Productive trivia

Just wanted to mark my sense of achievement today. So minor and boring but for me it was quite something. I came home from work at about 3.30pm, having already managed to pick up milk and a birthday cake for Gethin at lunchtime. I didn't feel like walking the dog straight away, but rather than go for a nap I decided to try to get a few things done. First, I rang to try to book our Beaver Scouts on a visit to the Bunny Park - either to the Animal Centre or to meet the Park Rangers and do Meadow Sweeping or similar. One answerphone message left for the Animal Centre was followed by a chat with one of the Park Ranger team. Sadly the cut backs mean that a visit at 5pm on a Friday can't be faciliated by the Park Rangers. They now finish at 4.30pm, and the only other alternative is to opt for a week-end slot (like a Saturday pm?) So nothing clinched, but I'm expecting to hear back from two people (I really hope the Animal Centre can help as I really don't want to have to do a Saturday outing!!)

Next I decided to try to ring to cancel our Time Out subscription (even though the website had made it sound like the only way to cancel was to send a letter by post. Glad I did try - it was very straightforward by phone. One 'tick' on my things to do list.

After that, I decided to use the money in our Halifax ISA to pay off another chunk of our mortgage. Had to hunt for a while to find the necessary paperwork, but found it and made the necessary call. Sorted. (I then rang to speak to a different Halifax person just to confirm that the Savings account had been fully emptied, and to find out how to shut it down once empty.

I also rang to find out how to get the money out of the AA ISA which is in Bob's name, but I now need to hunt around for some paperwork dating back to when it started, to find out what the user name is, in order to access the thing on line and get the money out!! So partial success there, but more to do.

Later (with Bob now home, and yummy coronation pork and fried potato to eat) I thought I would try to find somewhere for us to stay on Friday night - since we'd decided to drive part of the way up towards Aberystwyth that evening, rather than set off on the Saturday morning. This means I need to get everything ready on Thursday evening, so we can set off straight after Beavers finish on Friday! That will be around 7pm - hope we don't get snarled up in terrible traffic! Anyway, I found a number of options, some cheaper, some dearer. In the end - after a certain amount of agonising and a minimal amount of input from Bob (!) - I booked a night in the Great Malvern Hotel! It's a bit off the route, but worth the detour I think. I just hope there isn't an extra charge for the dog! Cos it's already quite a bit more expensive than other options I'd looked at.

By the time I'd sorted out the hotel it was quite late to be walking the dog - but I did it, and got back at about 8.20pm!

That's enough for today I think. Plenty more on my Things to Do list - including some pretty high priority things, but I can't face any more.