Sheffield – 30th & 31st July

It was another busy day on Tuesday 30th July, I did a couple of hours work before breakfast of cereals and a cup of Yorkshire tea. I got the bus in to town to go meet another friend, Helen H. I’m not sure how long it’d been since I saw her but she hadn’t changed and still looked classy and very well. We’d chosen Lloyds, another Wetherspoons, and Helen had been lucky to find a seat in a shady spot – it was certainly too warm for a pashmina. I was desperate for a drink after walking from the bus station so went inside to grab a menu and help myself to the free iced water at the end of the bar – impressive. As it happened, it was Steak Tuesday today so I had steak with a jacket potato and Helen had a chicken salad. Even Helen was doing what Louisa had done and using the app on her phone to order food and drink. We both had a glass of wine and I was impressed that it had only cost me £11 for my meal and drink. I wasn’t expecting much from the meal but I was very impressed with how nicely cooked the steak was and how soft the inside of my potato was. We had a great catch up, reminiscing of all the ‘fun’ times when we worked together and all the laughs. After lunch, we said our farewells as I needed to sort something with my bank, which had been an ongoing saga and ultimate nightmare.

I had an old account I set up years ago that I’d been trying to close since Covid times when I found out they were charging me £13 a month for an unused account which had since got to almost £500 overdrawn. I did keep contacting them to sort it but, for various ridiculous reasons, it never got resolved and I got told it would have to be sorted out in person at the branch.
I was at the branch and a lovely lady there tried to help but couldn’t so put me on the phone to the head office call centre, the same place I had spoken to many times without successful resolution. I explained everything again and there was nothing the woman could do except to refer to her manager. At last it was being escalated and I expected a call back later this afternoon.
I left the bank, bumping in to my sister and April. April had just passed her driving theory test so was pleased and ready to go for her test. I had to dash as I was off to meet more friends for drinks at Kelham Island. I was going to walk it but then thought better of it and got the tram, unfortunately I shouldn’t have bothered as it wasn’t any quicker and they overcharged me. It was only £2.80 instead of £2.40 but it meant I had to have a purse full of coins because of changing a £20 note, when I’d only had £2.50 in change. I queried it but the conducted insisted he was right and I was wrong. Obviously, I found out much later on that I was right when I got charged £2.40 on the return journey.
As I approached the entrance to Kelham Island Tavern, my phone rang and it was the bank. The same woman I had spoken to less than 1 hour ago had called me back, profusely apologised it had come to this and explained her manager had agreed to remove all the charges up to 21st August 2021. This came to £450 approximately so meant I would need to put in £50. I wasn’t happy at having to do that, given £50 was put in in January 2023 and got eaten by fees and charges. Nevertheless I agreed just to get the bloody account back to zero so that I could close it. She advised I had to do it well before the end of August as the next £13 charge would be due again.
I was late so Linda had been waiting on her own for a while and I felt bad, Louisa was also late but arrived not long after with Charlie. I felt like one of those aunties who comments on how much kids had grown since last seeing them, but my gosh Charlie really had. He was a man now and looked like he worked out! We had a drink in the Kelham Island Tavern and celebrated him recently graduating with a first, while we waited for Kerrie to come down after work. It was good to catch up and our next stop was the Fat Cat. It was beer garden weather and we had a good laugh, before Kerrie had to leave. Our final pub was The Wellington, one of mine and Captain Caveman’s favourites. There was talk of us getting a takeaway at one point, but I was good and went home, getting in to town about 8.30pm. I should’ve got a day ticket as I’d ended up wasting £9.20 on bus and tram fares today but I’d not really known exactly how I was going to be travelling.
Back home, I was delighted to find that Ma had made a sweet and sour chicken and had saved me some. It was so tasty and just what I needed.

Wednesday 31st July was meant to be a productive day because I’d promised my Mom I would stay at home today to sort out the rest of my stuff from the loft. My first job though was to get weighed and measured. To my amazement, I was the same weight as last week despite having 383 syns. I’d lost 1cm from my bust and waist and 2cm from my hips. I have no idea how. I had beans on toast and a hot chocolate for breakfast then I did 5.5 hours work with a break in the middle. I managed to find my school certificates, pension documents, as well as birth, marriage and divorce documents. The tenants in Dalyan complained about the disappearing gardener again and I asked him to cut the bush as they were getting spiked coming in the gate. I was still fed up of our bloke but was even more cheesed off when he posted photos of a fab looking complex on his business page. I took a screenshot of it and sent it to him saying ‘why can’t you make our complex as nice as this is!!?’ He didn’t reply but he did get the bougainvillea bushes tended to. I didn’t have time for lunch but did eat some crisps and a Double Decker chocolate bar while sifting through paperwork to shred. For dinner my Mom made sausages with potatoes and vegetables and I really enjoyed it. We had some wine and then played Scrabble outside.