And now we go again...

beanielou

What an amazing & awesome experience. I am very jealous. I think the BT tower is being converted into something else to. Sad times. 

EssexHebridean

Beanie MrEH has been up the BT tower as well - he did it as part of one of the "open House" things a few years ago. I'm quite jealous of that!  In other news - did you spot that it looks like Robbie Drummond has been booted from Calmac? When I saw the headline I did have to double check it wasn't left over from the 1st, but no, it seems to be genuine! 

Tallgirl I know what you mean - everything we've sown so far pretty much has been either in propagators indoors or in the mini greenhouse - and we're having a reasonable amount of success. It was actually lovely outside on Saturday - I was in short sleeves a lot of the time. Monday morning wasn't too bad, either. 

PennysIntoPounds

That sounds like a great day, what a pic!

Cheery_Daff

Wow, that sounds like a most excellent day out! Good plan on booking the first tour too... 

Greying_Pilgrim

EH - beautiful photo, and fun to 'landmark' spot 😁 

Can I ask you a question about the lodgetravel rooms?  You know you talked about prices being a bit lower than they were, is that because you are organising advanced bookings?  Because I had been looking to book a 'room favoured by Sir Len' in the more immediate future, and the price was X - and I checked on the lodgetravel site and their room for the same date was about £40 more - which was a bit of a surprise, as they used (long time ago, pre 'C') to be cheaper.  I appreciate, I have just had a quick glance, and the lodgetravel may be in a much more convenient location than Sir Len's gaff, but I just pondered whether 'late booking' doesn't work with these chains, and it's the early bird that gets the good priced offers.  Sorry to be such a luddite about these things 😞

I appreciate we might just need to be more organised and book earlier. 

Greying X

jwil

Sounds like a great day.  You write about your experiences so well and I love your enthusiasm (and photos!)

beanielou

Oooh did not know about RD.

EssexHebridean

Greying_Pilgrim said:

EH - beautiful photo, and fun to 'landmark' spot 😁 

Can I ask you a question about the lodgetravel rooms?  You know you talked about prices being a bit lower than they were, is that because you are organising advanced bookings?  Because I had been looking to book a 'room favoured by Sir Len' in the more immediate future, and the price was X - and I checked on the lodgetravel site and their room for the same date was about £40 more - which was a bit of a surprise, as they used (long time ago, pre 'C') to be cheaper.  I appreciate, I have just had a quick glance, and the lodgetravel may be in a much more convenient location than Sir Len's gaff, but I just pondered whether 'late booking' doesn't work with these chains, and it's the early bird that gets the good priced offers.  Sorry to be such a luddite about these things 😞

I appreciate we might just need to be more organised and book earlier. 

Greying X

We do usually try to book quite early for things that are "definite" IYKWIM, and usually if we are booking saver rates or whatever Sir Len's lot call their equivalent these days, that does seem to net the best price. (It also seems to guarantee you  room at the very furthest end of a corridor, but that is a whole other story!) the exception to this in the usual run of things is when they have one of their sales, with either some locations at cheaper prices, or on occasion a code to obtain X% off.  As a rule, once I have booked on a saver rate, I never look back as I can't cancel anyway, so I don't want to know where the prices have gone! On this occasion we have chosen to book the flexible rate as with the relative uncertainty around the ferries there is every chance we might end up having to cancel plans (again!) and so I decided to keep a window open for both of the relevant chains - initially I had booked with Len's mob, then the price dropped at the TL (which we prefer, for that location), so I booked there and cancelled the earlier booking. (saving £7) and then when I checked the other day the TL rate had dropped again, so I jumped on it and repeated the exercise. (Saving another £7). I suspect we will now be at the end of that particular road (and probably the corridor, too!) as when I looked back again today, prices have increased again - in fact the saver rate is higher than I secured our flexible rate room for the other day!
I agree though - it did use to be that TL were always the cheaper option - but that is definitely not always the case now. 

Thanks all for popping by and your kind comments too! I'm honestly still grinning after Tuesday's trip - it really was excellent! 

MSE stuff:
- I am changing plans in relation to heading to Lincoln to make it Monday instead - I've already got the day off booked anyway and at the moment the weather is looking likely to be just a bit better (well, drier!) then so that should fit better. 
- the Broadband increase is now confirmed and is just pennies under £2 a month extra. I will alter that on my budget next time I log in to it. 
- I need to spend some time budget wrangling tomorrow anyway - to work through what I expect our travel costs to be this month and note the new monthly costs for various things.
- Remember that travel costs will be higher as we're going down to Devon for the weekend in a couple of weeks so that will use a full tank.
- the roof man is coming tomorrow morning, all being well. (Another reason why it works out well for me to not head to Lincoln!) I need to work out where the money for that is being shuffled from. 
- Another job for tomorrow is to do a meal plan for as far ahead as I can put together. there is plenty of food stashed, and I want to nail down that grocery spend again this month too! 

So rough plans for tomorrow/the weekend then:
- Lots more rubble to get bagged up 
- more digging over and removing as many more stones as possible
- Meal plan
- Shopping
- MrEH has made a booking for a slot at the tip for Saturday, we'll probably want another one for Sunday as well
- Diesel in my car ready for Monday - might just do that tomorrow as I'll be out in her anyway)
- See whether we can get the bagged coin paid in to shift across to the holiday account. Will mean a trip to town but might be able to tie it in with himself dropping me off before going on to the tip, then collecting me on his way back again - actually, that could work. 
- I said on the reverse meal planning thread that I was planning curry for tea tomorrow, but that will actually slip to Saturday now as I've realised being at home during the day probably frees me up to go and see the Old Boys rugby match tomorrow night. It will start in daylight and end under lights so that will be a good test for the new lens! That means I'll need to have a think about what I am going to eat - I'll be starving by the time we get home otherwise and as there will no doubt be beers.... 
- sort out camera batteries and memory cards ready for tomorrow night/Monday. 
- have a think about what else needs sowing, and work out what can come out of the mini greenhouse now. Possibly the courgettes...we actually have grow bags ready for those anyway, just need to work out where they are being put, allowing that they will want to climb over everything anyway!
- washing - at least 2 loads
- Go and buy compost - probably lots of it!
- Maybe a trip to the plant place to see about rhubarb?

That seems like a bit to be going on with anyway! 

Greying_Pilgrim

EH - thanks for your comprehensive response. I suspected my lack of planning might be at fault.  Must get better at holiday planning, which might be easier as and when budgets and finances start to gain a little flexibility.  Now you come to mention it, we usually are at the end of a corridor too..........

Pre-cvid we used to do alot more booking of Sir Len's rooms, but since cvid, the price has gone WHOOOSH, LG has been through a real phase of 'being ill' at strategic moments, meaning we've cancelled more trips than we've partaken of, and then there's the changing weather patterns to contend with - hence why I'm probably not going anywhere this weekend now.  

Thanks again for answering my question.

Greying X

themadvix

Blimey, you’re considering putting your poor courgettes outside already? I haven’t even sown mine yet!

 I’ve missed what’s happening with roof man (leak?) but if you know and trust him, might be worth getting him to check the general condition of the roof prior to having the solar installed. We knew we needed some work done but it turned into a lot more than expected, but glad we had it done before panels were installed - and this was not something the solar survey covered at all. Getting it done after the panels would have been even more expensive and would have involved their removal first.