Man flu

 Oh my goodness I've been ropey this week. Full on man flu. It was just a cold, but probably the heaviest cold I've ever had. I ended up having two days off work - I honestly can't remember the last time I had two full days off sick. One day yes, but two is unheard of for me.

Anyway, I'm over the worst of it now - it's just a normal cold, runny nose and croaky voice.

Something very exciting is happening outside this week. When we moved into our house the people that had lived here did loads of stuff to sell it. We really wish they hadn't as we don't like any of the stuff that they did, but we've had to live with it. One of the worst things was the front garden. Here they had done loads of landscaping...... actually that's how we ended up here in the first place.

We found where we live by chance, we were house hunting up the road when I decided it wasn't the right area for me. On the way to our next viewing we got lost and drove down the road to find somewhere to turn around. When we arrived in the area I now live in I said to husband 'this is where I want to live'.

Only problem is that it's a really expensive area and our funds were limited. We went to see loads of houses most of them were extraordinary. As there are lots of hills here many gardens had strange things like waterfalls (not in a good way) and one house even had a really creepy shed in the back garden with a sasha doll in a 4 poster bed inside (yes really).

Then online we saw a house that said it had a multi-landscaped garden. As we were looking at a house down the road we decided to fit that house in as well as we wanted to see what extraordinary things were in the garden - a gnome ski slope perhaps. Anyway, we discovered a house built into a hill with lots of rooms and many layers to the garden. The house itself was extremely ugly, but apart from that it gave us all we needed. So we bought it!

At the front of the house - the start of the hill - they had built a sort of stepped wooden mixture of decking and beds and a huge amount of bamboo. It's been a nightmare ever since we moved in. Every year I have to creosote the woodwork, but still it's become rotten. The bamboo has taken over and the whole thing started to look like a junk yard about 5 years ago. It took us ages to decide what we wanted to do - by which time it had gone so far beyond it's best a junk yard would have been offended to be compared to it.

So this week the builders moved in. They've ripped out all of the wood, the bamboo has been dug out. We're getting a new patio and it's all coming together. 

At some point soon 10 bushes (like the ones in the picture - they're they only thing I'm keeping) are turning up and we'll use them as a fence.

I simply can't wait until its finished. I honestly don't care what it looks like because nothing can be as bad as what we have at the moment.

Though I really could have done without it being this week. Yesterday as I lay on the sofa feeling sorry for myself I had to get out of my pajamas and into growed up clothes as they were constantly knocking on the door and asking me questions. I couldn't even get my brain to work.

Petrol crisis now seems to be over - which is good because friend was able to come over on Saturday again with her son. We were also one of the lucky ones as locally there is a bin strike. They're back for one week before striking again and on day one they came and emptied our bins. Husband drove through local town last night and said that it's horrific in the centre with rubbish piled on rubbish and bits and bobs all over the streets.

So one way or another - even though I was ill things have worked out quite well for us just now. Though COVID rates are zooming up again. Government are currently pretending it's not happening. I bet we end up locked down again just before Christmas. I have to admit it's getting harder and harder to be careful, I think everybody is getting a bit rebellious. I had to cancel my flu jab this week because of my cold. The next one I could get was in December. So fingers crossed.

I suspect I'll get a call up for my flu booster soonish, but as I was one of the last to get the jab I don't think I'm due until December/January at the earliest.

Watch this space.