Happy Monday!

Many moons ago, in fact when I was still in my twenties! Christelle and would talk about ‘having the mojo’. This was a perfect state when your hair was perfect, all your favourite clothes were clean, you when out on a Saturday and pulled! A flow state if you will. Last week for me was the opposite of that. Ladies and gentlemen, I was mojo-less. Please bear that in mind for this week’s miscellany…

• I started the week post migraine but with a headache that wouldn’t quit. A six and a half day headache, with some interesting vision issues (like wearing old glasses with a prescription slightly out of alignment). I worked through that but it didn’t help my mood any.

• On Thursday, I had a delivery of plants scheduled to be delivered from Dyfi. It’s happened before and they leave them in the porch, which is always fine and I was home Thursday night. I got an email, ‘we tried to deliver’. Ok, reschedule for Friday, when I will be home, delay my walk to make sure I’m in, receive another ‘we tried to deliver’ email. I was home. I tried to contact customer service and get stuck in a loop, but no actual person or phone number to call. I download the Royal Mail app and set preferences to ‘leave in the porch’. They tried to deliver on Saturday and again this morning when I was in but there was no knock on the door. Still haven’t left it in the porch. I’m at the point where it’s just out of my hands, I’ve gone through anger and into resignation. I can’t speak to a person and when I’m in, they say I’m not. On either day they could have left it in the porch like I asked. Now I’m not home not until Thursday night, the weather is back in the 30’s again next week and those plants are dead.
• I had ordered something for Ma from M&S and went to pick it up last weekend they couldn’t find it. Ok, I explained I can’t check again until Friday, that’s fine they tell me. You know what’s coming, don’t you? I went in on Friday, they’ve sent it back. This is part of an ongoing issue I’m having with them, as they still haven’t refunded me for the sandwiches I ordered that weren’t there at pick up. The systems are in place but staff seem not to know what the hell the systems are.
• If you want to understand why people are so angry with government and life in general, it’s this. It’s the enshitification of life and services. It’s a hosepipe ban when leaks aren’t fixed and Thames water is polluting rivers and giving bonuses while putting bills up. It’s spending three hours trying to get a parcel delivered and getting 12 emails and them still not doing what you need. It’s trying to navigate a care system that seems only concerned with not spending money and to hell with actual care or quality of life. It’s the trains not working but costing a fortune. It’s worrying about the cost of groceries or childcare while being told there’s no money for pay rises, but the boss did get a pay rise and so did MP’s, it’s working and working but never getting anywhere and society’s implicit condemnation because you can’t afford to buy a house and you can’t get social housing. It’s having too much money for benefits but not enough to be comfortable or feel safe. That constant pressure has to go somewhere.
• Work one is the usual July nightmare, a big change that requires changing the reporting. No one’s quite sure about what’s going where and the reporting is due first week of August, when I’m only in three days. Can we keep and adjust the week after? Nope. So I’m going into this week, knowing i need to chuck out everything I had planned and focus on that, so it’s ready for next week.
• If you’ve read this far, the week wasn’t entirely terrible. I bought new sandals, that fit and don’t rub. I have big feet and they are wide but it does feel like shoes are getting smaller. My first pair of Tevas were size eight, this year the size nine’s don’t fit. Same with Birkenstock’s I’ve got from a usual eight to a wide nine and these sandals are from Hotter, size nine extra wide but the new trainer from them are a wide eight and fit fine. I’m very confused!

• Other good things were a walk with Sue, which helped calm my nervous system and the first batch of mincemeat using some of the bramley apples that Jo ‘gifted’ my last week

• The best thing was Christelle coming over on Sunday and slaving away at the plot with me. I’m so incredibly grateful. We got so much done. I may not have had the mojo this week but I’m grateful for my friends that do!

I hope I have a better week and you do too or at least a week you can fight to a draw!