mail forwarding or I may even ask if I can collect the post directly from the sorting office. I also need to find a new GP as I will be out of the catchment area for my current practice - boo hoo - I have found a practice that I would like to join.

Must stop stressing as it is bad for my health.

Horace

Grump...I had another dreadful night's sleep last night due to the twits upstairs being too loud until the early hours. My back is really sore again but I dare not take any painkillers as I don't want to mask the pain and do myself another mischief:(

I have taken one sack of clothes and stuff to the charity shop this morning (noticing on my return that my doormat had been moved - again due to the cowbags upstairs:mad:). I have been bagging up stuff so now all my games barring those that are under the chest in the front bedroom (blocked by large crates) are packaged. I know it sounds wierd to have games at my age but I have had these for years and years and some of them were used when I went camping to while away the hours when it was too wet to go out:D

I have been driving myself mad looking for my vehicle regisration document which appears to have gone missing, if I cannot find it then I will have to fork out £25 for a new one. I will need a new one anyway due to moving. I will get a new driving licence when my decree absolute comes through that way it gives me some breathing space to get myself sorted out. I may change my name you see and revert back to my maiden name.

I am trying to be ruthless with the stuff I have to get rid of and my flat now looks worse than it did before with boxes, large bags and crates everywhere. I am now wondering if mum will let me store stuff at her's - things could go in the garage or her shed (both of which are huge).

It was treat time last night with a bag of chips from the chippy (leftovers reheated for breakfast this morning) - I settled in front of the gogglebox to watch Prince Charles show childhood films of the Queen enjoying time with her family. It really was a lovely programme as you could share his giggles and joy at watching these old cine films especially when you saw him fling the ermine train over his head after his mum had been crowned. He also shared memories of his mum practising to wear the crown by wearing it at bathtime when she bathed her kids.

Horace

3 bags of stuff taken to the charity shop this afternoon including a very large 2000 piece jigsaw puzzle that I have only ever completed twice because it is too big to fit on the table. No point in keeping it.

I have bagged up all the games but need to find the ancient monopoly game which belonged to grandma (I have a feeling that this may be at exes house). I think I will take stuff to mum's. I have dusted down the old bent wood chairs that belonged to poppa (my grandfather) who had them when he ran an ice cream parlour. They were painted a lovely shade of orange by mum in the 1970's and have remained that way ever since.

I have realised that I do have a load of old tut:rotfl: Still, I am having a break from work and will tinker on the internet and watch the Derby. There has already been a faller - the horse got up and is fine but the jockey was lying on the grass with screens around him (much like they do when the vet has to put an animal down). I do hope he is ok though.

Am now wishing that I had never set up my business from home because I have accumulated loads of paperwork - my brochures have already been decreased and I am only keeping current ones - these are all packed in magazine boxes.

beanielou

Have a good weekend.