Friday, 05-01-24: back to normal

. . . what passes for normal, anyway!

Good morning, everyone.  How are you all doing?  First of all, I want to say again a big thank you to everyone who stuck with me while I lived a dream over the past two weeks, whether you commented or not.  It was so lovely to know you were all reading and, I hope, enjoying the words and the photos.

Disembarking yesterday was an absolute doddle.  Between the excellent Fred.Olsen system and our One Traveller group manager's support, we were ushered pretty seamlessly through the whole process which was hardly complicated anyway.  The only blip was that we had to wait for our driver because we were off ship earlier than the time he had been given so we had to hang around for a short time.  Hardly a hardship and the sun was shining!

As for the actual drive home, it was a dream - so much easier than going because there was no unexpected traffic and no hold-ups so I was home by before twelve, Diane having been dropped off first.

What an experience it has been!  It's going to take a while to completely process it all but I have memories that will last me the rest of my life, I hope.  The snow, the scenery, the snow capped mountains, the cliffs, the excursions, the life on board . . . phew.

I still don't have any photos of the Northern Lights to share - I'll post some as soon as I do.

When I got home, the first thing I did was make a coffee - no, go to the loo, then make a coffee.  Two hours in I had . . .

had several coffees

read the gas meter and sent the readings off (Very Important)

reset the heating thermostat

turned on  the Christmas Tree lights - may as well enjoy them for a few more days

done a fairly big shop

sorted out washing all over the kitchen floor

put one load in

got out both drying racks

emptied one suitcase and my tech bag

and, just for once

put everything straight away in proper homes rather than shifting piles around.

How organised is that then, eh?

Then I crashed, sat down, turned on the telly and started catching up on YouTube while falling asleep more than once.  I tried to stay up for longer because of the hour time change but was wide awake at three thirty this morning.  That will settle in the next few days.

So, today . . .

As usual, on a Friday, I start with Slimming World.  I've had a little online chat with Jen and won't be weighing for a few weeks while I get back into normality again.  I can leave eight weeks between weighs, if I want, but I won't, I will set myself a date two or three weeks hence and work towards that.  It's not a big deal but, obviously, I want to get back to where I was before Christmas.

Then I have one case to unpack and that's all the unpacking done.  I have one load of washing in as I type (it's about half past four a.m.), one load dry and either in the ironing basket or folded to go away and one load still damp and I'm reckoning another two loads to go in, one of which will have to be very gentle as it's all the sparkly turn-it-inside-out-and-hope stuff

I'd also like to get some meals planned.  My shopping yesterday was all fresh stuff - fruit and veg mainly plus some meat, cheese, etc and a few things for colds.  It was actually really nice to be starting from scratch with an empty fridge and, certainly, easier to put everything away without stuff to move to the front, etc.
Anyway, I reckon I have enough fresh stuff to last me a while now.

What I don't have to do for the first time in decades is get my house cleaner-ready.  That's because I no longer have cleaners coming in each week.
No, I haven't been a bad client or anything but, because of the way the company I used worked (using cleaners from their home country who come over to work for them for a spell and then go home again) combined with various political restrictions in place now or threatening to be put in place, they can't get the staff (as the saying goes) any more.  I'm not going to get all political, this isn't what this blog is about, so no further comment from me or from you, please, but it's sad.

I did ponder whether I should get someone else - there are other local companies - but decided that this was perhaps an opportunity to be grasped.  Let's face it, I have been remarkably fortunate in this particular area since I retired and very grateful for it.  Before then, it was a necessity really but now I can very easily do my own cleaning and I certainly do have the time.  A bit of a chore and bore, maybe, but a great way to save a bit of money each month.  And I do mean save, not spend - I want to start a holiday savings account.

What will work for me is to organise it all into daily stuff.  Monday - steam clean the floors (more of them now I have a garden room, of course), Tuesday, bedrooms . . . etc.  Not rigid but organised.  I can do that very easily.

So I also want to get that up and running.

And if I really hate it, I can always look for someone and be very thankful that I can.

Goodness, haven't I rambled on!!  If you've made it this far, congratulations on your endurance and stamina!  I'll stop now and let you get on.
Have a wonderful day, whatever your plans.  Stay safe and keep warm and dry!  xx