Hello again…

 Sorry for the absence but I have been down in the dumps to say the least. The black dog had been nipping at my heels for several months now and finally lunged, full force.

Got myself just about in order finally, I have to work through it but I was close to going under:(

Still a bit stressed which is playing havoc with my digestive system and general well being. I have been taking a daily cup of crushed fennel seed tea which has helped. I just feel shattered and have the odd feeling that my inner and outer body are not quite aligned if that makes sense.

When I go to bed at night, I feel as though I am slightly floating above myself but it is resolving itself.

Lots of jigsaws done and playing of a new video game although that can raise my blood pressure a bit - lol.

Had our lowest temperature last night

 Greenhouse thermometer registered-6.8C, just under 20F. Obviously colder up in the north and Scotland but that was cold for us.

How things have changed. When we moved here over 35 years ago, it was ‘quite normal’ to have overnight lows of about -10C, sometimes colder.

Our heating has been on far more than normal for us, but the coming wet and warmer weather should mean it will reduce again, until the next time.

Lovely soups have been the order of the day. Once my leeks thaw, I hope to start using them!

Can't praise these enough!

I had been reading about people using various makes of preserving vegetable and fruit plastic bags. I thought they can't really work can they, being plastic? Won't they still go slushy?

I have been using these now since just before Christmas:

My veg were already clean and dry (a prerequisite of using them). I placed each type of vegetable and fruit into their own bags. Each time I opened them to use, I double checked for moisture. If any was present, it was dried with kitchen towel paper.

Three weeks my carrots, swede and parsnips have been in them and they are as fresh as the day they were bought! Grapes sweat a little more, but were dried againand are already two weeks in a bag. Eventually my brussels sprouts went a bit iffy so were discarded but that was after nearly 3 weeks.

I opted for medium size as they were the best for me. They are reusuable with a good soap wash, rinse and thorough dry after use. I think they cost just under/over £9 but WELL worth the price.

I haven't tested them on banana's in the fruit bowl yet. Apples, pears have been great too.
 

Two more jigsaws done

 Both of these were 1000 pieces. Grandad with young grandson version was a complete nightmare as it had unusually shaped pieces. It will go off to the charity shop::

Grandad in his attic was better from a shape point of view but had a lot of brown which made it difficult. It too will go off to the charity shop:

Back onto a 500 piece train jigsaw now!
 

Being financially prudent

 We, more often than not, replace our second hand car with another. Occasionally we buy new, usually using savings to make up the difference. Those times have changed. Both new and secondhand are now very expensive.

Last time around, we decided on new, with interest free credit. That has almost finished and as is their want, we have been getting pestered to take out a new loan for another new car. There are a few problems with that.

1) Such a loan, even with part exchange, would now be nearly £100 more.

2) DB’s age. It is a sad fact to acknowledge, but we are both getting on, he more so than me. Whilst we have previously worked out I can financially manage without him, I couldn’t do so with a monthly car loan!

3) Should he survive me, he could manage without my pension,  just, but would have no ability to save for unforeseen circumstances.

Somewhat of a dilemma. To get them off our backs, he keeps telling them he will shortly be giving up driving and for now, the calls have stopped. 

We have decided to keep this car until it falls apart or gets scrapped due to governmental pressure regarding all electric vehicles. Yeah, right.

With regard to him having to give up driving, certainly long distance, that is only just over the horizon and we will cross that bridge when necessary. Whilst I do drive, I hate any journey longer than an hour or so. Anywhere new, forget it, I no longer have the confidence. 

Those future problems will need much heart searching as it might involve us having to move. We haven’t decided yet.

Are you having to think about this?

Hi folks

 We had our noisiest fireworks last night. Absolutely surrounded by them. We couldn’t manage to stay up so went to bed hoping Ruby wouldn’t be too worried. Obviously didn’t get to sleep until after it had all died down about 00:25 hours!

I was also watching part of the London display, whilst waiting for silence, humongous to say the least. Who pays for all these displays? Considering everyone is supposed to be hard up, it rather tore at my heart strings. Whilst it’s nice to celebrate, part of me feels it’s become a”our display is bigger than yours” sort of event. Each country trying to outdo one another. I would rather see smaller displays and see more money helping those in need.

2023 was a hard year for many. One of my sisters died suddenly after a spontaneous brain haemorrhage. That was balanced out by the arrival of our 38 week term, second granddaughter. 

With so many countries at war and more military action being taken by other countries in response, I really hope things don’t get out of hand, for all of us. Everyone is hoping oil, gas and electricity prices fall come Spring. So do we, but they could go the other way if more conflicts happen.

We will continue to save where we can, stock up more supplies and hope for the best, especially regarding food prices. We will continue to donate to food banks every week. We rotate between food, toiletries, baby products and pet food, hoping that is the best way to do it.

We are just about back to normal now. We have had some sort of mild digestive bug. Lots of gripes and wind, feeling like we have been punched in our stomach area. 

Hope you and yours start the year as healthy and happy as possible.