EH - Essex > Hebrides...the next step of the adventure?

EssexHebridean

Beanie I'm really hoping the lovely weather hangs on just one more day...! I did book it knowing it might rain though, and as we're going to get wet anyway...!

If I had the option to cook outside right now I'd almost certainly be taking it Cheery, so good for you! As it is we went for a HUGE plate of salad yesterday as it just felt like salad weather. Added boiled potatoes for carbs, and smoked mackerel so got an oily fish portion in there too....gosh darn it we're nearly being healthy! (not going to discuss the blob of wild garlic butter the tatties were dressed with...!) 

On the subject of food - meal planning for tonight - we have lamb to use from the weekend, so will have some of that this evening with couscous and roast veggies...the ones that will roast fairly quickly! I think I might still have some pomegranate seeds in the freezer too...yum! Taking something OUT of the freezer is very much a good thing at the moment too - although the rest of the lamb will also have to go in there so it may be a net gain of nothing! 

savingholmes

Lido sounds fun

I would use the warranty and sell on

EssexHebridean

Thanks SH - the Lido would indeed have been fun except that I discovered on arrival that I'd booked the tickets for the wrong week...DOH! Now waiting on confirmation from them that I can change the two tickets to one for each of the next two Tuesday's... Sigh! 

Weekend away with pals was excellent. A lovely walk in the Peak District on Friday afternoon (only 3 miles but lots of up and down and some quite incredible views!) then the pub in the evening as various people arrived. Beer festival (at a Railway Centre) on Saturday, then MrEH and I came home via the Dambusters Inn at Scampton yesterday - had a walk there first too - wanted to walk up an appetite! 

My structured day on Thursday worked our rather well and I think I got everything done that I wanted to. Friday morning before we headed off himself took the car (yes, the new one, of course!) to have a tyre looked at as we'd picked up a nail in it somewhere along the line and it kept telling us it was losing pressure. Handily though it was straight through the middle of the tread so they repaired it - £18 well spent and a lot cheaper than a replacement tyre would have been!

This week is looking like an odd one. I'm in the office today, then on Wednesday morning will hop into the car (his again!) to drive to Devon to help the in-laws out with their house-move. To all our relief it finally exchanged contracts on Friday so hopefully we should be all systems go. Current hope is that I can get home again on Friday afternoon/evening but will see how we do getting things sorted I think. On that basis I have NOT boked a ticket for Duxford airshow on Saturday... 

Tomorrow may need some structure again...

EssexHebridean

Things that need doing...

- Pay the electrician - eek, I'd forgotten him! Poor chap! I'd do it right now except it needs a card reader for the bank account and that's at home. 
- sort out the change to those swimming tickets.
- get together the things I need to take down to Devon, plus remind myself of all the stuff that needs doing ahead of a house move...
- Dishwasher needs emptying (MrEH can do that while I cook dinner later)
- load of washing through tonight - it's all in the machine, just needs setting up.
- Pack bag for Devon - extra change of clothes in case I stay the extra night
- Fill car with Fuel
- Chase up foldy bike replacement if I've not heard anything by tomorrow
- Hoover round - this DESPERATELY needs doing now...   
- Some form of meal plan for the remainder of the week so MrEH doesn't either starve or eat more cornflakes than are technically good for him. (This could actually be a big pot of stew as he will cheerfully eat the same thing for several days on the trot)

I'm sure there's more. from a self-care perspective I also need to make sure I really get enough sleep tonight and tomorrow - not only do I have the long drive down and back on my own later in the week, but I also have the prospect of needing to spend more time than ideal in the company of Evil SiL and I stand a far better chance of not killing her and hiding the body if I'm not tired... Want to make it to the gym tomorrow and if I can fit that swim in as well that will be a bonus...

HairyHandofDartmoor

Nice to have you back EH. It's a bit strange trying to get back to normal at the moment. I'm not sure what normal is any more.

You sound like you're being very organised and getting lots done.

EssexHebridean

haha you should know by now HH I'm good at "sounding like" that's what's happening... ROFL 

savingholmes

Hope Devon visit goes well

EssexHebridean

It went...."well" is a matter of opinion!     

Arrived Wednesday PM to utter chaos - first reaction was that no way were we going to get to a state to be ready for the removal men. Thankfully I'd had a warning phone call from lovely SIL so was half expecting it. Kicked into full Duracell Bunny mode and dragged BIL1 along with me and we started just blitzing it. MIL bless her was still completely overwhelmed by the whole thing and while doing bits, it was impossible to get her to focus on anything for long. FIL sat in his chair and watched TV... *rolls eyes*. By early evening I'd stopped asking if stuff needed keeping and if it looked like rubbish I was just binning it. Stopped briefly for food around 8pm at which stage BIL3 turned up and started working to amalgamate some of the part boxes that had been packed previously. He left after a couple of hours and BIL1 and I carried on. At 10.30pm FIL wandered in, announced that he was really tired and was going to bed. BIL1 and I practically started growling.... We finally got to bed a bit after 1am when we agreed that there was a limited amount more we could do without some of the boxes being cleared. Thursday the removal men arrived on cue and were absolutely superb. Took the ridiculous steps from the house to the vans in their stride, offered help and advice for what we needed to do and when, and one of them had the cutest puppy sleeping by the side of the van in the shade which proved most therapeutic to go and cuddle on a regular basis! BIL2 9the most practical of the bunch) arrived soon after and we hammered through everything. Removal men sussed the situation with FIL in a heartbeat and "helpfully" suggested that they needed to take the TV unit away next, so could we disconnect things...unsurprisingly we were delighted to do just that! Finally got away from the old house around 4pm - thankfully it was a family > family sale otherwise they would have been hit with a whacking great clearance/cleaning charge - the place was frankly disgusting but there was a limit to what I was prepared to do. Last few bits had to be left to bring to the new house over the following few days....sadly I "forgot" the TV at that point too...  Evil SIL meanwhile was as much use as a chocolate teapot. Popped in on moving day for just long enough to be able to say she'd "helped" - did precisely nothing, and brought a bag of food which ALL needed cooking and unsurprisingly we just shoved in the fridge and ignored (Good job too - the gas would have run out part way through cooking it as it turned out...see below...)

First morning at the new house, I'd been up half an hour, and (thank goodness!) had made a cuppa and some toast when I discovered that both energy meters were prepayment ones and yes, you've guessed it, neither had more than pennies of credit left. We all managed to get a hot drink each but the electric went off pretty much right after BIL1 switched the kettle on to boil, so his coffee was a bit lukewarm!  Cue the next couple of hours trying to sort THAT mess out! 

Frankly they have waaay more stuff than they will ever have space for, but I've done absolutely as much as I can and it's up to those who live closer to help them finish the job. Meanwhile BIL2 and lovely SIL have the mammoth job of sorting out the old house - their plans for it sound amazing but I don't envy them in the least and to be honest think they're utterly crazy! I was extremely glad to get in my car on Friday and head home, anyway! 

So back to normal life for a bit hopefully! Office today and Wednesday, then we're away Saturday night meeting up with some pals. Aiming to get to the gym and hopefully for that swim tomorrow, but there is something else going on that may affect that yet. Also need to get some progress through the ever increasing mountain of veg - notably courgettes. the wretched plants are STILL producing fruit like you wouldn't believe, and I think they've had a word with the runner beans too because those are now ramping up the supply as well. It was a veg box week too so we have various bits from there to factor in as well - good job we like getting our five a day isn't it! This week's diet will certainly be heavily plant based, I think! 

Other than that, nothing much MSE to report. The CC bill is in and needs sorting so that is probably a job for tomorrow. Shopping this week was from Al's and was a grand total of £11.20 (plus the £14.99 veg box) so it's a cheap week for food which is always nice. The electricity switch should go through any day, and judging by the headlines today about Bulb, that will be in the nick of time too - whether we will get our refund of credit before they go pop is another question entirely - thank goodness I cancelled that direct debit when I did though otherwise they would have had best part of £200 of our money rather than the around £10 they have now. Oh and my replacement folding bike is STILL not sorted - Halfords essentially tried to send me away on Saturday with something which had I tried to ride it may well have killed me, so they are now ordering another one for me... (its a long story involving a back brake that didn't work at ALL!).

Cheery_Daff

Crikey, what a time you've had of it! 😮 they're lucky to have had you to help, although it sounds like they may not have appreciated as much as they could... 🙄

Not seen the Bulb headlines, although Mr Cheery was talking about gas earlier. Not much we can do about gas - not being on the mains means a limited number of suppliers anyway, but we're with Bulb for electricity... 😮 don't think we're much in credit though, they increased our DD recently cos we'd got to the end of our credit balance I think...

beanielou

Blimey.
What a blooming plaver.