Katie and the Pigs

Welp. I’m officially roadworthy, but significantly poorer. 😕

I should not be left unattended in the vicinity of bookshops.

FT comments section this morning - saying what everyone else is thinking, right?

a monkey is sitting on a rock in the woods and looking at something . ALT: a monkey is sitting on a rock in the woods and looking at something .

MOT & Service Day. Which means I am stranded in Stirling until the garage is done with my car.

Loving the pink moon. She’s so pretty.

Today I mostly stripped a load of wallpaper, taped and primed 2 annoying 15-panel doors and (far more satisfyingly) crowbarred a load of hideous dado rails off the walls.

Note to self: I need to crowbar more things. Feels very badass. 💪

Actually neither. Because I’m not going to dox myself.

Updated my address with all my banks, insurers, pensions, taxes, etc and the only one to be a dick was eSure, my car insurer. My annual premium went up by £1.36 and they charged me a £27 admin fee. To change the address on my account.

Wankers.

I officially have a new house. Look how cute my new street is. Proper Scottish village vibe.

I see it’s all going swimmingly…

I’m 30% excited and 70% terrified about the amount of cleaning, painting, decorating, reflooring, fencing and other joyous things I need to do…

Tomorrow I get the keys to my first home.

It’s not actually the first home I’ve bought. I bought my Mum’s place for her 23 years ago after her divorce left her essentially homeless. I wasn’t having that, so I stepped up.

And now, I am finally (!) able to buy a home for me. 🏡 🙂

How do I get a job as the AP’s Adorable Owl Correspondent?

Extraordinary that in these fractious & divided times, so many of us can unite around the single, simple fact that Matthew Goodwin is an irredeemable twat.

a woman wearing a black shirt with butterflies on it says a repeating pattern with her hands in the air ALT: a woman wearing a black shirt with butterflies on it says a repeating pattern with her hands in the air

Did the thing of doing a chore I’ve been putting for over a year. Took 20 minutes. Was easy. Ffs.

It’s decidedly Springy in Stirling today. Dumyat is looking craggy and inviting in the sunshine. Happily not long until I can safely do some evening hill walks in the Ochils. ⛰️

Tremendous news from Manchester. Their new Green MP seems like a decent egg. And that arse of a man losing (and it not even being close) is the icing on the cake.

patrick star from spongebob is holding a bunch of money in his hand and says i have $ 3.00 ALT: patrick star from spongebob is holding a bunch of money in his hand and says i have $ 3.00

The money for the new house and all my legal fees transferred to my solicitor overnight so I am suddenly very poor. Luckily it’s pay day tomorrow so my penury will be short lived. But still.

It was borderline impressive how bad it was. I’m feeling very… stabby.

2hrs. It took me 2hrs to cancel my current broadband service. In that time I've gone from being "meh" about Virgin Media to hating them with the intensity of a thousand suns.

Attempting to cancel my VirginMedia broadband because they don’t provide service to my new village. My God, the hoops… I’m in a 26 minute virtual queue because I can’t just press some buttons and terminate my account. 😫

Attempting to write something with a group of people. They’re building on a draft I wrote.

I’m dying inside as I watch my vibrant horse slowly being turned into a corporate camel. 🐫

He’s taken one big project off my shoulders. Is trying to steer another looming one away from me. And has drafted a scrum master to help me with delivery on another one.

Asking for help is difficult but worth doing before you sink below the waves….

Had a serious chat with my boss today about my completely unsustainable workload. I’m a workhorse. But I am not a wizard. And I don’t have any cloning or time travel devices. And I refuse to make myself ill trying to do All The Things.

(He was very cool about it…)

Luckily my gentleman friend is a sports massage therapist and although his specialism is torturing professional athletes, he will occasionally do a nice relaxing massage for mortals (even though he finds them boring).

Have booked a hot stone massage the week after I move since I know I’m going to be knackered and achy from humpfing boxes, moving furniture, stripping carpet, and doing a load of painting and decorating. I’m preemptively sore just thinking about it.

Watching the Amy Adams film Leap Year - a romcom set in Ireland - and wondering how the Irish feel about this insanity.

Having a paper/photo declutter. Found this pic of me aged 4. 😆

I’m at the stage of packing where my living room has become a giant three dimensional game of Tetris.