Visitors.

My oldest son visited today with his wife, we met in the local pub and enjoyed a roast dinner, My son had beef, my daughter in law had lamb and I had chicken. A very enjoyable meal and it was lovely to spend time with them. They came back home with me so they could see my bungalow and how comfortable I am. Like my daughter, they too said how much better I looka now I'm living alone.

Beano has had an upset tummy but I took his favourite blanket to the pub with me and he mainly slept while we ate. He had lots of fuss and cuddles with my son and daughter in law, and seems to be feeling better now.

Homemade soup.

I often make soup, it's quick and easy and cheap. I also always keep a couple of tins of soup in the cupboard, usually Baxters which is around £2 a tin.

When I regularly cooked a Sunday roast I'd make soup with the leftovers, my kids used to refer to it as stoup, half way between soup and stew.

In the interests of economy I've made a pan of soup this morning, enough to last 2 or 3 days. It was the first recipe I learned on a vegetarian cookery course I went on about 45 years ago and I still make it.

I have no idea how much it costs to make but it is cheap, a packet of broth mix is £2 for 500 grams, I use a very small handful. I soaked the broth mix overnight and changed the water twice. 

I used one potato, one carrot both approximately the same size, one onion slightly smaller, all these were chopped into smallish dice. You can add herbs or spices to your taste, I usually add pepper and curry powder. Bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer until everything is cooked through.

I brought mine to the boil whilst I was making my morning porridge and then turned the ring off. When I went back to the pan after breakfast everything was cooked, once it's cooled I'll transfer it to plastic boxes and store it in the fridge.

I need to top up my savings.

I think I've spent what I need to now to have a comfortable standard of living, I started with just a bed my son gave me and a few boxes of belongings.

I've purchased 2nd hand furniture and some new bedding and curtains, a fridge freezer, blinds, a whirly washing line and a selection of mops and brushes etc. The bungalow has two built in cupboards in the bedroom but neither of them had hanging rails, fortunately my daughter had a large wardrobe that was no longer needed so she gave it to me. She also gave me a small TV and a mini oven that sits on the work surface. A friend has given me a DVD player.

 A friend of Cass's brought round a chest of drawers and my other daughter finally managed to collect the last box of stuff and my standard lamp from Steve, unfortunately it came with six boxes of crap that he insisted were mine. I'm hoping to contact an ex work colleague who does regular boot sales to see if she wants the stuff I don't want.

I'm now hoping to start saving money again, I'm still going to go out to the Autumn group and the pensioners lunch but I'm hoping that if there are no more large items to purchase I should be able to save some money. I want to be prepared as I think there could be problems on the horizon with Steve.

I've managed to stock up my kitchen cupboards and I buy Beano's food online, so I'm now only shopping every two or three weeks, apart from bananas and fortunately the local shop sells them in three's

Next step.

When I left Steve he kept back some of my belongings, just one small box but there were things in there that meant a lot to me.

I know he didn't expect me to leave but I had already asked him to help with some things that I found difficult as my eyesight deteriorated. One of the things I asked for was help walking Beano as I was finding it difficult to cross the busy road outside our flat. He refused to help, claiming he wasn't well enough, this didn't stop him crossing the same road many times a week and catching the bus into town to spend the day in the pub drinking. 

He developed a habit of smirking whenever I found a task difficult to manage and I found this extremely irritating. Especially when he claimed his Dr had said I needed to start cooking for him again and take better care of him. I doubt the Dr said anything of the sort! Especially since Steve was refusing to eat any vegetables and wanted only fried food.

One of my daughter's collected the box from Steve a short time ago, unfortunately as he'd had plenty of warning of her visit he gave her 5 or 6 boxes full of stuff he didn't want. He did this for two reasons, partly so I'd have to spend time getting rid of the rubbish and partly so he could tell the neighbours how unkind I was, taking his belongings away from him!

Mothers day.

One of my son's visited on Saturday and bought me a box of chocolates, he was on shift on Sunday which is why he came the day before Mothers day

My other son is visiting next weekend as he was busy this weekend.

I've already been out with one daughter as I wrote in my previous post, Forty Elephants.

 That only left  one daughter who visited y'day and brought with her a cream tea. It included a couple of mini quiches, two scones with strawberry jam and clotted cream. There were also two tea  bags and two squares of cake one each of Millionaires shortbread and one Bakewell slice.

Waking in a panic.

I started waking up in a panic sometimes. 

A couple of night's ago I woke up suddenly, I was convinced I'd overs-spent and that I was about to go in the red.

I grabbed my phone and logged in to my online bank, I wasn't overdrawn. But I really must get to the bank soon as I know that Steve can check one of my bank accounts. We used to have a joint account for paying household bills but after a while Steve stopped paying in to that account and started to pay some bills himself.

Last night I woke again, this time I thought I'd missed a Drs appointment, then I realised that the appointment is later in the week.

I wonder what the next panic will be about?

A meal with Forty Elephants

Bovey Belle, that's a good idea, I will get one next time I'm out shopping. 

Today I had an early mothers day treat, my daughter took me to lunch at a restaurant that was running a theme about the Forty Elephants.

The Forty Elephants were a gang of female shoplifters based around the Elephant and Castle, the were operating from the 1830's to 1950's.

At the restaurant we were given clues about a murder with each course and we had to decide who we thought had committed the murder. It was very entertaining and enjoyable and the food was good too. Lots of small dishes so we didn't end the meal feeling stuffed full but we definitely weren't hungry.

From snowdrops to violets

The village is well endowed with flowers, they grow in gardens, at the edges of the pavements and on any patch of grass around.

First it was snowdrops, growing in profusion. As they have started to die back, their place has been taken by daffodils, grape hyacinth and violets. In the grass near my bungalow there is a patch of white violets. The flowers make walking Beano an even greater pleasure.

My own garden is a disgrace, just lots of unkempt grass and moss. I can buy a lawn mower to manage the front lawn but I'm stumped when it comes to the grass in the back garden. It's far too lumpy to mow, I think it once had flower beds there as some parts are higher than others. I shall have to think hard about what to do, whatever it is it's going to be difficult.

Social group

I've just been to the Tuesday afternoon social group, I took Beano and he was an absolute star. He wandered around to greet a few people and then he lay on the floor and went to sleep, it's such a relief to know I can continue to attend.

They are organising a boat trip in a few weeks on the Kennet and Avon, where Steve and I had our boat and as I can take Beano I've signed up to go along.

Tomorrow morning it's tea and toast in the pub, so I will go to that as well, I've taken Beano there already a few times.

I'm determined to make the most of every opportunity that comes my way.

Old nuts.

My daughter went to the flat where I lived with Steve yesterday  to collect my last few belonging. There was just one box that Steve had claimed wouldn't fit in the car, it contained some kitchenware and the name plate I ordered for this place, Cuckoo's Rest. My grandchildren call me cuckoo so it seemed appropriate.

Unfortunately as Steve had been given plenty of notice of my daughter's visit he packed up a lot of stuff that he wanted to get rid of. So along with my stuff there was a lot of crap. I spent most of y'day evening and this morning sorting through it all. It includes a bag of nuts left from tge Christmas before last, a dog harness that is and always has been  too small for Beano, some CD's but no player. There is also a tangled nest of cables, I've no idea what they were for. This also gave Steve the opportunity to tell everyone how badly he's been treated especially as he claims my daughter took things from the flat that he had a sentimental attachment to!

Amongst other things there is a backpack, it's never been used so is in very good condition. When we first moved on to the boat there was a shopping trolley on board. Steve immediately threw it in the nearest bin, as he said we were too young to need a shopping trolley. As I did the bulk of the shopping I was not prepared to stagger along a muddy towpath with a piled high backpack. I purchased another shopping trolley a large one with three wheels either side that coped admirably with muddy towpaths. I still have it, it's still going strong.

Poor Beano

Apologies for the lack of posts.

It seems Beano has dementia, he's taken to howling if he's left alone.

 This will somewhat curtail my budding social life but I will do everything I can to keep him happy. He's been my comfort for the last 10 years so now I will be his.

He's slowing down and doesn't want to walk as far as he used to do so we wander around the village at a pace that suits him.

I'm still spoiling him as he is a funny little dog, he's my funny little dog.

D.I.V.O.R.C.E.

If you know the words, sing along, have I given you an earworm now?

I'm not currently planning on divorcing Steve although I have no objection if he decides he wants a divorce. He is more likely to want a divorce as he would like to remarry I'm sure. He is a few years younger than me and ever since his friend married a lady in her 50's he has wanted to do the same.

I see no point in lining a solicitor's  pocket for no good reason, Steve is due to inherit a reasonable sum of money at some point (if his family ever manage to stop arguing about it!) I'm not interested in taking money from Steve and as I said I will continue to pay the service charge for now to protect my credit rating.

I will discuss this with my family to see how they feel about it, Steve is not their father but I would like their opinions on this matter.

Why?

Why do I continue to pay the service charge for the flat I no longer live in?

Because I own the flat with Steve and if I didn't pay it, neither would he and I'd have a black mark against my credit rating. If Steve couldn't pay the bills on his own, he'd disappear and none of the bills would be paid.

There are 26 flats there and eight of them are for sale and one of them was for sale when we bought ours about three or four years ago.

I'm hoping that the flats will be upgraded eventually and will be more saleable. Currently Reading is awash with retirement flats. All I can do is wait and see what happens.