Strolled up the road this morning to get my paper. Back indoors and brew up the coffee. Sit and read and then decide to nip out and check the gardens. There are three of us doing most of the work on the garden (all women - the men supervise from the windows of their respective flats) and it was such a joy to be out in the sunshine and checking what plants have come through after our first planting last year. The formation of the Residents Association and the organising of the gardens has really pulled us all together and it is such a friendly place to live now. I have clumps of daffodils under my windows, two tubs of hyacinths blooming (oh the wonderful smell) and the crocuses coming through have been a joy.
We are making progress but it will be a few years yet before we have it sorted out and I can now feel the gardening bug taking hold of me as I scour catalogues and on-line websites planning a border, seeking out perennials to balance out the annual bedding plants which are such fun to do each year. Today I have ordered 40 white alyssum, 40 mixed alyssum (pinks and mauves), 40 blue lobelias and some bright yellow flowering plants, which name escapes me, and they will be delivered in a couple of weeks. My neighbour, Alison, and I will then have a planting binge.
The cleaning is now done by the residents saving us £1200 a year and, after liaising with the managing company, have managed to set a budget which knocks £3,000 off the annual service charge which equates to £28 a month less for each flat to pay. This means that my Sky subscription is already paid for so am rather pleased about that. End of the financial year coming up and I usually sit down and work out my budget so I know what is what. Now that I have on-line banking and on-line electricity supplier and on-line everything, there is no excuse for not knowing one's financial status. I remember I used to dread it when my bank statements dropped through the door but now I have my bank balance at my fingertips and can plan accordingly.
I said at the start of the year that I was going to keep records of my finances and this week had enough to splash out on new curtains for my living room which I have been wanting to do for ages. Nothing flash I can assure you - I got them from Dunelm Mill which is my new discovery. I had never been in there before until a month or so ago and it is a treasure house of bedding, curtains, lamps, cookshop etc etc and very very reasonably priced.
So a nice quiet day and I have also been doing some reading of magazines and have decided that over the weekend I am going to paint my bathroom lilac. I feel like a change...
Now off to watch Skating on Ice - The Final which is my intellectual programme of the week (joke) and then Titanic at 9 pm written by Julian Fellowes, he of Downton Abbey. The prog has already been nicknamed Drownton on Sea and am looking forward to it. Naturally, it is on the same time as Homeland on Channel 4 but now I have Sky (did I mention that by the way) I can record one on my digi box and one on Sky and watch another programme if I feel like it. Oh the wonders of modern technology.
In the midst of all this hi-tech though, nothing beats a good book and am reading the latest Camilla Lackberg more of which later.
