Moving on

Seasidegal58

Speaking of the crypt restaurant in St Martin's-le-Fields, if you're ever visiting the City of London, there is a marvellous little vegetarian cafe in the crypt of St Mary-le-Bow Church in Cheapside. It's been there years and I often used to meet a friend there for lunch a few years ago when I worked in the City before retirement. The church itself is the one mentioned in 'Oranges and Lemons' - i.e  '.....the great bell of Bow.' 

It's also supposed to be the church that had the bells calling !!!!!! Whittington back to London!😂

Cherryfudge

I think we'd better book another day in London - I love a good vegetarian meal @Seasidegal58 and I didn't know about that restaurant.

My Mum was born within the sound of Bow Bells so I was brought up knowing how special they are.  I lived in London for a few years and going back always feels like going home.

weenancyinAmerica

My ancestors were married at St. Martin's in the Fields - back in 1622, had a son who died almost immediately and left for America soon after. Her name was Mary (Barrett) Dyer and she was hung in Boston in 1666 as the last Quaker hung for religious reasons in America. 

Cherryfudge

That's so sad, @weenancyinAmerica. Bless her. 

Cherryfudge

Another frosty, sunny day. Did I mention my sister says it's been 46C where they live (on the equator)? It's back to minus 3 here and the log burner was on again this evening. I much prefer this to too hot, but I do think we need a break from it soon.

I had a bit of a lie in after my two 'working' mornings. DH had the day off and did some shopping, but I don't know what he spent. I didn't manage much that was useful, apart from washing two Christmas jumpers and finding the mouse has been back. However, it's too cold to take it out if we caught it, so I'm leaving that a couple of days.

Dh made tuna pasta for lunch and we went out for coffee later, which cost us nothing as he'd been given a voucher by his volunteering. All I've bought is some hooks to put keys and lanyards on, but got a loyalty card for the shop where I bought them. The give a free scratch card per purchase (I didn't win anything) and there's a discount once a month for over sixties. Interestingly the chap didn't ask if I was over sixty any more than he asked if I was over 18. I've given the spare loyalty card to DH in the hope he might get some discounts, and he promptly left it by the bread bin, where it will just get crumbs.

Putting more key hooks up has brought home that we have a lot of keys. It's not a big house, but we have keys for a couple of family houses, and for the cars, the shed, the gas meter, the garage, etc.

I was doing okay with my spreadsheet (though I've not learned anything new) until I managed to make it read-only, and I don't know how I did it. I've had to save it under another name to be able to use it as I can't find where to reverse it. I think a lot of the instructions on the internet are for older or different computers.

I had three hours at work this evening.

Expenditure:
Household £1.50

P.S. A small technical triumph - I managed to alphabetise my phone apps and DH followed suit so we can find things more easily and not have to flick through quite so many pages. And another technical blip: the chain saw arrived and the instructions defeated both of us, so we're going to have another go tomorrow.

Cherryfudge

It's not been a particularly productive day, though two loads of washing got done and partly dried out on the line.

DH spent time trying to assemble the chainsaw including two visits to the shop, firstly to get an explanation of part of the instructions that was glossed over in the leaflet, then for help turning the dial that tightens the chain. The staff tried to tighten it and declared it was faulty, so said chain saw is now packed up ready to go back, and DH has ordered a different one. One of the reviews mentioned problems with the dial too, so ordering an identical one could just lead to a repeat performance.

The price is about the same but I've still to claim the refund on the original.

In the afternoon we went to look at flooring for the kitchen. It's one of those jobs we started a year ago and didn't complete because we both really liked a tile that couldn't be used without major modifications to the existing floor. This time we both liked a very neutral lino so we've arranged for the area to be measured at the end of next week. We've also decided to order glides to go under the freezer because it was moving the freezer that ripped the old lino. We then went on to another shop where I'd seen some fabric I liked for cushion covers. It was still there but only as a remnant and the style has been discontinued. I bought a remnant anyway. If I can find a complementary plain piece, I could still make cushion covers and I like this one a lot. I also bought socks in the sale for the Christmas present stash, so I must remember to take those off my Fashion on the Ration coupons.

Grocery shopping was just restocking basics and chip shop chips to have with plaice from the freezer.

I've spent some of the evening rejigging my rota and contacting people to cover some gaps. I'm very happy that I have another leader on board: she will be great and will take some of the pressure off the others. There's also someone who's agreed to lead as a one-off, so I'm hoping that will go well and she'll be happy to do it again.

Expenditure:
Household £5
Gifts £4.50
Garden approx. £130.00 paid out but roughly equivalent to be refunded
Housekeeping £14.71

in_need_of_direction

Just reading your description of “not particularly productive” tires me out

rtandon27

@Cherryfudge - your definition of a non-productive day is very busy compared to mine! - it included sleeping until 10am then washing hair & a facial before an low-efffort brunch of leftovers.

Cherryfudge

in_need_of_direction said:

Just reading your description of “not particularly productive” tires me out

rtandon27 said:

@Cherryfudge - your definition of a non-productive day is very busy compared to mine! - it included sleeping until 10am then washing hair & a facial before an low-efffort brunch of leftovers.

LOL, I didn't get many steps in and spent most of the time indoors, so I didn't feel productive though I was pleased to have all that washing done. It's mostly still hanging up getting dry. Buying things wasn't a big effort.

Today everything seemed to run late in church so our meeting afterwards started late. I wasn't too worried as it was mostly bullet points to ensure everyone had been notified of things... but it took an hour and a half. I've told them to bring lunch and a sleeping bag next time. The discussion was really productive and has taken ages to write up. Even so I'm not sending it out yet as I keep remembering things that either need to be recorded or followed up.

It also turned out two other lots of people had after-church activities so DH stayed around a bit to help with some things and in doing so discovered a large glassed-in bookcase is being got rid of. We're now in the process of acquiring it! In exchange, an open bookcase (a freebie to us) will be donated.

DH is cooking gammon for dinner and I have eye strain. Looking forward to the Great Pottery Throwdown later and perhaps some knitting.

Cherryfudge

Another day when I spent a lot of time not getting much done. Eventually I bestirred myself and went into town where I a) returned the chainsaw and got a refund, b) remembered to take back some library books all by myself: this modern library system may be newfangled but it's not beaten me yet and c) bought hot chocolate and a duvet cover along with some other bits.

The story behind this is that my favourite hot chocolate has been off the shelves for a month due to a problem with contamination. It's come back at £4.50 a tub! Eek! However, in the very same shop I saw some cosy-looking winter duvet sets reduced, also to £4.50! We have no need of another duvet cover but I don't regret buying it. It's pretty and warm-coloured and will cheer the room up as our other ones are grey.

Now here's a really odd thing about the hot chocolates. There was a more up-market brand in the same sized tub for the same price, so I wondered briefly about buying that. I checked the shelf edge labels, though, and the more up-market one was 350g, whereas my usual one (same price, same sized tub) was 500g. I bought the usual one. This evening I looked at the new tub next to the remnants of the old one and the tubs are the same size , but the weight of the new one is given as 500g, whereas the old one was 450g. Whatever happened to shrinkflation?

Three hours at work this evening. And since yesterday afternoon the temperature has risen about 8 degrees! It was about +5 last time I looked, and likely to be warmer tomorrow, though the sky has been very overcast.

Expenditure:
Household £4.50
Housekeeping 13.95
Garden refund +£130.00