Assorted Treats

I am struggling to enjoy coffee anymore, so apart from my morning cuppa to wake up with as I read the news, I don't really drink it. I found a nice and also cheap soft drink from Cheap German Supermarket and I'm having that instead when I get the afternoon yawns. That'll be my goal for new year, to switch over onto just soft drink, somewhere in January.

Speaking of work I hit 49 hours last week (not for the first time). To the point where Nice Boss was worried about me and attempted to cut my last shift short. But I felt fine, so I stayed, knowing I need to stash the pennies while I can. Today I've had a relaxing do-nothing day - housework can wait. My car is currently in with the mechanic and it took me two hours to get home last night, after that 11-hour shift that I'd thought would be fine, well after negotiating icy pavements in the dark I was very ready to hit the sack, and I slept pretty late. I did treat myself to a bath today though. Imagine that, a world where baths are expensive and only for a special treat.

And speaking of the car, when I dropped it off I expected only to need the exhaust repaired, but the lovely mechanic is worried about my clutch. And he's right, because when I did the maths, the car has indeed started showing signs of clutch slip, that is, the bite point is almost at the top of the pedal release and the revs are sometimes rising in high gear for no reason. I am incredibly fortunate that it's so subtle and he noticed right as it went in for its MOT. I am really and truly hoping he can sort it out just by adjusting the cable. But if not, it's going to be New Clutch Time in the new year, an expense I wasn't really hoping for. All in all though, this hasn't been an expensive car, that clutch has lasted 120,000 miles (which is incredible) and of a car that age I think it's reasonable to expect a £300 repair bill every year or so.

Spendy McSpenderson: I finally caved and bought myself Strange Horticulture on sale, and I've been playing in the evenings as my wind-down after work. I highly recommend it, as do nearly all the other people who've played it. You don't even need to particularly like plants. It's just the kind of nice mystery game that you can play in short bursts and you don't need to be a scholar to understand it, and you don't need mad-shooting-skillz, and you don't need a fancy computer to run it.