The Simpler Life

Last night I watched a programme about a group of twenty four people who volunteered to live like the Amish for six months as an experiment to see how they would cope with a simpler life. By episode two, eight people had dropped out. I’m intrigued to see the rest of the series and it made me think about consumerism, integrity and screentime.

While my career is entirely based in consumerism and I love a bit of online shopping, I am onscreen for at least ten hours a day which is a problem. I’m thinking of trying a screen-free day once a week to see if I can detox.

It’s an interesting experiment which will be easier as we head into the summer versus the dark winter evenings.. It means no computer, laptop, phone or TV, let’s see if I can wean myself off!

The Covid Party

My invitation to join the Covid Party arrived after being lost in the post for the last two years. Perhaps I’d bragged too many times about dodging the Covid bullet or perhaps I’d gone to one too many post-Covid get-togethers including an all-staff meeting in the office sans masks where half the office tested positive in the days following. Either way, my invitation finally arrived as I tested positive and had my first taste of Covid 19 in 2022.

The first day I thought it was hayfever except I don’t get hayfever anymore so I assumed the supercold had returned. Then, due to go into the office, I stuck the old Q-tip up my nose and did a lateral flow test thinking it was nothing. After that, things happened very quickly. By Thursday afternoon I shut my laptop and decided I couldn’t go on.

Two days later, after a temperature, brain fog, exhaustion, coughing and sneezing, I felt almost normal. I’ll test again in a few days time to see if I can go into the office but I think I’m over the worst of it. It wasn’t that bad.

If I wasn’t vaccinated, would it have been worse? Hard to say but I wouldn’t fancy finding out!

Moving, not moving

So, the offer we made on the flat around the corner suddenly felt like a bad decision. The spare bedroom was referred to by Big T as The Cupboard, and we knew it would forever be its name, Our feet were very cold and we decided it wasn’t the right place for us. Coupled with a £5,000 non-refundable deposit from the seller to take it off the market, we decided to wait until our sale had progressed.

We then went back for a second look at a flat two doors down from us. Same building, same level, different floorplan. The price had been dropped significantly as the American buyers just wanted to sell and it seemed like an opportunity we couldn’t refuse and so we made an offer. So, if all goes through with our sale, we’ll move two doors down to number 84 where we’ll do the same thing all over again. A strange sense of deja vu except moving should be very easy!

To be fair, Number 84 is in much better condition and barely needs anything doing… just a new floor, new bathroom, possibly a new kitchen, new french doors and hopefully we’ll resist the temptation to rejig the floorplan by swapping the kitchen and master bedroom, that would be a very bad idea!

More to come on Property Chess!

Selling and buying… perhaps

Nothing’s a done deal in the buying and selling of property in the UK and that is the thing to remember. it’s not over until the keys change hands.

We have an offer on our flat which we’ve accepted. That’s all good but until the contracts are signed and exchanged, it can all fall through.

In the meantime we made an offer on a flat around the corner. Our offer hasn’t been accepted yet and now we’re not sure how we feel about things. We may have cold feet.

I’m a big believer in fate with these things. It’s not worth losing sleep over so we’ll wait to see what happens next…

Three weeks later

After what was a horrible cold followed by a sinus infection and general malaise, I’ve finally started to feel better. How bloody tedious and I don’t mean the feeling better part!

As it was the only cold I’ve had for two years, it certainly made up for it and I suspect my natural cold-fighting defences were down after two years of working from home. Anyway, onward and upward.

And just in time it would seem as there’s an onslaught of Americans in town (perhaps a new collective noun?!) and a big meeting with the top brass from a major fashion retailer to sell our wares for Spring/Summer 23.

Back to normal it would seem!