Caz counts it down

cazmanian_minx

It turned out not be legal work, it had just been assigned as that to get the rate. It was actually a really interesting job, but had a bit of an echo on the recording, which slowed me down, and my uploaded transcript was timecoded 4.00pm exactly - phew!

One big HOORAY - the VAT refund has come through :j:j:j:j:j and promptly all been assigned to other things but at least it means I've been able to place a couple of long overdue stock orders. All bills for this month are now sorted, including the £432 for my annual Tradebox subscription (a brilliant bit of software that takes all my eBay and website sales and puts them into Sage for me) and everything banked for the rest of the month (business and personal) can go towards next month's bills. I was hoping to get a charm bracelet supplier order out of the VAT refund as well, but thought it was probably more important to stash some cash for the tax bill.

Tomorrow's looking quiet at the moment, no transcription work assigned yet, just three orders to post out and two of them are already packed up, but there are sales awaiting payment on eBay, so I may get some more overnight.

cazmanian_minx

Welcome to the new-style scores on the doors! For anyone who missed last week's musings, the business overdraft figure is now the figure from YNAB, not the actual balance - so it shows not just how much I'm overdrawn by, but also takes into account money that is already allocated for future bills. So this week's numbers look pretty horrible, but it means that, barring any disasters, there should be no more red numbers from here on, it's green, green, green all the way

Business
Overdraft: -£-9632.64 / -£9949.86 -£317.22

Business total: -£9632.64 / -£9949.86 -£317.22

Personal
Egg card: -£4930.00 / -£4830.00 +£100.00
Barclaycard: -£2225.00 / -£2225.00 no change
Nationwide card: -£2405.00 / -£2405.00 no change

Personal total: -£9560.00 / -£9460.00 +£100.00

Grand total: -£19,192.64 / -£19,409.86 -£217.22

My transcription file today is a .DSS format, which is a special dictaphone format and my transcription software can't read it, despite saying it can. I've asked the company if they can convert it to MP3 for me, but haven't heard back yet. In the meantime, I've downloaded something that can play it, but I have no keyboard controls for playback and no volume control on it, so it's going to be very hard going today.

cazmanian_minx

They converted the file for me and I have now notched up my 1000th minute of transcription

Allan's of Gillock delivered the boards for the veggie beds this morning, so guess what Mr Minx and I will be doing this weekend....?

Pippilongstocking

YAY to hours and veggie boards

Whatcha growing ]

PS sorry we missed each other but good you were nice and busy!

cazmanian_minx

Not sure yet, depends what will stay upright in the wind! Mr Minx has suggested he fences around them and we put windbreak on all four sides, which might not be a bad idea. The boards turned out to be longer than expected, so I'm getting four 3.5m x 1.3m beds :j:j:j:j I'll do some spuds, to break up the ground underneath a bit. What we really need is onions, we go through at least 150 a year, but it's too late for this year I think? Ditto garlic, which grew really well here last time I tried it. I can't put carrots or parsnips straight into manure, they'll fork. I'll definitely try some tomatoes, though I may need to make them a makeshift cover of some sort. Lots of salad greens, a row or two of peas, loads of strawberries, I'd like to try broccoli and cauliflowers and maybe a neep or two.

The one thing I want above everything else though - an asparagus bed My brother has one and nothing tastes better in the world than asparagus that was still in the ground two minutes earlier with melted butter. I think I need to have a year of something else in the bed first though, to give the worms a chance to mix the manure and the soil underneath.

cazmanian_minx

(Missed your PS - I'm sorry too, but I'm sure there'll be other times. You're moving within a stone's throw of my brother in law and my niece, so if I don't catch you up here, I may well catch you down there )

Pippilongstocking

Not too late for onions.......if you use a set. Or shallots.

Garlic you'll get a smaller crop but just horse on.

Can you do tubs this year with roots in.

Love 'sparrow grass'.

Now I'm very interested in this brothers garden you've talked about

a stones throw you say.

Wind break a right grand idea.

If you like Kale 'Sutherland Kale' is cracking.

Do you use The Real Seed Company?

All veggies non hybrids and grown on a windy hillside in Wales by the sea........ I love their dwarf peas haute de somethingorother.

Were stonking here.

Have you done tomatoes before?

And, after this I'll shut up. Here we plant neeps on the 1st of June.

Seems late but it works.

They're a great company for seeds.

cazmanian_minx

I think you'd like my brother's garden - he always says he wishes he'd been a market gardener It's about an acre of lawn and borders plus the vegetable patch in the field below.

Thanks for the website link, I have a feeling they're going to get an order in the next day or so! (It can come out of the groceries budget, right? It's food, after all )

Pippilongstocking

Absolutely out of the food budget.



Its an ace wee company we promote it alot at work as those of us in a more 'windy' position find them very helpful and the seeds are ace.



Have a great weekend!

Already have 'brothers garden envy'. As much as we looked about in the surrounding area anything with anywhere close to an acre was out of budget sadly. Land and closeness to the beach seems to be a killer in that area. Similar house to the wee cottage was another 100-150K on the coast with a smaller garden.

Then again if Alys can manage in a wee (ish) garden, so can I. Then again I've no idea what kind of job I might end up with so if I can't enjoy someone else's outdoor space, I might get a sneaky wee allotment or something.

cazmanian_minx

No raised beds made today - it was nearly too windy to stand up in the field, let alone do any work out there!

Not too much of a spend-y day for a Saturday. The Tesco shop came in at just over £100 after some couponing (Mr Minx was extremely pleased that they've started doing their pork and sweet chilli sausages again!) and then it was my turn to pay for lunch out, so we went to Wetherspoons - double win for me, because not only is it the budget option (£13.49 for two of us), it's one of the few places that I can actually stick to my diet (I had a caesar salad and a bottle of water).

Some good news via yesterday's paper - British Airways has linked up its Edinburgh to London (Heathrow, Gatwick and City airports) flights with the Loganair flight from Wick to Edinburgh and with an ADS card, which I have, prices start at £75. Unfortunately the times don't work out for my trip south in June - Wick airport doesn't open on Saturdays(!!) and for the return flight on the Friday I'd need to be at whichever airport in London by 11am, which isn't going to happen from Truro. That said, it's going to feel like luxury to be able to get to London so easily without having to drive all the way to Inverness first and I think it also means that the next time we go to Mauritius, we'll be able to check our bags in at Wick and not see them again until baggage reclaim in Mauritius - they should be able to take them right through!