Pacing myself so as not to do too much on any one day and then spend the next two or three completely exhausted is working fairly well but it does mean I do not always get as much done as I would like, although on the upside I am tearing through the big "To Be Read" pile at a fantastic pace!
This week I am meant to be in Scotland. It was all carefully planned with a ferry crossing identified, campsites earmarked, and backup campsites if the first choices were not available. And nothing was booked - I had decided to leave it until 72 hours before my planned departure so I had a reasonable idea of what the weather was going to be doing. Rather glad that despite spending hours making plans I had the courage to pull out and say "not this week, thank you" after seeing a forecast for wind, rain, thunderstorms, followed by more wind and rain.
Instead, I declared I was having a 'holiday at home'. Which began yesterday with a small win and a small fail:
I decided to visit the National Trust place in town (Wordsworth’s house) and arrived to find it closed due to lack of volunteers. I shall try again later this week, a fail but only a small one. I did get to wander around the garden for a little while.
With a spare couple of hours I had a long session with the chaps at our tyre/battery place and have ordered a new leisure battery for the Blue Bus. Due to space limitations and the type of battery required it has been hard to find a replacement. Whilst it should not need changing at just over a year old I suspect it has not been well looked after previously. At the weekend I fitted a monitor to it and have proved what I already “knew” which was that it doesn’t hold a charge properly.
Very wise to postpone your planned trip to Scotland with the weather forecast being as bad as it is. Hopefully the National Trust house will be open when you visit again later this week. I hope the new battery for your van will be with you soon and the weather picks up again. It seems to rain overnight here but the daytime temperatures remain warm and dry.
ReplyDeleteThank you m'dear. Battery should be fitted before the end of the week. You are right about the weather, despite heavy rain again last night it is already surprisingly warm and muggy. Which is encouraging the grass to grow like Topsy - but too wet to cut.
DeleteSometimes these little gains seem a bit understated at the time but in the long run turn out to be rather important. I agree with your delaying of your adventure, we've done similar and turned out to be the right decision. Sending love and waggy wuffs🐾❤️
ReplyDeleteYou are right, my sweet. Social media is so focussed on all the "BIG" things that it's far too easy to gloss over the small minutiae which cumulatively make a big difference. Perhaps this winter, as we sail through somewhat uncharted territory, more people might begin to remember the value of these smaller moments.
DeleteHope you are feeling stronger today - but don't overdo it!
Definitely agree with you there - social media does skew things to the 'BIG', but now more than ever, small is so so important - many collective small triumphs are so needed right now. Definitely on the mend just very very waffy/wobbly still, but hoping that will soon pass xx
DeleteIt's a shame you've postponed your trip to Scotland but better to put it off for now and visit when the weather's behaving better. I often think we neglect the places of interest on our own doorsteps in favour of going further afield so well done on making the effort even though you didn't manage to get over the threshold, still, it's somewhere to go another day. Enjoy the rest of your holiday at home.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jo, I went back this morning :-)
DeleteIt is far too easy living with the Lake District on my doorstep to think "oh yeah, I'll go there next month" and it never happens. I am trying to make an effort to rectify that (and it does mean I can stay comfortably at home if the weather does not co-operate!)
Scotland does seem to have had rather a lot of 'weather' this year! We've just had a very sharp shower, following a cracking thunderstorm yesterday - the front lawn, what's left of it after it mostly died off altogether, not liking the prolonged baking, is now showing green bits amongst all the dead patches. The gardens of the NT place look nice.
ReplyDeleteI think everywhere has had "weather" this year Sooze! Now you see why somewhere in Southern Europe holds such appeal - I would ~love~ to go to bed and know with absolute certainty that I could pull on shorts & a T shirt the following day.
DeleteI went to take a look at that very same house yesterday :)
ReplyDeleteA wise decision to postpone your trip. Better to enjoy it in fine weather if you can. Xx
Obviously you were a few hours ahead of me because you got in! They ended up closing at 1.00pm due to lack of staff. I hope you both enjoyed your visit.
DeleteNo, disappointingly, I missed out as well. However, the chip shop further along provided suitable compensation. Xx
DeleteWhat a blasted shame about the weather, Jayne. Like you, I'm a sunlover and you did the right thing by postponing your trip until the weather improves.
ReplyDeleteWordsworth's garden is gorgeous, I wish ours looked like that.
I should know all about leisure batteries after years of campervan ownership and Jon constantly banging on about them but I don't. Hope yours is all sorted now. xxx
It was the right call Vix - later the same day the Met Office reckoned 4" of rain would dump in 24 hours in the area I was heading for . . . and then they added thunderstorms and high winds because a deluge clearly wasn't enough.
Delete