A quieter time

 After last week's full calendar things have all got a lot quieter.

I started work again. All very doable after months of working such long hours. The whole team is nearly in place now and it's amazing to be able to delegate to others rather than doing about 5 jobs at the same time.

That said, swings and roundabouts, there were certain activities done by the new team that left me aghast. So I'm going to have to work hard with them for a few months until things are ticking along without worry. That said they are an incredibly talented group of people and so it shouldn't take long.

On Saturday I took the dog down to the seafront nice and early to continue her training. Overall she's an extremely well behaved dog, except for one thing. She barks A LOT. Not a yappy dog or anything, mainly when somebody comes to the front door. But the bit I'm trying to resolve immediately is when it comes to her ball.

You throw a ball, she gets it, brings it back and drops it (which is why more than our last dog achieved). As soon as she drops it she barks incessantly until it's thrown again. This would be ok once, but she loves having the ball thrown - so times this by about 30 and it starts to make your ears bleed. I can only imagine how annoying it is for others as well.

So this is what I'm working on at the moment, I'm beginning to win, but it's not going to happen overnight. Once I've cracked that barking I'll concentrate on the barking when people come into our house. One thing at a time will be easier for all of us.

After the dog training I whizzed into the butcher to get some bits and bobs and then we came home.

Next activity was to go out onto the roof! We've got a leak. All it's done recently is rain and rain and we have definite signs of a leak in the room at the front of the house. So I went out onto the roof and cut back a tree that overhangs the room. After brushing back dead leaves I found a tile had cracked in half.

I'm not sure if it's after the storm that wiped out loads of roofs (is that the correct plural?) down our road a few months ago. Anyway, for now I have repaired the crack with some polyfiller. Hopefully this will stop further damage from happening and give us a chance to get somebody over to take a proper look at the roof and replace the tile.

Though knowing our luck it will not be that easy - I bet we end up having to get a new roof. I have no idea where that money will come from. If only we'd spotted it after the storm. I'm really not sure how to go about this. Doubtless I'll share when I learn more.

The rest of the day was spent cooking for the weekend. A friend came over in the evening and then my parents came over on the Sunday. 

After this I felt really rough - and still do now, not COVID I did a test. I'm doing work today, but I'm going to have to see how it goes.

Apart from the roof there are two other things having over me right now. I've booked flights to Rome in August. When we booked I the company we booked through insisted son was booked as an adult as he is over 12. Then when I went through to airline to put in the advance passenger information they wouldn't accept the information because they said son was a minor.

I tried ringing and was on the phone for about 2 hours. Then the person I spoke to was no help whatsoever. I know I have to give this another go, but I literally can't cope with telephones when you have to hang on. I mean it's not that I don't like it - I would say I'm almost phobic about it. I can't stand the hold music - it sends me into a spin and I'd rather jump off a roof than actually sit there listening to it.

I know this sounds overly dramatic - but it's the only way I can explain how it makes me feel. It's really hanging over me. In fact I'd rather not go to Italy and throw all that money away than make that phone call - I mean that seriously!

Other thing I'm worried about is whether dog is pregnant. She had her first heat and we had no signs, so the first I knew about it was when a dog jumped her when we were out. I managed to separate them quickly. I then duly walked her away from other dogs for 3 weeks, but when 3 weeks was up I took her out and another dog jumped her. I don't know if she was still on heat.

I now watch her every day with panic. She's far too young to have puppies, she only had her first birthday about 3 weeks ago. I'd feel terribly guilty. Though I did try to do everything you should.

So anxiety levels are a bit high at the moment, I'm trying to not over react about any of these things - but don't think I'm doing a very good job of it. It doesn't help that all of my family just roll their eyes and say not to worry - in their brains that's job done and all that needs to be said. However, it just means I end up suffering in silence because I know they don't share my concerns. So ultimately it's not helpful at all.

So that's me for this week. Nothing exciting, but plenty of moaning and neurosis - I'd say that was business as usual.