Title Semantics

I couldn't decide whether I actually went swimming, when mostly I just stood waist-height in the water and then dunked under a couple of times. So... being 26°C, I "went to the beach". I had fully intended on being a bit more active than merely walking down and getting wet, but despite having eaten lunch before I went, I felt too wobbly to be much use. Even still, it was lovely to be down there and I'm glad I went.

I collected some shells which no doubt will sit around, useless for eternity 😁

There were vague ideas of planting out my hanging baskets, but did I? No. I opted for a rather long nap instead.

Back to work tomorrow (and I am told that my upcoming ridiculously-long warehouse shift is likely to be corrected shortly... I wait with baited breath).

This Week's Top Comments

1. Customer: Do I want a bag? No, I've got dozens of them in the back of my car. The place where plastic bags go to die.

2. Customer1 (while the sun is in full scorch mode and the day is looking glorious): It's so lovely outside. What time do you finish, love? Me: 6pm. Customer: Oh, the weather is awful outside. Customer2: It's raining. Customer3: It's terribly cold and windy. Customer2: I wish I'd brought my coat.

3. (Customer's daughter chats happily to me during the transaction, then runs off and presses the "sad face" reaction smiley at the store exit.) Mother: Why did you press the sad face? Kid: Because I miss my friends from school. Mother: It's been a day and a half. Me: What did I do wrong? Now my boss is going to ask me what I did wrong to make you sad! Mother: Oh no, you'll get her in trouble! Go, quick, and press a happy face before she gets in trouble! (Kid pelts full-speed to go and fix her feedback while the mother and I laugh.)

4. Customer: I only came in for one thing! Oh, I bet everyone says that. Me: And then they tell me they've left their bags in the car. Customer: I really did leave my bags in the car! (Pauses...) You just have so many things that I think, ooh, I need one of those. Me: Imagine working here! Customer: I'd have no wages. And I didn't even get the thing I came in for. Me: Bingo! (She managed all five of our top-heard comments in one transaction.)

5. The "ping" system for opening new tills was broken, and we no longer heard the "PING, We'll be opening till three in a moment, till number three will be opening shortly" over the PA system. I resort to using the headset, which only staff can hear: Ashton, could you open till 3 please? Ashton: You didn't ping me: Me: The pinger is broken. Ashton: Say "ping" then. Me: What? It's broken. Ashton: Say "ping". Me: PING, Ashton could you jump on 3? Ashton: PING I'll be opening till number three shortly.

6. Elderly lady, who has already bought her neighbour's few things, and is now ready to pay for her own small bag: Now, be gentle with me when you tell me MY total. Me: That's four hundred and seventy-eight pounds twenty, please. Lady: laughs uproariously and says she's going to use that when she knocks on her neighbour's door in a few hours.

7. Customer acts like an absolute dick while his quiet & polite friend was shopping and I can see he's "one of those" who needs the whole shop to hear him talk. His first item comes up as "unknown". Customer: Oh, it must be free, then. Hahahaha! Me: Haha. (I grab a £2 pack of cans with a torn box.) Customer: Can I get this half price? Me: The contents are fine, so we can't do that sorry. Customer: Well how about a better price? Me: Eight pounds. Customer: What? Me: It's a better price for me! Customer: How much for your phone number? Me: Eight hundred pounds. Customer's friend: (hysterical laughter at full volume)

Win Some, Lose Some

My new future schedule got published and I am only working three days that week! Which is fantastic. Unfortunately it happens via an 11-hour day which starts as warehouse work. I don't honestly think I can cope with that kind of long day, so if it doesn't magically change by tomorrow I will have to beg Nice Boss to undo that mammoth shift for me.

Poppet has started and impressed everyone, as I knew she would. She doesn't quite believe me, but that's to be expected!

I am still excited by having a washer/dryer, and have behaved accordingly, filling my washing baskets with clean clothes and running the dryer for items that really would have been fine to dry on the rack. Yes, I'm a wasteful child. I have also ignored the piles of boxes that I really should have sorted first. Sort of. I emptied five of them and sorted another five, that's a start, right?

Idiot property manager, DilEmma, has revised her demand and added a few hundred and made it due by next month. She has not, so far, explained how she arrived at this (incorrect) amount. I have sent her another email politely advising that she's a moron she is mistaken, and inviting her to do what she legally is supposed to do, that is, give me the dang paperwork. Particularly, you cannot start a years' accounts with a balance carried forward of £0 if you have not done the previous year's accounts. You simply do not KNOW the balance carried forward until the previous year is done.

In my travels I also discovered that one of the itemised charges was supposed to be a credit. She even named it "Credit" but then, inexplicably, debited it. To every flat, in the same way. Sigh.

I am contemplating a new blog tag of "idiocy".

Excited Face x2

I finally got the transfer offer I've been waiting for, and it's a money transfer, woot. I shall whack it straight onto my loan. This will save me almost £400 off my main loan. I will also pay an extra £600 off the balance over the period, merely by keeping up with the regular payment on the credit card.

Also, my main bank's credit card has a low rate (as I think I've noted) so instead of paying that bill, I will put the cash onto my loan. That one is a less obvious winner but will still save me interest.

All of these are Good Things™.

Another one: despite setbacks (like having to defeat the door seal spring, and then remove the door, and the cover, and then the door lock via shaving it with a Stanley knife, and then the stupid new mechanism not 100% fitting and requiring me to franken-screw it into place) I have successfully changed the door catch mechanism on my washer. Honestly, I am kind of surprised that I managed it. But it's currently swirling about with some bleachy water inside so... win.

Spendy McSpenderson: need photos and to pay for a passport application this week. Ouch.

Saddy McSadface

Entire air show was cancelled for Sunday. Even though the sun came out over us, it wasn't sunny at the place the planes were taking off from, so it just wasn't safe. Booo. But it did make me wonder about other air shows and there are lots, so perhaps I'll go see a different one. And take the whole weekend off ready for it.

Happy face: This. Remember that bingo game I was playing? Well, it's about to ka-ching. Woot.

I am currently playing an island game and also a farming game. Hopefully another couple of ka-chings (assuming I complete enough levels in time). My referral link for joining Inbox Pounds: click here.

Right now I am busy cutting more logs and collecting tomatoes so that I can start the dinner in game 😁

I Went To Spend

...and I didn't really manage to spend much. I had a voucher to use worth £100, so I went to Big Supermarket. Being me, I forgot to look at the total AND missed getting the receipt. But I think there's still more than half of it for another time.

I came home with SO much food. Four boxes worth, with lots of fresh produce, because it's way past time that I sorted out my eating habits. I even managed to prep a bunch of salads last night (go me!) but of course, still being me, I'm sitting here mentally grumbling about how I'd much rather just eat a pizza.

I have made myself a large flask of strawberry tea and am eating my prepared chicken curry with cous cous. Added more curry powder and it tastes much better. I'm behaving. For now. The weather looks disgusting, and that sucks, because it's the Airshow today and tomorrow. It's allegedly happening with a modified display today, so please cross your fingers that tomorrow I get to see my beloved planes.

The Backflip

A large amount of crazy going on today - I blame the Platty Jubes. Today when the store got quiet, I got screamed at because I had a red till light and said I was closed, but 30 seconds later I was open and green. I think I might have caused Angry Lady an extra 10 seconds out of her life, but she screamed in my face about she was disabled and YOU SAID YOU WERE CLOSED.

The reason I was closed was too long and technical a story to bother with here, or to explain to Angry. But because she was shouting, I did try. I simply hadn't wanted her to be stuck waiting in my queue.

And then the man behind her (I'll call him Pissy Man) lost patience and tried to push her bag aside in the packing area. And she WENT. OFF. THE DEEP END. She was yelling not to ever, ever dare touch someone else's things. I wondered if Angry actually might start slapping Pissy. Staff began running towards the commotion. Then she followed me and began to apologise for overreacting. Fortunately, Pissy Man then made a getaway himself.

Is this the twilight zone? Anyway, I apologised again, explained again that the refunds can often take a long time, that I hadn't wanted her to be stuck waiting, and then she started repeating that she was disabled and in a lot of pain that day, and so I told her that I hoped tomorrow was a better day for her and that she and I were ok. As she left, staff started asking why she was screaming so loud... I say there aren't enough painkillers for that level of nasty.

Within ten minutes we could hear the manager on the phone to her. I waited as poor Star gave out the feedback website address and tried over and over again to get her off the phone. And then Star says over the headset that Angry had called to compliment the way I handled things. Knock me down with a feather. I was waiting to be told it was a complaint.

Still not thrilled with myself, especially since I'd called her a bitch (to Star) as soon as she left.

And how was your day?

Not Applying.

A combination of still not managing to reliably even complete a one-hour brisk walk and the fact that I've since heard that yeah, Blondie already has the job sewn up. Not sad, it's a relief that I don't have to decide.

Master Chef: today I made chicken curry with cous cous. It was... edible. Disappointingly, I have three more days of "enjoying" the same food for dinner 😁

The washing machine part has arrived but I'm trying to arrange my flat properly before I play Lego with the washer.

This week I watched The Power Of The Dog (Kirsten Dunst, Benedict Cumberbatch) because a bunch of review sites rated it the best film of 2021. My mini review is - it's got a twist like The Sixth Sense crossed with a hint of Brokeback Mountain. Although it's really very clever, I didn't understand the ending properly until I read the wiki article about it. So I had a combination of "wow" and being slightly annoyed that I hadn't grasped things fully. Essentially there are tiny clues which if you miss them, you won't get the ending completely. Suffice to say it's worth watching, as long as you remember that the boy is not as naïve as he looks.

The Progress So Far:

Bed reassembled and very comfy, tyvm. I have missed it so much. Been years since I slept on a big, proper, firm bed, and starfished to take up as much room as I want. Pleased. Predictably, I kept waking up last night, confused. Yawned my way through work today...

Several crates sorted; several emptied. Wardrobe now in correct position. I'm becoming more aware of how mismatched my furniture is, and it's pretty dang ugly. Some of it I'll reinvent with a coat of paint at some point in future. I had been hoping to just get rid of my metal shelves, but I might have to put them back into use - somewhere. Oh, and this morning I spied two folding white chairs and a small side table, on my way to work. They're pretty grubby (and I already own two blue metal ones) so whichever ones end up looking better will stay, and the other two I'll put in the backyard.

Poppet (from Small Supermarket) has successfully interviewed at my new work and is starting in just over a week. Yay! I have given her some trousers and a shirt (way too small for me) in the "correct colours" for her first week, until the official uniform arrives. Hopefully they'll fit and she won't need to waste the money.

Spendy McSpenderson: a breakfast muffin from McDonalds.

Sad Laundry Times

I knew I shouldn't have gotten so excited over the washer. It did exactly one load. This morning the clothes weren't quite dry so I decided to restart the dryer... but no. The door light is beeping and flashing and it just won't start. I've spent plenty of time resetting it, reading troubleshooting, watching videos... seems like the door sensor is just cactus and thinks I haven't shut it. Won't wash, won't dry, won't dance. Soooo new door sensor ordered on eBay (£6) and I figure that is worth a go. Let's see if I do as good a job as I did with my new car key fob...

My last two attempts at the Couch to 5k have been a fail. Muscles and joints just immediately yelled at me. As a compromise I walked, with the incline setting turned on. It's something. It's frustrating!

Unh: Dilemma has sent a "payment demand" for my yearly building maintenance expenses for 2022-2023. It's bloody expensive (basically the same price as the agent we had in 2019 which everyone was desperate to get away from) and because it is so expensive I looked over it to see how long I had to pay. Not to worry, it contains a statement that it will be considered late if not paid by March 2023. I have decided I'll pay it in time. I will probably pay it in February 2023 😂

In the meantime I have asked her where my £1,000 contribution is that I paid already, where 2021-2022's accounting is, how can the balance carried forward be zero when the previous year's accounting hasn't been done, and how she intends to pay this year's bills with no money. She has not yet responded. While I was busy typing, Owner #2A called me, furious with the similar idiotic bill he had also received. He's going to ask her why the plumbing hasn't been sorted out after several weeks, and that he hopes she hasn't paid that bill since they didn't do anything. You wish you had popcorn.

Owner #8 is currently hacking down the vegetation swamping our shared backyard, under the glaring eye of tenant #2B who thinks it's his private yard. This is gleeful. More popcorn!

Oh and Dilemma says the fire alarm test will be carried out shortly, so I say, the fire evacuation notice you put up is wrong. And she says: What notice, we have never visited. Lovely...

OMIGOD You Idiot

This key is not cut.
It'd be just as effective.

Look at me, Mrs Smart MoneySaver, buying a new plastic keyfob for her car on eBay for £4 instead of getting a Peugeot one for a billion trillion bucks. Swap casing over, put the circuit board tidily in the new fob, test the lock, central locking is working perfectly, pat self on the back and grope own arse. I'm so good at this "saving money" thing.

Jump in car the next day to go meet Mr Removalist... car will not start. Turns over but no go.

The poor RAC man spent ages dismantling all the fuses, spent forever testing everything he could think of, and finally diagnosed it to learn that yes, the immobiliser was the problem. While we were making arrangements to get it towed to a mechanic, I finally asked if the plastic key cover would cause this.

Yes, I'm a moron, a tiny black immobiliser code chip the size of a tic tac was in the bit of broken plastic in the bin, and as soon as he waved the broken bit of plastic near the ignition, Pugsley turned over and purred into life.

#howtosavemoney - figure out that you're a moron BEFORE getting your car towed. Thankfully he was kind enough to declare that we had both learned something, because even though he had been a locksmith before, he hadn't thought to ask me to grab my spare key (which would have started the car just fine). It is very lucky that I'm not now facing a very expensive repair for nothing. #dodgedabullet

Happy Happy Thing - my washer is installed and currently running a short wash to give it a clean. I am SO INCREDIBLY EXCITED about having a washer again for the first time in two-and-a-half years. I plan to Wash All The Things™.

Angels Drive Removal Vans

So Angel Man, whom I've used before, texted me three hours early to say he was free if I wanted to get started? Brilliant. Except then my car just would not start. This lovely man then drove all the way to pick me up, took me back to the storage, where two more angels were there to get it all packed up, then they even stopped for me to visit the cashpoint, and once they had brought it all into my flat he even assembled some of it (despite me telling him not to worry). After nearly three hours of mucking about he still only asked for £120! For the three of them, including the diesel for two trucks.

I gave him £140 and three cans of Coke. And I got an hour of chatting to someone as interested in property as me, which was a huge surprise but really nice.

Everybody wins. Also, we agreed that we really need a block of land to plonk a dozen shipping containers onto so that we can store stuff for people and get insanely rich. Or, buy the block of 30 garages for sale right now nearby and sell them off and get rich off other people that way. There really aren't very many people who think like we do 😁

But anyway. My flat is now a giant game of "dodge the PILES OF STUFF" since it's all just strewn about randomly. This ain't anyone's fault but mine. I had had vague ideas that today I'd empty ten boxes into my wardrobe, but this will have to wait until I've at least made it walkable. But hey, it's my flat and my stuff and if I want to take a month to rearrange my PILES OF STUFF then I can. 👉

Now to drink the last can of Coke and wait for the road service people to come and figure out why my car won't start...

Bargain Food! What?

So Rose-Boss offered the remaining reductions to us at 10p each. GET IN! I do enjoy a BLT after going to the gym 😂 (kill me now). I even got my staff discount on that lot, and Ninja laughed at my hefty 27p purchase.

Speaking of Rose-Boss (the lady who first chatted to me at the job centre) I found out that after our first chat she went straight to our store manager, and said, "We're having her. You need to hire her. I don't care. I want her." 😍 But this week she declared in front of several of the other cashiers... "Because she's got management experience in a supermarket and Rusty-Boss will be moving to Spain in September for his gap year." 😕

Er what? I can only imagine what they thought of that, but no, this idea/plan had not been discussed with me. Since the day I started, till is the ONLY thing I do. Talking me up in front of hard-working more-experienced colleagues is a recipe for awkwardness. While I'm on a roll, I got nominated for a staff award by management, which made Grumpy Smurf really bloody furious about not getting nominated. Dude, if you'd take the lemon out of your mouth and stop hating everything on this planet, you would find that people actually think you do a great job.

I am in a weird Twilight Zone in regards to Rusty's role. Sister Store has a trainee named Blondie who has told me he thinks he'll be transferring into the role. Fait Accompli. But now the application deadline has been extended by another month, which suggests "not enough applicants" or that they haven't found a good match. I hate that I'm even considering this. It's 40h a week on your feet. It's also really good pay. Urgh. Pondering that shitty trick of applying even if I don't plan to accept. Vaguely wondering if Rose was trying to hint at me. Paranoia.

I have emailed HR to ask if this company ever does job-sharing.

Spendy McSpenderson: £12 on a new pair of jeans (my current ones, which I wear to work, are wearing out in the crotch, in the way that jeans infuriatingly do). I have also booked the removalist to empty my storage tomorrow, so that will cost me, plus some Coke which I plan to give him as a thanks, since it will be warm tomorrow!

Winning: Ran at the gym again. 6x 1-minute runs. I'll get there eventually...

Lovely, Lovely

So I keep my eyes peeled for new 0% interest offers on my various credit cards, to refinance my existing balances. I feel like I should defend myself here - these are not credit card debt I just didn't repay! - these were to save myself interest on my main, painful loan. Anyway.

Nationwide has offered me 9.9% with no transfer fee. Insert shock here. It's not what I would call low, but it's less than my actual LOAN with them. The most bizarre part is that I tried extending my actual loan and was rejected. So they won't allow me to borrow at 11.5% but they will allow me to "borrow" at 9.9.

Banks be crazy. Like Zopa, who cheerfully informed me that my borrowing power was so much improved that they would kindly offer me a personal loan at 33%. 😱 I mean, I know I'm doing a good job at chipping away at those debts, but you're too kind, Zopa, too kind.

I did some quick maths and since I have bought my flat 16 months ago, the total cost has been somewhere around £57.000. I still owe just under £27,000. Although I did come into this with savings, by my best estimate I've still paid off £19,000 since buying. I am really quite shocked and also insanely proud of those amounts. I think I have proven to myself that I can focus on financial priorities. Self-pat on the back for me, but the marathon isn't finished yet, there is still work to be done. I won't reach that kind of level from here on - I'm not paying much more than minimums on everything. Still, I am going forwards and not backwards.

While I would have liked to flip within two years, it isn't realistic in my current health and financial situation, not to mention, it's taking time to get this building sorted out. So I will be patient and aim to upsize to a bigger flat around 2025. It would be even nicer if I have paid this one off at that point - but I can't predict the future!

Yesterday: 5x 1-minute runs in my "walk". Although it really took it out of me, I am almost ready to try the Couch to 5k again. I am hopeful.

Regrouping

In what I consider completely annoying, The Allies™ have given up trying to change agents, at least for now. As one said to me, the morons aren't going to commit to either a decision or a change, so we might as well push the current one, Dilemma, to actually do some work.

No idea who this is.
But he's awesome.

A very simple proposed budget has appeared and while nobody has actually asked if we all approve of the budget itself, it has been suggested we all pay for the year up-front, to avoid cash-flow issues in the event of any unexpected bills. This is because nobody collected a reserve fund last year and there is currently nothing on hand to pay ongoing expenses (we do not know if/how Dilemma has been paying things like water bills, insurance, etc). I am not pleased about the all-up-front idea given that I would have to borrow the money to do that, so I'm adopting the tactic that others use.

I am just making no response at all.

If anyone complains, I'll just point out that people ignored me when I've tried to sort things out. And they've ignored requests to pay things. So.... shrug. Whatever. I'll consider paying something (maybe) if/when it's done correctly and in accordance with both the law and with my lease. Perhaps.

I still have a voucher to spend at Big Supermarket and I am weighing up whether to go out there soon...

As Expected

Our "Manager", who I will call (Dill)Emma, has lived up to her expectations. On reporting a leak requiring an urgent plumber to attend, she took three days, and then ignored what we requested the plumber to do. The plumber attended, stood there saying it's inaccessible, stood there a bit longer while an owner and a tenant pulled the wall apart so he could access it... then he stood there a bit longer, said yeah too old to even touch (what?), then went home and promptly forwarded a bill for doing nothing.

I am taking the attitude that because Dilemma has never sent us any accounts, budget or demand for a maintenance fund, she is not having a penny from me for the plumber. I'll tell her I'm happy to contribute once I have a full understanding of who hasn't paid their share and who is in credit.

I have a great guy lined up to replace her but at this point we only have 4 out of 9 votes, with two silent and three having a moan that they aren't sure and let's allow Dilemma do her job. You would think that the water leak would help them see she isn't actually doing her job...

Even Ice-T is incredulous.

She finally sent "our accounts" and quite frankly it is beyond embarrassing, it's incompetent. It's essentially a polite Word document with a tidy row of zeroes all dated November last year, plus an email message that nobody owes anything. THAT AIN'T ACCOUNTS, DILEMMA. ACCOUNTS SHOW STUFF LIKE WE PAID £247 FOR THE ELECTRIC BILL, JOE IN NUMBER 7 SENT £987 FOR HIS YEARLY CONTRIBUTION, EVERYONE NEEDS TO PAY £1,025 FOR THE COMING YEAR, AND WE'VE CURRENTLY GOT £3,384 LEFT IN OUR KITTY.

There's a bloody irritating lack of anger (or even any reaction) from the three morons who want to stay with Dilemma and won't switch over to the very-competent new guy that we found...

Just Do Your Job

Yet again our block manager is just, well, not managing anything much at all. We asked for our basic yearly accounts and she ignored us, three times. Finally she lets us know the great news, she's going to get (one of our leaseholders, who OWES US MONEY) to do the books for free to save us some money!

WHAT. The Hell. No. Giving our private accounts to a third party... and it's someone who owes us money? Do we really think we'd get the accounting done honestly here... I'm sure that "his" outstanding large bills would miraculously be quite cheap once he had reviewed the accounts.

We politely told her "hell no" and she responded that we might need to pay a specialist accountant. There's nothing "special" about our books, they just aren't done, and what's more, this is included specifically in her fee. In writing. Why she thinks she doesn't need to do them is anyone's guess.

Currently pursuing other companies willing to take over our management, and one looks good, so, touch wood.

Because great things happen all at once there's a leak upstairs near the brand new skylight, from a weird water tank in a ceiling cupboard. Which nobody understands. We're now discussing whether to ask the "manager" to deal with it in the morning, or just accept that she's rubbish and get it sorted ourselves...

How To Get A Sunday Off Work

> be me
> sign yourself up for a ton of hours/days
> have a Big Boss who suddenly desperately needs help on a Friday evening and asks you to work a longer day than you had planned
> agree to do it if he takes you off the 6am Sunday shift
> profit?

Technically, I did profit, because I gained an hour of work, avoided an extra car trip, and can enjoy a day at home (priceless). I also win because the 6am Sunday shift would have entirely consisted of unloading stock, a task I won't in future need to do at all (because Good Boss) and now I don't have to do it even once. Win.

AND! It turned out that I was working late because Star had to do his Office Stuff™ and he can't be in the building alone and Star is cool and good company. It doesn't really feel like working when you're just doing general tidying of the store and chatting, so no complaints there.

Walked an hour in the gym tonight. Felt pretty shaky by 45min in but managed to stick it out and wobble myself to the hour mark. Felt a lot better after my shower though.

Currently enjoying enduring a chicken hot pot microwave dinner and a yummy glass of orange-passionfruit drink. 

It Was Lush.

The lasagne. I resisted having seconds and dutifully portioned it up into dinners. Am proud.

I have finished two of the games for cash and now have a new one which is American-style Bingo... it's supposed to be an easy task for the cash, but it is annoying me as I have to concentrate 😂 First-world problems eh?

What I've learned from this (or rather been reminded) is that people, on the whole, are mostly good, or if not, mostly decent. Remember back in the dark ages when we used to have Facebook feeds chock-full of Dennis from primary school asking everyone in his friend list for 7 more garden forks so that he could build the next level of his chicken coop in Farmville? Those days are gone - Farmville is gone - but today, I "friended" about 15 complete strangers inside this Bingo game and almost all of them responded by sending me items which I needed in order to level up. Completely unasked. It was a nice retro throwback to a time when a bunch of pixels was a central part of our collective self-worth.

About to start seven days in a row working (such is life) and I'm beginning this streak with a mammoth shopping trip, in which I fully intend to buy gardening stuff and will probably forget and come home without it.

Is This Real Life?

ON THIS DAY I actually had to ask a lady to "stop" letting her dog piss on my car. Stop, as in, I finally caught the dog in the act. She offered to wash it off at least, but she clearly never pays any attention to what the dog is doing when it walks away from her and goes directly over to my car. How is a car park the dog's toilet in the first place? Sigh. I don't even know who she is. Someone from upstairs? I give up.

I tried going to the gym yesterday but within minutes my muscles just yelled at me. Sigh again. Home we go. It's tiresome, this whole "listening to your body" thing, and most inconvenient. It is a direct consequence of trying to run two days before that, and entirely my own fault.

I am currently annoyed at having money (what), Sainsbury's had a double-up promotion for points and I swapped for a £40 gift card, but I now have less than a week to use it. My house is full of food and I have a ton of bathroom and laundry essentials already. And it can't be used for fuel. I suppose I can buy some salad and fruit, but I'll still have another £30 to use somewhere 😂 Maybe I'll wander into their garden section...

I forgot: The small heater I ordered, arrived broken. The seller didn't seem to understand what "the electric control panel is not connected to the rest of it" quite meant and proposed repairing it. I politely said that for safety, I'd rather have a new one. They said they'd get back to me on whether that was ok (what?) and when they didn't respond, I just asked for a refund (which was miraculously agreed). I still have the heater and I don't quite know if they want it or what I'll do with it...

Good: Good Boss has given me a 20-hour contract and says he'll take me off the stock-unloading shifts 😀💪😀💗🙌👍🙌🙏😀