Moving on

Cherryfudge

I found I had the song 'Long black limousine' in my head when I got up this morning, which is definitely not the way to start the day! I put Loch Lomond on loud to clear it - also a tragic song but I have lovely memories of partying to it at A and H's wedding, so it's got its positives. Now I am back to my customary silence, that's generally what works for me.

Work is at four thirty today so here's my list (the iron will not be hoovered, whatever I said yesterday).

• get dressed
• hoover
• iron
• clean bathroom
• move things off the guest bed! (Clothes STILL there awaiting decisions on summer wardrobe).
• clean floor in guest room.
• clean the windowsills (my plants are shedding bits).
• see if I can find a cream paint that matches the places that need matching.
• Do shopping including A sda for tins.
• Make banana bread.
• Feed plants.
• Clear dining table.
• Set up slow cooker to switch on before work
• Check for laundry

Cherryfudge

Yet another great example of side-track-ness from me: I went to set out the ingredients for tonight's meal so I can see what I still need to get. First I wiped down the cooker top and tiles nearby so I will be left with a clean surface that won't need more than a quick whisk later. Then I noticed the upper cupboard doors needed a wipe too, and ended up cleaning the nearby ceiling and light.

So far, then, nothing actually off the list but should the guests want to look at one section of the kitchen ceiling, they can. I'm not going to do the whole thing. NOT. Not now anyway.

Cherryfudge

With a little over an hour to go before I leave for work, here's how the list is looking:

• get dressed
• hoover
• iron
• clean bathroom
• move things off the guest bed! (Clothes STILL there awaiting decisions on summer wardrobe).
• clean floor in guest room.
• clean the windowsills (my plants are shedding bits).
• see if I can find a cream paint that matches the places that need matching.
• Do shopping including A sda for tins.
• Make banana bread.
• Feed plants.
• Clear dining table.
• Set up slow cooker to switch on before work
• Check for laundry

I've also just cleaned and tidied the kitchen. Next is putting the dinner together and texting DH to ask if he can pick up milk and something for pudding. Shopping isn't going to happen, but I realised I have enough of other things for now. The ironing is in the airing cupboard. The dining table's a mess and I admit our bed is covered in things that I need to move out of the guest room, but we can dump them on our floor for tonight. Not ideal, but real life. Paint, of course, will have to wait.

And another confession: I got side-tracked into battle of the ground elder again. New leaves every day.

Cherryfudge

Work and dinner went fine. We can relax now! DH got milk, margarine and a pudding so money has been spent. There are a couple of spare portions of tonight's meal now in the freezer.

Cherryfudge

Off to the coast today but first are having a really fruitful MSE discussion with our guests. Their car insurance has just gone up from £600-ish to over £1,000. Being on the ball with these things, they are comparing sites. They also suggested the NT day pass as mentioned on the weekly newsletter, but checked it for us and it's not applicable this weekend. However, they didn't know about the free bread from the L!dl app so I've tipped them off there. A small compensation for an extra £450 on the car insurance. 

badmemory

My car insurance doubled last August.  The increased cost of someone to do the repairs is bad enough but fair enough, but the increased cost of the parts, if you want genuine ones, is now horrendous.

Laura_Elsewhere

badmemory said:

My car insurance doubled last August.  The increased cost of someone to do the repairs is bad enough but fair enough, but the increased cost of the parts, if you want genuine ones, is now horrendous.

The infuriating thing is that the parts and labour and so on are not that much more expensive in other countries- this from the Guardian recently:

"The Association of British Insurers (ABI) put the average increase for car cover in the UK at 34%, from the end of 2022 to the end of 2023, but many drivers have seen rises far exceed that, even doubling in the case of electric vehicles (EVs)."

but

"By contrast, average premiums rose by 6% in Italy, 5% in Spain and 2% in France from 2022 to 2023, according to the recent financial results of one of Britain’s biggest insurers, Admiral, which also trades in Europe."

Grrr!

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/apr/06/uk-car-insurance-cost-up-by-third-despite-smaller-rise-in-payouts

Cherryfudge

It's certainly shocking, @badmemory and @Laura_Elsewhere. I think I heard our guest say they have found one place that will quote them as 'low' as £740 if they take one driver off the insurance.

We've had a lovely day: lunch out, walk, scenery, afternoon coffee break, more scenery, back to A and H's with our friends and met J and L there too, finishing off with a trip to the supermarket, late light tea and TV. DH paid for lunch and parking, one of our friends bought the cakes and beverages and I paid at the supermarket. Great to have the time with family towards the end of the day too, though baby F has clearly got to the stage where not everyone is smiled at: she stared long and hard at various people before crumpling into tears. At least her big sister was relaxed around those she knows and not untowardly worried by new grown ups. I suspect this is about the baby have a longer focal distance and ability to recognise faces - so it's all a big deal if a face is 'wrong'.

Expenditure:
Parking ?
Entertaining £68.56 (I can't help thinking that, however good the fish and chips, £1.75 per very small portion of mushy peas is a rip off).
Housekeeping/entertaining £26.23

Cherryfudge

My mind was too wide awake last night so I was late to bed, but at least I caught up somewhat on my Italian, though I won't win the weekend battle for the top of the league. Once we have the house to ourselves again, I need to resume the search for the Italian book with the missing information like when to use different forms of verbs.

This morning we set out again, having abandoned the idea of the NT place, and spent the day in one of our favourite haunts, with a trawl round the interesting little shops, lunch, a wander round the Walled Garden and afternoon repast. I didn't spend anything, and I'm not sure who paid for what apart from we already had passes for free garden entry and our guests paid for themselves. This was followed by a drive to a viewpoint, where DH and his friend went off on a walk. His wife was in pain from a back problem so we sat in the car and looked at some social media - in the end I was getting drowsy so I had a bit of a walk around and texted DH to remind him the chicken dinner would take a while to cook.

I managed to lose my entry pass twice today. Once at home - it was turned backwards in my purse - and once in the gardens, where it was handed back by a nice lady and her son, who took some nice photos of us and our friends on my phone.

Once we got home, DH and I made dinner and afterwards I dug up a couple more pieces of the giant fern so they can take a chunk home with them. DH had to help me get one clump out, but it turned out to have a dead root anchoring it, probably from a rose tree that died over winter. Then I tried washing off extra soil but had to abandon that as it was going dark. It's really heavy work but it's getting somewhere.

Cherryfudge

Our guests have left, with their chunk of fern. We all had a really good weekend, though I'm a bit worried about her back pain. She never complains so I wonder how long it's been an issue.

After breakfast, DH and I went to the bank holiday car boot sale and had a few finds: I bought a fascinator which I think should go with the dress I wore to a wedding last year. It may never be needed but it was all of £1 so more an investment than a waste. Then I found a darning mushroom which was also £1. I bought it despite it being cracked as the crack seems very stable. The undamaged vintage ones are from about £10-25 so again, a bargain. Then DH, who had already bought an old book to research and sell on, found a piece of vintage Denby which became ours for £4. It's a jug and we have a lot of jugs so I think a few others need to be rehomed. I think it's mid-century so it's earlier than the set I mainly collect, but would work alongside them.

I have invited J and L over for tea tonight (while the house is guest-ready!). We've owed them an invitation for a while. We've some casserole left from Friday but if I make another batch of it that will feed us all tonight. There's also chicken left over but J is vegetarian so that can wait for another day.

I'm not worn out by having the visitors but I'm counting down to some peace and quiet after our holiday, and trying to plan ahead so the holiday isn't stressful. Having taken such a lot out of the spare room and dumped it in ours, I feel the need to restore order. The washer has been on but it's mild and humid so things won't dry fast. I've also discovered my favourite teapot has gone missing! How can we lose a teapot? It was in use a couple of weeks ago.