Because......

 A few of you have mentioned how organised I am - thank you.  There are a few reasons for this.  I HAVE to be organised - it keeps me grounded, I get very stressed if I'm not organised and on top of things, I am a bit of a control freak.  And besides, one of us has to be organised - husband certainly isn't!  He's the absolute opposite of me, you'd be hard pushed to find anyone LESS organised than him, he's a total nightmare.  And getting everything organised the past week or so has kept me busy and sane, what with the bloody nuisance car stuff going on which is stressing both of us more and more.  We went for a short test drive yesterday, the thing went into limp mode within 5 minutes of leaving home.  Switching the engine off and then on again after a couple of minutes does seem to reset it - but just how many times are we going to have to do that on the way to the caravan (a 40 minute journey)?  Could end up taking us a couple of hours! 😒  We did think about hiring a Transit van, but obviously that's going to cost and it seems husband's age is against him....the hire place we've used a few times in the past has an age limit of 70, and he's now 71.  I guess it's their insurance requirements.

Husband is beating himself up about the car, but it's my fault as much as his - I should have trusted my instincts.  Last year after closing up the caravan, we'd talked about what we wanted to do for this year and planned for the work - taking out the old uncomfortable original fixed seating and putting in new freestanding 2 seater sofa and recliner chair.  We also want a divan style bed with storage drawers under to replace the noisy creaking metal framed bed, it'll be a second hand one, in good condition, obviously.  So we knew our little Fiat, lovely though it was, wouldn't transport everything, hence why we traded it in for a bigger van-like car.  We don't need to have a car of this size once the work is done, although if it wasn't so problematic, we'd probably have kept it indefinitely.  When we went to see and test drive this car, I didn't want it right from the off, for several reasons.  I should have just said No there and then, but again for various reasons, I didn't.  Silly me - hindsight is a wonderful thing.  It won't happen again.  We'll probably go for an estate car next, that'll suit our needs.

I was busy again yesterday - washing done (I'm trying to get that all done before we start caravan stuff, as I won't have time then), rice pudding made, veggies all prepped for dinner yesterday and today, menus planned for this week.  Got a couple of pies to make and freeze today, then I'll have a (more) restful day tomorrow, whilst the car is in the garage having one of the warning light problems sorted.  We most likely won't be having the rest of the problems dealt with, as we don't want to be spending loads of money on a vehicle we'll be getting rid of.

All prepped and ready

 I'm all prepared for the caravan now, only 3 more sleeps!

Yesterday I made 2 fish pies, to join all the other home cooked and portioned up meals in the freezer.  I also made a load of pastry, enough for 2 or 3 pies - I've got diced chicken, bacon, leeks, mushrooms, chopped part cooked sausages, little stuffing balls, cooked chestnuts and cranberry sauce left over from Christmas all for pie fillings.  I'll probably make the pies tomorrow.  We have plenty of veg, fresh and frozen, to go with all the meals.

I've written out lists of everything we're taking to the caravan (provided the car plays ball!) over the course of 3 days, along with lists of stuff to bring out of the caravan to be disposed of each day on our way home (we pass the Council tip on the way back).  We're taking Betty with us each day, as we're expecting to spend several hours there doing the work and we don't like to leave her home alone too long.  She'll be excited to be back at the caravan anyway.

The knee support is working really well, it's got long plastic rods each side of the knee, as well as the big firm elasticated straps that do up by Velcro above and below the kneecap, so it all supports my knee very well.  So 3.5 days of wearing it now (I don't wear it in bed, obviously) and my knee hasn't given way at all.  The pain is still there, but that's not really bothering me, I can cope with that.  I don't really notice it when I'm busy anyway, only when I'm sitting watching TV in the evenings and when I go to bed.

Oh, and I keep forgetting to say Welcome to some new readers and commenters, this is a very down to earth account of our life, warts and all (and with the occasional swear word!).  I hope you find something interesting in my very ordinary and mundane life, are not bored by me continually going on about our lovely old caravan, and aren't upset by some of the things I say!

Support, emotional and physical

 Thank you for all the lovely comments, it does help a lot.  As I've said, I am very worried about the car, we are restricting journeys to essential trips only, every time we go out in it the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, particularly when it goes into limp mode or more warning lights come on, which is happening more and more now.  As mentioned, as long as it transports all the stuff to and from the caravan next week (even if we do have to keep stopping and switch the engine off, to allow it to reset itself), then it will have done what we wanted it to do.  If it doesn't - well then we will have a problem.  But we'll just have to cross that bridge if we come to it.  It is worrying the life out of me though.

Again I haven't rung the GP - to be honest, I don't see much point, I'm sure all he'll do is give me more painkillers (cocodamol, as that's pretty much all I can take, and I don't like taking them because they make me very constipated, which means I then have to take something else to counteract that).  He'll most likely refer me to physio too, but they're so behind they're taking weeks and months to see anyone, and then they want to do phone consultations, which frankly I think is ridiculous for physio.  The knee support I got from Amazon is actually very good, here it is:-

I've worn it for a day and a half and my knee feels much stronger for it and hasn't given way once, which is marvellous.  Having my knee give way when I'm coming downstairs is bloody scary, and it was happening every day, I daren't come down without holding onto both banister rails.  The support makes me feel more confident that I'm not going to fall downstairs and break assorted bones, or worse.  And it's a pretty pink and soft grey!

We were informed yesterday by our electricity supplier that our monthly payment will be going up by 50% from April, which is pretty much what I expected.  We'll cope, but it is getting harder, especially when food and fuel prices are going up weekly.  I am confident though that I can feed us well on a reduced budget, I'm pretty good at grabbing bargains, making meat stretch and making meals out of leftovers.  

Shit happens (edited)

 Thanks for the supportive and sympathetic comments, at least some people care!  It does sometimes feel like we are continually taking 2 steps forward then THREE back, and I wonder who has got it in for us and feel like I must have been a Very Naughty Girl in a previous life and am now getting payback for it.  Of course I know we're no different to anyone else, shit happens to everyone.  I'm trying not to dwell on it, and just focus on the caravan instead.  It is disrupting my sleep - and my guts - again though.  Oh, and I didn't ring the GP about my knee, the knee problems have been superseded by the car stuff.  Anyway, my knee support thing came yesterday (at least that's a good thing, it was supposed to come today) so hopefully that will help, it does feel quite supportive.

Yesterday, I did what I always find helpful in times of stress.....more baking, that always takes my mind off things for a while.  I used the remaining sheet of puff pastry to make 6 bacon and cheese turnovers, and then another dozen muffin sized cakes - marmalade and cinnamon this time.  All bagged up and in the freezer for caravan lunches, whilst we're doing the work, joining the sausage plait slices and mini fruit cakes I made yesterday.  One less thing for me to do in the mornings before we leave home, I can just grab a couple of bags out of the freezer and take them with some fruit, job done.  The lunches are a bit carb heavy, but I'll counteract that by having berry and yogurt smoothies for breakfasts, and meat/fish and green veg dinners.

I know our car having problems is a first world problem, and we have so many advantages and blessings - and we're not at war!

But here where we live, there are NO amenities (like shops, doctor, post office, vet - essentials like that) of any kind within walking distance, and NO public transport.  So a working reliable car is a necessity.  Also, without said car, we cannot get to our beloved caravan.

We can't afford to pay out unknown large sums of money, and potentially ongoing at that, on a car which is possibly going to keep going wrong - at the moment it seems every other time we use it, another warning light comes on or it goes into limp mode again - drivers behind us when that happens tend to get very annoyed.  We're trying not to use it unless it's absolutely necessary right now.  Hence our decision to get shot of it once it's (hopefully, everything crossed) transported all of the necessary stuff to and from our caravan whilst we're doing the work.  

Buying another, newer and hopefully more reliable, car is going to take a big chunk of husband's windfall pension he got a year ago.  That windfall is going down quite quickly, and will certainly run out altogether way before I'm eligible to receive my State pension.  So that's another big worry.  Worry is affecting both of us - headaches, gut problems and sleepless nights for us both.

I spoke too soon

 Husband having spoken to the RAC (who we had to call out - again - last Saturday) and done some research, it seems the car has, potentially, much more serious and expensive problems than first thought.  The work being done by the local garage next Tuesday will only address one lesser problem, not the more serious one.  It will, hopefully, enable the car to be used for transporting the stuff backwards and forwards to/from the caravan, so we can finish the work there.  After that, we will have to get rid of it (the car that is, not the caravan!) - we cannot afford potentially expensive repairs on a car we no longer trust.  At least - hopefully (I have to keep thinking that) - the car will have fulfilled the purpose we bought it for, before we get shot of it and get another, hopefully more reliable, one.

I know there's always a risk when buying a second hand car, we have no real way of knowing whether it has potential problems that the seller has seen fit to conceal.  Or the car may develop new problems in the future, which again we have no control over.  But having had a couple of cars in the past few years that have caused us no end of headaches and expensive, ultimately futile, repairs, we don't want to have to go through that with this car.

Bloody nuisance, and a worrying one at that.

Not so bad after all

 It's 3.30 am and I can't sleep.

Husband's alright now, he thinks it was all down to lack of sleep through worrying about the car.  He phoned a local garage yesterday morning, they can fix the car next Tuesday.  He then went back up to bed for a couple of hours and felt better when he came back down.

Next Tuesday is of course the 1st March....Caravan Day.  However, I'd already checked the weather forecast for next week and it's supposed to be showery that day, but sunny the rest of the week at the caravan park.  So I'd already thought it would probably be better to wait until the Wednesday, bearing in mind we'll have a car full of stuff to carry into the caravan, and more stuff (the old sofa cushions and fittings) to bring out, load into the car and take to the tip.  With the car being poorly (it's an electrical fault that keeps putting the car into limp mode, meaning it can only crawl along), and the mobile mechanic (who is a friend of a friend) not being able to come to fix it until the 10th March, I wasn't best pleased but was resigned to it...C'est la vie and all that.  However, now the local garage can do it on the 1st.....brilliant!  One day late to the caravan is nothing, especially when the weather will be better the day after.

I can definitely hear better now, following my ear microsuction on Monday.  It was a bit of a strange experience, didn't hurt at all but did make me shiver a bit and it was quite noisy (imagine a tiny vacuum cleaner actually inside your ear).  The very nice lady insisted on showing me the wax and going into great detail about it.....then saw my expression 😳 and said "Sorry, I am a bit of a geek about ear wax!" 😂  She said I'd probably feel a bit of fullness in my ears for a day or two, and most likely wouldn't notice much change to my hearing until that feeling had worn off, which it now has.  I think I'll still go and have my hearing tested, though - it's been 3 years since I last had it done, when I was given the hearing aids.

As for my knee, I completely forgot to ring the GP yesterday morning.  I rang in the afternoon, when I remembered, only to be told to ring again tomorrow - they organise the GP's phone appointments in the mornings.  I've stuck a note by the phone to remind me to do it when they open this morning.

Thank you to those of you who recommended particular types of knee braces or supports, I've ordered one, it should arrive tomorrow.  It's an adjustable one with stiff supports either side of the knee, a hole over the kneecap, and does up with velcro straps.  Should fit over the top of my jeggings - well I hope so, they're too tight in the leg for it to fit underneath.  And thank you Kim, I've also ordered (as they're out of stock at the moment but will be in next week) the phone from Argos - £7.00 bargain - so at least we'll have use of a phone if we have another extended power cut.

Baking yesterday - I made a sausage plait, which will do us for 2 lunches at the caravan with an apple and cake, and 2 easy dinners - one with chips and beans, the other with salad and coleslaw.   I also made a dozen muffin-sized individual light fruit cakes, most of them frozen to take to the caravan but I did leave 4 out for husband. 

Invalid in the house

 Husband did a covid test this morning, he's not very well, had snotty nose, sore throat and headache for 2 days.  It's negative, so he's just got man flu (a cold).  So he'll be lying on the sofa watching TV.....no change there then! 😂.  Well, except he'll no doubt be requesting hot drinks and a sandwich, in a weak voice.  I might take pity on him and make him a fruit cake, I'm sure he'll be able to manage a slice of that.  As you can tell, I'm not a very good nurse, very unsympathetic bedside manner 😉😁😂

Means I'm confined to barracks, apart from dog walking.  Hopefully my knee won't give out whilst Betty and I are out, I don't fancy falling over in our muddy narrow lanes with tractors squeezing past.  Thankfully, it's not forecast to rain today, at the moment there's blue sky with some clouds and the sun is coming out.

Well, at least I've got plenty to do here....I plan on doing some baking for the freezer this morning, then this afternoon I'll be upstairs crocheting, I should finish my latest throw today.