22 Foxhole East

KajiKita

Hello 😊

How are you and the clan? Are you growing lots in your courtyard? 🌿

KK

f0xh0les

I was working yesterday in The Kingdom of Andy Burnham. Was a bit of a farce really. Start time was an hour before the building actually opened, so sat around for an hour in a hotel lobby, turned up an hour later and tried again.

Again, no brief, no details, so we turned up, sold the product, made over £2k on extra (on the day) sales, packed up, then got verbal abuse by 'people' who never ever offer to help us out, and who poach our staff when they get busy, when we had the nerve to leave on time, after we had finished, and hauled all our kit downstairs, left it in the delivery bay, for the lorry - which literally pulled up as we walked out of the venue doors. We even said hello to the drivers.

I am NOT employed to load the van. That is what the 2 van drivers are for and they are mostly lovely chaps who dont want us mucking about with the serious business of their van.

The idiot had been at the complimentary prosecco by the fumes coming out of his shouty mouth. I'm not going to be cowed by some idiot man with delusions of his own importance. Not when they don't even bother to say goodbye and sneak off early whenever they can. So annoyed with them. How dare they? I hope they got home and their cat had barfed in their slippers. Right down inside them. Twice.

Anyway, it is now the Easter school holidays, so voluntary GCSE cramming sessions in school on Monday and Tuesday, #3s placement day on Tuesday, and then a trip to 🇮🇪 on Wednesday for FiL's 80th , back on Monday, Placement on Tuesday, Biology cramming on Tuesday, rest of the week off, and DS3's A levels start 2 weeks later. Eeek.

Not planting nuffink until I get back, the fuchsia are all chucking out leaves, 2 geranium survived my neglect outside, the rosemary bush is flowering for the first time, the lavender is looking good after my radical retrim in autumn. I was expecting more gaps in my planters, so quite chuffed really.

My light mills are whirring crazily the last couple of weeks now the light is stronger.

in_need_of_direction

be sure to pack waterproofs

f0xh0les

I have buffed my snorkel and mask.

Always carry a towel?

KajiKita

Sorry the man was an idiot but good for you standing up to him …

Geraniums, lavender and rosemary are bomb proof 😊 Fuchsia can be a bit hit and is so it sounds like your courtyard is quite sheltered.

Sounds like a busy couple of weeks. I hope you get some downtime in the midst of it all.

KK

f0xh0les

PB 🧚‍♀️ delivered £250 unto me this morning..

Thank you PB 🧚‍♂️

Housekeeping came in, so shunted £700+ to the credit card, £600+ disappeared into the overdraft hole. I shunted money through, and topped up, my 2 emergency bank accounts to £100 each, and £61 of interest came in to another account I can't shunt over to the credit card without a card reader wotnot. Still need to find just over £500 for the credit card before the 11th or I will incur fees. So that PB win will all disappear, my work expenses for last week will be absorbed and I will still be about £150 short. Money juggle of emergency bank accounts methinks. So annoying when the regular saver pays out £3k on the 30th. Literally a 19 day money shortage.

DH can't help as he has just bought himself a(nother) bike ….. £1700 worth of secondhand. I feel quite disrespected. I thought it was a conversation we were having, discussing the possibility, until he announced he had bought it. It was his money, he can spend it.

This is precisely the reason we have practically no financial links.

KajiKita

I’m sorry to hear that Dr F is being a bit frustrating …. Similar here … 🙄😉

Glad the PB 🧚 is being more supportive and wishing you luck with the funds shuffling.

KK

beanielou

I would be fuming about the bike. I hope he actually uses it!

greent

I empathise - Mr gt has just done the first part of his motorbike test (booked and then told me a few days before) - and has now bought a bike (obviously needed to tax and insure it), helmet, jacket and boots.... (Let's just say he could have bought 2 of Dr f's bikes and still had a few hundred left as change... grrr)

f0xh0les

I have money-juggled like a pro. Not sure how, but I have managed to pay off the credit card. Am now panicking that I have forgotten to pay something else that I should have done.

Admittedly my bank balance is now £83 but I can live off the Premium Bond win and Child Benefit when they come in. April is working out well so far. DH is chasing his expenses because he has realised he won't be able to pay off his credit card bill, but, to be fair, he has been out on his bike for a short jaunt most days. He is nipping up to his work office to pick up a book if he has forgotten it, and is starting to do a few more face to face things in the department. I think the combination of knowing he can go power assisted if his knee stops working, and the sunny weather, friendly squirrels through the park, and the birds singing, is bringing him back to his normal base grumpiness level. He will be delighted the threat of nuclear weapons use in the Middle East has lessened, well, he will once he gets up.

Laundry in the machine ready to be line dried - I remind myself line drying is moneysaving. Towels go on a 14 minute cycle - 2/3rds of them are either only stood on, or rubbed on a head. They do not need boiling or sterilizing. White shirts for school (only 3 months of school uniform left in my life!!!) washed, dried, and hung up.

In utterly embarrassingly cringeworthy 'exciting news', I wanted a handheld steamer for shirts and the bottoms of the boys' jeans and trousers. I hate ironing, I don't know what they do with their trousers, but they all come downstairs with trousers that - from below the knee- look like they have been origamied. So I put it on my 'birthday/christmas list' last week. Yesterday I walked into a charity shop, and there one was, £5, doesn't look used (originally £25), so it has come home with me. Hooray! The Charity Shop Fairy waved her (or his, oops!) magic wand and provided me with what I asked for. I did find a travel kettle too (also on the list), but it looked 'cheaper' and plastic-er that I wanted. So still on the hunt.

Today I will :

• Climb back onto the Diet Wagon and menu plan, I am in control of this - also, I can only fit into one pair of work trousers, somethings gotta give!
• Poke through my seeds and wash the empty pots ready for use
• Spend my free £25 T0sc0 voucher from the Stamps Survey - I am active again so will receive free stamps (which my over 70s friends benefit from) and will use some for postal entries into competitions. Ker-ching!
• Unpack and put away all the bags and cases
• Clean sh+t up and make it tidy.
• draw plans again

I have less than 3 weeks until DS3 is in the midst of his final exams for college

I have less than 5 weeks before DS4 is doing his GCSEs.

So stroppy teenage boys are expected in the forecast, but in nice news, DS1 is going for his blood tests at the hospital today, then he can start applying for shifts with the NHS. That first paycheck is going to radically alter his whole mindset.

Happy Financial New Year! I have a small rebate coming my way, just under £160, you can buy a lot of plants with £160 ….