A Frustrating Day.

Grey, windy and mostly wet today.

Even if the weather hadn't been miserable there wasn't a walk planned for today. Instead it's the group's annual Christmas dinner at a pub near the Red Kite centre. I declined because meals out are just not my thing. Instead I'd hoped to get out for a beach walk but even if I'd wrapped up against the weather the tide was in and I would have had to walk on the shingle which isn't so nice. 

I planned to clear the rest (or most ) of the outstanding small jobs that had been niggling me for a while but that turned into a generally frustrating experience.

The first thing was to sort out our travel insurance. I know our holiday isn't until next year but the advice is to do it as soon as possible in case anything untoward crops up beforehand. Right I thought, I'll go with the company we used last time. But then I came across some dreadful reviews from people who had had to make a claim from them. That ruled them out. I ended up getting quotes from the Post Office (£250), our car insurers (£286) and the Co-Op (£517!!!). I went back and checked I put in the correct dates etc but the Co-Op was really that high, shan't use them then. By that time I'd lost the will to live and might wait for Vytas' advice before making a decision. 

Still on my pc I had hoped to book a surprise week away in St Ives next year as not only will it be my 70th birthday in the summer but it will be our 50th wedding anniversary in the autumn. I thought I'd come across an air B&B in the property that had been my first home in St Ives and that would have been ideal. Today I found three properties that had that name in the  same few streets where I grew up. I managed to rule one out when I saw the outside photos, I've already had an email reply from another which turns out to be a street away and I'll have to phone the third but I don't think that's it either. Such a shame.

Next I carried on with my search for the over-door hanger for the Christmas wreath as I know I've seen it not so long ago. I went up in the loft, looked through the boxes of decorations up there, came down and went through the boxes in the hall and checked some other places but still nada. Even if I did find it there's no knowing if the door will close with the hanger going over the top of it.

Lastly was a kitchen fail. We're going to have a little get-together at the end of choir next week and it was suggested we bring some small snacks. Home-made is always nicer in my view and as I have a rack/gadget for making potato crisps/chips in the microwave I thought I'd make sweet potato crisps. I carefully sliced the sweet potato by hand as it didn't work with the mandolin, loaded up the rack and started up the microwave. But the slices either stayed soggy or dried up completely, got burnt and went soggy afterwards. After the first few tries I gave up. The rack can go to the charity shop.

I had planned to make some marzipan fruit to put on top of the Christmas Bara Briths I've made but I knew that I was in such a cross mood that I'd probably end up making a mess of that so I've left it for another day.

I'm going to cheer myself up now with a coffee and a brownie. Tomorrow is new day.

At least the RNLI looked be having a fun training session this morning.