Category: dEAr diary

a chat about my day

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dEAr diary ~ teamwork…many hands make light work

Yesterday certainly lifted my spirits.  Thank you to everyone for the good wishes.  It was such a busy day and a pleasure to see my friends and family.

Today it was back to work – no not the office – my daughter’s garden.  DH spent his time this week putting the first stabilising coat of paint onto the hallway and staircase walls.  We are using the Polyfilla paint that prevents cracking – we have used it before with great results.

But today, for a change from sanding and painting, DH gave me a hand with the preparation of the gravel patch in the garden.  His job was to put the edging boards in place which involved hammering wooden pegs into the ground and screwing sawn planks of wood to them, whilst I raked over the ground.  The weather was slightly cooler thank goodness.

With both of us focused on this area we managed to get a lot more done and our SIL arrived home at lunchtime to help – he was going to dig out a row of old raspberries but then it started to rain and so we had to down tools and pack away.

After lunch it was still raining so we decided to come home and I went up the road to visit my friend and neighbour to wish her well with her operation on Monday.  After a quick natter and a cup of tea it was time to pop down to town to Sainsbury’s for a few groceries and fresh veg ready for my mum coming tomorrow.  She loves Cauliflower Cheese so I bought some ready prepared broccoli and cauliflower and a tub of cheese sauce – normally I would make my own but I know if we have been out for the day we will need something quick to make.  We will have new potatoes with it, button mushrooms and grilled cherry tomatoes.

I desperately needed to buy a retirement card and a small gift for a friend – it was her last day at work today (she is/was a teacher) and has taken early retirement to be at home with her husband.  Both are much younger than me, still in their 50’s but have enough put by now to be able to stop working.  There was only one suitable card so I added a bit of my own decoration with some stamps and ink to personalise it.  I should really have bought a card long before this so it wasn’t such a last-minute dash.  Hopefully, when I finish work I can get myself more organised.

We pick mum up tomorrow morning in Derbyshire and will treat her to lunch somewhere – there are always plenty of tea shops out there.  Afterwards we might visit the well dressing at Stoney Middleton and I am hoping that the church there (St Martins) will be open.  Built in the early 15th century it is quite a special little place with an octagonal shaped nave and last time I went it had been beautifully decorated with flowers.  It is a few years since I have been to this particular village but I remember it as having some rather nice little nooks and crannies to photograph.

It may be a day or two before I get to write a post about our adventures over the weekend – it is always a busy time when mum comes to stay  – at 92 she still has more energy than me!

Have a lovely weekend, back soon x

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dEAr diary ~ collEAgues…who’d have ’em

A bit of a mad day today.  I arrived in work quite early this morning and was met by a desk covered in flowers and presents from colleagues for my birthday tomorrow ( I won’t be at work tomorrow as I don’t work on Thursdays).

I was quite touched and know that I will miss them all when I go.  The flowers are all at home now and in water and I will open the cards and presents tomorrow.

But then…we had a slight upset at work – I cannot go into detail here – but I did wonder if I was at work or playschool!   I suppose it can be hard to accept changes and some of my colleagues in the team I supervise had already decided they are not going to like the new person and have already found something to complain about.

It is all a bit childish really and a little premature I think.  After only three days I found the team’s attitudes a bit difficult to understand but I expect sometimes it just takes time to accept a new personality with new ways and new thoughts.  I actually like my replacement quite a lot and I can see past that initial compulsion new people always seem to have to need to make an impression.  I know I would have enjoyed working with her had I been staying.  She is disappointed I am going and worried how she will get along with a team who are finding fault with her already!  I didn’t leave work until after 7pm tonight as she was so upset by the incident.  I feel bad for her.

I finally got home, had tea and the minute I had finished we had a visit from my friend (who is also a vicar) with another card and gift for tomorrow.  We had a little chat and caught up with the news.  We have many mutual friends who are presently retiring or downsizing or just moving within the area and spent some time catching up with the progress of each of them.  We also established that we are not moving for the foreseeable future and neither is he!

At nine o’clock we had time to relax but it has been a full on day with mixed emotions.  The same colleagues who had showered me with gifts and best wishes had been so different with the new lady.  Puzzling!

I am glad I will be off work now until Tuesday (I am allowed to have Monday off in lieu of my birthday day).  I am hoping everything will have settled down a bit by then and that I will still have a replacement.

Thank you to all the comments from my blogging friends who are offering me such good advice and keeping me sane at the moment – I am so grateful and taking it all on board.

Welcome to new follower Dar (from An Exacting Life) one of my favourite blogs – if you want to read about a book review – this is the site!

Take care  x

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dEAr diary ~ just pondering on life

Sometimes you have days where you feel ‘off’ for no particular reason that you can put your finger on – today was one of them.

Perhaps it is the hot weather – this sticky and uncomfortable state making me feel constantly headachy and lethargic or maybe it is being in this place of temporary suspension waiting for the ending of one chapter but not able to begin the next.

My replacement started at work yesterday and there is a lot to show her so it is quite exhausting – but she is very nice and had I been staying on I am sure we would have got along just fine.

I am also aware that coming up soon on the calendar are a few ‘memorable’ dates – each one of them evidence that life speeds ahead whether or not you are enjoying it, doing what you want to do or otherwise.

  • July 19th – my 64th birthday – yikes really?

  • July 30th – my eldest daughters 2nd wedding anniversary – already?
  • July 31st – our 42nd wedding anniversary and the day I leave my job

  • August 1st – Little L (my granddaughter’s) 4th birthday – growing up fast now.

  • August 16th – this would have been my mum and dad’s 70th wedding anniversary if dad had still been alive but we will still mark the occasion with my mum in some way.

A lot of celebrations, maybe commiseration, a lot of memories, a lot of years and it does leave you wondering where did all that time go – have we become what we wanted or hoped to be?

As I am about to venture into this unknown territory soon of being job less (through choice) am I going to cope but more worrying am I going to fulfil all those things I once dreamed of doing.  If I have things still left to do then I need to get on with them quickly as I have more life behind me now than in front.

I have been so busy recently that I have not given much thought to what I will do,  less so to the financial implications of living on one state pension and our savings until I can claim my own in 2 years’ time.

Already our time is being booked out to helping:- decorating for our elder daughter, child minding our granddaughter for our younger daughter during the summer holidays and also granny minding for my mum whilst my sister is away.  We have also booked the man to come to sort out the rendering of the upper part of our house.

Looks like it will be September then before we can draw breath!  This doesn’t sound like a ‘retirement’ to me.

 

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dEAr diary ~ reappraisal…the next steps

As you might have realised by the sudden gap in transmission we are now back home in Yorkshire and I am back at work.

Back at work wondering why on earth I didn’t put my final day to leave work as June 30th when I handed in my notice – so now I am stuck with 31st July (I gave them two months notice) and to be honest this was a mistake.  The break from work for our two-week holiday has meant it has been so hard to return to fulfil these remaining days of which I have now only 7 to go (not that I am counting), but it suddenly seems an eternity.

It is a bit scary leaving but now I just want to get it done.

Overwith.

Start my new life…whatever shape that will be.

Today is my first day off this week.  We arrived back quite late last Sunday, unloaded the car, watered our devastated and thirsty garden with endless watering cans of water (as we didn’t know if a hose pipe ban was in place) then fell into bed.

So now my home looks like it has had an attack of some kind with the contents of all the bags from our holiday dispersed around the rooms waiting for some action.  So my task for today will be to CLEAR IT ALL UP.

I have washing to sort, unpacking to finish, menus to plan and a shopping list to write.  I actually feel a bit disoriented and exhausted.  Maybe that is just age, maybe just me but somehow as they say my get up and go has got up and gone.

I have a new follower, Cathy from Still Waters – welcome Cathy.  I noticed her most recent post was about insomnia.  I can relate to this –  I did not sleep well the last three nights and it was not the heat but the pressures of work, or should I say the pressures of leaving work.  There is still much unrest in the office – speculation as to where the new directors are taking us, the new imposed restrictions, the never-ending meeting and setting targets to bring in more money.  It is all about more money – never about client satisfaction and care or even the employees satisfaction and care.  I can’t continue to work in that world.  So I won’t be.

Well I don’t wish to moan anymore I just have to sit out my last seven days over the next three weeks – my replacement starts on Monday – and then I can turn my focus to my new life.

What am I going to do with my new life?  It is a bit like having a blank page or the start of a new year.  I need a plan.

But that will be another post another day – I have to get moving on the tidying and shopping.

Quick update – whilst out shopping this afternoon I picked up a few things in Sainsbury’s – the rope coil basket was £6 and will be useful to keep our laptop chargers and cables in, the gardening gloves are reduced to £2.25 and are great for gardening – I had a pair recently at the cottage so I have bought 2 more.

Lastly, I got a copy of Mollie Makes – I hope it is the right edition –  No 94 as it should have the feature in of Gillian’s home from the blog ‘Tales from a happy house.’

Back soon x