Tales from The Shire

Jessy103

Great news about Mr F's job 😀

Fortune_Smiles

beanielou said:

That’s good news. 

You will be pleased 😀 x

I am Beanie - although still slightly suspicious there are more changes to come and, of course, C0vid could still have an impact.

Fortune x

greent

Great news that Mr F's job still exists! x

rtandon27

Fortune_Smiles said:

Mr F had his team meeting this morning and it seems his job does appear on another structure chart... at least for the time being.  So we live to OP another day 😆

Horray for the Reprieve!

...and a lovely bonus is that you've already crunched numbers for different scenarios!

Fortune_Smiles

greent said:

Great news that Mr F's job still exists! x

rtandon27 said:

Fortune_Smiles said:

Mr F had his team meeting this morning and it seems his job does appear on another structure chart... at least for the time being.  So we live to OP another day 😆

Horray for the Reprieve!

...and a lovely bonus is that you've already crunched numbers for different scenarios!

Thanks guys.  I'm very grateful for the reprieve but won't be taking my foot of the brakes anytime soon just in case.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Emotional

I've had an emotional week 😟  It started with yoga class on Wednesday.  It was only the second class I'd attended since lockdown and, I'm sorry to say, the last I'll be attending for the foreseeable future.  To cut a long story short, one particular gentleman made no attempt at social distancing (and was quite rude), many of the class were unaware of the new government advice and restrictions announced the day before (including the teacher) but what really worried me was three of the group (there are only eight of us) openly declared that they didn't agree with the restrictions and had no intention of abiding by them.  The most vocal of whom was lying on the mat next to me 😮 I waited until the intial 10 minute relaxation was over then quietly rolled up my mat and left 😢  I felt really upset about it.  For someone like me, with underlying health conditions, I am dependent on others doing the right thing if I'm to have any freedom during this time.  I'd hesitated about going back but felt it was important for my physical and mental health.  Now, I feel it's too high a risk to attend 😭  Not being one to mope though, I came straight home and worked through some of my yoga dvd.  I've got all the equipment I need now (except for a meditation cushion which is on its way) and plan to do three sessions a week.  I'm off to a good start as I did an hour after walking FDawg this morning 😃

We also hosted our last Annex guests (for now) and they left a huge pile of drying up on the draining board and the oven and fridge dirty.  There is also some damage to the bath, a work top and the post box.  I'd let them have as long as they liked for check out so it's a bit of a kick in the teeth that they didn't leave things as they found them as they had plenty of time to do so 😒

Plus DS1 is in local lockdown and unable to meet up with Mr F for an outdoor event this weekend or visit us with his new girlie in a couple of weeks time 😞

My that's a lot of sad looking emojis!  I'm over it now and am feeling slightly relieved that we can settle down to hibernate for the winter and not have to do people for a while 😁  I'm usually a sociable person but I find I'm retreating into my shell at the moment.  I've made a start on connecting with friends via video call again as I don't want to become a complete hermit 😆

In money news:

• we are waiting to hear on finish and installation dates from the builder and the window man.  I've paid a couple of visits to the cash point so far to get the cash to pay the builder (means I won't have to queue in the bank with... people).  We've paid the deposit on the new windows and the balance is ring-fenced in the savings account so to hand when we need it
• Mr F cleared a large pile of rubbish from behind the barn at the weekend and found a trailer load of wood suitable for burning.  Which means we won't need any logs now - £150 back into the pot 😁
• Apple man is still due to visit to give us some (paid) advice in a couple of weeks time.  I'm inclined to go ahead on this so at least we know what we can/can't do with the top field and what it's likely to cost us
• the menu plan has been based around stuff from the veg patch which needs using up.  We have about 6kgs of main crop pototaoes, 100 each of enormous red and white onions 😮, a few courgettes and marrows, a final bag of green beans and cooking apples.  I spent yesterday afternoon braiding all the onions so that we can hang them in our utility room cupboard.  The apples are early ripeners and don't store well so I've been picking and using as many as I can
• a letter came in answer to a final query I have on my pension pots so I have a clear picture now on mine.  Mr F still needs to do some research on his
• I've joined a wine delivery plan.  We have run out of Avi0$ points now and having a glass of wine at the weekend is one of the small pleasures I'm planning to indulge in to get us through winter and the second/third/fourth waves of the virus.  The opening offer was 50% off the first box and 10% of all further boxes.  You can cancel, change, postpone at any stage so we won't end up with more than we can drink (... as if that could ever happen 🤣)

Meals have been:

• Roasted Squash Risotto with Wensleydale (made with butternut from the veg patch)
• Courgette, Potato & Cheddar Soup (again, but it is delicious and brilliant for using up big courgettes.  I used a white onion from the veg patch instead of spring onions)
• Cheshire Cheese, Thyme & Apple Soda Bread (made with Cheddar though as I didn't have Cheshire)
• Apple & Sultana Porridge
• Apple & Cheddar Scones
• Cheese & Apple Scones
• Salmon & Prawn Keralan Curry (with green beans from the veg patch)
• Leek & Ricotta Tart (I just made one big one)
• Baked Apple & Toffee Crumble
• Peanut Butter & Banana Oat Bars (to use up some sulky bananas.  They came out with a bread pudding like texture rather than a cereal bar but taste delicious lightly buttered).

Can you tell B@k£ 0ff's started 😂

I'm looking forward to a quiet week at home.  Not that my life's been harum-scarum this year.  I just don't feel particularly safe out there at the moment.  The queue to get to the top of Snowdon this weekend was ridiculous and I find the whole anti-lockdown movement depressing.  I'm going to return to the approach I took at the beginning of all of this and take some time to rest, reflect and reset.

Hope everyone's well and coping

Fortune x

beanielou

Wow.
Some lovely people in your yoga class ~~ not.
Some people live in a blooming bubble.
You are well out of that.  x

themadvix

Oh Fortune, I feel for you. People can be so selfish. I think that you're doing the right thing by 'hermiting' a bit and avoiding people. While we've not exactly been out gallivanting, there's definitely something seasonally appealing about preparing to hunker down for the winter and having some quiet time.

Good news about the wood though - will this saving cover the cost of the apple man? Lots of good things in money news and your meals, as always, sound delicious! (I'm not sure you can blame bake-off quite yet - it's only been cake week!).

badmemory

At least you found out the attitude of the yoga class before you got too far in.  I believe that some of the problem comes from them calling it social distancing instead of physical distancing.  It seems to have given a lot of people the feeling that they have the right to behave badly because they are no longer part of a society.

South_coast

How awful! I don't blame you for leaving the yoga class, but I'm sorry your plans for meeting up with family are being affected. I think there's going to be much more resistance from people this time around - but evidently these people aren't taking any notice of the news, as the stats are very clear!