Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

Makingabobor2

foxgloves said:

@Makingabobor2 - I was very patient but moaned a lot, much I think to Mr F's embarrassment. Unfortunately, customers weren't properly informed - the staff were very good (& understandably stressed & fed-up) when we got to the tills, but what the situation needed was for a manager to come & explain the cause of the delay to the enormous queue. Someone did come & tell the last 3 or 4 folk in the queue but it was so long, nobody else could hear & when they did a tannoy announcement it sounded like "Good morning, mmmmmwmmmfmmmbbbbwmmmfblahblahmmmmmf, mssssssmmmwmmph, thank-you for your patience". Some people gave up & went home, others got as far as the till then left their trolleys because they didn't like the idea of having their card details & phone numbers written down. The queuing system there involves coralling customers in a very narrow snakey space which I found quite claustrophobic as it's hard to leave unless you are at either end & you couldn't turn a trolley round. I have a sore throat starting today so am wondering if some herbert huffed germs over me while we were so closely confined. 
I did buy some nice pots though, & we had a lovely birthday breakfast.
F x

Yes, I'm not sure I would have wanted my card details written down and left with them

badmemory

It is interesting how much less trusting (justifiably) we all are now.  We never used to blink a eye at those card machines that used to imprint the details & then they kept one copy.  Although I am sure I read somewhere that they still use those in America.

ladyholly

I hate queues mainly because standing still is very painful and tiring for me so I would certainly have had to leave.  I do get irate when there is a lack of information as to why thre are problems but I find the older I get the more impatient I get. I have been known to sit on the floor in shops when I need to queue.

A quote from my Mum

" I didnt queue during the war and I am not starting now".

rtandon27

Yikes - the queue sounds horrid!  You have the patience of a saint to have gone through that.

Across the pond, the only thing I've ever queued for was voting day.  Queues are just not an ingrained part of the culture as it is here. I've been know to leave an entire basket full of goods behind in MrS if there are not enough tills in operation & I have to wait more than 5 mins...this is why I'm a firm convert to online shopping & if we do shop in store it's now Waitflower.

Suffolk_lass

A couple of things from me (not queue related!). The ginger and turmeric shots - my friend (about 15 years younger than me, and a fellow beekeeper) makes a mixture of ginger, turmeric and honey, and blitzes it into this fabulous paste that she gave me a jar to try. I am after the quantities now. It is just fab in homemade curry.

Re the gravel for your new bench area. I know from experience that using 10mm pea-shingle is exactly the right size for the tread of our wellies, walking boots and lots of pairs of trainers and other shoes. Mr SL regularly deposits lumps in the house (which has a brick floor in the entrance way and dining room) and it is lethal when I step on any, wearing my slippers! I am gradually topping our gravel paths with 20mm stone which is approximately the same price from the aggregate places. I also use a thick water permeable weed-suppressing membrane which helps reduce the spread of weeds through the gravel.

I took my regular stash of toilet rolls to the foodbank yesterday (I get them every other month - 64 at a time as part of a delivery subscription - it ensures I receive my 15% discount and that pays for most of it - so being near the M&S I went in and managed to find some smaller sized jeans for Mr Sl (the diets continue). They don't stock extra long women's in store so I can't get mine until the cyber attack is resolved. Anyway, I could not get our favourite coffee bags due to their warehouse ordering system being part of the ransomware attack - I did get lots of lovely F&V though, and sweet gem lettuces are just as nice as iceberg lettuce. My own should be snippable soon!

foxgloves

@Suffolk_lass - Yes, I also have a pair of boots which bring home an eclectic assortment of pea-gravel from every heritage site we visit for a walk. It's so nice to be just coming out of 'hungry gap' time & be able to pick our own homegrown salads again.
F

foxgloves

Hello Diary Friends,
Thanks for all the 'queue sympathy'. I fear that having been packed closely together for so long in that wretched queue has resulted in someone huffing germs all over me, as yesterday's sore throat is clearly now some sort of lergy. I don't feel too bad, mostly just tired, apart from the sore throat & a bit of a stiff neck. I don't really have any other cold symptoms so if none have emerged by tomorrow, I think I might do a covid test, just to rule that out - I don't think it will be though as I felt much worse than this when I had covid. I haven't had a cold since December 2019 & didn't succumb to covid until 2022, so I feel quite annoyed to have sailed through the Winter months only to go down with something on Beltane! I mean, it's the start of late Spring, not a time I associate with being lergyfied at all!
Right, any budget helping activities today? Not a lot, I didn't plan much as was expecting an insanely hot day for May, & although it is very hot, there does seem to be a little bit of a breeze, which helps. Soot keeps getting too hot. He's also good at pretending he's too hot in case it results in sympathy treats (it doesn't, especially not when he has been trying to secure an early lunch since the nano-second after he finished his breakfast)!
*Was out in the greenhouse at 7.20am potting on tomatoes & cosmos before it got too hot in there. I think early morning is my favourite time of day
*Watered veg troughs, lettuce bed, sweet peas & greenhouse stuff.
*Wrote grocery shopping list which I didn't get round to doing last night when I realised I'd need to do a bit more of a thorough pantry-look to check on ingredients needed for some preserving next week.
*Did a survey - my PA cash-out for April was really small as I just didn't put the usual effort in. As I'm not feeling very energetic today, I think I will see if there are any I can do this afternoon which will at least get May's off to a good start.
*Sowed a 2nd tray of basil as the 1st lot germinated rather erratically. The seedlings I have are good, I just like more of it, as make all our pesto for the year ahead.
*Very quick cheapo nosebag tonight, as we need to pop out to vote when Mr F gets home from work. Have defrosted a container of the tomato sauce I batch-cooked recently, which we will have with spaghetti & cheese.
*A swift triage of the fridge while I was writing the grocery shopping list identified a couple of use-it-ups, both of which I have eaten for lunch. I am still every bit as anti-food waste as ever. Those TV programmes about saving money in which families are lobbing unopened bags of perfectly good stuff in the bin practically bring me out in hives!
Intending to relax this afternoon & drink plenty of fluids for my throat. I will probably get my current book finished but have another one lined up from my charity bookshop finds. Am currently reading 'The Chimney sweeper's boy' by Barbara Vine. It's very intriguing, one of those books where you find yourself trying to piece together all sorts of little things to try & solve the mystery. 
Wishing everyone a fine Thursday,
F x

Suffolk_lass

Ginger, turmeric and lemon are very good for any sort of sore throat. Just saying...

Makingabobor2

Hope the lurgy doesn't develop into anything nasty. 

foxgloves

Thanks, both. Yes agree re lemon, ginger, etc. I have always been big on herbal concoctions for common or garden lergies. I used to strip the local library bookshelves of titles on this topic when I was around 12 or 13 (I bet the staff used to think I was a witchy-woo in the making, lol) & annoy my Mum by boiling up odd potions which sat around in jars until they went stagnant. It did however, spark a life-long interest in herbalism & folk cures. Back in my student days, if my housemates got ill, they kept it to themselves in case I brewed them some kind of tea. My Grandma (b. Ipswich 1905) used to tell me about some of her mother Rose's remedies & I found them fascinating. 
Am hoping this lergy won't come to anything & I'll still feel up to our planned city centre trip on Saturday.
F