It's Too Darn Hot! Purple is the Colour....

 It's been so blooming hot over the last few days that we haven't felt like going out at all. Any temperature over about 23 C melts us 🫠 and, at times, it's been 28 C in the house despite having closed the windows and blinds,  and putting the fan on 😱

Sleeping has been problematic too with the heat lingering well into the night.  As we have a bungalow we can't leave windows open at night so, as soon as it's light, I throw the bedroom window wide open to let in the cool morning air.  Bliss !

Last night I was still awake at midnight and saw the flash of lightning but heard no thunder.  It gradually came closer, noisier and then the few drops of rain turned into a torrent.  I opened the window and let the cool air in whilst I stood watching the storm.  It was so refreshing and it's certainly refreshed the garden as well as us!

The weather is set to cool down next week and give us a little respite, thank goodness.

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I love ❤️ poppies so last year at the allotment I sprinkled the seeds from a couple of self sown poppies along the side of the shed.  When we went to water on Tuesday we saw these.....

They are absolutely massive and are a beautiful colour, I think.  And there are lots of them!!

Bloom where you are sown, I say 😉

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Each Tuesday we are still visiting the library in the morning before the heat builds up and researching the family tree.....

There's nothing exciting found so far but I do enjoy the change of scene, a comfy chair and a

 drink whilst Gray carries on at the computer........

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That's all for now folks.  My back is playing up again and I can't sit comfortably (nor walk for that matter 😕) until the pain eases off.  It came on suddenly yesterday (no idea what I had done to deserve it) and the pain was another reason I couldn't sleep last night.

Hey, ho....such is life...time for more painkillers.

Thanks for popping in and stay safe wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Every Little Helps...More Economies Will Begin

 In my last post I mentioned that I had taken out a new fix for energy.  Prices are going up on June 1st by a predicted 13%.  Wow....that is going to adversely affect lots of people on a low income, isn't it.  We will need to make further economies in order to reduce the bills.  Our DD has increased from £97.53 to £108.03 from June 1st.  As we have an old TV (at least 12 years old) I'm guessing that it's not particularly energy efficient, so we have begun to turn it off after we have watched the 6pm news and putting it back on at 9pm for the dramas we like to watch.  It's never on during the day either.  We either go out, do the gardening or read instead.

Some time ago, I talked about the PeakSave scheme for British Gas.  We had half price electricity between 11am and 4pm on Sundays which I tried to make full use of.  Was it worth the effort? 

In around 18 months I have saved £55.98.  Not a fortune but better in my pocket than that of British Gas.  The new plan will allow me to make better use of the offer because of the longer time slot.  I can begin washing earlier in the day and do things like put on the breadmaker, slow cooker, fill the oven maybe.  I'll work it out.....

The washing machine insurance is also increasing in price from £7.99 to £8.99 per month from June.  We toyed with the idea of cancelling it but, after checking the cost of a replacement integrated machine, it will be safer to carry on paying.  I can't manage without a machine.

Although we have had a reasonable increase in our pensions this April, there's no getting away from the fact that we are on the old state pension which is less than the new rate, and so the increase is less too.  A huge chunk of it has gone on increased rent already.  We were also shocked by how little food we got in our recent delivery from Sainsburys,  just 2 tote boxes and they were nowhere near full.  It looked pathetic spread out on the worktop AND it cost £52.08 😒

I really need to evaluate what I'm spending on non-food items.....

Are you noticing a difference in outgoings too?

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Thanks for popping in.  Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be, 

Angie 💗

TV Changes Are Afoot, Food Waste etc......

 I read in my news feed on my phone yesterday that the government is planning a Green Paper on bringing forward plans to turn off free TV services, like Freeview, in favour of online streaming services only.  It could happen as early as 2030 which is a mere 4 years away.  Now... we watch TV via Freeview.  We don't have any 'paid for' services and have no intention of getting any.  We are happy to pay the licence fee to watch BBC as they often show a jolly good drama or two, but the likes of Sky and Netflix don't really attract us.  What on earth will we do?  What on earth will other people do, especially those who don't have reliable broadband, or even any broadband at all??  We know of people who pay ridiculous amounts for streaming services and sports channels, sometimes upwards of £80 per month. We simply can't afford that and I'm sure we are not the only ones 😕

Do you pay for a streaming service?  Is it expensive? Reliable?  Is there much worth watching? 

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This morning we found our new food waste caddies on the path outside the front door.  There is a big caddy for outside and a smaller one for the kitchen.  This is something else I will have to get used to doing 😕  As it is, I constantly have to stop Gray from putting things in the wrong bin.  Why did he think polystyrene was recyclable??  I'm happy to recycle veg peelings, eggshells, teabags etc but the disadvantage is that the caddy takes up a lot of room on the worktop near the sink.  This morning I have re-jigged everything and given the worktops a good clean before putting everything back (albeit in different places) The collections will be on a weekly basis beginning in June and, at least, they will provide the small caddy liners free of charge.  I'm just glad that we don't eat much meat as I wouldn't fancy having meat scraps in the bin with summer on the way.  Imagine the smells and flies in the heat?

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 Yesterday, I took another dozen handmade cards to the shop, this time they were music themed.  I had ordered some little books of images from Hunkydory a couple of weeks back when they were on offer and they are lovely.  They will keep me going for some time and, in addition, I received the free club member's gift which will make several cards, I would guess at least a  dozen more.  I'll share some of those with you later on.....

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Right....now....Graham is at the allotment.  It's a beautiful sunny morning and more heat is forecast for the holiday weekend.  Our daughter has invited us to a barbie tomorrow 😀 We will be celebrating son-in-law's new job so I might just allow myself a small glass of Prosecco then to toast his success.  Meanwhile, I'll now tackle the ironing and pop a load into the washing machine so that I can peg it out today.  

Our energy fix ends next month so I fixed again yesterday on a new plan in case there is no new fix available later on.  This particular one gives half price electricity between 9am and 5pm on a Sunday.  It will give me 3 extra hours of cheap electricity compared to the old plan but the monthly DD has gone from £97.53 to £108.03 😭

Economies will have to be made.....

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Thanks for popping in.  Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be and have a great weekend.

Angie 💗

Watch this! And another book read.....

 The weather has not been conducive to sitting (or walking) in the sunshine at all this last week, as it's been cold and it's now very wet too.  We even had hail on Sunday, but I've been trying to move more to increase my step count since I bought my bargain smartwatch.    I've discovered that I actually do around 5,000 steps in a day when I'm just doing housework 😀

 Don't worry about the step count shown in the photo though as I had taken the watch off to have a shower and forgot to put it back on until 9.30am!......

We're trying to eat a greater variety of food, especially low fat, non UPF foods but it can be a bit tricky at times as I still need to watch the food budget very carefully.  My tongue is still causing me problems but I'm carrying on with the D3 tablets in the hope that they will help replenish my lack of the vitamin. .....

My B12 levels are now fine but, on Doctor's orders, I'm still taking a multivitamin as well. In the 7 weeks I've been taking the D3, I've noticed that my energy levels have picked up.  I'm nowhere near as tired during the day,  I can walk steadily (rather than a bit wobbly) and my sleep patterns have improved tremendously.  I used to be lucky to get 5 hours a night and sometimes much less than that so the readings on my smartwatch were a pleasant surprise....

At least something is going right at last!

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I've been doing lots of reading to relax and I've discovered a new (to me) author via Vivi's U-Tube book reviews (What Vivi Did Next).

Rachel McLean's female detective is a Birmingham lass who has been sent to Dorset and thrown in the deep end with a murder.  It's written in a style I enjoy and is the first in a whole series of books.  I've just reserved the second book from the library 👍

Has anyone else tried this one?

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Right-o.... I'm off to make a quiche for tea using a tortilla wrap instead of pastry for the crust.  We have a home grown leek, some cheese and eggs😁 some home grown lettuce and supermarket cherry tomatoes to go with it.  Oh...and a leftover cooked jacket potato which I can cut into wedges and reheat in the airfryer.  No waste!

Thanks for popping in.  Do stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Blooming Marvellous....

 Ten days into May and the garden is blooming.  The sun is out today (Sunday) and, despite a chilly wind, it's very pleasant to be outside.  Our succulents have burst forth with blooms; yellow on the left and pink on the right......

... and the Aeonium cutting which I purchased for £1 from a plant sale 2 years ago is loving it too....

Two years on it has babies of it's own...triplets in fact  😀...

My fig tree boasts 2 large figs already and I'm hoping for more later on this summer...

We have tiny strawberries in the trough to the left of the fig and the greenhouse is positively bursting with fledgling plants.  We have managed to find a Passandra cucumber plant as well as a Lumos yellow pepper.  Both performed really well last year and I hope to repeat the success of those.  There is lettuce in a tub so that I can pick leaves as and when I need them and we will be growing tomatoes in the greenhouse too;  Sunbaby (grown from seed very kindly sent to me by a blog buddy) and Crimson Crush which is a larger tomato for slicing on pizza or sandwiches.

To say I am getting excited is an understatement !

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How is your garden doing?

Thanks so much for popping in.  Do stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗