Spend spend spend.

The weather has turned cold and even though March is finally here after the tedium of January and February we are both still more or less confined to home as its far too cold to think of any outdoor activities, and we are bereft of ideas of what to do indoors. The people at the end of our back garden are putting up a very ugly extension as near to the boundry line as they can so we are desperate to get out and leave the builders to it. 

 The furthest trip however has been to the local butchers to top up our meat supplies in the freezer, and this was our intended destination when, going out the back gate, Martin managed to drop his phone. Even with both screen protector and case, it fell face down and smashed the glass front to tiny cracks and holes. I bundled him into the car and we had a lovely afternoon sat in Three Mobile shop upgrading his phone.

This was the start of a winter blues spending spree. Flushed with the success of buying a phone, we decided to book the Woodee Experience day we had not gone on last year. Martin had attempted to cook a cake in the dutch oven during my Birthday celebration party but had failed dismally so whether he thinks so or not, he really needs the fire management course to learn that open fire and fire pit cooking are a far cry from bbq cooking. 

 

Still with 3 days booked in Hay on Wye and a week in Weymouth in an all singing all dancing barn convertion Martin still kept insisting I was stopping us from going away on holiday (how many does this man want??) so I finally capitualated and told him we could go to Lake Como (having seen the photos of my cousin's daughters wedding). There was little available to book there though so we have settled on a week in Lake Garda. 

 

 

In between all this holiday booking we did get out and took ourselves to see the newly opened converted Battersea powerstation.

  

 

Although it was facinated to see inside the iconic building, and the restoration has been very well done, it does seem a wasted opportunity to witness such an historic and vast building turned into what amounts to a shopping mall. We weren't that impressed with their light installations either 

 and we refused to pay the extortionate price to take the elevator up the chimney tower to spend 7 mins looking at London from up high, especially when compared to the 30 mins you could get on the London Eye for only a fraction more of the cost.  For half the price though we got to take the river taxi back to Canary Wharf, passing many of the buildings that London is famous for lit up in all their night time glory. Very magical. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The teachers strike meant we also got to look after Beckett for a day. He decided he wanted to go swimming. We didnt realise he is used to going to the pool at Whitstable and booked for Herne Bay. We were dubious as we could not swim in the larger pool (seems lockdown/pandemic rules still apply} but we actually had a really fun time with him, and for the first time every that I have been there, they opened the flumes and he got to go on the large tunnel slide.  Result. 

Half term saw a small break in the freezing temps so Beckett and Finley insisted on taking me to Wingham Wildlife Park. We have yearly tickets but have hardly used them this year around, so it was a pleasant experience exploring all the new parts of the park and discovering all the new animals. Mind it was totally rammed with people, it took over an hour to get served a cheese sandwich each, which meant we were a tad late leaving the park for Becketts swimming lesson, No time to take me home and Beckett had to do the car wiggle to change into his trunks. Even so we still missed 15 mins of a 45 min lesson. He still enjoyed himself though and I got to take a few sneaky photos. 

 

Half term also meant Laura dragged us all out for the obligatory walk. We did insist on having the meal first, and a great meal we did have at the Grove Ferry Pub before walking along the river stour and across some very windswept fields.

 

Once the boys had gone back to school we were again trapped looking at the same four walls with little to occupy ourselves. A Whatsapp chat with Kelly got us up off our backsides though. She dropped into the conversation that she had just purchased a new sofa. You've only just got one I exclaimed, but it seems it was already nine years old. So is ours. We looked at our offering. Maybe it was getting a little tatty. Maybe it could do with sprucing up. Should we just go out and sit on a few sofas? Well it would give us something to do ... except what we did was sit on one, fall in love with it and buy it. 

Spend spend spend!

New Year update

 Christmas has come and gone, and we are now attempting to get through those awful two dreaded months of January and February, where the weather is too horrible to venture out in, and we are sitting around, bored stiff with little to look forward to, and even less to do until Spring arrives. 

Actually we have been quite busy, first taking the Christmas decs down and putting them all back up in the attic. This is always a major job as the bungalow always looks like an explosion in a tinsel factory in my attempts to create Santa's grotto. The one year I got all sophisticated and went for a subtle winter wonderland the kids all complained and asked where the mismatched colours, glitter and kitch went. So it was back to the mismatched tat. 

Once that was all cleared away I decided I wanted more desk space and better organisation in the craft room, so I dragged Martin off to Ikea to get some desk tops and new Kalex units. It took a while to get my ideas across, but the falling apart Billy bookcase is now no more, the books have had a drastic cull and everything is now stashed away, and I have a work surface twice the size of the old one. Of course I then needed a new computer chair (new upgrade computer next on the list) but I have been much more productive in my new redesigned room and completed 6 layouts in January

I know I created that many because I have taken a totally new approach to my bullet journal which is working much better. Using a B6 size instead of A5 doesnt seem much bigger, but believe me it has made a world of difference. Ive even managed a playlist of songs each week, layout tracking, book reading tracking (9 in Jan) newpaper headlines, steps, dates and highlights!

We went with the boys, Laura and Wayne to Canary Wharf to see the Winter Lights display. In other years this has been a successful evening (apart from the year we went the wrong weekend and wandered around for an hour before finding a sign with the dates on, or the year I fell over the kerb in the dark and cut all my knees and hands). This year, the first year I had persuaded Laura to come, was not so brilliant. I dont think the organisers had taken into account Peter Kaye being live at the O2 just across the way. We certainly hadnt. We always park at the O2 when going into town as its cheaper than catching the train all the way. We usually plan our timings so we can eat there before catching the Jubilee line to where we want to go. This time the place was rammed. We couldnt understand why we couldnt get in anywhere, either massive queues or fully booked. That was until Laura checked her mobile and muttered the comics name at us. 

So despite my misgiving since on previous occasions we had not been fortunate in finding anywhere it was decided to go to Canary Wharf for food. Honestly does no one eat in London. Loads of bars, plenty of very expensive pop up street food vans but the few places we did find were again packed out. I think this was mainly because the organisers had cut the event length to one and a half weeks with two weekends involved. Everyone and his wife (and kids) had come along to see the displays. Most years Martin and I stroll around with hardly a soul in sight. This year we hardly had elbow room. 

Still the few lights we did see and the burger and curly chips we eventually bought from the burger van were good, and I think in the main every one had a good evening.

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