Moving on

Cherryfudge

Nothing spent today. The engineer rang to say he'd been sent the wrong Hive and would come to install it tomorrow if that's all right.

Dinner was toad in the hole, which used up some sausages and a box of eggs. I roasted enough veg to do another day as well, and have eaten some leftover pizza and salad. Amazingly, everything fits in the fridge again!

This evening was my church group. Several people offered me a lift, for which I'm very grateful as it was -4 when we finished. I feel sorry for the wild birds: I've had to put fresh water out a couple of times today as theirs froze solid.

Cherryfudge

This morning's class was cancelled due to the weather, which is a shame in a way but at least it got me into town on a very bright, beautiful, cold, glittery morning with a sprinkling of fine snow and slippery patches where the sun hadn't reached.

The place where the class was going to be held has fairly recently been taken over by I'm not sure what! It's some sort of community venture so I commented to the receptionist that it was the first time I'd been in. I'm not sure how many things are being run from there but she gave me a leaflet for a social supermarket that aims to reduce food waste. There's a charge of £10 that runs till the end of March: after that you pay £3 for 8 items or £5 for 15 items. I'm amazed that this has come to our town and I didn't know - I'm always on the look out for these projects but they seem to be mostly in cities. At the moment I'm trying to use up stock from home - I'm one of those who buys interesting-looking things then doesn't have plan so they don't get used. Once I've made a bit more headway with that I might investigate the social supermarket a bit more.

I popped into the optician's for eye ointment. There's a shortage of the one I had last time but the alternative is cheaper, so I'm trying that. 

Regular prescriptions are ordered, maybe a bit late but there's only one getting low.

Now I need to find something to do for the rest of the day! Firstly, lunch and something that involves being active. Later maybe some study.

Cherryfudge

I did the ironing... I suppose that can count as active!

It's still beautiful out of doors. I put boiling water on the ice in the bird bath and an hour later had to break the new ice. Of course, me going out scares the birds away.

I got hot cross buns the other day, then DH said he doesn't like the spicy ones (I love them). I fed one to the birds because they need the calories and I don't!

Work has apologised for not letting me know about the cancellation and told me to claim anyway. Best expressed as 'I call that jolly decent of them!' 

redofromstart

I keep having to defrost the bird water here too. I don't mind because it makes me appreciate being outside for a few minutes with a lovely bright sky even if it is bitterly cold. 

Cherryfudge

In the end, I gave in to the sunshine and went for a walk. The fields are frozen solid, so no problems with mud, and I only met one other person in over an hour (a hardy runner who smiled cheerfully and said hello as he ran up a slope that would challenge anyone but a downhill skier). It was just so beautiful out there: glitter everywhere; ice in the places where mud should be; hoar frost on leaves and blades of grass; low, brilliant sun and a view right over to the Dales.
I got home just after the sun set: isn't it great that there's still light at nearly half past four!

Dinner was lentil and chorizo soup, which is perfect for a cold evening. One portion left for another day, and DH has kindly finished the jelly, which I didn't fancy.

The boiler man texted to ask if he could put us first on the list for tomorrow. I was fuming as he didn't turn up on Sunday, had an excuse on Wednesday and now has put us off from Thursday till Friday. I think he takes on more than he can fit in, but I also suspect some of stuff he tells us is flannel. Eventually I just texted back 'ok'.

This evening DH had a friend round to plan for their church group and I felt in the mood for crochet. I dug out an oddment of yarn and tried out a pansy flower from one of the books I bought the other day. Mine is several times the size of the delicate little thing they showed in the old photos, but to my surprise it was within my scope and finished quite quickly. Then I had an inspiration: last summer I bought a very snuggly fleece for all of 50p at a car boot sale. The woman explained it was so cheap because it had a scorch mark on it. I initially made some poppy-like flowers to sew over the mark but I was never happy with them. This pansy, in shades of blue and grey (because that's the wool I happened to experiment with) looks much better on the charcoal grey.

Then we had a family text from A to say Transpennine has a £1 sale on! DH sprang into action and we've booked ourselves a day out in Leeds for £4.  

Sallyforth

Enjoy your day out in Leeds. Funny how, with it being my home town, I never imagined anyone getting excited about visiting it!  It has improved over the years I guess.
SF x (a lurker but regular reader)

BestnamesRgone

Another lurker! Just wanted to say I love Leeds! My daughter is at Leeds uni and is living her best life there I like to pop up every few months for a couple of days. 

Cherryfudge

Hello @Sallyforth and @BestnamesRgone (couple of great names there!) and thanks for reading! My son was at Uni in Leeds, so I associate it with getting lost and multiple journeys to the 13th floor of student flats. Nowadays, my daughter and I like it for shopping when it's all pretty and lit up at Christmas. We're not going for another few weeks and when we do there will undoubtedly be lunch out and a gallery or museum, but I expect I'll get some shopping in too. Just nice to blow the cobwebs away with a bit of city time - it's been a long time since I lived in a city and part of me misses it.

in_need_of_direction

I used to do a few days a year working in Leeds.  I loved it. We went just before covid and it was still great

Cherryfudge

So tired today! I didn't get to sleep till about four this morning - brain was hyper and for some reason my skin was itchy. I'm a bit oversensitive on my skin (can't stand labels in clothing, for example) but my legs have been very itchy recently and last night it was random itches all over the place! There's nothing obvious like a rash, so perhaps it's the dry air or I've developed a sensitivity to something. I'll get some calamine or similar while I'm out, and also clear the spare bed of random junk I've dumped there so if DH is as restless as he also was last night, at least I can retreat.

Sorry to moan!

I'd better add completing crochet projects to my things not to do in the evening: the pattern was running on repeat in my head and I couldn't get off the resulting treadmill even by reading or doing puzzles on my Kindle.

The good news is the engineer has finally been so it looks as though we now have a completed boiler installation and a working Hive.