Friday Five!

Happy Friday all!

1.  Logged on to work this morning to find a message from my team leader saying after I finish doing x & y, i can take the rest of the day off as there's no more work.  Never finished my x & y allocation so fast in my life! 

2.  The first (i think) Popeyes in Scotland opened on Monday, and i was there with the rest of the hordes.  45 minutes to get there, 45 minutes in the drive-through, then 45 minutes home again.  We both loved the chicken and the Cajun gravy. The biscuit was rock hard, but when softened in the gravy it was fine.  We will definitely go again, when the novelty dies down.

3. Giving my 5 year old laptop to my OH to replace his 25 year old (!!!!!) laptop, but wanted to wipe it first and restore to factory settings.  Unreal how long that took!!! Started it at 10am yesterday and it still wasn't finished when i went to bed at midnight.

4.  with reference to number 3 above --- it's driving me INSANE that this man who has just retired with a £76,000 lump sum sitting in his bank account is too cheap to buy a new laptop.  He is also using a 5 or 6 year old phone as he's too cheap to upgrade.  There must be some psychological reason behind this, but that doesn't make it less infuriating. I keep telling him, 'there's no pockets in a shroud!'

5.  Great Global Greyhound Walk this weekend. 

Happy Friday!

1.) Brass Band came 8th in the National Finals last weekend, which is beyond amazing!!! 

2.) Caught Covid last weekend though. Planes, pubs, crowds, people!  Not sure how I am the only person in the band with it either, but lucky me! Hey ho, it hasn't been too bad this time around at all though!  Was worried as a lot of folks were getting hit really hard with this strain, but all good on my end, thank goodness. 

3.) Got beers to package up to send away for competition this week.

4.) Sweetcorn to pick for dinner! Growing sweetcorn in Scotland. Crazy days. 

5.) Planning my next homebrew....   

Take care of yourself - and just because someone doesn't seem to have Covid doesn't mean they DON'T have Covid. Some variants apparently don't even test positive until you've had 'em for a week (and been contagious).  I bet there's more than you in the band who are infected.

Rest up! (And congrats on the placement.)

Happy Friday!

1.) Been so busy!!! Work, life, music, everything! 
 
2.) Head into Christmas music concert/carolling/gigging season here now. Bring it on! 

3.)  Have to bottle up my homebrewed Schwarzbier (German black lager) this weekend. 

4.) Homemade curry tonight 

5.) If I get time this weekend, gonna make some eggnog, I'm hardcore craving it! 

I never had curry before going to the UK.  Now I eat it once a week. Food of the gods, that stuff! And it keeps my sinuses open.
I will never be a convert to eggnog. 

Glad to hear you had a good week. Happy caroling. (Hopefully outside, or masked if indoors!)

Happy Friday!

1.) Winding down 2023. Been a crazy one! 

2.) Still working. Blah. Only a few hours to go! 

3.) Not sure what 2024 will bring, but it's looking stressful at work already and fun and existing outside of work! 

4.) Bring on the feasting! 

5.) Happy Christmas UKY! 

Happy Friday!

1.) Giant flask of coffee today! 

2.) A relatively quiet weekend ahead, only 1 rehearsal, so that's great! 

3.) Was already a stressful work week.  2024 will be 'interesting'. 

4.) Need to do some organisation and cleaning around the house.

5.) Dreaming and planning of gardening! 

Don't you love it when it's "seed catalog" time?

It isn't Friday anymore and I don't have 5 things ... But I had to share the good news. We've been house hunting and had our offer accepted on an awesome little house in N Wales. It has been so hard to adapt to life here in an inaccessible rented place where they wouldn't even let us hang photos, let alone actually feel settled, along with being quite far from all the hospitals for specialist care.

The house is already adapted, just needs a ramp installed and is in a walkable neighborhood with a really nice park, 10 mins to the hospital instead of the 30+ we are now. Now we just need everything to go smoothly the next 3 months w/ no gazumping.

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

Great news!! Keeping fingers crossed for you!

I never had curry before going to the UK.

Same here! My first ever curry was at Modern Punjabi in Ibrox. When i walked through the door, i literally gagged.... i guess from the smell of loads of different spices that my olfactory system had never experienced before! My boyfriend ordered for me, as i had no idea what anything was, and I sat there trying not to gag, boak or cry, but when the chicken madras arrived and i gingerly took that first bite... WOOFFFF!!! Loved it and never looked back!

1.  Nationwide's acquisition of Virgin Money (my employer).  This has potential to be really bad news for me. I could be made redundant, or lose my privilege of working from home. Not sure which would be worse! 

2.  OH going to Manchester for a few days next week, so I'm thinking of projects to do while he's away.

3.  Greyhound walk at Ayr beach on Sunday.  Hopefully i will get to see my most recent foster dog, Karma, who has been in her new home for about 3 weeks.

4.  Dirty great big Chinese takeaway tonight!

5.  Sold a handbag on Vinted last night, so need to get that shipped off today.  Have any of you used Vinted?  I've done it a few times now, and it feels like things sell much more quickly than on eBay, but i'm not sure why.

Fingers are crossed for you on the job front, Albatross. That's gotta be stressful. And hopes that you see the pup. Enjoy the take-away!

1) It is about -3C outside, with a 20-25mph wind. I had gone over to the allotment about 10 days ago, when it was 21C, and taken most of the heavy mulch off my spring flowers that were just starting to come up and all my garlic plants. Fingers are crossed that the muscari can handle the cold. (They only had grown just barely above the ground level, so there's hope. The garlic is good to about -29C.) They keep changing the weather forecast, but the last one this morning is for up to two inches of ice/snow/sleet overnight tonight and then rain/freezing rain tomorrow. Ew. Just Ewwww. If it hadn't warmed up first it would not be so ewwww, but it was a trap.... (I took the plastic sheeting off my bedroom window. But not in the rest of the house, thankfully, so the cold is only a bit worse in here.)

2) I got my new 1/4 wave ground plane antenna (for 2 meters) set up for my radio, out on the balcony. Unfortunately, until it warms up a bit I can't really have the glass sliding door open to snake the cable through without letting all the cold air in. I did give it a whirl during the few weeks of warmth and I'm told by those with whom I've spoken on-air that it's transmitting very well. (Finally!) Since I'm only using 5 watts of power, I should not be interfering with anyone's electronic controls nearby.

3) I received, this morning, an automated response from the Complaint form I sent to RBS earlier this week re: my three-year saga of trying to get my savings account with them closed.  "The plan is to get this resolved for you within five business days, but some investigations can take longer. If that’s the case, we’ll get back to you within 20 business days to let you know what’s happening. ..."  Right.

4) Because it's been so cold and I've felt kind of puny I've resorted to Walmart to deliver my groceries this winter for those weeks when I can't get out. They've actually been doing quite well. They have some of the cheapest prices in town, although their stock variety is limited. I do miss Tesco. Some afternoons I really want a steak bake and those are just not available here. Or a can of Baxter's tomato soup and a toastie. (I can manage the toastie, but haven't found a good tomato soup I like here yet.)

5) Daughter is still on the other side of the country, and doing well enough. The contract is due to expire in October, I believe, so if they don't extend it I will be doing the cross-country drive to bring her home again then. I think this time instead of flying out to the coast I may have a little adventure and take the Amtrak. (Assuming my IRS refund check will have arrived by then to pay for it.)  It would be nice to have her home again, guinea pig and all. My house is exponentially neater than before she left, but it's a bit lonely.

Fingers are crossed for you on the job front, Albatross. That's gotta be stressful. And hopes that you see the pup. Enjoy the take-away!

Thank you. 

I got my new 1/4 wave ground plane antenna (for 2 meters) set up for my radio, out on the balcony. Unfortunately, until it warms up a bit I can't really have the glass sliding door open to snake the cable through without letting all the cold air in. I did give it a whirl during the few weeks of warmth and I'm told by those with whom I've spoken on-air that it's transmitting very well. (Finally!) Since I'm only using 5 watts of power, I should not be interfering with anyone's electronic controls nearby.

What's this?  Like some sort of CB set-up?

Or a can of Baxter's tomato soup and a toastie. (I can manage the toastie, but haven't found a good tomato soup I like here yet.)

Let me know if you want me to send you a couple of tins of Baxters!

Thank you. 

What's this?  Like some sort of CB set-up?

Let me know if you want me to send you a couple of tins of Baxters!

Hi. It's amateur radio. I was studying for my basic license when I was in Scotland, but never got around to getting it (no place to put an antenna in our block of flats anyway).  So I re-studied and got my license here in the USA. I can't do high-powered equipment with this license for voice communications, but I can do Morse code and some other more new-fangled computerized transmission stuff at a higher power. I'm just too cheap to spend what it would cost to get a radio that will handle that. So I'm starting out small and basic, and as my knowledge and finances allow I'll upgrade to a full license.

I would love some Baxters, but it would cost you and arm and a leg to send them over here! I may just take an extra suitcase when I travel (which I hope I get to do in the fall) and pack it full - I wonder what customs would say to that!  When I flew out to Cali to visit the daughter I had a tinned fruitcake in my checked luggage. [And a couple of yards of folded up RFID blocking cloth.]  When I opened the case on the other end it was packed way neater than I had packed it....    But thanks for the offer, just the same!

The weather guys are now saying 6 inches of snow and up to a quarter inch of ice, with 35mph winds.  I guess I'll go fill the thermos up with boiling water in case the power goes out - I can still have a cup of tea that way, in the morning!