And now we go again...

themadvix

I think that seems to be standard re travelodges now - exactly the same situation for our one in Manchester, but it was still the cheapest option. It wouldn’t be quite so bad but it’s in dire need of refurb (it’s was our regular place when visiting grandmother-in-law before she was moved down here).

 Good work on the twigging - I have a similar pile that I walk past regularly and just pick up a big stick as I pass! I’m sure the neighbours think I’m mad, but I’m long past caring!

PennysIntoPounds

Fantastic getting that frame for 50p, what a bargain

maddiemay

Reference the twigging/kindling, my bestie who has a log burner collects pine cones and dries them if necessary, she says they make lovely kindling and smell great too, since I cannot resist picking them up when out I collect them for her now.

milann

There was a tree felled at the back of a relative’s house in the summer. It was fascinating watching folk go with various trolleys to forage whatever they could manage to take…..In a few days everything that could have been moved by hand was. The following week when we walked by a massive trunk had gone too…..I’d love to know how they moved it as it was enormous 😂😂 

MrsPorridge

Travel Lodges are not cheap any more!  And when you consider you don't even get breakfast.  We have started using B&B's instead close to where we want to stay and so far have struck lucky.

jwil

Great bargains on the table and plants!

lucielle

Well done on the ticket purchases. Love the twigging plans. 

L

Baileys_Babe

About 8 - 15 years ago, we frequently used to stay in travel lodges as they were cheap and convenient for where we wanted to visit. Often we spent £9 a night, I always used to feel we were being ripped off if we had to spend more than £29 per night - this would have been for a family room.

EssexHebridean

maddiemay said:

Reference the twigging/kindling, my bestie who has a log burner collects pine cones and dries them if necessary, she says they make lovely kindling and smell great too, since I cannot resist picking them up when out I collect them for her now.

Lots of folk recommending pine cones - I can imagine they would smell fabulous too! I believe that they are only suitable for use in stove types fires though rather than open - as the seeds can burst and spark? 

As for the Tr@vel0dge thing - yep, we've used them for years in various places - the Birmingham stay has always been one of two "regular" ones and we have had some complete bargains there in the past - part of the issue this year was being udecided about going at all meant that we have just left it very late to book I think. We've also stayed in a good number of the ones scattered up the A1 when heading north on holiday over the years too - frequently at the sort of £9 - £30 a night range too. Those days do very much seem to be past though. Mrs P - the breakfast thing doesn't usually tend to worry us overmuch as we'd generally either be heading away before breakfast anyway, or know of somewhere nearby that a better breakfast can be had! 

Another morning of grim traffic today - took me 25 minutes just to get out of the town to the motorway, and frankly things didn't improve a whole heap even once I got there. Quite envious of MrEH's ability to WFH on days like this I have to confess.

MSE Stuff:
- that saving on the Food show tickets - I'll need to transfer the money from the relevant savings pot for those, too. 
- banks checked and all good. MrEH has been paid - even better!
- Money shuffle from my money was done yesterday - I will just need to remember to pay the £50 to my N'wide reg saver tomorrow. 
- Got an email from the Octopods yesterday to say that our Home Mini device will be with us in the next couple of weeks, I've been on the waiting list for a while. Should hopefully make their own app even more useful than Loop which I already use when I want a bit more in depth info on what we've used.
- A good little flurry on Prolific lately - nabbed a £4.50 survey last night that was meant to take around half an hour but actually took far less time, and that has already been paid. Balance now sitting at £18.39 with another £1.95 pending - I will probably cash it out tomorrow.  
- Opted to use MrEH's car today as his has plenty of diesel still and mine doesn't! I will probably put some in mine at the weekend, but most likely not much as I still don't know when it will be going in for its repair. 
- washing machine went on first thing in the hope of MrEH being able to get washing out on the line even just for a few hours. 
- Last night's pasta bake was delicious and only took 15 minutes in the combi microwave to heat back through and crisp the top. Still undecided between couscous and eggs for this evening though. 
- MrEH played freezer tetris last night to get the spare tub of venison stew in - funny how the food you have seems to expand to fill the freezer space available!

NSD yesterday which was the hope. The hope is also for another of the same today! 

Made a start on joining the large panels for my blanket together last night which is rather jolly. Tried out a straight single crochet method first but decided that looked a bit rubbish so have opted for an "invisible join" option instead which so far seems to be working OK although it's a bit more time consuming. I'll be aiming to get another three large panels joined tonight I think, and a few more small plain squares done as well. The plan at the moment is that once everything is joined I'll add a border round the whole thing just to level out the edges - that will be a task and a half I suspect. Still undecided about whether to surround the large central panel with a ring of plain small squares, then a ring of multicoloured squares around that, or whether just to randomise the placement of them all. 

Right - I suspect the organisation I have been on hold for for the past 15 minutes will answer their phone fairly soon so I will leave things there for now I think! 

lucielle

Blanket sounds good, post a pic if you feel comfortable when it’s done. I need inspiration!  

L