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

Seasidegal58

Yes have a great time - here's hoping the midge bands work!😀🦟

EssexHebridean

Thanks lovelies - if your good vibes and well wishes are as effective for a lovely holiday as they were for us getting the house then we're going to have the BEST time, aren't we! 

Cashed out Prolific this morning - £20.14 this month which is reasonable enough I think, I've transferred that across to the Gym Neutral fund which now stands at a slightly irritating £89.99! having said that, this does mean that maybe this coming month I can get the total to over 3100 so an incentive there at least. I've been rather lazy on surveys recently so could do with getting some focus back there. 

The plastic valve caps for MrEH's tyres arrived yesterday so he is fitting those this morning and ditching the pretty but dodgy metal ones! Definitely don't want to run the risk of getting one stuck on a valve again - thank goodness we always check tyres before a trip so were aware of it before we went!  He's also meant to be checking the oil in his car too - and he fuelled up last night so we're all sorted there. 

Money shuffles done - the New House fund got an extra £570 in the end which I am delighted with - it'll get another £300 in a few days once the regular payment to the "Account Formerly Known As..." lands as well and that will push us to the next £1k bracket. Then the mission will be to see how much we can leave "spare" in the joint account for the end of June... I need to remember to feed my little N@t1onw1de regular saver tomorrow, but other than that we're all pretty much squared away for the start of the month. 

Seasidegal58

Safe journey!😀🚘🏕️

RelievedSheff

Have a lovely holiday. Looking forward to the piccies.

EssexHebridean

Thanks SSG & RS!

We usually treat ourselves to a sneaky KFC on the way up - we rarely have them so it feels like a suitably "treaty" way to start a holiday and it's easier than trying to get together something to take from home that isn't just the same as we'd usually have for lunches. Anyway, with that in mind I checked out the KFC we'd usually use to make sure of their opening hours...and was entirely gobsmacked by the flipping PRICES! Now there are treats, and there are treats - and frankly I can think of FAR better uses of that much money so I've done some creative thinking...and have asked MrEH what he reckons to the idea of reserving a TGTG bag from one of the local Costa branches that I can collect on my way home...the issue is of course that we won't know what we'll get, but it might well provide something decent, and they di usually come up with something savoury at least... I reckon that worst comes to worst we'll just have to dive into Tesco for a meal deal on the way out!

MrsPorridge

We picked DS up from Bristol on Friday and stopped off at Exeter Services for KFC, first time in months and like you I was horrified at the way the prices have gone up  - no doubt even more at the Services!  I don't think we will be having KFC (like you it was the odd "treat"), for a very long time.

EssexHebridean

MrsPorridge said:

We picked DS up from Bristol on Friday and stopped off at Exeter Services for KFC, first time in months and like you I was horrified at the way the prices have gone up  - no doubt even more at the Services!  I don't think we will be having KFC (like you it was the odd "treat"), for a very long time.

It's crazy isn't it - I mean it's never going to be a "cheap" meal but when we came to think about it, we weren't even that impressed last time we had a KFC, it all tasted a bit overseasoned and too salty IIRC.  I have snagged a TGTG bag from a Costa instead, we'll see what that contains and top up if needed - we'll have the leftover fruit with us anyway, can easily grab some bags of crisps from home and we've got other nibbles ready for the main drive tomorrow so it'll all be good! 

Did just have a wee bit of ferry related drama though as I got a text through from Calmac telling me that we need to be at the port no later than 0915 tomorrow for our 1005 sailing...which would be all well and good had I not very carefully made sure that what I booked was our "usual" 1800 sailing - as the early one means an overnight drive and even then no guarantee we would make it if there are any delays on the way!  Cue half an hour on the phone to them trying to establish why we might have been moved, and then confirming that in fact we haven't, we're still on our booked 1800 and the message was sent in error. (In fact, while I was on the phone to them a second message came thorough with the details for the second sailing - but nothing confirming which one was correct!). I felt really sorry for the poor call centre staff who are clearly being completely deluged with phone calls at the moment - I suspect that my cheerful approach might have been somewhat at odds with a lot of what they've had to cope with too! 

rtandon27

EssexHebridean said:

...and was entirely gobsmacked by the flipping PRICES! Now there are treats, and there are treats - and frankly I can think of FAR better uses of that much money so I've done some creative thinking...

EH - I completely agree with this sentiment - we succumbed to a whim on our anniversary earlier this month and were completely floored by the price of KFC for two with no leftovers for a second meal!!!  We've done some MSE-style sleuthing and decided that Mr L or Mr S fried chicken, freezer fries, ready made coleslaw and a pack of (a competitor's) gravy mix from across the pond will do us next time.  Even factoring the cost of using the oven means it is well less than half of the Colonel's prices!!!

Have a lovely holiday & safe journey!!!

foxgloves

Have a lovely holiday, @EH. 
F x

themadvix

Have a lovely holiday EH!