Tag Archives: busy

Time, Decluttering, Fish and Chips

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Sorry, time slips by and it’s soon a couple of day since I wrote anything or read anything. I do try to keep up with my comments but that’s all I’ve done, in a blogging sense, for the last few days. I have been to a few charity shops to dispose of various bits of clutter (I can’t believe some of the things we’ve accumulated), we’ve also been down to Peterborough (mainly to see a builder) and today we dropped off at another charity shop, visited Julia’s old base (to drop off craft supplies we don’t need) and spent nearly an hour doing a twenty minute journey to \IKEA, where we once again couldn’t park within a distance I couldn’t walk. I really am going to have to get a Blue Badge.

Yesterday we spent £32 on two lunches at the garden centre nearest to the new bungalow.  It was a fact finding mission and the main fact I found was that I won’t be eating there again. It was fish and chips, which is no longer cheap food for the working classes. The fish, I admit, was very good – nice thick, fresh fillets in crispy batter. The tartare sauce was good. The peas were mediocre, which isn’t good enough for £16. And the chips were excellent, Thick, golden, well cooked – everything you would want from a chip. However, there weren’t many of them. I don’t like it when chip shops pile the chips on to make it look like you are getting plenty for your money, but I like it even less when you get a small portion. I don’t expect to pay £16 and leave the table feeling hungry.

Once we move we will be reviewing more food, so we might go back to check it out again. |On the other hand there are plenty of garden centres in Peterborough with better food and better plants, so we might not.

Pictures are going to be pictures of other fish and chips we have had. I seem to have a lot of fish and chip photos.

Haddock Special at the Dolphin Fish Bar, Sutton on Sea

A Busy Day

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Somewhere along the line I have lost a post. In fact, I have lost an entire evening. I’m really not sure how I managed that.

The shop was full most of the day. We had people in as we opened (by appointment), Someone rang to make an appointment for 10.30, but I pushed them on till 11.00, which was good, as someone wandered in at just after 10.30, thinking they had an appointment. They had spoken to the owner lat night and he hadn’t bothered to tell us. Then one of the regulars turned up, And another.

So, despite my supposed planning we still ended up crowded. We had several people call in the afternoon too. One of them had coins worth 85 pence. This isn’t quite the record for the week – someone else brought coins worth 65 pence earlier in the week and someone emailed for a valuation on coins which said “New Pence” on them. All coins had that on them at one time, as that’s what they were called. They became “Pence” about ten years after decimalisation. I suppose they were no longer new by then.

In 1983 the Royal mint made a mistake and made a batch of coins which had “New pence” instead of pence, but they only went into sets, not into general circulation. The sets are probably worth £1,500. Coins from circulation dated between 1971 and 1981 with “New Pence” are very common and are worth face value.

We frequently get people enquiring, thinking they have a fortune in their hand, just to find out they have pennies. It shows the power of one inaccurate newspaper article.

We once sold some 1983 year sets to someone who obviously thought that all year sets had the rare coin in. They don’t. Most of them have the ordinary coin in. He was very upset and claimed we had cheated him. Why he thought professional coin dealers would be selling sets worth £1,500 for just £12, I don’t know.

Kew Gardens – expensive coin

The Kew Gardens 50p is a rare coin you might still find in your change. They only minted 210,000 of them instead of the millions they did for other years. No, I don’t know why. This article is a reasonable guide to rarities, but note the prices are mainly for true “Uncirculated” coins, not ones out of your pocket.  Note the general downward trend of the prices as coin collecting is less popular now – people don’t use coins as much since lockdown.

The header picture is one we often get calls about – the 2007 £2 with the “upside down” writing on the edge. It’s not true. The coins are fed into a machine and 50% of them end up with the edge inscription “upside down”. I have wasted hours on the phone telling people this, thanks to idiot journalists.

Day 189

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On my own in the shop today. The other two had family matters to attend to and there I was, a whole shop to myself, It wasn’t planned like that but one of the “family matters” was an urgent visit to the vet, which turned out to be yet another false alarm – that dog is cheery and full of energy but a canine hypochondriac of legendary proportions.

After a quiet week, things got very busy and by 01,00 I had only just managed to pack my second parcel, though I had bought two lots of stuff, turned another down, run out of money and sold some Roman coins. All that and answer the phone on an almost constant basis. I had more phone calls this morning than I had answered in the preceding week. How did they all know I was on my own?

Fortunately the owner was able to get in just after lunch, which took some of the pressure off. I(t was a nice day so he decided that we should pack up at 2pm. It’s nice to have  a boss with an appreciation of the life/work balance.

That allowed me plenty of time to get to the pharmacy for my prescription. There, I was nearly hit by a reversing van, hit a kerb with the front of the car (caught the bit at the front under the number plate when parking) and found myself staring at someone in the pharmacy because they looked familiar.

It was the neighbour from across the road. I’ve known her for 34 years, but in  a mask, with only eyes showing, my facial recognition skills completely desert me.

In the front garden, the teasel is starting to flower.

When I opened the front door I found a letter from the tax office.You know the feeling of a cold, skeletal hand clutching your heart, well that was just how it felt. Letters from the tax office, in my opinion, are never good. I may make an exception for this one as it was news of a £108 refund. Say what you like about the tax authorities, they are vey fair.

That’s it. A day in a  nutshell, some good, some bad and some (like the tax letter) unusual.

Teasel – breaking into flower

More of the same but with Added Doughnuts

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Today, in the manner of these things, was rather like yesterday. It was hot, stuffy and windowless. However, I had cold water with me and a new mindset – no more boredom, just a new relaxation technique.

For the second day on the trot we were full of customers until 2 o’clock. This was good as we’ve been short of customers over the last few weeks because they all seem to have gone on holiday.

After a hard day at work (comparatively speaking – sitting down prodding a keyboard and chatting to customers is not exactly onerous) I returned home to find Julia turning the place upside down looking for lost keys. I am forbidden to mention it, as, three hours later, she found them in her purse. Talk about a senior moment. Not that I’m able to say too much after what happened last Monday.

On that subject, I had my blood test results – they are holding steady and I’m not required for another test until September. This is a good thing. It’s particularly good as it took some getting and I didn’t bleed after they took the needle out. That’s usually a bad sign and results in more tests. I’m obviously getting the hang of it now.

Julia bought doughnuts today, because jam, sugar and fat are just what I need in my attempt to lose weight.

However, Julia doesn’t need the calories either and I thought I’d better help her out. It seemed churlish not to. The only problem is that they always come in 5s, which means we are currently having an enquiry about who ate the fifth one while Julia was out of the room.

I’m saying nothing.

Today’s picture is another one from Crosby Beach – the RNLI patrol keeping an eye out for sightseers trapped in quicksand. It’s a tricky beach as this link shows.

The the Rain Started…

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Another busy day, another load of parcels, and emails from customers.

We also had a steady flow of customers, two collections to buy and medallions to offer for sale.

I also had tomorrow to plan, which is a bit of a logistics nightmare. I’m picking Number One Son up and we are visiting my Dad as Number One Son is off to New Zealand at the end of the week. Yes, in just one week we will be empty nesters. I’d be inhuman not to feel a slight twinge at the thought. But it is a very small twinge.

The problem is that there is no rail service from Suffolk to Peterborough this weekend and the replacement bus service arrives too early or too late to be useful. So I’m now going to Ely for lunchtime tomorrow.

Then, after a hectic day, it started raining just as I got to the car…

I’ll publish now but may come back to edit and add photos.