Another Week Over

So another week, mostly wet, has rolled past, and in between work I've been finishing off painting the garden sign which is now done and sprayed with clear lacquer so all ready to hang up in the better weather, if we ever get any 😠

At least this Off Friday was semi dry enough to at least get outside and mow the lawns and do a little tidying up in the garden. After a walk along to Asda for some supplies. Managed to lose one of the feet off the shopping trolley, probably as I kept kicking it as it hung on the back of the Asda trolley. Why is there never anywhere to pop a shopping trolley, do they assume EVERYONE drives a bloody car? In the end I popped the trolley in the section at the front and somewhere between home and back again it lost a foot, didn't notice until I was putting it away again. I don't use it very often but it is handy when I need to buy quite a lot of heavy items.

So these are the lawns and the very first shoots of the alliums planted in a tub the other side of the yard wall.

On my shopping trip Friday and again on Saturday I couldn't help feeling mightily disgruntled at the over-charged feeling I got when buying my items. It's like the world has gone money making mad. First up was what should have been a ream of paper (500 sheets to you and me) which is now just 400 sheets but still just as expensive, if not more than they used to be. Then having managed to get one pack of 16 Anadin Extra in Asda for £1.50 I bought a second in my local chemist which cost me £3.03 FFS. Talk about a rip-off. All this talk about supporting your local shops and pharmacy - at this rate we can't afford to 😡

Hoping that the pay review info that should be available this week now my boss is back from leave will prove to have been worth the wait. Still an element of Cost of Living on top of a performance rate it will be interesting to see how it stacks up against last year's increase. Which initially was just performance and then we got awarded a set amount on top as Cost of Living which was paid out in November but back dated to April. Along with two lump sums also towards the Cost of Living, although mine, like all part-timers was pro-rated so wasn't quite as attractive as it originally sounded but welcome nonetheless. Pity the bloody tax-man didn't leave it alone though, beginning to feel like they tax every last shred of my money at this rate. Doesn't help having an uber rich Chancellor and Prime Minister, who pays more in tax than most people earn. Obviously they are blissfully ignorant of the daily struggles of their public - bastards. They reckon we are as poorly off as just after the 2nd World War and there are times when it feels like it. Everything you buy is ridiculously expensive from the essentials upwards. I fail to believe that the war in Ukraine is the reason behind it all, I think that's fast becoming the convenient excuse.

No wonder, as annoying as it is, that everyman and his dog are striking to get better pay. With crap pay reviews for the last umpty years and now a convenient freeze on the personal tax thresholds, not likely to be released until the Tories want to woo the public in time for the next General Election, we are well and truly screwed every which way to Sunday by the government and businesses alike. 

There's a slim suggestion that we may start to see some relaxation in the spiralling costs by the end of the year - I certainly hope so, otherwise Christmas Dinner will be chicken nuggets and a mince pie 😉

Mother's Day 💓

 

Due to yet more crappy weather this weekend and a somewhat early Mother's Day this year, Julia and I took ourselves up to Bluewater for some retail therapy.

Here we are in front of a wall of floral art for a joint selfie 💓💓

Was really pleased to spend the day with her after we'd originally decided to just do lunch as her and James were in the throes of revamping their back garden with a digger that they had hired for the long weekend. After two days of very much on/off rain I'd suggested we take a rain check on meeting up because they were so busy. But after a big push on Saturday afternoon she text me to say that our shopping trip was still on.

So we've had a good mooch, buffet lunch at Pizza Hut and a good natter. Happy days.

And here are my gifts, a gorgeous tree of life necklace and some Doggie Face chocolates from Furbaby Annie 💓 I am indeed blessed.

New Garden Edging!

 

So this Off Friday, despite the crap weather, saw me initially and then Dad too, replacing the old brick wall border with a new brick style edging made from recycled tyres.

The edging fixes with it's own spikes driven through the "bricks" at strategic points along its length.

I opted for the brown to better mimic the bricks that had been there before but they do a grey too.

I started digging out the old bricks not necessarily realising that the up turned bricks were also fixed to a horizontal layer. Still I got most of them loose and stacked what I could nearby as they were becoming too heavy to lift.

Dad came over with his tool bag and long crowbar type pole which he used to lever the remaining bricks out of the ground. He broke the bricks up into smaller parts which have been stacked in the garage as potential hardcore for Julia and James's garden makeover and we proceeded to level the soil and then position the new edging.

By the end of the afternoon it was all in place, bang tidy and ready for me to plant the dahlias on Saturday morning. Oh and replant the uprooted bluebells.

Busy Weekend!

 

Had a busy Friday trawling through old camera magazines before getting them ready for the recycling. I keep the video links page but usually bin off the rest, I have a cupboard full of old photo mag CDs and cut-outs but to be truthful, when I'm looking for help, I usually turn to YouTube instead! So it's time for a clear out.

Saturday morning saw me wander up to collect my prescription before taking a few snaps of the daffodils growing up on the main road by the pub. I love these happy flowers - have I said that before? Probably, on lots of occasions!

Saturday afternoon was spent planting Lucifer Crocosmia in the back garden and some dwarf alliums in a trough which I've stood outside the yard wall for a splash of colour in front of the garage once they've flowered. The collage below also shows the other bulbs sprouting up, mainly Bluebells and grape hyacinths in different colours, oh and some baby daffs I think 🤔

Sunday and it was back out in the garage to start painting my Mum's Garden sign ready for the garden re-opening, tidying up the washing line pole hold cover and clearing out the sedum from the front garden because it looks pretty bad during the winter months now that the bracts fail to form properly. I've popped a Dynamite Dahlia in between me and my neighbour and the other space will be filled with some spare hellebores that Dad is looking to get rid of. One of each colour (two) should be enough to fill the gap nicely with room to grow.

Used some clay pebbles to mark the spot where the dahlia has been planted just so I don't forget, the garden sign I've left one letter clear to hold it by for painting the rest, it's going to need a few coats, but might have to find something to hang it up on to paint it completely if it's starting to take too long...

It's been good to be outside for a change, weather was milder today (Sunday) but even yesterday a winter coat kept me warm enough whilst pottering outside. Used the bulb planter yesterday, never owned one before but they are awesome, made the job sooo easy! And my revamped garage space is excellent for pottering around in now that it's clean and dry, all my tools readily to hand. Gonna look out for a table (folding) to allow me to work when I need somewhere to lay things or for painting items or whatever I need to do. Want something that will fold away out of the way when I'm not using it but is high enough to stand up at to work.

All in all another good weekend, very productive and a decent way of breaking away from the nause of work at the moment, although things are falling into place, finally. I can see the end of the tunnel approaching :-)

Productive Weekend!

 

So Friday saw me and Dad head out on the hunt for some tools for me and my upcoming attempt to replace a small brick wall with a moulded edging made from recycled tyres. I needed a mallet rather than use a hammer to bash in the pegs and although the garden slopes slightly I thought a slightly longer spirit level than I have already may well come in handy.

B&Q were the source of the tools and then we headed over to Dobbies for a mosey around. Apart from a stash of dental treats for Annie, the vet said she's got plaque on her teeth that needs removing, I also bought a pot of daffs to put by Mum's sewing machine. Although I have subsequently also got the Pinks back out of the garage as they are starting to sprout new shoots which look a little yellow as the garage has no natural light in it when the door is closed.

So the above image is of the new daffs pot alongside the sewing machine and before the Pinks emerged. I love daffodils, my happy flowers I call them. These are a mix of yellow petals and orange trumpets, about the best I felt of the various varieties they had for sale. Mainly because I didn't want to stray too far away from the traditional colours.

And Saturday I took a wander up to Homebase in search if these Lavender topiary balls having seen something similar in Dobbies for £25 a ball. I want them to replace those already outside the backdoor which have probably (?) been there for a couple of years now, pretty sure I bought them during the first Lockdown in 2020, and despite the UV resistance they are starting to shed.

These are the same 30cm diameter size but a tad less pricey at £22 each. First of all I was worried that they only had one left despite the online stock check saying they had eight which is why I didn't bother to do the Click and Collect. Anyhoo a member of staff, one of the very few available yesterday on a busy Saturday morning, managed to find a box out the back with another four in it. So I got my two leaving three on the shelf. Which means they never had eight in the first place. Apparently, according to him, the stock checker is only updated once a week post the store stock take - how crap is that? And there's me assuming that it would be a live feed from the till sales for goodness sake. 

Anyway, they are hanging up in the garage for now, awaiting the reopening of the yard a bit later on once it starts to warm up and I make a start on the garden for the first time this year. 

Apart from this, work is still nauseatingly busy trying to finish off the next phase planning, not made any easier by crap management decisions which has made more work for us. No doubt we'll get there but it's been a long road which is draining all of us, plan blind, number blind it's been a tough few months. Roll on getting back to our normal routine.