Seasidegal's Scrimpy Retirement Diary!

Seasidegal58

Thank you @beanielou (spooky!  I've just commented on your diary!). 

Scotland is such a beautiful place -so diverse - nowhere quite like it......❤️

EssexHebridean

Good plan to try to work on flexibility - if you don't use it, you lose it, as they say! 

I'm afraid my sink isn't as shiny as it ought to be - there's a habit I need to get back to! 

Seasidegal58

A very chilly, grey start to the day - no rain was forecast until evening but it actually started early afternoon and has been teeming ever since in the best Highlands fashion. ☔️
DD has been working all day in the study and OH took Bear2 for her vet appointment. She was spayed last summer and has recently developed an incontinence problem which apparently affects some bitches after spaying - and affects bigger dogs more than the smaller varieties. The vet has prescribed for her the equivalent of doggie HRT, but doesn't want to rule out the possibility of a urine infection. Unfortunately Bear2 declined to oblige with a specimen on this occasion so OH has got to obtain one now by following her around with some-sort of ladle!🤭
I've been spending my day by vacuuming, cleaning down the all kitchen doors, counter tops, etc, plus reading.
I was sorry to hear last week that C J Sansome had died after a long battle with cancer. He was truly a marvellous storyteller. I've been re-reading his marvellous Shardlake novels on the back of the new Shardlake series on TV.  All I can say is I've really have got to stop watching the TV adaptations of any books that I love as these days they really tinker with and change the story or the characters. In this Shardlake TV adaptation of the first novel the gist of the story has been changed slightly, but they have completely tinkered with one of the main characters. 🤷‍♀️ 

MSE SCRIMPY THINGS
A NSD today - nothing else to report. 

beanielou

Your poor DD!

Seasidegal58

it's it's DD's OH that took her to the vet @beanielou. It's going to be a toss up between the two of them who's going to be wielding the ladle!😆

doingitanyway

Another one story to hear about CJ Samsome.
Sorry about the rain but still jealous as you are in Scottish Highlands and I am not.
Enjoy Scotland

milann

You’ve been having some lovely trips. Good to hear from you again. 

The weather here has been beautiful all week. It’s lovely to see the sunshine rather than rain, hail and wind 😂😂

Seasidegal58

Thank you @doingitanyway - hopefully it won't be too long before you are up here again. 🤞
Hi @milann - the weather here was glorious last week - back to grey and damp today but hopefully things are looking up tomorrow and Saturday. 

I had zoom Pilates first thing this morning. I seem to have pulled something in the back of my knee this morning. No idea how!🤷‍♀️. My teacher took it easy with the standing exercises so I still had a very useful session. 

DD's OH confirmed he will be working away next week so I will be staying on here till Sunday week. So I've changed my flight with Sqeezyjet and rearranged my car pick-up at Gatwick. I've also changed my nail, gym and hair appointments, and let my friend know as well as she pops into my flat to check up on things whilst I'm away. 

OH is away overnight and DD is holed up in the study working again so I've vacuumed the high traffic areas downstairs and wiped down the kitchen doors - with two large hairy, slightly slobbery dogs this is a never ending task. 

Also packed away the Bears' raw food delivery in the shed freezer that arrived this morning. 

DD bought some rather tasty looking pies from the village farm and garden shop the other day. So I've got the steak and ale and she has bean and sweet potato tonight for supper.  Will be accompanied by lots of broccoli and new potatoes.  😋
Just started on the second Shardlake novel - Dark Fire. 

And it was very nice to read today that my Seasideville town has been voted by one of the national newspapers as one of best London commuter towns to live in!😀

MSE SCRIMPY THINGS
Debits today:
£20 - Pilates
£49 - Squeezyjet amendment cost for flight - but DD's OH is reimbursing this to me. 

Credits today:
£150 win this month from my PBs has arrived in my current account - now added to my Holiday budget. 

My First Direct Regular Saver account has just matured so I'm going to have to open a new account with them to carry on getting the 7% interest as they automatically roll all the monies over to a 2% paying account. What a faff!  But I suppose they wait and see whether some people can be bothered to open the better interest paying account. 😏

And I received a nice email from HMRC informing me that I can get on with my Self-Assessment even though they had already confirmed to me that I don't have to complete one anymore!🤦‍♀️

beanielou

Squeezyjet 😆😆
Pies sound lush. 

Seasidegal58

They were @beanielou!😋

Yesterday was a much better day weather wise and I did a load of washing and got it dry on the line whilst DD was working. Also vacuumed and steam mopped the hard floors and wiped down the cupboards. Today is another glorious day so another load of washing is going round at the moment in the machine. 

DD and I were miffed that we didn't get to see any Northern Lights last night!  We weren't even aware that they were dancing!  Hopefully they'll be out again tonight. 

There are lots of little birds flying down to dine at the bird table. There is one robin who is a really hard little so-and-so and was seeing off a gang of goldfinches like a mini-avian version of Bruce Lee!  I think he is the robin who drove DD's OH mad in the winter by keep trying to fly into the house!  

MSE SCRIMPY THINGS
Debits:  
Nothing spent apart from my Tesco click and collect order as I'll be staying up here for another week. I've also included Bear treats and some toiletries in the order but won't know what the final cost will be till tomorrow. 

Credits:
£0

My water bill appears to have gone up £4 per month. I have two local water companies that bill me - one for my sewage and one for other water (which is metered). They have now decided to combine the monthly direct debit payments so that only one company collects them as from next month. No - I don't know why either!🤷‍♀️.