2019 -a busy and productive start to the new year

Well for me anyway - can't say the same for Suki who has perfected the art of finding the best places for sleeping all day!

Mike was out ringing all day on New Year's Day, so I had a nice quiet day to myself to get things done.  As usual I made lots of resolutions, goals and targets for myself - with three different apps by which to measure it all (although one had already been uninstalled by the end of the month)!  Was quite pleased by the end of the first week to have eaten more vegetables!  I got the accounts for the Middx S&W off to the Treasurer, and finally got the Numbers Club accounts off although spent a long time agonising over them because yet again I couldn't make them match the bank account funds exactly - but then they didn't match when they were handed over to me!

It seemed a long month - but I achieved a lot and was full of motivation to get everything sorted and cleared ready for a new start.  I did all the scanning and shredding, including a whole folder of old Barclays bank statements 2010-2014 (a tick for the month against that new year resolution!).  In addition to the above accounts I also prepared the Barnes Bellringers accounts, and finely tuned my Household Ledger database for 2019 with a slimmed down list of categories and some useful reports  plus a quicker and easier process for entering the transactions.  Very satisfying. I got WinRk up to date too and even made progress on the Snow Wolf cross stitch, which I have now removed from the frame making it very much easier to handle.

But the biggest achievement of all was to finally get the documents off to the Land Registry to get the house in Bovey changed over into our names - having procrastinated about doing this for a whole year!

I started going regularly to the classes at the gym again and even managed to lose a couple of pounds by the end of the month 👍😊, while a manicure and pedicure got my hands and feet in good shape to start 2019 and a visit to the dentist and hygienist did the same for my teeth.

Went for a couple of walks with Maryanne, the first on 5th Jan - both of us finding we were free at short notice.  It was quite a grey day and very cold but it was an excellent walk - really enjoyable.  The pub was good too - Le De Spencers Arms in Downley - clearly friendly towards walkers and dogs.

6.1 miles.  2:42 hrs.  742 ft of ascent

There was another excellent walk on 22 Jan, this time including Kath, starting from the Stag and Huntsman at Hambledon.  There weren't any long steep ascents or descents and the walking was varied and enjoyable.  I had a lovely rump steak ciabatta for lunch afterwards in the pub.  It was a very cold day but bright - however once I got home it snowed quite heavily on and off and even settled in Amersham.

7.11 miles  3.10 hrs   440 ft of ascent

I was a bit miffed when I got an email with the handbell schedule for Guys on 7 Jan which stated that the first handbell peal attempt of the year had already happened!  I had thought I was part of the main band but now it seems I am just one of the ringers on the general rota - although this means I will not have to drag myself up to Guys so often which is a plus.  It was somewhat pleasing therefore to score three peals anyway this month - Lincolnshire Royal with Steve's Friday morning band, Yorkshire Major with the Southwark band (Simon's first of surprise) and a  good one of Rutland at Guys with James, Caroline and Mike (Mike's first in method in hand).

Ollie got his own phone and we started exchanging messages via WhatsApp - mostly goodnight and good morning!  It was very nice to be in touch with him like that as I don't get to see him very much. Poor Aidan was in and out of hospital all month - he had some planned tests at the beginning of the month and later had croup and flu.

It was Bethany's birthday on 6th - Amanda sent some photos of her party.  The costume is apparently that of a ladybug!

It was Lorraine's birthday on 21st.  She came back to UK on 14th to work for 3 months, staying with Carolyn, prior to her holiday to Paraguay at the end of March.  I got her US dollars for her birthday.

I went to Devon for a week - see separate post - and came back in time to go to the Youth Club reunion at the Duke of Kent in Ealing on 19th.  Pam was staying overnight with us and arrived about 6 pm.We had a few nibbles first - she had brought some rather nice vegan cake with her.  We were split into two rooms at the pub - tables were adjoining it's just that there was a wall between them!  Mike and I got a space by the bar in one of them and stayed there but most of the others circulated so I got to chat to a nice mix of people and whilst the beginning of the evening seemed to drag a bit the last couple of hours flew by and I found myself leaving at well gone 11 pm which is most unlike me.  I had interesting long chats with both Peter Van der Wilt and Tim Jewers, and Moira was in our "group" for most of the evening so also talked to her a lot, and Sylvie came over for a catch up towards the end of the evening.

We got a new router!  Mike had spilt a tiny amount of tea on the old one while I was away and this had caused it to fail (thank goodness).  We had to wait over the weekend for the new one to arrive, but Mike had meantime acquired a Three mobile broadband dongle at low cost and this worked really well.  The new router is a great improvement on the old one, about which I have been complaining for a very long time, so that's a result!

Mike also got a new electric mattress, the old one having sprung a leak, and I was overjoyed to find that it was (a) smaller which meant I could change the bedding on it much more easily and (b) was almost totally silent!  It is very difficult to detect that it is on and working, and at last I can have peaceful night's sleep without the sounds of motor whirring and vibrating all night.

I met Muffie for a coffee on 29th and had supper with Caroline and Pru on 30th