Christmas shopping

I have finally got the Christmas shopping finished. It took almost all day but it's all done now, just the food and drink to get and something for Macavity.

It is just as well since I have been invited to a lot of parties and meals out so it will be an expensive time, and I will have to be extra careful with the money.

One of the things I wanted to buy was a ticket for Tessa to come and visit in the spring but I can't afford so it has to wait to another time, maybe next autumn or Christmas?

On wednesday Carol and I are going shopping at IKEA during work time. Our boss, Debbie, asked us to go get some shelves for the new office which we are finally moving to on Friday. We are really looking forward to it even though it means to drive "the white pig" which is our old transit van. Carol is hoping that our colleague, John, will lend us his van but Debbie doesn't think there is much chance of that. we'll see.

Lists, etc

Because, I am "in between voids" at the moment, I have finally managed to make a start on the list of items that we already have ... and need for Christmas. There is still more to do to get it finalised.....but, I'm working on it.

"In between voids" means that I have just finished doing up an empty property and I am waiting for my next one to become empty on Thursday. Of course, there is still plenty to do but I'm not quite as busy as I am when I'm doing up a property to a time schedule. I found out that in a couple of weeks I am having a large terraced house in void.

It involves first to go in an do an inspection; assessing what can be kept and what needs clearing out. Then I get the van and get shut of everything that is no good and clean out the whole property. It is then handed over to different contractors for decorating, electrical inspection, gas inspection, new carpets or carpet cleaning. In the meantime I order all the new furniture and white goods and then I go shopping. Usually I buy new curtains, nets kitchen equipment, bedding, towels, etc. then I put it all together and make the flat or house look nice, ready for the new tenant.

The last few days the weather has been quite cold and frosty, but today the infamous British fog was back again. It was quite unpleasant to drive home (that is assuming that driving in Stoke on Trent is ever pleasant anyway) particularly tonight, after it got dark.

First Frost

This morning I woke up and the car windows were all frosted over. Temperature was -4 first thing but went up to -2 by the time I drove to work.

Surprisingly, the traffic was no worse than usual, however, there was an accident somewhere, because I did see an ambulance with "twos & blues".

At work those wooden walkways we have around the office were all covered, in what looked like hail, but according to my colleague Gary, it was just salt that the caretaker had put down to stop slipping.

All day remained quite chilly and it was only 4 degrees when I drove home, so I think we can expect another frost tonight. Winter has arrived early this year!

Here's a picture from last Christmas...

My first blog is open

Had a play about and found this site, maybe it is something i could use?

What can I say...it's been an ordinary day in an ordinary week. I finished my void at work but have another one coming in on Monday.

Chris is working over the weekend but I may do some Christmas shopping, we'll see.

The piccy is taken from a boat in a bay on the western coast off Tenerife. I love the colours of the sea and how clear the water was so that you could see the bottom even though it was deep enough to allow a big boat to get close.

Sorry, if i'm not making any sense...I'm just playing about.