COLD!!!

 Fifitr - thank you for the hug and the vote of confidence. It's much appreciated.

One of the reasons I'm writing my resolutions down is that even if I fail, my thought processes may help someone else. At least they can avoid the problems that I fail at. I'm always slightly in awe of those who write incredibly knowledgeable blogs. They seem so assured. All I know is that whatever goes wrong, there will be a fun story in there.

I wrote down what I spent today in Tesco. I hadn't planned to go today, but it was one of those complicated things where I needed to exchange presents with brother and I could do with picking up some sandwich meat. We agreed to meet in Tesco car park for a socially distanced exchange. We had a discussion and checked the gov.uk page, and as far as we could tell, it's legal in Tier 3. I'm so bewildered by the rules these days that I just hope we didn't break any laws.

I planned to put a load of the books that bear cleared out into the Salvation Army donation bins by the glass recycling bins. I was told that it would be fine to do this by the very nice man who empties them who I met a while ago. He recommended trying to give them into a shop first, but failing that, the big donation thingies would be fine. Well, they would have been fine, but they were full. I left a large bag full on the charity book swap table in Tesco, but I still have a bootful. Well, not quite a bootful, but a lot. I also have two black bags in my boot ready for the tip run on Wednesday and it isn't that big a boot. 

I also took the opportunity to dump a load of jars into the recycling. It felt very odd, feeding jar after jar into the recycling thingies while next to me people were getting rid of the evidence of lockdown drinking. I had quite a lot, as I decided to get rid of the ones that I had saved for bear's chutney and pickle making, as he had abandoned that quite quickly. I also had gone through some cupboards and pulled out some extremely past their best before dates so this morning I had gone through and cleaned a load out. I'm ashamed of how much got dumped. It may be only half a dozen jars, but it's a sign of impulsive behaviour. For example, I broke the jar scraper thingy on an extremely elderly jar of tahini that I originally got when bear was in primary school to make hummus. Now it had set like concrete. I'm going to have to get another of those extremely useful jar scrapers, so I will be writing that down soon.

It was interesting as I checked the receipt when I wrote down the total. There were some Matchmaker chocolates as we all like them and they were at a reasonable price and there was a puzzle book as I had forgotten my knitting, I didn't know how long I would have to wait for brother, and I like puzzles. Both of those parts of the bill could have been dropped easily enough. I also got relatively posh bread, which was also an indulgence. I think looking at what's happening is a good way for me to adjust things. 

It was wonderful to see my brother, but I got chilled to the bone talking to him and even now, four hours later, I'm still cold at the core. Fortunately he gave me some mead for my Christmas present, so I will be able to warm myself up. I know alcohol doesn't actually make you warmer, and can make things worse for things like frostbite and serious cold, but I like the illusion of warmth that it gives. 

I shall be out again tomorrow. I want to try and do another dump of immaculate children's books on Tesco's charity book table, keeping an option for Morrison's charity book table and scouting out the Salvation Army donation thingies. There is a hint of snow in the forecast, so I shall share what happens. 

Hugs and good health to all.