clothes

Well, some of the fiscal madness has undergone a spectacular U-turn, but not all of it. The Tories are fighting amongst themselves. It’s not that surprising. We did know Liz Truss was going to be awful, we just didn’t know how awful, and how quickly. We shall see. Interesting times.

I found a conker the other day! Here it is with the cat licking my thumb. Strange animal . . .

We have had a succession of plumbers/electricians coming to the house to fix various plumbing/electrical problems – electric shower switch, replacement of immersion heater, then replacement of the immersion heater switch, one thing after another.

Today the wonderful gardener came to trim the Leylandii and has made an excellent job of it. He’s just great. He brings his little dog Winston who is a little bundle of tail-wagging joy. Love it.

Meanwhile I’ve had a dodgy blood test result which the doctor wants to talk to me about, so I spent an hour on the phone waiting to be told there were no appointments, and I’d have to phone back the next day at 8 am. So I did. Caller No 46 at 8:01 (!), but appointment made by 8:23. Hmm.

And I have an appointment for my flu and Covid jabs next week. Yay.

Been feeling quite low and tired, but buying four new tops has cheered me up. Works every time. Two from Weird Fish, which is a site I have been lurking around for some time, and two from Marks and Spencers. Lovely.

Off to carry on reading Confidence Man (latest book on Trump) by Maggie Habermann. Interesting. Reinforces my view of him. Mm.

The knitting is going ok. I can’t knit for as long – I was doing two hours each night, with the odd half hour or so each day if I had the time. Now I can manage about three quarters of an hour. That’s fine though. It means that a bobble hat is taking me several evenings, instead of one or two, but it’s ok. I’m loving the colour (coral) and the chunkiness of the yarn. Discovered I hadn’t bought enough yarn to start with, so had to order some more, and asked if they could match the dye lot. They did! so shout out to LoveCrafts.

Having a few issues finding jeans I like. I don’t find rigid, 100% cotton jeans comfortable. I have had a rule for about 25 years that I don’t wear anything uncomfortable, ever, including shoes, even for a party. So rigid jeans are out. I have a couple of pairs of Not Your Daughters Jeans, which are comfy, but ridiculously expensive. I also have a couple of pairs of comfy Boden jeans, which were discontinued when I bought them cheap. I’ve tried two different sizes and two different styles of Lands End jeans, and just don’t like them. Am awaiting delivery of some John Lewis jeans, two different sizes. If those don’t suit, I’ll just give up, I think, and keep my eyes open. Sigh.

The shopping has just been delivered. We use disinfectant wipes to clean the bag handles and every single item delivered.

I have been awaiting an invitation for my annual flu jab. Nothing. And we’re almost in November. I can’t find a way of contacting the surgery except for phoning, which takes 45 minutes each time just to get through to a person. Luckily I needed to order some repeat prescriptions, and there’s a little comment box, so I put a note in there. It worked! Flu jab tomorrow and a blood test a week on Monday. Probably for the thyroid, they do a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) test to ensure I’m on the right dose.

Last Christmas present due to be delivered today. Then I can start working out which boxes to use to send them all. Apparently Royal Mail are starting a pick-up service. Excellent news. No more queueing in the Post Office. You pre-pay the postage, which is already possible, then pay another 72p per parcel for the pick up, and book it. Five parcels maximum. Am going to investigate further to see when it actually starts.

The garden is a joy. Still waiting for the work to be done on trimming the leylandii, willow, lilac, winged spindle and the front lawn to be dug up and relaid.