Saturday 8 January 2022

Week 1 2022 Project 365 and One Daily Positive - Here's to 2022

Happy New Year to you all, whoever is still reading this.

I'm starting my 8th year of a photo a day. I started on January 1st 2015 when we moved to Dubai as a way to motivate myself to get up and do something everyday, after our hasty exit from South Africa when we were unable to renew our visas after 4 years.

Sometimes it doesn't feel like 5 minutes ago since we were here, in this very house. No longer are there 5 children here, but instead we've returned with a cat and a dog and gained 2 beautiful grandchildren. We've resumed old friendships and made new ones, we've settled into a routine of dog walks and coffee shops and lots of family time.

We're hoping to get to Australia this year to see child 3, who I last saw in August 2019. We have to wait till the borders open to tourists first.

Other plans include finishing the kitchen, then we're starting on an extension downstairs, revamping the garden and building a work shed and green house.

On a personal note, as I've grown older I've cared less about what other people think of me, it however hasn't stopped me passing judgement on other people (I don't necessarily hold that opinion) I know I'm not the only one, so don't go rolling your eyes at me.

I'm supposed to be working for a client next week, but the agency sent me the wrong shifts and locations. The client blamed me for not reading the rota correctly, rather than making excuses for the agency as I would've normally done, I just replied with the fact that I didn't make a mistake and I'm quite capable of reading a rota and sent them the email I was sent, copying in the sender to say I was not happy with being spoken to this way for someone else's mistake. Whether I work for the agency ever again will depend on their response.

1 Saturday A day of nothingness other breakfast, dog walk and a stop in the pub. Had sudden left sided hip pain, a bit of googling and search on twitter revealed it could be a side effect of the covid booster shot.

Forgot to make the bed until bedtime. The worst feeling in the world.


2 Sunday Friends came to visit for the afternoon, sadly their 3 month old granddaughter died last week, so incredibly sad. We talked, ate, talked some more. Simon is also the builder who is installing the kitchen. I've known Simon for 25ish years, Peter has known him for about the same time, but Peter and I only met 23 years ago. When I met Peter, Simon was building him an extension on his previous house. I used to provide respite care for Peter's daughter (now child 1) and Simon's other daughter who sadly died 13 years ago.

Time for a Baileys


3 Monday Off to get Peter's booster shot at the walk in clinic, stopped for coffee on the way home. Moved the fridge freezer into the conservatory, sorted through my Gran's photos and some paperwork, had a bath and watched TV while Peter went to the pub to watch the football.

Labelling my Grans old photos


4 Tuesday Kitchen packed and stored in the dining room, temporary kitchen set up in the conservatory. I kept the kettle/toaster/microwave and some crockery and cutlery to use over the next few weeks and everything else was packed up and stored in the dining room, which is now inaccessible. Peter went down to the flat to finish the work, other than cleaning, it's ready to go on the market soon. It took me all day to sort the kitchen, I was shattered.


5 Wednesday Kitchen work started, came to home to find everything out including all the floor tiles and all down the tip. Off into Worcester for 10am. It's much colder than it's been for a while. It was a 12 hour shift and a long day but I met some great people.


6 Thursday Prepped dinner in neighbours kitchen, then popped it all in the slow cooker, will take neighbours share round after work. Tided up and sorted through some paperwork, then caught the train to Worcester for a 6 hour shift.

My work station


7 Friday Went out looking for gas to fit our camping stove, cuppa with the neighbour and train to the vaccine clinic. Worked till 8pm. There's a job going at a local secondary school as a Teaching Assistant I'm going to apply for over the weekend. I'm not getting anywhere with applying for teaching jobs as I've been out of the UK system for 11 years, at least this way, I can get a foot in the door and start over again.

Worcester at night


On the blog this week:

Plans for 2022 - the kitchen will be finished next week so there's not a lot left to do.

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18 comments:

  1. Oh wow, that is a surprise. I thought you had been doing Project 365 for longer than I had. I started in 2015 too.
    Ugh! That agency sounds like a right pain in the bum. I hope you get an apology.
    I am so sorry about your friends and their granddaughter.
    Your grans photos are fantastic.
    It looks like a they have made a great start on the kitchen!
    Good luck with the teaching assistant job. x

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    1. Kitchen going much quicker than I thought, really please with it

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  2. I am looking forward to seeing your kitchen project, I really need to give some thought to ours. The agency sounds awful. Hopefully they apologised. Good luck with the job application. I havent been doing 365 for as long as you but I do like looking back on the posts reminds me why I started writing in the first place. Happy New Year

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    1. All sorted now with the agency, work turned out to be really good and enjoyable

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  3. Sorry to read about your friends granddaughter. That is so sad. You have had a busy start too the New Year. Love your email to the agency. I think I might have done the same. Can't wait to see how your kitchen turns out #365

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    1. Kitchen work is going much faster than I'd expected

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  4. The kitchen is coming along nicely. So sad about the baby. I hope your week isn't too stressful xx

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  5. Sorry to hear about your friend's granddaughter - how awful. Glad to see everything coming together for the kitchen refurb, and good luck with the job #365

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  6. I’m so sorry for the loss of your friends’ granddaughter, how very sad. Hope that it helped them to have that time talking with you and Peter. Lovely to look back and label your gran’s photos – I have my granddad’s photo albums – thankfully they’re all labelled already though! Good luck with the work on the kitchen and with your application for the teaching assistant job. #project365

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  7. We need our bathroom done but I can't stand the thought of the disruption! Your kitchen seems to be proceeding speedily. Sorry you have had trouble with the agency, I hope you get a proper apology! #project365

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  8. So sorry about your friens granddaughter. That is heartbreaking.

    Can't wait to see the kitchen at the end....love a good home improvement project

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  9. Incredibly sad about your friends' granddaughter. Your kitchen project is a big one, and quite disruptive too. The agency should apologise to both you and the client, since it's their fault. Looking at the old photos is fascinating. It's good that you label them. I was thinking just the other day I have to do that with some old family photos, so that their names are preserved.

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    Replies
    1. I need to ask my aunt for a few more details on who is who in the pictures

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