Travelling On

themadvix

Totally with you on the bathroom floor - ours was horrible at the weekend (again, hygienic, just dusty!) and I feel much better for having cleaned it. It is nicer to live with!

Interesting about reversing round a corner - I hadn't realised that wasn't a thing now.

Staycation sounds like it might be fun!

badmemory

Please don't take this the wrong way.  I think that you are a competent driver already & that what you aren't is a confident one.  Is there any way you can work on the confidence thing.  Have you tried doing the online theory test?  It may help.  You may well surprise yourself,  I certainly surprised myself.  It didn't exist when I took my test almost 60 years ago & I still passed first time when I tried it a couple of years ago.

Karmacat

themadvix said:

Totally with you on the bathroom floor - ours was horrible at the weekend (again, hygienic, just dusty!) and I feel much better for having cleaned it. It is nicer to live with!

Interesting about reversing round a corner - I hadn't realised that wasn't a thing now.

Staycation sounds like it might be fun!

Thanks for that!  I need the support for my confession about my floor🤣

badmemory said:

Please don't take this the wrong way.  I think that you are a competent driver already & that what you aren't is a confident one.  Is there any way you can work on the confidence thing.  Have you tried doing the online theory test?  It may help.  You may well surprise yourself,  I certainly surprised myself.  It didn't exist when I took my test almost 60 years ago & I still passed first time when I tried it a couple of years ago.

You're absolutely right, I'm definitely not a confident driver As for the theory test - I need to actually read the Highway Code a bit, I'm really not au fait with all the changes, but I don't think it would take much - as a front-seat passenger in my sister's car, I work hard at staying as aware of the road as a passenger can.  As for not needing more lessons (which I've realised you didn't actually mention!) - mmm, we can differ there, can't we? 🤗  My confidence in myself, in any arena, is very low once I get under the surface of life - that's just who I am.  I need to apply the lessons from overcoming my flying phobia to becoming a good-enough driver.  But I'd rather have a few too many lessons, than a few too few, if you know what I mean  

Anyway, finances are good - the £5 from Amazon was applied to my account (though it didn't show till I pressed the button), the French money has arrived in my English current account, all's good.  A late lunch, and I'm starving!  

Hope everyone has a good day  

beanielou

Hopefully exciting times ahead. 

badmemory

I know exactly what you mean about confidence, and you should have as many lessons as you feel you need.  Why not just try the theory test & see how you do, providded you don't second guess yourself too much - my problem, you may well surprise yourself.  It isn't as if anyone other than you knows how you did.  There's nothing to stop you trying today & tomorrow & the next day etc etc

starnac

KC, I get what you mean about rather having too many lessons than not enough. Although when I took my driving test (many moons ago) I second guessed myself the whole time and I failed. I was devastated (I was 19 and it was obviously the end of the world ) my then boyfriend (now husband!) told me to book a cancellation as he was surprised I had failed. So I did. I took my 2nd test about 2 weeks later with no additional lessons in between and passed. It was definitely a confidence thing not an ability thing when I failed the first time. 

Karmacat

badmemory said:

I know exactly what you mean about confidence, and you should have as many lessons as you feel you need.  Why not just try the theory test & see how you do, providded you don't second guess yourself too much - my problem, you may well surprise yourself.  It isn't as if anyone other than you knows how you did.  There's nothing to stop you trying today & tomorrow & the next day etc etc

You have a point there!  I'll do it before I start reading the Code  

Right, got to be a "doing" day today.  
- dishwasher has nearly finished
- I want to put a light wash on after that.
- cook dried beans that I put in soak last night, along with lentils, barley, a chopped onion and herbs.
- there's all sorts of tidying/cleaning to be done upstairs: my bedside rug, the floor in the 2nd toilet, the pieces of hardboard in the 2nd bedroom, start folding and ironing the hems of the kitchen curtain material, all sorts of things.
- swooshing around dusting with the vacuum cleaner.  There's a *lot* of little spiders that need to be relocated.  Quite a lot of dust too 🤣
- I'm going to use the usual prolonged dog barking period to walk to my local rail station and buy a ticket for Monday - I need to get going with my alternate credit card, because the one that's been through the wash is almost demagnetised, but I'm juggling a bit there: check I can't use my local bus pass in London, check strikes and work to rules on the rail and at the BM, check what else I might do if my sister has to cancel suddenly.  Dunno, I might end up doing this over the weekend, not today.
- genealogy - I laid out a new family tree for one of the families I research, and sent it to the new Ancestry contact.  Luckily, I called it Version One, because there are a few really bad copying mistakes in there 😯



ETA - update doesn't deserve a separate post, because I've only done the first half of that list, I was shattered, oops.  Still, the Amazon order I made has already been delivered, which is great, and some of the tidying has genuinely been done.  Slow-cooked beans are cooling, as much as I can will be put in the freezer as soon as possible. 

Oh!  I started with the curtain - impossible to use Wundaweb, the material doesn't want to be touched by the iron, so I'm doing a sort of babyish back stitch.  The hem at the bottom is the only stitching of mine that has the chance of being seen, and I'll do that more carefully.  I needed a green thread, and literally I inherited half a dozen greens from my mum 🤣

Karmacat

Ha, two lots of gardening yesterday, that was good - it's in absolute chaos.  

Definite tidying has been managed upstairs, office desk can now be used, and all the stuff I cleaned has been tidied.  

And a victory: Jamie Oliver's eggless cake, I halved the amount of cocoa powder in and substituted flour - much nicer tasting.  To be fair, the recipe says chocolate, not cocoa powder, but I can't keep chocolate in the house 🤣  Cake tastes lovely, and I have four portions of my bean/lentil mix in the freezer too.

Does tidying laptop bookmarks count?  Probably not 🙄 but I did it, while watching tv, in any case.

Supposed to be going to the Persia to Greece exhibition tomorrow at the British Museum, but might not be able to, sister is unwell - being around a toddler who's catching every cold around to build up her immune system is no joke!  We'll see later on today, I'm glad i didn't buy the rail ticket yesterday.

Today, any or all (ha!) of the following: a bit more faffing on the computer including backing up the genealogy files, a bit more weeding in the garden (retrieve the Amazon packaging and use it as a mulch near the rhubarb at the very least), reading the Highway Code, sewing the kitchen curtains, plus getting ready for tomorrow if sister decides she can hack going to London.  I'm going to use a mask when I'm around her, as well as in the train 😮

Karmacat

I'm doing the handsewing!  Wooo!  I had to open up the computer again to check on London trains for Friday, we're delaying the trip from tomorrow to then, sister really not well enough to budge.  

I'm also exulting in the eggles cake mix - before, I've always used ground linseed which is nothing much at all, really.  Yesterday, I used whole walnuts that I smooshed with a pestle I kept back when I donated the bowl.  And it was **brilliant**.  Nice texture, and even a nice taste, which I wasn't expecting.  Walnut just goes well with the chocolate.  And its easy too.  I'm thrilled, seriously!

starnac

You have been keeping busy! Sorry to hear your sister isn't well. Those toddler/nursery years are a nightmare. Children are so unsanitary