A Financial Boost

 

Image from Google

I was surprised and pleased to find that the local council have paid me for my Election duties on 4th May.  The money was in my bank account by Saturday.  I was not so pleased, however, that tax of over £50 has been deducted despite not having enough income to be liable to pay any tax at all.  I have tried many times to contact Inland Revenue to get a tax code issued prior to payment, to no avail.  On one occasion I held on for 50 minutes only to be cut off before anyone actually answered 😡  Now I have to try to get a refund.  I finally got through to the IR only to be told by a young woman that I have to wait until the end of the year to be refunded; that's the TAX year ie 5th April 2024 !!  I sincerely hope not! This is particularly galling as I worked for the IR as Tax Officer for several years and it used to be so easy to issue refunds of this kind.  My thinking cap is firmly on.....

Stay safe everyone x

How Much Food Can £3.39 Buy Me?

For the first time in absolutely ages, I was able to book a Too Good To Go bag for collection yesterday.   Morrisons is the closest store but, despite bagging a bag so to speak, they cancel most of the time which can be very frustrating.  When I saw that the Morrisons Local store, which has only recently opened near the village, was offering a bag I snapped it up.  This is what I got.....

In date order there was:

21st May

* 2 sweetcorn cobs

*A pot of tuna and sweetcorn sandwich filling

*Raspberries (marked at £1)

22nd May

*A pot of pineapple

*Bagged salad

* Thick sliced bread

23rd May

* Cadburys choc trifles

28th May

400g sliced cooked ham

10th June 👍

* Creme fraiche

plus 4 large oranges, undated, marked at £1

I totted it up from the website to a total of £15.35 at normal prices so, all in all, a bargain for £3.39

The ham was 'reformed' ham, which I wouldn't normally buy, and 400g was far too much for G to get through, so I gave it to a neighbour for her dog.  We ate the raspberries with a scoop of ice cream for tea, the pineapple pieces went on our breakfast cereal this morning and the bread is in the freezer.  Nothing will be wasted.

The staff were very friendly and helpful so I will definitely grab a bag from there again 👍

The weather at the weekend was lovely.  Saturday saw me at our daughter's house for a catch up and a barbecue tea.  G was at work over the whole weekend until 6pm so I could relax and enjoy the Grandchildren's news regarding exams and such.  On Sunday I did a bit of eBay listing, washing and chilling 😎  It's beautifully sunny again today so G has gone to the allotment to put some more veg plants in and I'll join him later once I've pegged out some more washing in the sunshine....

I hope your weekend was good too. Have a lovely day everyone. Thanks for popping in and stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x

How My Garden Grows!

 Growth is definitely putting on a spurt now.  The Amelanchier has grown considerably since last year, although the blossom only lasted a short time, the wind and rain saw to that, but the tulips and summer snowdrops have been lovely (a bit battered now) and the foxgloves are coming along nicely.  I'm hoping to encourage many more insects to the garden this year.....

 

We have bought a Magnolia ( Susan) which we didn't expect to flower this year but we now have two lovely blossom(s?).....

The tomato plants are doing well.  They will be off to the allotment later in the year as we have no room here for them......

My lettuces are fattening up nicely and will be hung on the fence soon .......

I have always fancied a fig tree but they are so expensive.  When G saw one at B & Q he snapped it up for me.  It's a dwarf fig which will, hopefully, do well against the sunny garage wall in it's pot. It might or might not produce figs at some point, we'll have to wait and see......

How is your garden doing?  Any new fruit trees this year?

Thanks for popping in.  Do stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x

Election Duty & Frugal Doings

My new herb pot!

It was election day in the UK on Thursday and I was lucky enough to be employed for the day as Poll Clerk in my local area.  I was a bit nervous, to be honest, as it was a very long day from 6.30am to 10.30pm with no meal breaks and certainly no leaving the building until the end and it's been quite a few years since I worked for a living!

Actually, it wasn't so bad.  I was concerned that people would forget their ID or argue the toss about having to produce it for the first time, but 99% of the electors produced it without fuss or comment and were really very nice to deal with.  The hardest part was staying in one place for so long.  I had to get up and walk around a bit sometimes, tidying the polling booths, checking the pencils etc and had to eat my food standing up , but I managed.  It was not nice having no hot food all day though.  I took with me 2 soft rolls with (lactose free) cheese ant tomato , a slice of quiche, a banana, a yogurt and a slice of lemon drizzle cake. Oh, and a pint of milk as there was a fridge.  The kitchen was a bit of a trek to reach but I managed to make 3 mugs of hot tea throughout the day to keep me warm. I litre of water was sipped throughout the day too as I could keep the bottle on the floor beside my chair. There were actually 5 polling stations at the same venue, which was a bit confusing, but it made for a bit of friendly banter during a lull in voting 😊  I have to say that I was really tired next day though  😌

Frugal doings over the week:

* The weather has been milder so we needed no heating on for most of the week, just maybe an hour in the evening.  It's not been on this morning either. 

* Washing has been dried on the airer in the house instead of in the tumble dryer

* I won a £5 voucher for completing online surveys, which was spent on an M & S pizza for Saturday night after the Coronation, so our tea cost just 75p

* I will be paid for my stint on Thursday, hopefully by the end of the month

Reasons to be thankful:

* I have had a photo on WhatsApp of my little Granddaughter in Sydney with her new pet Budgies 😊

* I have a new herb pot containing chives, thyme and parsley which are the herbs I will use the most (after mint which is too invasive to put in the same pot)

* The good fortune to earn a bit of money

* The sun is shining! 😎

Thanks for popping in and stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x

Colour and Tradition

 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with baby Charles

I don't know about you, but I thoroughly enjoyed the TV coverage of the Coronation of King Charles III on Saturday.  I put on the TV at 7.30am to watch the arrival of famous faces and hear the commentary.  I had to pop out on an errand but made sure I was back before 11am for the ceremony.  It was British tradition at it's best for me; all the colour, the music, the pomp, the troops, the golden coach..... 

I found it very emotional and sat toasting the King and Queen with my mini bottle of Prosecco and some nibbles.  It was truly history in the making and I'm so glad that the protesters were not allowed to spoil it.  There's a time and place for such protests and that wasn't one of them.

What did you do?

Tomorrow there will be a post about my experience of Election Day , so you can either earmark it to be read or skipped as you prefer! 😂😁

Have a lovely day everyone, the sun is coming out here at last.

Stay safe wherever in the world you happen to be x

A Beautiful May Morning

 Thank you so much for all the comments on my last post.  It seems that I'm not alone in getting emotional over music. 

It's a beautiful sunny and mild day, so hubby is pottering in the garden and I'm pottering around the house doing light dusting, opening windows and doors for a breath of fresh air.  I dare not do too much bending because tomorrow is election day in the UK and I don't want to risk hurting my back.  It will be a long day tomorrow but I'm looking forward to it.  It will be good to feel useful again!

Have a great day everyone and enjoy the Coronation weekend.  What have you got planned?

Thanks for popping in and stay safe wherever in the world you happen to live x