Greying's Gaining Ground - with Gratitude & Grace

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning!

Here we go again - but we're at the end of the working week already......  

Pizza Friday, so HM pizza and wedges for tea.  There weren't any big punnets of mushrooms in MrL yesterday, so it'll be a black olive pizza.  I will need to make up a big batch of tomato sauce though, for pizza topping and base sauce for bolognese etc through February.

Will have to have a natter with DH as to whether he carries on with his Credit Union account.  It used to be quite easy access, and they gave quite a good dividend for positive balances.  But over the past year, access has been patchy, and they haven't awarded any dividend, so I can't really see the benefit of continuing with them.  Might as well go with someone on the high street that at least allows cashpoint access.  I realise that virtually no-one offers interest, so there is no use seeking that!  Have to discount N'wide, or else we would be in danger of having quite a few eggs in similar baskets.....  And yes, I get the community aspect of Credit Unions, but if you're having to work harder to gain access to your own money plus getting no reward.......

Today should be a nsd, but I must bank the cheque from the parental's shopping.  So we'll take a pootle over the the post office.

Can't think of owt else MSE/MFW so, I shall push orf.

Ta for popping in.

Greying X 

Cheery_Daff

I ditched my credit union account quite a while ago for similar reasons Greying. I might consider it again for dosh I didn't need to see for a while, but if you need to be transferring back and forth, it's a bit of a pain. Ours didn't have internet access either in or out.

Mmmm, pizza 😁

Cheery_Daff

I ditched my credit union account quite a while ago for similar reasons Greying. I might consider it again for dosh I didn't need to see for a while, but if you need to be transferring back and forth, it's a bit of a pain. Ours didn't have internet access either in or out.

Mmmm, pizza 😁

Greying_Pilgrim

Glad it's not just me Cheery. I know not everything has to be for profit, or for the best 'payback'. But there is a difference between that and it actively 'costing' you to hold an account - even if that is in time taken to effect money transfers etc.

Greying X

rtandon27

Greying_Pilgrim said:

...and it actively 'costing' you to hold an account - even if that is in time taken to effect money transfers etc...

So true GP - there are times when the time & energy cost are just not worth the effort!

I renewed our travel insurance yesterday (my aging parentals & assorted family live across the pond) - we have no plans to go anywhere anytime soon, but as the policy includes some much sought after "C-word" cover, I decided to keep it going just in case there was an unexpected need.  When it came down to price, the rep on the phone quoted me 30 pounds more than the written piece of paper I had in front of me. I contested the discrepancy, as we went nowhere last year and have no plans for this year.  She did something in the system to bring it withing 70p of my written quote.  I could have (and OH says should have) spent more energy to bring it down by that 70p, but TBH it was just not worth the effort as I was tired from a day of work & a tad emotional about not seeing loved ones for so long!

apple_muncher

Well, there you are, GP!

So pleased to have stumbled across your new diary. No shins were grazed in the stumbling, btw.

Cannot quite fathom how LG got so big! Reading? Mixing batter? Surely they were a toddler...

I love reading your diary, as it is so meaty ( pun intended!) and always uplifting.

You are well and truly bookmarked.

Greying_Pilgrim

apple! How the heckington's wellington's ya doing???  Super well I hope.  And as for growing - how's that beautiful DD of yours??  Hope she's excelling - I've got it in the back of my mind she got into a great school, because she is soooo ace, and all-round talent 😁.  Hope all is going well.  Yep, the advice that EVERYONE gives you to enjoy every moment (that you can) with a small is so right; littlies grow up sooooooooooo quickly.  A new baby in the family prompted us to get LG's piccies out - and stuff that we remember as clearly as if it were yesterday, is now years old................ 

Glad you didn't graze anything stumbling across - because I inna insured........  🤣

Take care you!

Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Dearest rt - whilst it is not acceptable for these commercial companies to profit from the majority's unwillingness to 'chase' and check prices, it is......... perhaps an understandable imperative of a profit-driven, private sector company.  However, our local CU is very apt to ladle on the 'community' aspect of things, without thinking how best they serve ALL that community.  And at the end of the day, if they don't make it in some way 'attractive' to bank with them, their source of funds will dwindle to the point of them not being able to help anyone. 

rt - are your local duck population making any moves to investigate any of your plant pots, as potential nesting sites, yet?

Greying X

rtandon27

Greying_Pilgrim said:

...are your local duck population making any moves to investigate any of your plant pots, as potential nesting sites, yet?...

It is so very coincidental that you ask GP - as just yesterday in fact I startled Mr. & Mrs. Puddleduck upon opening the bedroom window to greet the morning & amuse myself with the comings and goings of the littlest birds at the feeder.  Suddenly the two Anatidae, who it seems had been house-hunting in or near the herb garden, took flight with almighty quacks and raucous beating of wings.  Later in the day, OH & I separately had a mooch around the garden to see if they had taken up residence and exercised their squatting rights.  Much to our relief, no plants had been harmed and no nests or partial nests to be found. 

This morning however, while sitting at my desk trying to concentrate on work e-mails, I gazed out the window (at the back of the house) to see the presumably same ducky couple having a waddle across the back field, poking their beaks into the long grass, to find a suitable hollow in which to nest.  Now as I can clearly see every part of that field, there is no logical reason as to why they would even attempt to nest in such an exposed area.  Hopefully they will come back to the relatively sheltered garden & choose somewhere other than the herb garden to nest!

Stay tuned for ducky updates as spring progresses...

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Evening!

rtandon27 said:

Stay tuned for ducky updates as spring progresses...

Will do sweetie! 😁

Well, there was new property listed today, and actually well within our budget.  Two properties were in equally 'favourable' areas in their own way, and both properties were possibly ex-local authority housing.  Nothing wrong with that per se, they are generally good, big houses.  However, co-incidentally, both these houses had no real on-site parking and both had (unusually) small gardens.  So relatively easy to discount.

Tea was as slated.  I made a vat of tomato base sauce, which has/will provide 6 portions for topping pizzas, and two containers for 'bolognese' base etc.  So well pleased. LG helped to make the pizza base - measuring out the flour and stirring in the other ingredients, and helped to hold the bowl whilst I got the tatties out of the big brown, paper bag.

We popped the grocery cheque into my bank a/c via the Post Office.  It and the co-op were quiet.....

I have many things to be grateful for today.  But most of all, I am entirely glad that i didn't entirely lose it with someone, who advocated jumping through a hoop, only to later acknowledge that it was a step too far, too soon and not appropriate......... 

Ta for swinging by.  Appreciated.

Greying X