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

girlatplay

I'm glad you love the big boat vacuum.

Great news on the doors!

milann

The big boat vacuum sound impressive 👍

starnac

PB's are a law unto themselves. Both our kids have some from a Godparent. They get them for every birthday and Christmas. DD has slightly more as she's older (and has therefore had more birthdays) but DS wins £25 every few months. DD has won one £25 in her life. Luck of the draw. 

savingholmes

The vacuum sounds amazing.

Well done for keeping on top of the little jobs. 

Good luck with the ombudsman.

EssexHebridean

Thanks all for popping by - it's so nice to have visitors!

Yep - genuinely don't know whether continuing with PB's is a logical thing to do but it will at least remove some money from the interest equation which come next year may become relevant. And of course once Agent Million finds that scrap of paper he wrote our phone number on months back, and gives us a call, all will be well...  

Heard back from the floor chap who can come and take a look this evening - well as long as our arrival time home tonight isn't too late for him anyway. I've replied - we'll see what he says (and indeed if he picks emails up during the day!) 

The small jobs thing - well, it's so easy to let the little stuff just get pushed to one side isn't it - but the sheer pleasure of now having both a garage and a house door that unlock and relock so beautifully easily can't be understated! I really must cast an eye round and see what else we might want to turn our attention too - although stainblocking the kitchen and bathroom ceilings must be a bit of an obvious one I guess - we've had the paint for months! 

Breezy down here today - and in gusts at that - I'd originally thought I might walk to and from the car as it felt like a not ideal day to cycle but the traffic decreed otherwise as it took us an hour and 10 minutes rather than the 45 - 50 it usually would, so by the time we'd parked the bike was the only realistic option. As it turned out it wasn't actually too bad anyway although I do loathe cycling into a headwind! I was also reminded that the foldy bike is now just over a year old, and as Strava tells me it's done very nearly 700 miles it is probably rather overdue for a service - maybe THAT is a little job I need to turn attention to? Need to think when it can be dropped in/collected though. Hmmm. 

Had a little freezer shuffle last night - pulled pork and sauce out, second tub of chilli in. Pomegranate seeds that were frozen at the weekend boxed up. Need to think what we're eating on Friday evening - and over the weekend and into next week, come to that. There is a box of roast lamb and a small tub of lamb gravy in there though so that might get added to the plan somewhere along the line. 

Surveys latest:
Prolific: £5.36 paid/£1.70 pending
OnePoll: 652 Points
Ipsos: 601 Points

I've done Ipsos this morning, and can see there is 1 10 point one available on OP. 

Banks checked and OK. Another "Small job" is to get myself a FD current account opened and switch the "spare" Sant-And-Er one to it - at the moment I'm using the spare Sant account for the surplus from my own monthly spends simply to actually use it for something. My gut feeling is that I may end up using the FD account as my main current account going forwards - in which case I *might* end up doing a switch of the other Sant account as well, although I'm limited now by those that don't have any minimum deposit requirements/DD requirements as that account is just a bare account - money in by bank transfer, money out via debit card or bank transfer only. Anyway if the FD switch works I'll get £175 which will be a nice little bonus! Mum's used FD for years and always been really pleased with them so if I find the same then I'll look to make good use of it. If not it can in due course no doubt be switched elsewhere! 

I've brought my journal with me to the office today with a view that I can start getting some of our upcoming plans plotted out so we know what we're doing and when. There's a couple of beer festivals - one involving an overnight stay, the other a day trip. The food show trip (still needs the accommodation booked). We've got vouchers for a visit to the WWT at Barnes to use in the next few weeks, and Mum also needs her kitchen ceiling painted so we have to work that in as well. Lots of stuff to think about/juggle. (And I've just checked the WWT vouchers - they actually run until the end of November so that adds a lot of flexibility there and probably means we can build in a quieter weekend to the mix this month.) We want to book another Hidden London tour as well although might have missed the boat on that one now as bookings opened to the public today. I'll try and get stuff plotted out at lunchtime and we can then see where that leaves us. 

lucielle

Gosh you're so busy!!  I'm exhausted reading that.  I'll whisper that I did have a little win on the PB.
L 

foxgloves

I agree with you about small jobs, @EH. That's why every so often, I have a blitz on the most annoying ones. We tend to walk past little annoying things for months here at a time, then suddenly one of us cracks (usually me!) & thinks "I can't look at that stupid job a moment longer". It's very satisfying to get them out of the way, especially as so many of them seem to involve everyday objects actually functioning properly).
I'm also doubling down on money saving behaviour at the moment. I am very unconfident with the direction of travel for the UK economy & all too aware of the fact that we rely on the public sector for our income when "Austerity Round no. 196" strikes. So I'm doing more planning in my diary (like pre-pandemic when I was using it more as a bullet journal), cannier meal planning (it doesn't hurt to tighten that up a bit imo), & generally thinking carefully about all aspects of our budget. Also hitting the few survey sites I still currently do a bit harder. 
Breezy here too today & raining too. Hope it's nicer at the weekend, as I want to do some garden tidying.
F

beanielou

I switched to FD last year. 

They are fab. 

EssexHebridean

L I keep telling you, I just talk a lot about stuff, it makes me LOOK busier!
Foxgloves - yep, this is definitely sounding rather like my "Observant October" approach! 
Beanie - excellent - good to have another recommendation!

I've eaten a frog! Had a slightly scary email to send in connection with our volunteer role - I've not exactly been putting it off, more conveniently forgetting that it still needed done. Anyway I bit the bullet, typed it out, and then sent it before I could chicken out.  I should add it's nothing contentious - it's just requesting a meeting that we know is going to be slightly uncomfortable, but it will be uncomfortable regardless of HOW long I put it off, and it really needs doing sooner rather than later now! 

I have also heard back from the flooring chap who is popping to see us this evening to hopefully then give us a quote for the flooring. 

Also had a bit of back & forth email convo with MrEH today - more on the subject of savings really - again as part of "Observant October" - and I have just suggested that it might be a sound idea to push forward our plans for the additional works on the flat. There are various bits that will need doing at some stage -  we've discussed having proper fitted wardrobes done for example, we need carpets in the three rooms that still have such a thing, and I'd also like to replace our front room storage heater with a HHR model. As I seem to be on a roll with getting stuff done, I've actually popped an email to our friendly electrician to get an idea of costs on that last. I already know that MrEH will probably be a bit resistant to getting it changed as in reality it IS still working absolutely fine, but he hallway one has saved us fortunes just by being more controllable, and I could see the front room one doing the same. Anyway, knowledge is power, so I've asked.  

savingholmes

Wow you've been motoring along. I think investing in making your home nicer - given you have the £ - is great.