The Big Adventure

Karmacat

Lovely to see you!  And you're right, there *have* been achievements and there *are* plans to be made.  I shall have a think for myself and my own situation about all that.  Looking forward to your posts.

Goldiegirl

Hi KC, good to see you.

Over the next few days I'll post a couple of snippets with some of the events of the year.

Today, I'll talk about last winter's lockdown, which passed fairly swiftly for me.

I had tried to develop a mindset of just existing in the day and not thinking too much about the future, which I found to be very helpful. Also, it was a time of general hope, what with the vaccine rollout. (I was 'done' in February, May and November)

But what really passed the time was family history. I hadn't done much on my family history for several years, and found that there was a lot more information online, so I was able to progress quite a lot further, and also cracked some puzzles that I had pondered over for years.

The most significant things  were

Why my Scottish great grandmother came down to London around 1870, from the Highlands of Scotland. It turns out that her oldest brother worked on the railways, and was already in London. His wife died, and my Great grandmother came down to help look after his children. He subsequently remarried, but my great Grandmother must have liked it on London, as she never returned to Scotland.  (although now I'm wondering why the eldest son of a Scottish farmer decided to work on the railways instead of going into farming)

I had previously discovered that my dad had a cousin called Stanley, but I had never been able to find a marriage for Stanley. This time I found Stanley's marriage, and found that had a son called Graham.  Graham subsequently had a son called Stewart.  After a lot of digging, including getting a copy of an old will (only £1.50), I discovered that Stewart lived in Finland. I wrote to him via Helsinki University, and he replied - it turned out that Graham had been living in Finland for 40 years. I was hoping that there would be old family photos, but nothing has been made available, but we do email from time to time.

I thought that was quite mind blowing, but what happened next was truly amazing.

I ordered some more family wills, just out of curiosity.  My dad had told me that he had an older sister, but after I had started looking into it, it seemed unlikely, as my dad had been born before his mother was married.  But the wills mentioned somebody who appeared to be a sister. I ordered the birth certificate, and sure enough it was my dad's sister, 5 years older than him, also out of wedlock (My grandmother was a teacher, I'm sure all this was a scandal in the village!)

After more digging, I finally uncovered my new Aunt Annie's son, Andrew, who is my first cousin. I found him on the voter's roll, and now we correspond by email! He hasn't got any very old photos either, but he did send me a photo of his mum, and I can see a resemblance to my dad. 

I've wondered for ever if I had any relatives on my dad's side, now have a cousin, and his two sons

Karmacat

That's wonderful!  I've noticed myself that a lot more information is online - it's why I keep going back to Ancestry etc.  

I have one particular set of railway workers in my family, born to an agricultural village in Northamptonshire - they both moved to towns, and their descendants have spread all over the place (including the USA, which is where I got the photos of the last agricultural worker in my whole family ).  

Looking forward to your next instalment.

Goldiegirl

Perhaps people who work in transport have an inbuilt travel gene

Great x 3 (I think) Uncle Roderick certainly got about a bit. He had two wives, both of them from very diverse areas of the country, but I'm guessing they were on the rail network.  

Back to what happened this year

One of the things we wanted to do was to refurbish our garden. We did achieve this, but it wasn't the best experience we've ever had.

We had a few quotes done, and went with a company that had good reviews and the price was what we expecting to pay.

But once they started work,, we found that we didn't really like them that much. Difficult to explain why, but just didn't gel with them. But we had started, so had to see it through.

They managed to get cement all over our front drive as they didn't put anything down to protect the driveway when they were mixing - but we had to get them back after the job had finished to get them to clean it.  They also left the new patio in a bit of a state, with footprints all over it, and they wouldn't clean it, because it'd 'just wear off'.  So we ended up scrubbing it about three times and with a lot of rain in May , it eventually came off.  

Even after that, the patio still looked a state as there was efflorescence over it while it dried out and the sandstone was very patchy in colour as it dried.

It took about 3 - 4 months to look presentable, if I'm honest there are a few slabs which are still a bit patchy, but we are used to it now, and I couldn't BEAR to get the workmen back to replace them, as I detest them so much! 

The shed we got was great, although it took about 6 months to arrive, but it is perfect.  We ordered some rattan garden furniture but ended up cancelling the order in August, due to all the supply chain issues.  We then ordered a little bistro set which was in stock on Wayfair, and I'm delighted with it. I think the rattan set might have been a bit big for the space, so it ended up ok.

We also added a few new planters, so the overall effect is good.  We are about 8/10 happy with it, but we have settled for that, as I never want to see the workmen ever again! 

Karmacat

Ug, completely know the feeling of not wanting to see workmen who've let you down, even if you couldn't list how they did it, precisely.

Still though but .... hope you had a lovely Christmas!  And that your New Year will be great, and you get to go on that holiday.

Watty1

Lovely to 'see' you popping in here 

CathT

Lovely to read your posts Goldie. Hope you will continue to pop in. 

Goldiegirl

Hi KC and Watty, good to see you.

We've been having a nice Christmas, mostly food and television, but it's cosy and relaxing.

This time I'll talk about going out and about.

At the start of the year, we had one coach trip booked, to the Edinburgh Tattoo, moved forward from 2020. Our two remaining cruises have already been moved forward to 2022.

As it turned out, the coach trip didn't happen, as the Edinburgh Tattoo was cancelled again.  I could have moved it forward again to 2022, but this time I got a refund of my deposit, as I had gone past wanting to go.

Way back in January 2020 I had bulk booked coach day trips for the whole year because I got a discount.  Therefore, by the end of 2020 I still had money on account with the coach company after various cancellations.  This year, I used the some of the money, and managed three day trips, to Cromer, Knebworth and the Sea City Museum in Southampton. Cromer and Knebworth were before so called 'freedom day', so everyone on the coach wore masks, so it was a comfortable experience. But Sea City was in September, and only about 50% of the people on the coach were masks, so it didn't feel as comfortable at all.  I also had a couple of trips cancelled due to low numbers.  In the end, I got tired of the cancellations and didn't have the inclination to go anyway due the high probability of more maskless travelling companions, so I got a refund of my remaining money.

In September we went to the theatre, to see a show that was originally booked for 2020 and had been rescheduled. I really enjoyed the show, but again, only about 30 % of the audience wore masks, and I got a ping on the Covid app as I had been close to someone who had subsequently tested positive. Fortunately, I didn't catch anything, but have resolved not to go back to the theatre for the foreseeable future.

We had two celebrations this year - our 40th wedding anniversary and Mr Goldie's 70th birthday.

For our wedding anniversary we had an afternoon tea delivered from a local caterer. It was amazing - all home cooked and delicious. It was also enormous - it kept us going for about 3 days !

We had booked to go away for the week of Mr Goldie's birthday, but cancelled at the last moment. At the time Covid was raging in the area we were going to travel to, and we weren't keen on the idea of the hotel's evening entertainment venue, as it would no doubt have been full of people not wearing masks. We got a full refund under the T&Cs that we had booked.

Instead we had a week of eating what Mr Goldie wanted. On the Monday, we went to a restaurant we'd been meaning to go to for ages, on the Tuesday we had another afternoon tea at home, this time we bought some stuff from M&S. On the Wednesday, (his birthday) we were to an old favourite Beefeater and on the Thursday we had a pizza delivered.

Although different to what we might have planned both celebrations seemed memorable to us.

Due to the lockdown earlier this year and the poor spring, we did very little, but during the summer we did manage several days out for coastal walking, but by October we were just walking locally to cafes for coffees.  Then we decided lock ourselves down on 15th December, and we now await the current Covid wave to pass us by.

We realise we are more restricted these days, but, I think that's the way it is, so we just have to roll with it! 

Karmacat

I love the way you re-interpreted your celebration of Mr Goldie's 70th, that's a lot of fun.  

Goldiegirl

Now I'll review last year's plan.

Finance

Supermarket spending - Spend less per month than 2020 figure of £335pm

I never went back to Aldi's, and have my weekly shop delivered from Sainsbury's. I used their saver delivery, where you select a 4 hour delivery window. The delivery fee was only a £1, which I thought was really good, but recently went up to £3.  I didn't make much effort to shop carefully, but my monthly average spend was £ 275, which is a surprisingly good reduction

Home
Garden - we are thinking of having a new patio and shed. What we have currently looking 'tired' as it's over 30 years old.  This isn't a definite - but currently under consideration.

We went ahead with the new patio and shed. It was quite a painful process, as detailed previously - but we are quite happy with it now.

Consider new mobile phones for both of us - more likely if COVID restrictions eased

We both got new phones in May. By then my phone was on it's last legs - it would only hold a charge for about 30 minutes!

EAT the Brexit stockpile !  

We started eating it, but stopped when the supply chain issues became an issue. I'm now trying to rotate stock, but keeping well stocked cupboards and freezers. In the current situation it seems best to be prepared.

Health
Walk more than I did in 2020 (i.e exceed 765 miles)

Walking in the first part of the year was poor, due to lockdown and a very late spring.  But from June to Early December we did much more walking, but I don't think it's quite enough to get to the target of 765. I'll report the final figure on the 31st

Read more than I did in 2020 (more than 19 books)

Achieved - 27 books. I now read for about an hour before I go to bed.

Memories
2021 is a significant year as it's our 40th wedding anniversary and Mr Goldie's 70th birthday.
Things carried forward from  2020 -

Two coach day trips - DONE
One theatre trip. - DONE

One coach holiday to Edinburgh Tattoo - our Wedding Anniversary will be while we are in Edinburgh. - Cancelled, as Edinburgh Tattoo didn't happen

Hopefully, book something for Mr G's birthday - Booked but cancelled - had a home celebration instead