Year: 2024

Another day with the sun out and so we headed for Kearsney Abbey. The stream is way above the height it should be following all the rain.

We also found some King Alfred’s cake (daldinia  concentrica) growing on one of the trees. We had to look it up and then discovered you can start a fire with it and it doesn’t give off any smoke. They use it in Bush craft courses.

Every day is a school day!

In the afternoon we packed away all the Christmas decorations and a big clean up. Nice to get it all out of the way now.

A couple more episodes of The Traitors in the evening! It is rather addictive.

I wrote to the hotel in Madeira asking if we could have adjacent rooms with Paula. Tonight I received a reply saying we had booked different types of rooms which would be on different floors………………….oh no we didn’t because Mal made both the bookings! We have checked, they are identical rooms.  Surely they will get something right!

Our Sainsburys order was delivered on time but we told him he could have the squashed bananas back!!

Thought for the Day – “Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” ~ Anne Lamott

We woke up to more rain. So many floods all over the south of England. Maybe people don’t realise when they cut all the trees down to build houses it really does not help.

The good news is that they have cleared all six pending payments off Barclaycard!

I spoke to Paula who is coming on holiday with us. Paula and Gilly are getting very excited.

Thought for the Day –  “When you are enthusiastic about what you do, you feel this positive energy.  It’s very simple.” ~ Paulo Coelho

Another morning at Minnis Bay as the sun was out again and Ellie loves it there.

On the way home we bought some top soil for the garden which we have been meaning to buy since the garden was redesigned. The problem being that the flowers and plants wouldn’t stop growing, even reseeding far too late!

Again I arrived home exhausted, made an apple crumble with the apples Mal had brought home from the allotment and that was all my energy expended for the day.  I start to feel a bit better and then get totally worn out.

I have become hooked on “The Traitors” and binged three at once!

Thought for the Day – “Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.” ~ Vernon Sanders Law

The sun was out and so we went to Minnis Bay with Ellie, what a glorious day.

Ellie enjoyed the exercise instead of running through mud! Again, I felt a bit exhausted by the time we got home but I can’t stay in, need the fresh air when the weather is good! At least I am improving.

Mal went to the allotment for a bit of digging.

Thought for the Day – “When you give joy to other people, you get more joy in return. You should give a good thought to happiness that you can give out.”~ Eleanor Roosevelt

A very wet and muddy walk.

Mal needed some new jeans , so went to Westwood to get two new pairs and trainers and some other stuff we needed. I still didn’t feel well, so was exhausted by the time we arrived home.

Mal then spent another three quarters of an hour on to Easyjet, to no avail…William would ring us back. Of course he didn’t! Meanwhile I had a phone call from East Kent dental, my maxillofacial lady has now moved from Sandwich to Faversham, so the next appointment has changed! I have to go to Faversham, this will now be the FIFTH place I am going to.

I then had another phone call from Kent and Canterbury Hospital saying I now have an appointment with the Dental consultant at William Harvey Hospital as I had been referred last February because I had a lump in my mouth. This is all getting too confusing, I think it was from when I had the severe nose bleeds. So, the dental appointments continue.

Mal has now written to 3 “directors” at Easyjet asking for their help. We still have the SIX pending payments on my credit card. Today I am beginning to lose faith!

Early evening we had a phone call from someone at Easyjet saying the technical glitch had now been fixed and they were able to take our balance money, which was due on 1st! At last we had confirmation the holiday is paid for but the money is still pending on the credit card (SIX amounts!!) Yes, the CEO obviously is the person to contact!! I guess he/she instructed a minion to sort it. BUT what a lot of stress for us! We will need that holiday.

Hammers drew their game with Brighton in the evening.

Thought for the Day – “You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.” ~ George Lorimer

Wishing all my readers a Happy Healthy 2024!

Well, we missed all last night’s festivities. I was sound asleep at midnight but there were obviously fireworks as at 12.10 Ellie was scratching on the side of the bed to wake me up! I did get back to sleep again.

When we did get up in the morning, we watched Hootenanny. Paul Jones and PP Arnold ought to give up now, they were both out of tune. We look forward to seeing Jools live in June. His band and singers are so good. I think it is the only show I never want to end!

Next was another phone call to Easyjet. This is getting so frustrating. Meanwhile there is the cost of 6 holidays sitting on the credit card! One hour on the phone, “she” spoke to a manager but when Mal asked to speak to them they were not available. Still no written (email) message to say yes our holiday will be held etc etc , in fact nothing for us but they have recorded it all. What good is that to us in a court of law?

Eventually Mal was given another empty promise that the Manager would ring him……More lies.

We then went to Lou and Rhys’s as they cooked a lovely roast for us. I probably have the cold that Rhys had!  We came home quite early as I felt so tired.

I took Josie a birthday cake as she would have been totally embarrassed had we taken it to the restaurant the other day. She was very happy with it!

Thought for the Day – “Wishing you a year ahead that’s as bright and hopeful as a sunrise.”