Different things

 

Hello everyone. I hope that you are ok. It seems to have been a sad week - with the road deaths, the floods in Nepal, the capsized pleasure boat in Cyprus and the falling sign at the Big Church Festival - it feels like something has happened every time you turn the telly on. 

Also, I don't know what it's like where you are, but it definitely feels like summer is well and truly over now. It has been raining and stormy here - I know we need it, but it can still make you feel a bit melancholy. This has been a lovely summer; too hot, obviously, but as we can easily have summers that are complete washouts from beginning to end in this country, I would like to say that I have enjoyed it. 

Still, it's over now. B&M has Halloween stuff in; Primark is full of "Autumn Home Decor", and now is the time to join the waitlists for Advent Calendars. (See photo - yes, that does say £245 per calendar. I'm not judging. If I were rich as Croesus, I'd quite fancy one myself.) 

Far be it from me to rain on anyone's parade, but I have never understood why people need to buy new Autumn decor every year. I mean, I don't usually remember to decorate for Autumn myself, but it does look nice. I'm not sure I could ever see myself shelling out for new stuff every year. 

Speaking of spending money like water, because it's Autumn, I am turning into a sucker for anything involving reinvention or health improvement, etc., etc. You know the sort of thing - new diaries and notebooks (irresistible), weight loss (problematic - have you tried that new M&S Ice Cream?) and looking at my gut biome. I made the mistake of clicking on something about women of a certain age (i.e. me) and how our transit slows down. This is borderline unpleasant, I know. I would understand it if you decided to call it a day and not read on. So, there's lots of supplements that you can take to "support your traction" and deal with being post/pre current menopausal symptoms, which include flushes, brain fog, and just being a general rat bag. 

Have all these people won the pools? Not that I approve of gambling, obviously - do Premium Bonds count? But I feel that having won the pools would be the only way that I could afford these supplements. I'm currently following a nice young woman on Instagram who is paying off £150,000 worth of debt by selling eggs from her chickens. I can't help but wonder if this massive debt might be partially due to her Symprove Liquid Supplement habit, as she has three bottles in the fridge. (It's about £20 a bottle, and it lasts for 14 days.)

So I had a look on Google about looking after myself better without supplements - maybe diet only - and apparently, because I don't have anything particular wrong with me apart from being old, it seems that I can - so long as I eat 30 different plants a day. 30! Who knew that there were 30 different types of plants? However, it seems that you can include nuts, herbs, spices, oats and coffee (yay). I suppose this makes it more doable. Last week I had a bit of a go at it, and I got into the mid-twenties. Has anyone else ever tried it? I can't say I feel any different, really, but it's probably too soon to see a change, I suppose. 

Speaking of change. This was a momentous week, as my mixer has made its last banana bread. It got very, VERY warm while I was using it last week, and I think I did see it spark a bit. (Don't tell HOH.) It's a sad day. That mixer was a wedding present and, although it looks a bit manky, I shall miss it. I didn't even give it a respectful send-off. I was mid-bake, so it had to go into the carrier bag with the rest of the detritus. The search for a replacement begins. If anyone has a decent hand mixer they could recommend, I would be happy to hear about it. We don't have room for a stand mixer, unfortunately. Which means all fantasies I have had of me switching on my mixer while I minx about like Nigella are dead in the water, I'm afraid. Onward and upward, everyone.  I'm off to bed. I'm a bit shattered, as our normally quite quiet area was graced by the presence of a young woman at 3.30am. She and her friends were loudly distressed by the absence of a friend called "Ruby" and felt that we all needed to know. For an hour and a half. Have a great Bank Holiday. Those of you who get one.