Ding! Ding! All change, please... (now replaced with new diary on MFW)

beanielou

Glad all went well 

EssexHebridean

Morning all - and thanks for the well dones! We're part of a great team - both on the organisation of the event itself and the bar we run too.

Still feel I could sleep for about a week but my Garmin tells me I'm "recharging" nicely - just didn't feel like it when the alarm went off this morning! I think I'm planning a fairly gentle Friday at the moment although I would like to get to the gym - just to get back to the routine of it a bit if nothing else. the weekend has nothing planned at all although there are some odd jobs we need to do - the windows need a clean and if we do them now that should be it until we have a new house and windows to think about. MrEH will need to replace the water pump, and there will be the usual shopping etc to get done as well. The water pump did suddenly start working again when we got back from the festival, but was sounding unhealthy to a point where we just decided to flick the switch to turn it off, in the end. 

Forgot to mention I think - I got the payment through while we were away for the compensation and refunds of expenses on the ferry fiasco when we came back from holiday. They refunded the extra on the ferry tickets and the extra night's accommodation, paid our breakfast bill, paid mileage for the difference between where we should have been travelling from/to and where we actually did, and also paid out compensation against the original ticket price for the disruption too. I got the email confirming it all, and the money hit the bank account less than 48 hours later, so we're very pleased with that. Part of me thinks I should have claimed the dinner the evening of the extra night too - but then again that might have made them scrutinise it a bit more carefully and we would after all have been paying for food that night wherever we were, so probably best that I played it safe.  The money has now gone off as part of the cottage deposit for next year's trip - so it's actually gone back to the islands which feels even better in many ways! 

Banks checked and all good - the car account has enough in it to pay everything we need it to with plenty over. The rest of the pots all look good too aside from Household which is a little lower than needed for the home insurance - I can probably pay that on the CC though so won't need to worry about it until next month - and some of that should also come back when we cancel the policy once we've moved too. Currently planning is to leave renewing that until the very last minute on the renewal date - then if we can get the move on the earliest likely date we'll just be able to cancel it under the cooling off period - otherwise we'll be seeing if we can transfer it to the new house and pay whatever the extra is. 

The removals boxes were paid yesterday straight from the joint account - there will be surplus (planned) in there again this month so that made sense rather than moving money about needlessly. They apparently provide 4 rolls of tape with the boxes so that's a planned purchase I can cross off my list. We're hoping to manage with the stashed bubblewrap we have...but will order more from the Big River site if we need to. 

Spendiness:
A Big River purchase this morning - a pack of big tissue paper sheets for the move (far cheaper from there than from the removals people), plus a new suoply of my razors (Dorco ones - the ladies "Eve" is fantastic, the blades seem to last forever, the handle is sturdy and comfortable to hold and they are reasonably priced) and also a replacement for my clinique chubby stick lip balm/gloss which I use daily - the current one was a free with purchase and has lasted well for a half-sized one. Should all be delivered on Friday.

A good thing: A successful and most of all thoroughly enjoyable festival!
A bad thing: A single person at the festival who it has now become very clear is trying to undermine us. They tried to set up up to fail on a couple of things in the run up, and we've now heard from various people that things were being said during the event too. nothing we can do to stop it, so the plan is just to continue to perform our role to the best of our abilities and to make sure that when we have to interact with the problem person we dot every I and cross every T. They are being spoken to by our festival organiser about one aspect of the run up anyway - and my gut feeling is that she will be telling them to just get over themselves.
A "food for thought" thing: Just how much more relaxed we were about everything to do with the role and the festival this time round. It's the first year I've really felt comfortable around the various "privileges" that the role we have affords us - nothing massive, just little things like getting the "Magic Keys" that let us go pretty much anywhere in the building, including coming and going through entrances that the rest of the volunteers can't use, having the office and it's attached kitchen etc to use (far nicer making hot drinks with a kettle than using water from an urn!) and other odds and ends. For the first time this year we had hi-vis jackets to wear during the setup and takedown sessions with "working party" and our role on the back (It's the first time a sponsor had been found for a run of these since we've been on the working party, hence not having them sooner) - I'd probably have felt awkward wearing it even last year - this time I just felt proud of it. Silly things, and in real terms insignificant, but nice to feel we've properly grown into the role. 

PennysIntoPounds

Glad the beer festival went so well and that you felt you'd earned the right to enjoy it- I saw pics of some wonderfully silly hats being worn there! Shame about the annoying person but there's always one in any situation isn't there. As you say, just rise above it (and enjoy knowing they're getting told to get over themselves 😁). 
Great that all the moving plans are coming together, don't forget to put together a separate box of 'immediately needed' things like loo roll, tea bags, cups and kettle, and a big drink and glasses! Not that there's anything wrong with drinking wine from rinsed out tea mugs when you've just moved in somewhere 😂

EssexHebridean

Haha - PIP, that box has already started being assembled! A couple of packs of biscuits not hoovered up at least partly by the bar team, and the cans of water we salvaged from the hotel last week (they left us one each still & sparkling each day free, so we stashed most of them in the fridge and brought them home!) Other bits will be added as we get closer to the time - I have a tub of sugar sachets ready to go also from various hotel hauls - neither of us take sugar in drinks but the removals men might!

I have just been reminded through reading another diary that I was a whisker away from cashing out 1P so have popped across there  and done a single survey which tips me neatly over the edge - that £25 has now been claimed so I'll need to keep my eye out for it. 

While in the banking earlier I noticed that EE have refunded the small amount they owed me for my cancelled phone contract, so I have also gone back in now and cancelled the Direct debit to them in case of anything being taken accidentally. I noted yesterday that I could no longer see any payment details etc on the app so feel this is a sensible precaution! 

jwil

Glad you got your compensation.

beanielou

Good news on the compensation.

Sun_Addict

I’m glad the festival went well. Good news that the house move is still progressing. Won’t be long now 🥳

PennysIntoPounds

Survey money and compo sounds an excellent money saving day. I spent 45 mins on a call to N*tionwide earlier to try to get a subscription cancelled, looked like they weren't going to be able to do it and I'm glad I was pleasantly assertive rather than my default of 'I hate calls, I have other things I need to do, I tried my best so let that be a problem for future me'. They did eventually sort it and I know my future self thanks me!
The immediate needs packing box sounds good, hooray for miniature freebies. If you remember on moving day, stick a couple of sandwiches and chocolate bars in too so when you're exhausted and stressed at least you're not hangry too 😁

Jellytotts

It’s a shame I’m not closer or I’d have passed in my bubble wrap and boxes!  It’s amazing how many boxes you need.

Hope the move goes smoothly, we had a couple of hiccups but nothing too major and are loving the space of our new home. 

lucielle

I always find writing on the box which room it needs to go in helpful. 

L