Dodging the showers

Today started well - with proof, if proof be needed, that Daisy has been well trained.  I woke up, and went to the bathroom, at 6:30am.  Being light outside, Daisy started to jump round in the kitchen and cry with excitement.  I pushed my luck and went back to bed - and Daisy stopped crying - she now knows to wait!

One of the jobs scheduled for today was to ring Prudential - I have my teachers pension, which I am keeping, but also took out a small "top up" pension.  Doing the sums it would be better to pay off the mortgage with this sum rather than drawing down a small amount every month.  If you believe the hype then anyone over 55 can draw their pension down as a lump sum (as one of a number of alternatives) and the newspapers are full of people "wasting" this lump sum on flash cars etc.  How difficult could this process be?  Not very is the answer - but incredibly drawn out - no doubt to make sure that each decision is reached properly.  I had a ten minute scripted conversation which would be followed up with a letter which should reach me within 3 weeks.  After that I have to phone again and start the next stage!!  I guess that it's a good job I am not desperate for the money!

Whilst sat at the desk, the news mentioned that all dogs now have to be microchipped - no problems, I thought, both Millie and Daisy have been done.  Oops - I have never registered Daisy's microchip so they couldn't contact me if she ever escaped.  So that was the next job to cover - fortunately it was an online registration.

We had been forecast some strange weather - one minute showers, one minute lovely sunshine - so I took advantage of some sunshine to cut the dead raspberry canes of last year and tie in the new shoots.  I really loved picking my own last year and there certainly seems to be a lot of new growth. Whilst I was out there I took a look at the light bulbs in the Victoria plum tree.  These bulbs are supposed to be solar lights but have produced no light since they have been up for the last few days.  Silly me - there was a switch inside to turn on!






By now it was time for coffee and a sit down - a new sewing book had arrived - well, not strictly new since it was published in 2011 but new to me.  Its by Anni Downs - the designer of the Christmas quilt that I am doing - and there just could be another wall hanging for next year!





Oops - the sun was now out so it was back outside for some weeding and to mow the lawn.  By now Millie had taken the line of least resistance and gone to sleep in the conservatory. It seemed like a sensible thing to do!

Tonight it's slimming world and I've been around 80% on plan - hoping for a weight loss!