It's happened awfully quickly, as it does every year. Already we're a quarter of the way through the new year. The Government is in shambles while we hurtle towards Brexit (which has now been granted an extension from 29 March to 12 April) and the Conservative Party eats itself. They're howling for Mrs May's resignation and plotting a coup now because of the "wretched" job she's done to this point, conveniently forgetting that they're also the ones who put us here in the first place and that literally, no one has come up with anything better.
Anyhoo.
It's a glorious spring day today and the weather bodes well for the next few days, so I'll be out for my lunchtime walks again starting tomorrow. The temperatures are supposed to be in the low teens with lots of sunshine. Fab! I take myself out for a 40-min walk which seems to be the perfect mid-day break. Today, the windows in the flat are wide open and the heat has finally gone off. No way do we want another bill like the last one!
Our fridge/freezer hasn't been working properly for a couple of weeks and we had the tech in last Wednesday. Apparently, some ice or something got inside the freezer portion and has messed up the inner workings (or something). So today we're going to be cooking up what's left in the fridge because we have to shut the whole thing off for two days and leave it standing open. The tech will be returning at some point with the replacement part but in the meantime, we're going to be without a fridge. I can take some items to work and keep them in the fridge there, but not everything, so there's going to be a significant amount of eating today, I think. We've had to dispose of a lot of stuff from the freezer as well, unfortunately, as it wasn't salvageable.
My new CC balance transfer happened last week - hooray! There was a £25 service fee, and my first statement will be with me on 17 April so I'll know then what my minimum payments are. Knowing the balance has 0% interest is amazingly calming, as the MC was the one card I wanted to tackle this year, so I consider that a semi-win for the time being.
Have been pecking away at my book too and have reached Page 39. It's neither particularly murderous nor mysterious (although the murder has happened), and I don't have any idea where it's going. It seems to take me all over the place, but I'm mostly glad it's still got legs and forward momentum. I'm considering that as a 'win'. To help me with my characters a bit, I've been writing little vignettes with them interacting with other characters so I can figure out how they'd re/act to different situations. It seems to help solidify their motivations and personalities a bit, which will help the overall feel of the whole book.
I've slowed down in my reading, I seem to have lost momentum with it. I'm reading a couple of non-fiction books at the moment and haven't managed to engage fully with either of them, although they're quite good. I think I'm concentrating on my own book and my own process that I'm just not really focussing on the others. I still have almost 20 to read and review, however, so I'll need to get back to that sooner rather than later, as I have so many books I want to read this year.
Our council tax is going down as of 1 April (!!) by £40. I am NOT complaining. It puts £18 a month back in my pocket every month and I'm perfectly fine with that.
My mobile phone seems to be finished. I have no network connection and haven't been able to text or phone since the beginning of the month (obviously it's not a concern as I've only been fussing about this since last Thursday). I took the SIM card out and did a factory reset, losing all my data, but that didn't help, so am taking the phone with me on Monday and will take it to a phone shop in Ringwood to see if they can help. I called my carrier to ask for the PAC number but it was entirely unhelpful because I'm apparently still in-contract and need to give them 30-days notice that I want to leave. I try not to get frustrated with the call centre people, but India's a very long way away and it would be nice to have someone a bit closer to discuss this stuff with. So, for the moment, I have a phone (5+ yrs old) that I can't use and am paying for a service I can't access. It's 'only' £16 a month, but I'm exceptionally frustrated. My colleague is going to bring me her old phone on Monday to see if that works.
Next Saturday I've got my teeth cleaning, and am also going to have the car washed while I'm the dentist. There's a mobile car park car wash crew and it's the perfect opportunity to have her spruced up for spring.
I've got April's word all ready to go and will be doing my card reading next Sunday, so I'm interested to see what pops up.
Happy spring everyone!
3 comments:
Aren't we all looking forward to the Spring? Exercising more did me wonders. I am sure you will feel the same when you start working at lunch time. As for the phone situation, have you tried asking them for a service freeze because you obviosly cannot use it before your phone gets fixed. They may do that.
Well done on the walking. It feels great doesn't it. I had gotten into quite the habit of lunchtime walking when I was still at work and was building up stamina. But then summer hit and we got 40 degree weather and I hate it, so the walking stopped. I've been trying to get back to it while it's so gloriously sunny here and again I always feel great afterwards. And don't even get me on the subject of Brexit. Aaaaarrrrrgghhh! I actually feel sorry for Mrs May because she has an impossible job which she doesn't believe in anyway and is having the rug pulled from under her every which way. One way or another I will be glad to "know" where I stand with that bloody nonsense.
Hi T'Pol! Yes, the sunshine and warmer temperatures seem to make everyone a little bit happier too. The temperatures are around 15C at the moment which is lovely. I need to make a concerted effort to take myself outside every day - it really does make such a difference to the rest of the day! Thank you for the suggestion about the phone, too. It was an option I was going to ask them about, but it's all sorted out now. :) xx
Hi Treaders! It makes a huge difference to my mental state and once you get out there, even if you don't really feel like doing it, you find the movement invaluable. I hibernate in the really hot weather, though, which seems a bit ridiculous, but I don't function at all if it gets too hot. And it appears our choice was to crash and burn out of the EU instead of supporting the PM. Poor Mrs May. I can imagine she's at her wits end by this point - what a(n expensive) farce this whole thing has been. UGH! xx
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