So close, we can smell mortgage freedom!

themadvix

Morning all,

Busy as ever here. Had a nice day out with Mum yesterday - we visited the RHS's botanical art exhibition at the Saatchi gallery (free for RHS members 😉) and then went to the Chelsea Physic Garden. Both were excellent and the garden was very interesting - my sort of garden, as everything that was planted had a job of some kind. Lunch was a scone at the garden, which was the cheapest feasible option. 

This morning I've dropped Mr MV off to see some bees, which was his birthday present. I'll collect him in a bit and we'll have a pizza at a pub nearby. We were going to do it all by bike, but weather, energy levels and time were not on our side. We're out in London tonight at a country music club night, so more expense there. And tomorrow is our wedding anniversary, so imagine we'll eat out. However, we'll have spent the day doing decking stuff (the deck itself is now finished, but balustrades, some trellis and couple of other bits need sorting), tarting up the wine barrel that we've just had delivered which is going to serve as a water butt and drinks table (needs sanding and oiling) and general gardening as we've got people coming next weekend. We've also got one, possibly two people coming to view/buy? our car. One is coming from 3 hours away, so if he turns up, he's presumably going to actually want to buy it (and if we can get the money transferred, then he can take it away.

Monday could be a very expensive day - we're off to view/buy a car. As a result (and because I'm in Cambridge on Tuesday too), I'm currently supposed to be working as there's been a flurry of bits from main client (we were both expecting things to be a bit quieter, but I'm not complaining that they aren't).

Sorry, this isn't a very MSE diary currently!

MS things:
* Raspberries and strawberries are producing nicely
* 1P
* Clicks and HW - have been doing well on HW recently and cashed out £5 yesterday.
* Used mum's 241 card to get into the Physic Garden and free entry to the art exhibition
* Lots of work (including from Americans)

Gratitudes:
* Lovely time with Mum yesterday
* The barrel - it's going to look lovely
* Finally (hopefully!) feels like the car sale and purchase is coming together 🤞

Have a good day all!

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, I love the idea of the physic garden. I was in the garden at the Royal College of Physicians recently - not on the same scale I imagine, but they have a little medicinal garden too, very lovely. 😊

Good luck with the car!

Fortune_Smiles

It's our wedding anniversary tomorrow too!

We're anniversary twins 😂

Fortune x

Jessy103

Happy anniversary vix and Mr vix (and fortunes!) 🍾

Fortune_Smiles

Happy Anniversary Mr & Mrs MV 🥂

Fortune x

themadvix

Evening all,

Thanks for the anniversary wishes. After a busy day and very late night last night (crawled into bed at 2am - event finished at midnight and we didn’t even stay to the end, but in Canada Water, so long a trip across London to get home), we’ve not gone out for dinner today. We’ll go in the week for paella at the tapas bar - we’ve never yet managed to try the paella!

Mr MV thoroughly enjoyed the bees and gin yesterday, so that was good. They sounded like a really lovely little local company, so very happy to support them. We didn’t go to the intended pub in the end as they had an event on and it was extremely busy. Went to another local pub that we like, which was nice. 

The country music club night was excellent! It was hosted at Phantom Peak which is an immersive experience thing during the day (murder mystery/live escape room type thing), so it was already a Wild West set, perfect for country music. We did line dancing, there was a band, there was also a bucking bull (I didn’t have a go, but others in our group did to enormous amusement) and then lots of country music. We will definitely be going back!

 Very tired today (I only had a couple of pints and a strawberry daiquiri so I don’t think hangover is the right word). But we went to BnQ as planned this morning for a few bits - paid for using our S&S earnings. Have pottered at home otherwise - I oiled my barrel, Mr MV looked at the dishwasher (to no avail) and I harvested strawbs & raspberries and fed and watered. Haven’t been down to the allotment - will go very early tomorrow.

In important money-related news, we sold the Audi this afternoon! Lovely family came, looked, paid and collected all in one go, no quibbling over price, so that was great (people in general are so rude - so many people have just ghosted us after making enquiries, saying they’ll come). We now have more than enough to pay for the car should we go ahead tomorrow and to pay off the mortgage cc before the 0% runs out (Feb I think). Have also found the remainder needed too pay the party room hire of my cc at month end.

 Re dishwasher, I’ll contact a local repair person tomorrow to see if he can look at it.

 Have a good evening all!

LadyWithAPlan

Yeah to the car sale and your london country night out - sounds fun 

EssexHebridean

Well done on the car sale - great to have it gone I bet! Oh and happy anniversary to all who've been celebrating them! 

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, excellent work on the car sale 😊😊 And sounds like a lovely night out last night 😊

themadvix

Evening all,

LaPlan - country night was excellent 😊 EH and Cheery, thanks. Well today went to plan and we've bought a car! So far, so good, but we've got lots to learn about how to use it (think computer, not car!). This took up most of the day, but we've both worked around it. I'm off to an allotment meeting very shortly - but it's only over the road, so nice and easy to get to. Hoping that it'll be short too - we want to go for a drive and set the car profiles up properly (need a flat car park to get mirrors right, not our drive).

Have just taken bread out of the oven - I mixed and kneaded the dough once this morning, chucked it in the fridge and got it out when we got back. It proved nicely and seems to have worked, so that's a really useful thing to know.

MS things:
* Running costs for the car - it will cheaper to run than a petrol vehicle. 9.5p/kWh overnight charging at home (more on longer journeys when we need to charge quickly, but still less than fuel I think - Mr MV has calculated that it'll cost us £75 to get to the south of France in October. Tax is zero-rated (admittedly, we know that's a 'for-now' situation). Insurance looked horrendous, but actually Admiral and Aviva were only about £100 more than the Audi.
* HW and clicks - cashed out £5 from a bookie this morning
* YG surveys x2

Gratitudes:
* A quick wander around Stamford after collecting the car - mainly to find some food, but it was lovely
* Sunshine (it's a bit hot really, but I am *not* going to complain!)
* A trip out in the mini (although driving him back was tiring)

Have a good evening all!