crafting a simple, sustainable and organised life
There was a lack of sunshine here today but it was mild and we did have a dry spell or two but mainly we had a light drizzle . Not brilliant for gardening but we needed to get out there and plant some holly bushes where an old Escallonia hedge had died. Escallonia is supposed to be reasonably tough but we have found that one by one over the years we lose a bit more in a bad winter. I hope the holly fares better.
We will be on our way back home tomorrow ready for work on Monday. Shame.
Next weekend I will have to get my summer clothes out and decide which items are going with me to Italy. I have my wedding outfit and I am hoping I will have a parcel waiting for me at home containing the shoes, though I am thinking about getting the white ones after all but I will see better when I can try outfit and shoes on together. DH is sorting out travel insurance and money so I only have to think about the luggage and packing, washing and ironing. I will need to decant shampoo and toiletries into small travel containers and check the travel hairdryer and adaptors.
As my eldest daughter and her DH are now going to the wedding and they are going to hire a car for their two-week stay it will solve the travel problem to and from the wedding and reception. This is actually more than good news as we had just been told by the bride’s mum that the mini bus taking guests from the wedding to the reception about 8 miles away might not materialise after all. Of course the downside is that we were going to borrow their suitcases if they were not going so now we need to sort this out.
It is only 19 days until we go and I feel a bit in limbo – not able to start any major projects and knowing that when we get back both the garden at home and in Scotland will be needing major attention as everything will have suddenly taken off including the weeds. I bought some courgette seeds but of course I will not be able to sow them if I am not home to water them. We will be having a bit of an eBay break too as we cannot a list anything if we are not here to post the items. We have done quite well so far and of all the items listed only the six white wedding brollies remain unsold and some bath taps.
As well as the eBay items I have been sending a lot of unwanted stuff to the charity shops. I have tried to be quite ruthless both in what I keep and what I give away. Much of the stuff is actually things I didn’t buy in the first place. Some of the stuff belonged to my elder daughter and she has been taking a few boxes back to her house each week to sort through.
The old pile of papers has now been burned on our recent bonfire – old bank statements and paperwork of closed accounts – they have mounted up over the years but I am satisfied I will not need them. There was far too much to shred so bringing the four boxes up to the cottage and burning it was a good option.
So my house is feeling a whole lot lighter and I feel better for the clear out it actually makes me want to do more and it certainly makes it easier to keep the place clean. When we get back home I intend to go through a few more drawers and cupboards and look at the 80% of stuff we never use – I realised whilst doing the recent declutter that I actually prefer to have only those items that we use all the time and when I come across something I haven’t used for ages I am going to either start using it or pass it on.
Hope you are all having a lovely weekend.
Welcome to the two new followers.
Back soon x
Back home, safe and sound now and back to work too this morning.
Tonight it felt like last week and the snow never happened – all melted away and everything quite calm. Yesterday we journeyed 250 mile through parts of the country that had experienced heavy snow and the only road that wasn’t cleared was the one we live on – the forgotten cul-de-sac, forgotten by the council as they never send a gritter or snow plough down here. As we live on a hill and can only get out by going uphill most residents have to park their cars on the road going down to the village when it snows – it is safer and usually more passable.
It wasn’t easy getting back into work today – I spent more than an hour alone reading the emails waiting in my inbox – most of them about the weather and who had struggled in and who was working at home and the offer of a free breakfast butty from our employers to the ones who had braved the snow. I was very surprised to find the auditors had decided to call off their visit last Tuesday – they were put off by the threat of snow so after all that hard work preparing before my week away we have to wait now until after Easter.
After work we headed to Sainsbury’s to do the weekly shop – the vegetable aisle was quite bare in places, no cabbage, cauliflower or courgettes, the suppliers having difficulty providing the goods because of the snow. I took advantage of a few grocery items on offer and stocked up on fresh eggs and bread – have you noticed toilet rolls are becoming much smaller, when I came to put them away tonight we had an old one at the back of the cupboard it was both taller and fatter than this more recent equivalent.
The second item we listed on eBay, the curved shower screen, has now been sold and waiting collection so on Thursday my first day off we will be listing a few more items – DH has already written the information ready for me to proof read and then we will have to decide on a price. I don’t think this time round I will take that much notice of the eBay suggestions on price – I think we could have got a little bit more than we did for our goods given they were brand new and discontinued so very useful for the people who have bought them to be able to get hold of them – I know we have been in this position ourselves trying to find something that has been discontinued so I am more than pleased we have been able to help these buyers out.
We arrived home yesterday to only two letters after over a week away – that must be a first. Usually we can’t open the door – though a lot of the mail waiting on the mat can often be junk. We assumed that the postman probably hadn’t got round with the snow – we were probably right as today we had a flurry of mail. Amongst the usual kind of business letters – my annual tax summary, annual pension statement, new terms and conditions for our banks etc (so plenty of bedtime reading) I had been sent a £5 reward voucher from Wyevale to use at their garden centres and a 20% off Neal’s Yard voucher code – so I can use this to buy my next lot of face cream and serum (one of my indulgences – I only hope it is working, but how would I know what my skin would be like if I used something else? I can hardly compare unless I use different creams at the same time on the different halves of my face – but that sounds far too complicated for me!
Well my cosy bed beckons and I need my beauty sleep just in case the face cream needs a lot of help to rejuvenate my ageing skin.
Back soon x
Well – we are well and truly stuck up here in Scotland with not a hope of getting back home to Yorkshire yet.
Our only route back first to the border, then down the M6 and finally across the M62, which is at present closed, sounds far too risky and I would rather be in a rocky, noisy tin can of a caravan than stuck for 12 hours or more without heat, food or drink as some motorists have been.
The noise from the gales battering our caravan is horrendous and has prevented us getting much sleep for the last two nights but the rocking is something else – it is making us feel quite sea sick and with each gust I fear our anchorage might give way and we will be whisked off into the sea and looking at the huge swell on the sea from our window here I would not want to end up in it! The swell is so high that we can barely see the land opposite across the bay and every now and again a huge wave hits the caravan window.
Luckily no trees down yet – but no roofing felt left on the log store that has been ripped away last night.
However, as you can see thankfully we are still snow free unlike the rest of the country and all our relatives who are snowed in from Yarm through North Yorkshire to Sheffield and also those in Lincolnshire and probably everywhere in between. We had thought we could get as far as our nearest relative from here and stay with them for a while but looking at their Facebook pictures that is no longer a possibility. So we will have to put up and stay put for a while – I am expected back at work on Monday – we will have to wait and see if Sunday travel might be possible.
Obviously there has been no gardening going on here – yesterday we braved the elements and drove to the next village for lunch at the local cafe just to get away from the noise for a while – we were their first customers. They had just had their power switched back on after a morning long power cut – eek power cuts – if we get a power cut now we would have no means of heating (gas boiler like any other is powered by electricity) or cooking (gas cooker has a fail safe electric ignition) we would have to go to bed I think and stay there to keep warm! One of the villagers had some quite spectacular pictures of some frozen waves and I could see icy slush along the shoreline as we drove up the coast road which I have never ever seen before. Today the temperature is up to zero so feels comparatively warm to what it has been.
You would think that having an enforced break might be an ideal way of using the time to plan and think but I find the weather going on outside far too distracting and we are spending most of our time reading up on the weather news. I think our plans today are to go into Stranraer – we found the winds were not as strong further up the coast in the basin of the bay so might go and replenish milk and bread and buy some lunch out.
We will probably avoid what the locals term the ‘Car Wash’ that is the stretch just along the main road from here where there is a concrete sea wall around Terally Bay and when the sea hits this with force sends up huge sprays of sea water across the road but complete with rocks and pebbles – exciting to see – the kids love it but many a car is dented around these parts from using this road. I think we will use the back road today which comes out after the ‘Car Wash’.
Taken earlier today by a local – the ‘Car Wash’ – the road snakes around just where these waves are crashing over the sea wall on the left.
Apparently there is a local pantomime in the village hall tonight – we need a good laugh so might go along.
UPDATE – since going in to town this afternoon we unexpectedly learnt of a diesel shortage here as the tankers cannot get through – we only knew because on our way out-of-town we saw a huge queue at the petrol station so went to investigate – guess what our car runs on – on discovering this was the only petrol station in town to have any diesel at all we joined the queue – we were amongst the few lucky ones – after we filled our car they only had another 120 litres left.
Reports say M62 is still closed tonight and there have been more power cuts – luckily not local to us.
But what next I ask?
where the journey takes me 