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

EssexHebridean

Well, that's the end of another working day then - I'm still in the office right now because MrBoss has just made me a cuppa, and it's currently throwing it down with rain outside. As I would much prefer to not cycle back to the car - even the shortest way is still 10 minutes or a bit more of getting wet - and then have to sit in the car and wait for MrEH while gently steaming in a big pile of sogginess, I thought I would kill time here. This guarantees it will start raining harder at around the time I am faced with no choice BUT to "get on my bike and ride" as Queen's "Bicycle race" would put it. (And no, for those who are aware of the video to that one, that is NOT a solution to the wet clothes issue!)

We have a meal plan up until the middle of next week is the first bit of good MSE news from today - and the second is that it's mostly fuelled by stocks already in in fridge, freezer and cupboards. I fully suspect I can stretch that situation further yet as well. This evening will be the individual pasta bakes I portioned out and shoved in the fridge at the weekend (current me thanks past me for this) and I'll do some sauteed veggies with that because otherwise it will be a bit low on 5-a-day potential. Tomorrow's jacket tatties will get topped with chilli, and will have some sort of salad alongside. On the subject of salad - last night's involved kohl rabi, beetroot, red pepper, spring onion, carrot (for me, not him) tomatoes and cucumber and was very tasty with some chipotle mayo alongside to turn it into a sort of DIY coleslaw. Tempted to try some of the second kohl rabi sauteed this evening to see what it's like lightly cooked. 

I'm planning an Al's shop at the weekend I think - I need both sorts of porridge oats (I buy the standard cheapy bags for using in baking etc, and the posher, larger oat version for porridge), I'll buy in a pack of cereal to bring into work although I think I should get through next week on the current one. MrEH will need milk, and there will be the usual fruit etc to buy, but I'm determined to stick to just the absolute essentials and suspend "stocking up" for a week. I'm hoping the tub of greek yogurt I have will last through until the weekend - or at least until Friday - when I'll batch-cook another lot of flatbreads I think. I definitely want to avoid going to a second supermarket though as that tends to be what triggers the higher spends, and I'm convinced I can keep this one super-low! 

It's still raining, by the way. In real terms I need to leave here no later than 6.10pm regardless of whether it's still pouring at that point or not - so the question now is whether I have played the long game well, or otherwise... 

MrEH and I have exchanged notes with jobs to do this evening - it'll be oven on for the pasta bakes as soon as we get in, and we want to get an hour of voluntary role work done. There will also be washing up to be done at some stage, I need to check if the WM can go on tonight (I'm making a really conscious effort to put it on less - but at some stage there will be bedding to go through - if the part-dark load can't become a full dark load this evening, I'll switch to the bedding I think.) I want to find an hour to get some more of Sunday's photos processed, too! 

Ooh - brighter sky outside - I'm goin to make a dash for it I think! 

EssexHebridean

I avoided getting more than just a bit damp round the edges last night - AND got back to the car at precisely the same time that MrEH did, too, which was useful. Drier today thankfully - here's hoping it stays that way! 

Gas meter reading submitted last night, and bill from EDF this morning. Interestingly the first attempt to submit the reading bounced back with a "please check your reading" message so clearly the system is "trained" to not instantly accept one that appears to be too low - it will need to get used to it, from me! Bill was pretty much exactly as I expected - we're only £2 in credit though so I'll need to keep an eye on things but I reckon the DD at £10 is about right at the moment. That's our first actual EDF bill now - nearly 8 months after we were SOLR'd to them - no surprise people struggle to keep a handle on their costs! I also put meter readings through for the electric last night but I suspect our bill will be done on an estimated basis anyway - the main thing I'll be interested to see there though is if they do actually revise the charges back to 31st March after deciding to estimate our use in spite of being given a reading on that date. I suspect that a) they won't, OR b) they will, but it will be absolutely impossible to work out how they've done it. 

Little flurry of Ipsos activity this morning meaning I reached cashout value - wasn't going to bother as I looked yesterday and the iTunes vouchers had disappeared again but decided to see what the alternatives were and lo and behold - iTunes was back - so another £10 worth of credit gone on there. Nothing much doing on Prolific or OnePoll at the moment - but I need to start remembering to check Prolific at lunchtimes again. 

MrEH finally sorted out his new Reg Saver and has sorted the transfer over from the joint account to it as well - so I need to log in at some stage to check that the regular payment from the "feeder" account takes account of both of our new accounts there now. Can't recall how much I set it up for, but it'll be easily adjusted anyway. 

Food all in hand - we're still making the most of last weekend's baking too as MrEH is eating the remaining Twinks for puddings - they're a bit old for my taste now but he's happy enough! I remembered to get the chilli base out ready for jackets tonight - it just needs chilli powder or tabasco and kidney beans added and heated through. I'm definitely still thinking I'll aim to shop tomorrow if I can work it in to my day - frees up time from the weekend and unquestionably means we'll spend less, too! 

Rough plan for tomorrow then - I'll be up at normal sort of time as MrEH is going into the office so I'll aim for a fairly early breakfast, some pottering at home and then out to the gym I think - I much prefer it there a bit earlier as it's quieter. I'll shower and wash my hair there, too. Then home - bit more pottering (or cut my losses and go straight to Als for shopping? Wasn't planning to use the car but might be easier?) then fit in a hospital visit in the afternoon. From what Mum says Dad's feeling a bit brighter than he was which is good news. I want to try to get a bit of general tidying done, and a quick clear round the kitchen, but want to get everything finished to allow a couple of hours of working on some more photos from Sunday before I go to Duxford on Saturday and take a whole load more! 

Ooh - just seen the newsflash about interest rates going to 1% - good news for us, of course, although I appreciate that it's not that way for everyone! we've seen a little flurry of rates going up on savings accounts recently so not sure whether any of our providers will do anything else immediately - we'll see, though. That makes up a little for the fact that Premium Bonds forgot to give us a win this month - shocking behaviour, hopefully they'll remember again in June...  

milann

Good news for us too that the interest rates have risen a little. I suspect they’ll not be on much of a rush to pass it onto savers 😏

EssexHebridean

We’ve not found things too bad on that front yet Milann - during the first round of increases Marcus were a bit slower than we would have liked to make any changes but they now seem to be tracking increases reasonably well. In fairness almost everyone was a bit slow on those first rises really! 

Well then, pretty much my first “regular” Friday in over two years coming right up! Feels very strange - there was one Friday a few months back when MrEH had to go into the office but other than that he’s been working from home (aside during lockdown 1 when they were reduced to a three day week and he was off entirely on Thursday and Friday!) He says it feels pretty odd to him, too - he’s not used to doing the commute on his own these days! 

I’ll drop Dad a message later and see if he feels well enough for visitors and if so I’ll go in this afternoon - I’ll most likely cycle there as I plan to use the car for the gym this morning - it is pretty much an uphill all the way cycle back from either but the hospital I can choose a slightly gentler route more easily. I might actually leave the bike in the racks at Sainsbugs which is relatively close to the hospital as I’d like to drop in there on the way back to see if they have any nice short sleeved t-shirts in. On the subject of cycling I decided to do a gentle “bit extra” after work last night - had a route in mind that I reckoned would add an extra 2 miles but managed to muddle it with a different and longer route and ended up with an additional 4 instead. Oops! There are certainly still very much covid effects present - I’m waking most days with a low level headache which comes and goes in the background through the day, and my heart rate is definitely higher than normal with any sort of exertion - yesterday’s cycle peaked at over 150bpm in spite of me consciously keeping it slow and steady. I guess that hopefully time will sort both those things - fingers crossed. MrEH still has the cough which is definitely not going away - I’ve suggested he might have a chat with a pharmacist as they may be able to suggest something that will ease it. 

Banking checked and OK - although the joint account balance is a full £100 lower at this stage this month than the equivalent point in April. Not a surprise - MrEH has had an Oyster top up out of it which he hadn’t done so early last month, and other stuff has also increased of course. Plus come to think of it it had less money going in because of the NI increase - in fact I think once that and the Oyster are taken into account we’re technically doing slightly better than I had a right to expect so that’s heartening in a funny sort of way!  We’re definitely making choices fixed on keeping costs lower at the moment though - a planned further afield trip last weekend got scrapped in favour of a more local jaunt - partly because we wanted to ensure we had time to get to the hospital, but partly also because of the diesel cost. The place we were going to visit we’ll probably now call into on our way back from North Norfolk next month. 

Must finalise my shopping list for Al’s later - and decide on which order I want the weekend meals to come in as well - although I think my tentative plan to do “picky bits” for tea tonight is going to fail because the avocados won’t be ripe enough for guacamole - I’ll give them a prod in a minute and see. That can revert back to Sunday otherwise, and I’ll go back to the chicken noodle stir fry that was originally on the plan for tonight! That will need a proper delve through the fridge to identify items that need throwing in the wok before they go bendy or floppy, too!

Now though - time for some toast, and possibly another cuppa, I think! 😁

RelievedSheff

It was a good two or three weeks after we got negative covid tests before we felt at full health again.

We tired very easy for those few weeks. Then suddenly it just lifted and one day we realised we felt our usual self's again. 

jokono

I hope your dad's feeling better!
I tested positive for Covid for 14 days and then got a cold that wiped me out for another 2 weeks. Take it slow, hopefully not long till you're back to normal.

savingholmes

Well done on all the exercise. Hope your latest airshow goes well. 

Glad your Dad has perked up a little and that you and Mr EH feel on the mend.

EssexHebridean

Thanks all - yep, keep hearing from folk that it definitely takes a while to shake off the last of the symptoms from Covid. I’m still taking good solid notice of the advice not to do too much “cardio” type stuff too soon too - been to the gym this morning but strength work only - not though I do much cardio there anyway! Going to cycle to the hospital this afternoon as I think I said but will take it very gently. 

So far today  then apart from the gym - washing hung out, it’s a glorious day here so will probably be pretty much dry already! Also some general tidying, washing up done, hoover shoved round and a load of washing delivered to the machine ready to run overnight. I showered and hair washed at the gym as planned so that was a definite MSE use of the visit! 

I did the shopping on the way back as planned - and I’m pretty pleased with the result. £17.27 spent - £12.86 on items needed for the week, 94p on “lady-goods”, and the remaining £3.47 on a few storecupboard bits. I needed a couple of tins of baked beans but at 35p a tin or £1.09 for 4 it’s a no brainer to buy the multipack, so two tins are in the storecupboard. It can sometimes be tricky to get the jars of full fat mayo so when I saw they were in stock I decided to buy an extra one, and rather than just buy the larger posher oats I also got a bag of the ordinary cheapy ones as we’re most of the way through the bag we have and we don’t have one in backup at the moment - so once we start the one I’ve just bought I’ll put another one on the list to replace it. Also a couple of sachets of rice/quinoa mix as those are useful as meal additions or I’ll cheerfully eat one for my tea on a night MrEH is out with some veggies added - for 55p each that makes a cheap dinner. Now all I need to do is to resist any determined affords from MrEH to convince women that we need anything else from the supermarket! As long as there isn’t anything else needed that will bring us in decently under budget this month for groceries in spite of the two tricky weeks with shopping when we had covid.

Now there’s time for a few rows of my crochet before I get ready to head off and see Dad I think! 

savingholmes

Sounds very productive and good budget juggling. Hope all goes well with your Dad.

Seasidegal58

I've finally ploughed through and caught up with your diary EH - I spent the last couple of days reading through but it moves very quickly and I kept getting lefty behind!🤣

I was sorry to read that you and Mr EH had covid and that your dad has been poorly - I hope he is brighter today. 

One thing I've been meaning to ask you is how is your friend who used to post as Pippilongstocking?  She was one of the first who posted on my original debt-free diary some years ago and I always used to enjoy reading her own diaries.