Travelling On

Karmacat

Hello honeypies I'm very glad to be back, I confess - though I wish we had Merseyside house prices down here :rotfl: that would be great.


Gardening. Sigh. This once again means chopping back brambles and grabbing the seedheads of perennials before they drop (not always successful in that bit ) but I've done quite a lot.


I've also accidentally signed up for another trial of Amazon Prime - I got suckered in by the way they arrange their buy button I'll just make sure I cancel it in good time. For now, as they got me, I'll be watching free films every night :rotfl: and the odd book too.

pinkypig

Hi Karma, check out Prime Reading (free books and magazines), Kindle First (1 free a month) and the kindle lenders library (1 free a month). Enjoy your free entertainment:)

Karmacat

Thanks Pinky! I wasn't quite understanding the difference between Prime and Kindle Unlimited, but I'll look for the terms that you mention, thats better. I watched Arrival last night, the Amy Adams film. I like her

And omg how rainy is it today! Thank heavens I cut back so much in the garden yesterday! The rain is only scheduled to taper off after about 6pm, but if there's a gap of any sort, I'll be hopping out to pick some blackberries - some from the garden and some from the rec. ground. Otherwise, as I'm off out tomorrow, today is a scanning photos and cleaning sort of day. Done SB and don't try nearly so hard at it, which is much better.

rtandon27

Oh KC - soooo envious that you have blackberries ripe near you!

The nearest bush to me (up the hill and over the fence) is full of fruit just ready to ripen - wonder if I'll get there before the squirrels & birds do?

I'm craving something like this - creamy & tart & crunchy in one bite!

themadvix

My mum has blackberries in the garden too Karma, nothing to be about! It makes for easy pickings. Tried one the other day though and although it looked ripe it was a bit sharp so make sure they've truly had the benefit of the sun first!

Karmacat

rtandon27 wrote: »

Oh KC - soooo envious that you have blackberries ripe near you!

The nearest bush to me (up the hill and over the fence) is full of fruit just ready to ripen - wonder if I'll get there before the squirrels & birds do?

I'm craving something like this - creamy & tart & crunchy in one bite!

Oh my! I confess, I don't like whole blackberries - getting the hairs out is *such* hard work. If I try to persist, I just end up wasting the jam or whatever I've made. But I love savoury fruit dishes, so I might work on that recipe

themadvix wrote: »

My mum has blackberries in the garden too Karma, nothing to be about! It makes for easy pickings. Tried one the other day though and although it looked ripe it was a bit sharp so make sure they've truly had the benefit of the sun first!

Ah! Thats a very good point - the ones I tasted in the park at Fulham Palace were the ones that put your taste buds into overdrive :rotfl:


I haven't picked any yet since I last posted - it hasn't really stopped raining :eek: and I'm off out for a bit now. But yesterday I *did* do the scanning and some of the cleaning that I promised myself I would. Life is good

Karmacat

Inspired by Pinky, I have a bit of financial news:
- after the remaining 1.4 mortgage payments are made in France, I'll have about 300 euros left in my account. I'll have another rental payment made to me, of about E1260, in October, but I don't think thats going to be quite enough for the bills to come - though I don't want to send money yet, I want to bargain with the accountant, their fee is *so* high.

- we had my mum's house valued yesterday, and its certainly come up a notch in the valuation stakes - even if the offer we accepted was 10% under the asking price (which doesn't happen round there) I'd still be getting my projected amount of £65k or so, the final wodge of the inheritance money.

- erm, my Norfolk rellies are inviting my sister and I to go on a cruise in the Western Med in October, and I think I'm going to be saying yes ...

- I just got a last squeeze of value out of my National Trust membership, went to Scotney Castle today, the lady of the house was mad on cats :rotfl: they have a lovely walled garden and the house was started around 1378, so it was pretty good :beer:

Nothing else thats strictly about money, so I think I'm going to go to bed. Night night all

themadvix

Cruise sounds fab and it sounds like you've got the taste for them

Will make a note that Scotney Castle is one to visit - and I can drag DH round the house if cats are involved!

beanielou

Good news all round then

Karmacat

Morning! Yep, its all good.

*Getting* to the cruise might traumatise me slightly, as its a flight - I don't have a phobia any more, but last time I flew, I was still very stressed. I foresee a few days spent at the local airport, normalising the idea of flying again - booking an international rail ticket seems even trickier than it used to be, unless you're doing it in person, and it *is* a waste of money, as flights are included.

I'm quite ambivalent about the cruises, actually. It'll be good to spend time with the Norfolk rellies, and I've only been to one of the ports the ship will call at, but there seems to be a lot of boasting and one upmanship about how many cruises people have taken, and the cruise line that people have been on. And when I used to travel, it was always entirely self directed, except for attending conferences or conventions. And there were very few times in Norway when it was possible to connect with local people in the way I'm used to, and I miss that.

If I was sure I was healthy enough, and had enough stamina, I'd holiday the way I used to holiday, independently. Maybe that'll come.

At the moment, this is the way forward, and today is an admin day (in spite of being woken by a thunderstorm at 5.30am!). I have a few phone calls and texts to do, and then I'll have at it.