Countdown to Christmas 2022: spring has sprung, bring on the longer days! Thread 2.

[NoWordForFluffy]

Here we go...thread 2.

@crazybaubles needs to do her thing on the last thread. Bruce, Bruce, we want Bruce!

Wet and windy here. I had to get more fuel despite putting £50 in Friday. And I didn't leave the house all weekend. Literally paying to do visits at work now it's ridiculous.

Really windy here now. We have a yellow warning overnight, as it's going to be almost-60mph gusts for most of the night.

Is your car thirsty, Wreck? That's using a lot of fuel!

262

No, it a 1.4 small car. Serviced six weeks ago. I have to do a lot of driving and petrol is £1.70 a litre.

I still haven't folded the washing, there's about five loads to do just can't bring myself to do it!

At least if it's got work you can claim your mileage back, so that's something. Does it cost more than 45p per mile?

Awful night here. Really windy (60mph), and it was obviously bin night, so bins were flapping and crashing and recycling scuttering down the street all night. I'm knackered as I was awake for about 2 hours when it was at its worst.

That's so expensive Wreck! Petrol is £1.56 per litre here and I think that's ridiculous.

It was very windy here last night too but luckily it wasn't bin day.
The weather is playing havoc with my hay fever though so I've got streaming eyes and a blocked nose (which caused a nosebleed this morning) 🤧

Yes I can claim the 45p a mile, it's probably covering the fuel but not the west and tear. It hasn't increased in absolutely years, it really needs reviewing.

Really windy here too!

Hello everyone. I have been MIA because the app logged me out and I had to reset my password (poor excuse for not posting for 4 months I know). I have my end of term cold and am spending this week proofreading reports with tea and the occasional mini mince pie (we need to make some space in the freezer and the weather is cold). I will start my Christmas vodkas in May and am looking for a good chutney recipe. Last year I added cranberry and clementine jelly to my Christmas preserves and it went down very well!
Looking forward to catching up with you all.

45p per mile seems very low considering prices at the minute Wreck. I think I used to get 40p per mile when I did care work and that was 12 years ago (ish).

I have a relative who is a community midwife who’s said the price hikes mean shes really really struggling.

Welcome back Constantly 👋
DH is going away soon and if the weather stays cold like this I’ll definitely be indulging in a CCF and a hot chocolate

I’m very excited Fluffy - I have some green shoots coming through from my chillis! I checked them today and can see shoots in 4 out of my 9 pots 🥳

I’m going to do the rest of my chilli seeds and do some pepper seeds tomorrow and use the propagator.
Also planning to repot a few other plants which I should have done a week ago while my niece is here because she loves plants / mud / bugs.

Well, we've been told our rent is going up by £50 from next month today. Wooooo! 🙄 That's the last of my pay rise gone (broadband / mobiles / council tax / rent). Could be worse, I suppose, I could be without a pay rise and having to absorb it.

Our wind has dropped now, thankfully. And the sun is out. As is the washing! Better late than never!

Sorry, hi, Constantly! We're still finding mince pies in the freezer too. It's very pleasing! 😋

Crazy, are they the ones you were going to ditch? Hurrah for them coming up! Mine are almost-all up now too. 🌶🌶🌶

So, Dad's tummy bug last week turned out to be the dreaded Rona 🙄

We've all had it, all at the same time.

I had a bad cold about 4 weeks ago and honestly felt worse then, but DS spent most of the weekend asleep in bed. Didn't even want to play Minecraft - that was when I got suspicious and tested!!

We're all better now, apart from being tired!

In other, more exciting news - new builder booked after the last one flaked out 4 weeks ago, so the start date for our extension is 19th April. Equal parts excited and dreading it!

I am now down to one chilli plant..

*DD's not dad's, FFS 🙄

Ah the rent increase sucks Fluffy!

Yes the chilli plants were the ones I was going to ditch. I’ll leave them as they are for now but still do more tomorrow.
I didn't expect them to work so I haven't actually looked at what I need to do next.

Glad you’re all better Firefly and 🤞🏼 all is straight forward with your extension.

Is your DH less worried by Covid now you've all had it, Firefly? At least you're all better now. I too would be suspicious if our two didn't want to play Minecraft!

Just let the chillies keep growing, Crazy, then pot them on when they're too big for whatever they're in now. Go up sizes gradually and let them fill the pot, then move up again.

Hurrah for a builder too. They're quite rare, I hear.

I actually had to choose between two - very lucky position. Because we're ready to go with planning/building control, and they'd both had cancellations!

DH has definitely chilled out, thankfully - it's my birthday two weeks today, he's agreed we can go for cocktails and tapas

261

Morning

We had an absolute hoolie of a wind yesterday , fence panel down (not ours) , I'll send DH out to prop it up before my plants get mangled.

Sorting through the ever present mountain of washing , I'm determined not to rely on the tumble drier .

70 DH reassures me that it's going to rain...5 minutes ago.
We have blue sky and no clouds, so I've put some on a maid (tea towels, pinny, cleaning cloths) and the next load will go out when it's done.
fluffy that's a bugger about the rent.
Firefly I'm glad you're all better. 2 builders?! 🤯😲 it took us ages to find a reliable plumber. Have they tried to do a brick match yet? Our house is 20yo, and they don't make any this colour/texture any more...🤦‍♀️ Lucky we had a few "spare" ones from the conservatory to brick up the flue from the old boiler.

I wouldn't get my washing done without relying on the tumble drier 70... I barely get time to load/reload that 🙄

Puss I know, minor miracle. He came yesterday to take a photo of the bricks, but previous builders including my uncle didn't think it would be an issue. Fingers crossed - I'm sure there will be other issues instead. Luckily, we should have a pretty healthy contingency pot now I'm back at work.

We barely use our drier, thankfully. I do hate an incorrect weather forecast though. The BBC is particularly shite.

It's lovely here today. ☀️☀️☀️ Cold though.

Oh yes I'm hoping to be in a new home for Christmas and have accidentally bought new decorations for the entire house that I don't yet own and mentally decorated it in my head . God I need this . Can't wait for Christmas

Pleased you've all recovered firefly and exciting news re the builder! They are very rare (and expensive) here.
Crazy the chillis sound great - would it be too late for me to grow some? I want to grow things but tend to kill things when transplanting to the garden! I am hoping for an apple crop of more than one apple this year! Puss it has just started pouring here if that's any consolation.
A CCF sounds like a plan! I might watch one on Sunday as both DD and DH will be out.

I'm the same firefly I'm never on top of the washing and dd runs out of underwear even with us using the drier! I'm not sure how we will manage to even hang things out before work in the summer I get up at 6:30 (when I'm not going to the gym or uni which is only one day a week) and dh at 6 and we're still rushing to get out the door as it is.

I went to get fuel from the cheaper station and it had run out so now I only have 30 miles left. Guess I'll be getting more from the expensive ones.

We hang out the night before, Wreck! It just gets longer out there. 😁

Constantly, you're getting to the later stages of planting, but you should be OK if you get going.

Ours has always got bird poo on when we've done that

Our birds are - generally - more considerate! 🦅 💩