Sunday 12 February 2017

Mid-February already!


The chocolate tart and chocolate chip mint ice cream I enjoyed at the Leenane Hotel. Worth a return visit in itself!

Finally feeling a bit more 'with it' and arrived home a couple of hours ago after an overnight dog sitting job for my colleague. Jac is a lovely fella, easy to care for and he essentially spent the day sleeping yesterday. I watched trashy Saturday daytime TV and we went out for a walk about 4:30 for about half an hour.

We had a much longer walk this morning, which was nice, and now I'm back in the Forest. My cousin is visiting her mum this weekend so I have the place to myself until tomorrow. Not doing much of anything - trashy Sunday daytime Netflix mostly, and cuddling with the cat, who was all alone for 24 hours. He survived unscathed and is happy to have one of his laps back.

I have another housesit starting Friday night for a week - 3 cats in a six-bedroom house. I don't mind as it's only a week, on a direct bus route to work and they pay me. The cats are more or less friendly and it's quite straightforward. I will put the cash towards a bus pass, some groceries and if any left over, travel funds. I'm attempting to save my £5 notes this year, as well as my £1 & £2 coins, although I don't actually use cash that often. Regardless, it's a bit of a challenge and will be interesting to see how well I can do. I'll keep the notes, but re-deposit the coins.

Scotland accommodation is all sorted - caught a mistake in one of the bookings but because it's so far ahead, there was no trouble sorting it out, fortunately. Phew! We booked our final B&B about a mile outside Fort William in a pretty spot overlooking the loch. It's slightly cheaper than the original booking, too, which is nice. Our first class train tickets are booked for the Jacobite and our cream tea and cheese plate ordered! It's going to be fantastic.

I've had to cancel one of my planned getaways this year already which I'm a bit annoyed about: I had wanted to go to the Bristol Balloon Festival and reserved a B&B near the grounds. I had asked a cousin who lives in Bristol if she wanted to join me but didn't hear anything (which is fine because I am capable of doing things on my own - haha!). A week or so later, however, I found out that she, along with her kids, is going to the Isle of Wight that week with the cousin I live with (and one of her nephews), so it means I have to cat sit. It would have been nice if she had just TOLD me this. I don't mind cat sitting at all, and it now means I have two extra days' holidays, but I'm just a bit ticked off with the lack of communication, that's all (says I, the Queen of Non-Communication).

I'm starting my third week off FB. I was despairing and sad about the political stuff that kept appearing, so have taken myself off for awhile. I'm not sure how long at the moment, but I'm not missing it and my mental health is more important to me. I'd rather a break than a breakdown.

Anyhoo, there hasn't been too much of note happening (apart from a sudden addiction to coconut flakes - I've gone through over a kilo of them in about 3 weeks!), but I'm really just happier to be feeling more with it (mentally) and slightly more energetic. The temperatures are going up a little (although we had light snow flurries yesterday morning) and the days are lengthening, so I'm sure that has something to do with it. A little extra light is always welcome.

4 comments:

MW said...

OMG, that plate has 2 of my favourite things on it...And I believe it Has to help with any winter blahs... :)

Sorry to hear you won't be able to make it to Bristol. I haven't been on a hot air balloon yet but the thought of being around so many at a time would be so much fun. Maybe there will be another festival elsewhere next year you could make it to.

Northern Living Allowance said...

Hi MW! It was divine - sitting in a beautiful lounge in front of a roaring fire overlooking a lough in one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. Definitely worthy of a return visit - just for the tart and ice cream ;)

Well, obviously it just wasn't supposed to happen. I'm having a look at thing in Scotland though and going to see if I can find, if not a balloon festival, certainly a hot air balloon ride. The festival had all sorts of things like a mass lift-off, lighting up of the balloons at dusk, etc. Ah well. Perhaps next year! x

Jane said...

How fortunate we were to get to stay at the Leenane Hotel! And two nights instead of just one. A highlight of the trip! Well, there are worse things than coconut flakes :) I've been trying, somewhat successfully, to replace sweet treats with nuts instead and am getting particularly hooked on pistachios!

T'Pol said...

Ooooo lucky you! I would love to see Scotland one day. I love everything both minty and chocolaty too :)