Happy Monday!

August has been busy. I had a birthday, a week off, lots of work, lots of allotment things to do and some house work, it was busy.

Despite that, it feels like there’s not a lot to talk about, Ma and I are (until this afternoon) at my brother’s with the nephews, while my brother and sister in law have been in Amsterdam celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary and enjoying a child and dog free weekend. We’ve made pizza, and blackberry jam and I’ve walked the dog a lot…

I love my nephews and the dog but I’m looking forward to being in my flat tonight, where I know where everything is and there is no background of boys bickering! Tomorrow, I’m off work for a haircut and some quality time on the plot. Then I’m back to work for the last three days of the week.

I can’t quite believe we’re going into September this week. Autumn comes around every year and every year I’m unhappy about it, if you didn’t already know this, I can refer you to my previous post, here. (For coping strategies go here and here.). One of the things that does help is preparing the flat and therefore myself for it, this year with the energy price cap rises and inflation at 10% things will look very different for a lot of people and for me prep for autumn has been more about the physical as well at mental preparation. I’ve done quite a bit of food preservation and some decluttering and tidying and I used the ‘cost of living bonus’ I got from work to buy a dehumidifier and heated airer to make drying washing easier and quicker in a colder house. (I’m very lucky!)

The real prep in September is going to be sorting out the kitchen in preparation for the new one being installed in October, assuming that with the cost of living that’s still happening. I need to talk to the landlord and work out if he can still afford it and if he can’t (which is fair enough) make a plan about what he can do, because the sink and the oven are not going to make it through another winter!

Ma and I will start to tidy up the plot and start thinking about the winter work list. Then it’s the family birthday season (both nephews, Ben and Ma) and Christmas! It feels like five minutes ago that I was sowing tomato seeds, where did the year go?