I very nearly didn’t make it into work today. I am absolutely knackered. I’m doing too much. Work is heavy. Social life is heavy. I just want to cancel it all and have a day in bed.
I made it in and cracked on. I feel like my manager is watching me a lot at the moment. Its irritating me. Does she not trust me? She gave me 6/10 recently which upset me. Does she think I’m rubbish at my job? Its a bit weird. I think I’m doing a good job. I might be overreacting, especially as I’m so tired.
Christmas is coming and I’m feeling a bit stressed about money. I know I shouldn’t but I like creating my own advent calendar which I’m trying to do. I’ve also ordered some outfits for the kids. Vinted is my new favourite app. Lots of second hand stuff. Cheaper and good for the environment. Win win
I was suppose to go for a run but I don’t feel up to it which means I won’t finish the couch to 5k before my holiday. Its ok. No need to put additional pressure on myself. My other half cooked dinner which was nice. I did some cleaning.
We’re going out next Friday with his old work lot. I don’t really want to go but I know it means a lot to him and I want to spend my night with him before I go away for 5 nights. I wish he was a bit more soppy but he’s like we just had a weekend away together. I’m like ok, thats definitely over now. We’ve barely had a cuddle or even touched since we’ve been home. It makes me feel a bit lonely if I’m honest. But I know he’s got a lot going on with his work and family. Things will get easier.
I’m not usually a commuter. My work is about a 10 min walk. So when I was asked to go to our Sheffield office in one day, I wasn’t overly keen. I would have to get up at 5:30am compared to my 8am and I wouldn’t be home until 9pm compared to my 5:30pm. I was not looking forward to it at all.
But. I did it.
My trip to Sheffield was tough and long but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Getting up earlier was hard but I did it. I was worried about what food to have due to my lactose intolerance. I managed that by buying all the snacks the day before. I had 3 x sandwiches. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. I had flavoured water, fanta fruit twist and lots of snacks like vegan cheese and onion crisps, party rings and jammy dodgers. Sorted. I was anxious about getting the train during rush hour. I’ve traveled to London a hand few times in rush hour and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. I don’t like people being so close. But it was fine. My colleagues and I chatted lots. It was kind of nice actually.
The Sheffield office has a fun vibe. They are very casual. They even have a beer fridge. I had a few meetings to go to. Only one of them was a bit awkward so I’ll take that as a win. I spent most of my afternoon learning how to play poker. Felt a bit bad for the other two I traveled with as they were stuck working but more fool them.
We nearly missed our train home. That of would been frustrating. I was a bit disappointed that the Sheffield employee who was looking after us ordered a taxi for us to the station but didn’t stick around to make sure it turned up. Which it didn’t……Hey ho. We made it. We were all absolutely wiped. The chatting wasn’t as much. We did make a friend on the train though who was traveling to sweep the streets ahead of the Queen’s funeral in Westminster. Brave man but fair play to him.
Get home around half 8. I was absolutely knackered. My other half wasn’t overly supportive. He has long days all the time. All right tough time Tim. Give it a rest. I’m allowed to have a tough day.
One of my colleagues messaged to check I got home ok which was very sweet. Made me smile. Wanted to end this on a positive ❤
After a tough day travelling for work, I had a long weekend booked off and I was off to Bournemouth with my other half. I was really looking forward to getting away from our daily life and having some time together to just chill and be happy.
I got home late the night before so it was nice to have a bit of lie in whilst he caught up on his work. Of course he could never book a day off and not do any work could he? Nutter. Anyway, I quickly packed and was ready to go. We had breakfast with my partner’s dad as we weren’t going to see him all weekend. A greasy fry up was a fab start to the weekend!
Just before we left, I went to a local cafe to pick up some vegan chocolate chip cookies to try. Due to my lactose intolerance, I haven’t found a great alternative to my usual favourite Flour Power cookies but think I now have. Say hello to Whisked Away. The cookies were so good. I hear she goes giant cookie cakes too which I will definitely be looking into for the near future.
Finally, off we went. The journey was about 1 hour and 50 mins. Not too bad. We were staying at a Premier Inn, mostly because the price was good and there was a cheap carpark next to it. £5 for 24 hours. We were staying for 3 nights so £15 in total. Not bad at all.
I spoke too soon. Our room wasn’t ready so we went for a walk to the sea and back which was nice. We’re not too far away. When we finally got into our room, it hadn’t been cleaned. Bed was half stripped, used mugs with coffee in them and the bin was full. Nasty. Not very impressed. Went back to reception, didn’t care what room we had as long as it was clean with a bed. We got there eventually. Found some time to relax together before he started working 😉
I tried not to get annoyed. I think he quite liked that I was in our bed with no clothes on just waiting for him to return whilst he got some work done. Little bugger.
After I dragged him away from his work, he wanted to watch the football the first night. Super romantic. It kind of worked though as I was a bit tired from driving and the day before from work so it was ideal to just chill. We went to the local Walkabout which is a sports bar. The waiter was rude and miserable. I had the worst Long Island Iced Tea I’ve ever tasted in my life and the food made me sick. Wouldn’t recommend. At least my other half’s team won so that was something.
Next day was MUCH better. We both woke after a good night’s sleep. We had a spring in our step. Wink wink. Just what we needed.
We couldn’t decide where to go for breakfast so we just downstairs at the Premier Inn. £9.50 for an all you can eat cooked breakfast, would be rude not to. Food was pretty good too. Super chilled. We walked into town and had an explore. Everything was within a 20-25 min walk which was cool. We looked at some shops and near the sea again. Walked through some pretty gardens. We ended up in the Aquarium which was reasonably priced. We both love animals. We saw fish, otters, penguins, all sorts. The otters were our favourite bit as we got to see them being fed which was cute. I even managed to get through a gift shop without buying anything!!
We then went to a local pub for more football. This pub was much better than the night before and it meant I could have some wine and read my book so it was a win win. After the football, we went into town to buy some bits. I wanted some bath bombs so we went to Lush, such a great shop. We also went to Sports Direct to get some shorts and a top for me to swim in as I didn’t realise that swimming in the sea was on the agenda. I didn’t come prepared. No towel, no swimsuit. Oops. I found some bits that I could make work.
Swimming in the sea mid-September is not for the faint hearted. I’m surprised my other half was keen on this as he is usually always cold but I’m really glad we did it. It was very refreshing and fun. Would highly recommend. It was cold but our bodies soon got use to this. My favourite part was my top went see-through and my other half is such a prude, he was so embarrassed. It made me laugh a lot. He’s so silly. I did manage to cover myself up.
After swimming, we couldn’t be bothered to get changed so we walked in our swimming stuff (I was wrapped in the towel to avoid exposure). We both had a shower each, warmed up and went back to the pub we were at earlier this afternoon for food, football, book and drinks. After being sick the night before, I wasn’t very hungry so I just had some chicken strips and a few glasses of wine. I did feel a bit tiddly but felt a bit better. I was really enjoying just spending time together just the two of us. Even with the football on, we were still together at a pub interacting. Usually if he watches football at home, I’m not allowed to be in the same room or he just ignores me.
Neither of us are big drinkers so we ended up having an early night which I think he was a bit disappointed in but I was quietly grateful. I’ve had a full on week and haven’t really stopped so it was nice to get some time to just be in bed, have a cuddle and watch some rubbish tv.
Sunday was also a good day. We had breakfast at the hotel again. Don’t fix what ain’t broke. We went for a wander afterwards and then we visited a cat cafe.
I love cats and I really miss having one. Unfortunately we can’t have pets in our flat which I’m hoping to use to my advantage this time next year where I can convince my other half to buy a house so we can get some cats.
Anyway, I’ve been to a cat cafe before in London which I liked and I found one in Bournemouth too. This one was a lot smaller and cheaper but I still really enjoyed it. Look how cute our hot chocolate and latte were! There were 11 cats in total. They weren’t overfriendly which was a shame but you can’t make a cat come to you. I did have a cuddle with one ginger kitty called Max which was lovely. Would definitely go again but maybe at a different time to see if they are a bit more lively.
After the cat cafe we went back to the seaside to do more swimming. I wore a bra this time so I was less exposed which helped my other half relax a bit. I did play a joke on him whilst in the sea. The shorts I bought didn’t fit very well and were digging in so I took them off and made out I was half naked in the sea. To my joy, he reacted exactly as I expected. All concerned and embarrassed. Bit mean of me but it was very funny. When he realised I had underwear on, he saw the funny side and was laughing too. I can’t stress enough how refreshing and relaxing it was to be swimming in the sea. We both really enjoyed it and I hope to come back in the future (more prepared) and do this again.
After swimming, we went back for showers and a cuppa in the room. One thing we hadn’t yet done was go to the arcades so we walked back to the seaside. Lots of steps this weekend! The arcades were a little disappointing. The prizes weren’t that great. We ended up playing on a 2p machine and won a bouncy ball, a bracelet and a big sweet. I lost about £10 but we both enjoyed the entertainment. We usually go for the crane machines but there was only one prize we wanted and someone had just won one so we knew we could waste £30 and still not win so it wasn’t worth it. Money is tight but we’ve still managed to have a great weekend without spending too much.
We headed back to hotel, feeling a bit peckish and asked to order some food to the room. Due to Covid, we had to take it ourselves which is fine. Unfortunately they got our orders a bit wrong which wasn’t ideal but we made it work. We like room service in hotel rooms. Part of the experience we think. Another early night but I knew my other half would want to get up early and go home tomorrow. I think its a type of anxiety where he knows he has a long journey to do and with work the next day, he just wants to get home as soon as possible so he has as much time to chill and prepare for the next day. I get it but it also means the holiday bubble ends quicker which makes me sad. I never like coming home.
Next and last day in Bournemouth, as expected – he wanted to get up and go. Our parking ran out at 10am so it was good timing I guess. I made sure I had some food before we headed off. This was the same day as the Queen’s funeral. I was upset when I first found out about her passing away. I even had a little cry. I did want to watch the funeral but I knew it would just upset me. We ended up travelling whilst it was on so the roads were a lot clearer which made it a good, quick journey.
Once we were home, we unpacked and started a load of washing. We then had a little walk as my other half wanted a smoke. I was feeling sad as we were home and I knew he would go back to doing his own thing. I don’t feel neglected but we don’t spend as much time together cuddling and chatting on a day to day basis and I knew as soon as we were home, he’d want to watch his tv so I’d be in the other room doing my own thing to. I’m soppy, I know.
I was feeling a bit anxious too about going back to work, bit like Sunday night anxiety and I also had a parcel delivered to work over the weekend when no-one was there so I wasn’t sure how it got delivered. I wondered if it was just left somewhere. I live close by so I walked over but couldn’t see anything. Hoping someone has picked it up and put in the building.
As I got home, I made a cuppa and sat in bed watching my tv for a bit. After awhile I got bored so I went for a run as I’m doing the couch to 5k at the moment. I thought it would be difficult after not doing a run for a few days and not eating great but it was actually a really good run. My first 28 min one. Woohoo.
Overall, we had a lovely time away. I’m sad its over and we’re back to normal but I need to concentrate on the good as I’m a bit of a miserable cow sometimes.
outofsightoutofhere 