Cheery's buttling diary: tea in one hand, plant pot in the other, running shoes on

Pippilongstocking

Well sounds like a good weekend but youchy to the bites I can sympathise I've stopped my bug regime and appear to be munched too - I've put cream on but they're in ouchy places on seams and alike so maybe I should take an anit-h too!

We were at a bbq yesterday too for similar nosh excitement - I don't think I've ever seen so much food - I did my noble tidy up bit and everything was left in tubs in their fridge - we ended up taking a chunk of stuff home too - free food - amazing.

Hope all goes well today.

Cheery_Daff

Cheers pippi :kisses3:

Loooong day :eek: left home 8am, drove 2 hours, lots of hanging round, care home visit (my nan had a mini stroke the other day but seems well enough now although still in bed), saw most of my living relatives in umpteen different places (oh the joys of being a child of divorce! :rotfl: ) and finally had a nice calm late afternoon pottering in my mum's garden and looking at aome old photos :j

Big queue on the motorway so it took longer to get home than planned and now I'm snookered! :eek:

NEARLY made a NSD - ended up having lunch at mum's and she bought us chippy chips for tea (a proper treat! :j and we shared them and made our own gravy so very MSE :money: )

But then after I got off the motorway I was SO lacking in energy and still had an hour of wiggly mountainous driving so pulled over at the garage for sweets to keep me going

Oh well, not too bad, and better than dozing off at the wheel! :eek:

Must do some holiday plannig and figure out how to get key to friend who's staying while we're away :j

Cheery_Daff

Right, I THINK I'm ready... :eek:

Got passports, directions to car park, proof of car parking, boarding passes (including fast track through security and priority boarding ), flight confirmation, and bus route and map to get to friend's house at the other end :j

Have changed sheets and emptied bins and generally tidied up for when friend gets here at lunchtime, and left keys with a neighbour :j

Packed a couple of clothes, all necessary tablets and have got our Euros nicely stashed :j

When I've been abroad before I've just withdrawn from cash machines... but apparently that costs a fortune We've got £200 spending money between us and are going to try and make that last the full four days :money: staying with friends so I'm hoping at least SOME meals will be in the house! :eek:

Chased mortgage with actualbuilding society today - turns out they'll only give us £3000 less than we asked for :eek: decision in priciple went up to full amount. Fiends. Have sent as much proof as I have of impending pay rise (which will easily cover it - difference is all of £13 a month... :mad: ). All crossed fingers would be appreciated! Not a crisis - we are fortunate enough to be able to cover the difference with savings but would rather not on this occasion...

Hey ho. Hoping we'll hear something tomorrow and they can get on with the valuation while were away and hopefully we'll have a proper decision by the time we get back :eek:

Right, MUST go to sleep!

EssexHebridean

sSafe trip and happy travels and fingers tightly crossed here for the pesky Building Society sorting themselves out and remembering that actually they DID offer you the higher amount in the first place for good reason!

Cheery_Daff

Thanks
Makes me sonder whether they saw plane tickets and plasterer and roofer in last couple of months and thought we spend like this all the time :eek: should we have delayed our trip?? I was under the impression that spending normally was the thing to do but apparently not! :eek:

Karmacat

Cheery, have a great time away - sounds like you've got everything under control

Cheery_Daff

Hope so KC! :eek:

We are in Berlin :j VERY exciting :j friends have an absolutely beautiful flat overlooking a canal with big high ceilings and two balconies amd I am just luxuriating on the sofa with the balcony doors open while they get ready and Mr Cheery has a supplementary nap :j Most jolly :j

Didn't spend too much yesterday. Took a big picnic to the airport so even though we arrive super early at 9am, and our delayed plane didn't leave til half 1, we only bought a cuppa each :money: (that cost £4.70 mind - I'm glad we didn't have to buy anything else!! :eek: )

Once here we spent

€6.80 on bus fares
€15 in a falafel restaurant
€10 in the pub

Day 1: total €31.80

Not sure our €200 is going to last til Monday at this rate!! :eek:

Today Mr Cheery and I are wandering off alone - we'll get an all day travel card I think and potter about so there may be a cafe lunch but if the weather holds it may just be picnic outside and maybe tea in a cafe. Not sure what plans our hosts have for tonight.

Still no news about mortgage :eek: but I suppose it is only 9.10 in the UK so maybe people are only just getting to work...

Ooh, there's a boat going past, must investigate

Karmacat

Oh you're there already! I got the timings wrong! I hear such good things about Berlin to visit, and my German friend on the south coast lived there for years, she loved it. Looking forward to hearing the modern version it's a while since then.

EssexHebridean

Ahh that all sounds great Cheery - and exactly what you need at the moment I think!

Do try to not worry about the house stuff while you're away if you can - I appreciate it's not that easy though.:o (And in your shoes I would probably be fretting JUST as much, so... )

Cheery_Daff

Well...day 2 started well :j Our friend made us an itinerary complete with bus and tram instructions and we headed off to visit the open air Berlin Wall museum (and to eat our leftover picnic, including the boiled eggs we brought on the plane :money: :rotfl: )

Treated ourselves to a couple of pretzls, then FINALLY got an email from mortgage broker - saying the building society have no realised I pay a student loan before I get my wages each month and they are therefore only willing to lend us about £17k less than on Tuesday :eek: :eek:

To say we are unimpressed is an understatement... :mad: Not sure who to be unimpressed with at this point - broker has had that info right from the first meeting (when I handed over payslips which clearly state this, and also mentioned it out loud). Building society have now had my payslips for about 13 days so why they haven't noticed until now I don't know... :eek:

Anyway, mortgage adviser is in my bad books for not ringing me this afternoon, then not answering the phone at all until I rang from our friend's landline, at which point the office woman said he was on another call... apparently their area manager is involved and trying to sort things out...

Anyway, between that at a giant rain storm that had us drenched (but did clear the muggy air a little), we didn't feel like much more adventuring...

However, we did pop out to a delectable pancake and burger place this evening though :j

So...

€14 - all day bus/tram tickets
€2 - pretzls
€5 - emergency cafe-in-the-rain rubbish tea amd rubbish cake
€25 - burger/pancake tea
€5 - extra beer for Mr Cheery and pal

Day 2 total: €51. Hmm... suspect our estimate of spending money may have been somewhat conservative...

No idea of the extent to which mortgage companies take actual spending into account - between finishing off the DIY and this trip, these last few months have been probably the most spendy for yonks :eek: :eek: willbe most vexed if they've scuppered our chances for our new house - if we can't have the amount we applied for (or within about £5k ) then we can't have the house...