Posts that Didn't Happen - August 2022

August brought me back to reality, in the form of a new job - something a bit different for me, haven't really 'done' sales before!  Mostly it's the customer service side though, rather than direct selling - working Monday to Wednesday, answering online enquiries etc.  

Anyway, they're a good bunch of people, the stock is often fascinating and the days swoosh by - plus it's putting a few more pounds in the bank (for now at least) 😊

Also got back from the Folk Festival to find that my crop of courgettes had (as ever) transformed into the annual crop of marrows . . . cue the usual round of recipe hunting . . .

Mid-month brought a family visit, coinciding with some more gloriously hot weather - although far too hot by the afternoons to do anything much.  

Visit over, travelled home via Powis Castle, and the backroads round by Nant-y-Moch reservoir, looking beautiful in the summer sunshine . . .

The rest of the month passed with work, some intermittent sunshine, cooking, jam making, a rather annoying car breakdown, and a little light pantry reorganisation.

Ended August with an evening walk up Consti  (first time this year for me, after months with a dodgy foot), watching the sunset over Cardigan Bay.

Posts that Didn't Happen - July 2022

Most of July was just getting on with life . . . a bit of gardening, keeping the veg plot, greenhouse and polytunnel in trim . . .  putting up pictures and a cabinet in the Folly . . . cleaning the kitchen floor . . . etc. etc.

It was marked by some glorious weather though . . .

. . . some a little too hot for comfort.  

Sat in the sunshine when it was bearable, and made the most of my leisure time (having had a job offer, which means that August will actually see me back in work - of which more in the next post!).

Ended the month with a few days away visiting family, ahead of a return to Cambridge Folk Festival - although did enter purdah the week before (being slightly paranoid that I'd catch covid and wouldn't be able to go).  

Had a lovely few days, relaxing with old friends, listening to music, and eating far too many of the best onion bhajis ever!

Posts that Didn't Happen - June 2022

 And we're into June (only six months behindhand!).

Started the month with more garden work, including the first full trim of the hedges, and clearing out some old raised beds, which 14 years on were finally rotting away (and infested with ground elder).

Early June also saw the return of CycleFest to Aberystwyth - and we had a wander along the prom taking in the sights, which included the Welsh Circuit Race Championship. 

On to a birthday trip to visit family via Ironbridge and Blists Hill Victorian Town - had a good wander round the recreated Victorian town (all really interesting), enjoyed a cream tea in the sunshine, before moving on to Ironbridge for the night.  

Another really scenic spot, a cider or two, rounding it all off with a curry :)

Back home after the family visit, and a relatively quiet rest of the month - keeping on top of the garden, sitting in the sun reading, etc. 

We also harvested the first cherry from that cherry tree we had planted out of its pot and into the front garden last year.  Hopefully there will be more to come (if we get to them before the birds!).

Finally, decided it was probably time to go back to some sort of work (hopefully part-time), so the job search has begun - something to help pay the winter oil bill!

Post that Didn't Happen - May 2022

And now it's May, and mostly a month of garden things.

Started the month with a couple of 'projects' - finally doing something with other bits of the old oil tank - making a rhubarb planter out of the other 'end', and using the structural bits through the middle as supports for pizza oven / barbecue table sections (freeing up the breeze blocks).

We'd also invested in a small polytunnel to replace the growing space in the storm-damaged greenhouse - much puzzling over instructions ensued, but we got there in the end, and got it into position in the former small veg plot.

It all nearly went pear-shaped, when after going out on one windy day I got back to find the entire polytunnel (cover on), sitting right side up (as if placed there) in the field next door! 

Between us we managed to wrestle it back over the hedge, and here it is planted up, and firmly attached to some heavy base boards!

Other gardening jobs included some light hedge trimming, weeding out flower beds and the main veg plot, greenhouse maintenance, and planting up (tomatoes in the greenhouse and polytunnel - courgettes and potatoes in the veg plot).

Along the way had an extended visit with family, to help out while they had a new floor fitted, sat in the sun reading on the bench, and (slightly spooked by rising prices) staring to look for something new (and part-time) in the way of work.

The Folly meanwhile got rearranged (more than once) - taking it from a bare space, to something almost fully kitted out, and full of 'stuff'!

. . . In With The New

To complete the story - as of Monday I am now a full-time Civil Servant. Was promptly shipped down to Cardiff for induction sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday. Found out a lot I didn't know about the Welsh Assembly Government (and how it is different from the National Assembly of Wales), and really enjoyed seeing inside the Senedd, a great eco-building, and a fantastic piece of architecture, particularly the way the Debating Chamber or Siambr is embedded in the mushroom stalk like feature.

Enjoyed Cardiff too - was booked in to the Big Sleep hotel (really good value, B&B for £50 a night), and got a free upgrade to the Executive Suite - I've never stayed in an Executive Suite before!

Not that the Big Sleep is that posh - but in addition to the bedroom, there was a lounge (pictured - great wallpaper eh?!), kitchenette, and the en-suite bathroom had a jacuzzi bath. The views (from the 10th floor) out over Cardiff were also fantastic, especially at night:

Anyway, I'm looking forward to my new role as Archives Development Adviser - and the opportunity to work more closely with the archival profession in Wales. The journey home also brought one final delight - a sudden cold snap brought snow over the Brecon Beacons - not enough to delay the journey, but it did look beautiful: