crazy week...

My attempts at taking a daily photo have been severely hampered this week by silly long hours at work, plus all the stuff that goes with moving.  I think my hair is several shades greyer and if I have to listen to another lousy rendition of a classic tune down the phone, between being told that 'we are experiencing a high volume of calls' its just possible I might spontaneously combust! 

However, my intention was to try to capture moments of my day to day life as a pictorial record, warts and all, so to speak... So, forgive the lousy photography, the best I could manage was phone snaps that I think will serve as a memory prompt for me.

Tuesday was the longest day at work - this is the time of year when sickness seems to hit the hardest and I have a pretty small team, with a limited amount of flexibility in terms of being able to shift days so sometimes my plans for the working day have to go on hold. I have had to try to catch up on paperwork and management stuff at the end of the day which meant Tuesday I got in about 7.30am and finally remembered about taking a photo at 11.45pm. I felt like I had spent pretty much all day looking at this...

and wondering where on earth the day was running away to! I did attempt a bit of late night crochet to try to switch my head off - bad idea, can you spot the mistake?

These are meant to be rows of little 'V's and I didn't notice this naughty singleton until I got right to the end of the row. Much muttering and 'bothering' ensued...

Wednesday saw us descending into an even greater degree of chaos. The packing has had to begin. This lot is just some of my books! I don't quite know what I'm going to do with everything in the new house but I expect I'll find a place for it all eventually.

The other minor irritation is that I have some stuff here and some in storage, and some duplicates from my previous house so rather than move everything, I am having to get rid of some things first. Which means we now have no table and chairs. Hence the deck chair. Thanks heavens for Freecycle and Gumtree but blimey, I will be glad to get back to some kind of normality!

Which was why I was so glad to open this letter on Thursday...

No going back now. I've signed on the dotted line and committed myself to another 19 years of mortgage... Gulp, looks like I'll be wearing that watch for a good bit longer yet! But I will have my place, my bricks and mortar (or in my case brick, flint and timber!) and my bolt hole.

Friday saw another long day and my unwinding routine this time was a cuppa and a book, less room for error here! And I am enjoying this novel - not too taxing and enough pace to keep me interested. 

My kindle is lurking at the back of the bedside table. I do love the portability of it - great for the train and holidays, but I love a proper paper book more if I'm honest. I love the feel and smell of a book (if that doesn't sound too weird!) - somehow I feel a bit more immersed in the whole experience.  I've been debating about Audible - audio books; I have friends who swear by them and I can see the attraction of having someone tell me a story while I drive or knit or crochet... But whether I would truly feel like I'm reading? It would have to be unabridged versions I think - I don't want someone else to choose what bits I skim over!

Today, has been mostly packing and trying to sort changes of address, utilities, insurance... all that kind of essential but mundane stuff. Hence the several hours in the call queues! So by late afternoon I was going a bit crazy with all the muddle and needed to get out. We took a wander across the city, via the charity shop (how can I still have stuff to get rid of?!!), took a sneaky peek past our new home and then back via a lovely cosy little bar. This place used to be a bicycle shop (I was bought a bike from here for my 16th birthday! Many moons ago...) and is a bit quirky and I love it. It is mainly lit by candles, has a fab mix of old crockery and brass candlesticks, mismatched chairs and a lovely friendly feel. 

We were only going in for a quick coffee, but then this was rather calling my name...

I figured I'd earned it this week. Though a large glass may have been a little unwise on an empty stomach!

We were sitting under the very large plant that occupies the front of the cafe and makes it feel a bit as though you are under a tree. I couldn't help a sneaky snap of the funky lighting. The bicycle wheel spokes throw great shadows...

Under the tables are games, should you want them. Who can resist scrabble? 

Though a Spanish set of letters gave us some challenges! You might spot we were a little creative in our interpretation of the pieces, not sure my Spanish is up to word games!!

Final push this week, this time next week we will almost be moved in!

Sx