Frustrations!

I decided to concentrate on the cinema admin today and arranged a meeting with one of the staff from our support hub to go through how to input the films again. I asked if I could record the meeting, so I had it for reference later, but I still struggled, especially with resizing the film stills that had to be uploaded to our website. In my old job, our marketing manager did this, and I have had no training on this aspect at all!

It was extremely frustrating, and I hated that I didn't know what I was doing. I've had no training on Teams either, which I loathe - seeing myself on the screen is a form of torture - and the young man who I had the meeting with must have thought I was a complete idiot as he sent me stuff via the portal, which I then couldn't find. I went through exactly what he told me to do with resizing the images on Adobe Express, but it wouldn't work. I even enlisted the help of two of our younger staff, but they were perplexed as well!

I had a long, hard think about this job on the drive home; I gave up my old position in which I knew how to do almost everything, to go through the ordeal of not having a clue most of the time what I'm doing, and having nobody with me to help. Dan is off sick still, and will be for the next month at least, so I don't have him as a sounding board.

Back at home, I relaxed on the sofa with Sophie, who had a headache and then fell asleep. We left Keith to cook dinner tonight and afterwards went upstairs to watch episode six of The Little Drummer Girl. It was riveting!

A frantic day!

I have had a frantic day doing the payroll, made worse by the fact that one of the centres was late bringing their timesheets to me. I sat in splendid isolation all day, which made me miss my old colleagues! I closed the door for most of the day, though, so I could concentrate!

It has been warm for October today, but this is set to change midweek. I will have to bring out the winter boots, which is not an enticing thought! Oh, how we moaned about the heat in the summer! That's a distant memory now, and the fierce temperatures of France, when it was an ordeal to walk short distances, seem unbelievable!

It was great to leave at 4:00pm and head home. Keith hadn't charged up Celine after he got back from Tesco, so the car switched over to hybrid for the last few miles. Even so, the petrol gauge didn't change!

Keith and I played cards this evening while Sophie read for a while and then prepared dinner, the meal we should have had on Saturday night!

Disappointing dishes...

Sophie's friend, Becky, came over this morning and did a 5k run with her. They walked into the village, ran along the single-track road towards Mawsley, and then returned to the pub for lunch.

Keith and I were going to look at shower enclosures and tiles for the en-suite, but we postponed until next Wednesday. I pootled about doing laundry and housework before going to Tesco, and then to see my Mum in the afternoon. It was not the most cheerful of visits, unfortunately, and she shed a few tears while I was there.

Back home, Sophie had returned and made us a cup of tea. We sat and chatted about her run and lunch, and I tackled yet more laundry! I was just glad I could get it out on the line, but I fear these days will soon be over as it's set to get wetter and windier next week. Autumn has arrived!

Sophie and I played Scrabble in the early evening, and after Sophie had beaten me (what a surprise!) I prepared a lacklustre dinner of leftover Chinese takeaway and a chicken chow mein ready meal that Keith had bought in Tesco. We knew that Sophie wouldn't be eating with us this evening, so I had asked him to get a Tesco Finest meal to enjoy, but he came back with the chow mein meal, an uninspiring pasta dish and a fish pie of all things. Yuk! He maintained there was no choice, but I saw plenty of options while I was in Tesco today! Neither of us enjoyed the meal this evening, even though I had padded it out with some Chinese spring rolls and prawn toasts. I think we will leave off the Chinese takeaway for a while!

After eating, we watched two more episodes of The Little Drummer Girl, and I couldn't remember any of it from when we watched it back in 2018!

Getting things done!

We were due to see Sharon, Sophie's old boss, today about buying a property in France, but sadly she had to cancel because of a family bereavement. We were able, therefore, to tick off some jobs on our lists, and we had a few! These included changing the car for our trip to France in a couple of weeks, and we were hoping there wouldn't be an additional charge.

After a coffee, I changed bedding and coloured my hair, while Sophie put some unwanted clothes on eBay. I also sorted out items to send to Vintage Cash Cow. It was surprising how much we had to send off and everything had been languishing in drawers and cupboards for ages, just gathering dust. All proceeds will go towards some treats! 

It was a beautiful day outside, so we managed to get some laundry on the line and used our new tumble dryer as well, which dried the towels and the bedding very well. Just before Keith was due to go and see Sileby, Sophie made us a cup of tea, and we sent poor Keith off to the village shop for some chocolate! He grumbled about going but felt it wasn't a good idea to stand in the way of two women who crave chocolate!

We also chose three Airbnbs for our holiday to France next September, and one was in the village of Meursault, which produces beautiful creamy Chardonnay wines. Sophie and I have decided to return to the lovely house in Sablet that we visited in 2024 for ten days, and we're hoping the weather will still be warm when we go!

Sophie poured us both a Negroni in the early evening, and the bottle was so beautiful I couldn't bring myself to put it in the recycling bin, so I kept it. It will provide the inspiration for my colour scheme in the en-suite shower room and may take pride of place in there!

Keith suggested a Chinese takeaway tonight, rather than chicken wraps, so we ordered the set meal for three again as we'd enjoyed it last time.  It took us ages to settle on something to watch after dinner, and in the end we settled on The Little Drummer Girl again. We had watched episode one a while ago, so we rewatched it and then the next. It was a real treat seeing the gorgeous Alexander Skarsgård in the drama!

Hooray! It's Friday!

I closed my office door this morning and worked on the payroll, but I still had people coming in and out. It's mainly because we have the photocopier in the office, and people need to get to it at all times. This Friday has flown by as I've been so busy, and it was 4:00pm before I knew it and the start of the weekend! Hooray!

Keith went to the pub to have a drink with John, while Sophie and I decided to watch a film called Cold Creek Manor starring Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone. It was a bit silly and quite predictable, but I enjoyed it nonetheless, and  it was interesting to see a very young Kristen Stewart (of Twilight fame) appearing as the young daughter.

Sophie and I couldn't find a wine we liked this evening, so we gave up on a Chenin Blanc and tried a Viognier instead. We found both a bit tart and acidic. Maybe it's time to concentrate on reds now that it's Autumn!

Here's a belated pic of Celine, nose to nose with Olive:

Getting to know you!

I drove to work on my own today, and felt a little nervous. We had charged up Celine last night, and it only took a couple of hours, as her battery is not as big as Olive's. However, I was delighted to discover that my entire journey was all electric, so I didn't use any petrol at all! 

I gave my order to Amanda for our Greggs breakfast and spoke with her about my manager, Dan, who is off ill at the moment. He had complained of a bad headache on Monday, so maybe it was connected.

I had a busy day, and Kally came in to see me so we could go over a few things. It's the start of the month, so the payroll run is looming, but I have decided to spend all day on it tomorrow. I made sure I checked every folder this morning!

When I arrived home, I put Celine on charge again and was hoping that, with my journeys to work and back, I would be able to run on electric only, thereby saving on petrol! Let's hope so!

A new addition to the family!

We took Sophie to work this morning in the usual heavy traffic, which was worse on the way home because of problems on the A45.

We just had time to get showered and then drive to Corby for our 11:00am appointment with Cinch. I had booked a slot to have a look at the Citroen and arrange a test drive, and we were shown to a comfortable seating area to wait for someone to show us the car. We had already seen it in the car park, and it was a lot bigger than I had expected!  

Just as we went out to have a proper look at the car, it began to rain! We sat inside, and I asked the man, who was known as JP, if he could drive, as I was a bit nervous about taking it out and driving! He agreed, and we went for a short drive towards Corby. It felt beautiful and smooth and seemed to be very responsive when he put his foot down! We explained about driving to France frequently, and I joked about buying a French car so I would please the French drivers! He showed me how the controls worked and explained the hybrid engine and how it switched from petrol to electric.

Back at the Cinch office, we sat down, went through all the paperwork and paid for the car. We then booked a slot to pick it up after we'd arranged the tax and insurance. JP said there was a café nearby, so we set off and found a large Tesco supermarket with a café. 

By now, we were both ready for lunch and had to order on large screens! It was all very high-tech! The wifi signal kept dropping while we were sitting in the café, so after eating and buying something for my lunch on Thursday, we sat in Olive, and I managed to contact my insurance company, pay a small amount to change the car, and then pay for a year's road tax.

The earlier rain had passed, and it was a glorious day. We had a call from JP at about 1:00 pm, and we went back to pick it up, which was a very easy process. When I got in, I realised that it was both empty of petrol and had no charge, so we had to call at the fuel station next door to fill it up with petrol. 

We set off for home, and Keith followed me in Olive. It was beautiful to drive, but I was a little concerned that at a higher speed, I could feel a slight vibration on the steering wheel, almost as if the tyres weren't aligned properly. I told Keith and said he would need to drive it today so he was familiar with it when he popped to Tesco.

We put Celine (as she is now known) on charge for a short while, before we went to see my Mum. I explained to her that I didn't have a lot of time to be with her today, as we were running short of time! The day was speeding past!

Once I said goodbye to Mum, Keith took Celine for a spin along the A14 and drove faster than I had on the way home, but said he couldn't detect any vibration at all. Perhaps it was the road surface? Anyway, I was hugely relieved as I am in love with the car and very pleased with it!

We had about half an hour at home before it was time to collect Sophie, and we took Celine, despite the heavy traffic. She was delighted to see us and came out with Becky and Grace, who admired Celine as well!

I was well and truly glad to get home and relax!