Bee Orchid's articles

Life is made up of moments: Moments when we’re troubled – when a loved one drops a bombshell. Moments when we’re ecstatically happy – the birth of a child. Moments when we’re sad – the death of a loved one. Moments when we’re blissful – when the world just is. Moments of anguish – a cross word at the wrong time. Moments of frustration – when people don’t do their job correctly. Moments when we’re content – cosied up in a chair with a warm drink, watching the world through the window. Moments of…

The rain has gone, for now at least, and surprisingly for a Bank Holiday weekend (UK), it’s forecast to be very warm and sunny. I popped out Saturday around 10am, and it was already 19C. The next few days are set to be sunny, as mentioned, though by Tuesday we could have more rain. By then, I think we’ll need some, just not copious amounts thank you very much. After providing my financial details, I had a small reduction in my Council Tax. Not much, but anything helps. I have £20 in grocery v…

Despite the promise of warmer temperatures, and sunnier days, it’s starting to feel very autumnal here. I don’t know if it’s the wildly swinging temperature, or the heavy rainfall and high winds, but this morning, whilst walking the dog, I was kicking through leaves as if it were autumn already. Having said that, in the UK, it will be autumn soon it just seems to have come around quickly this year. The weather made me think of my Grandparents. For a time, we lived with them during the breaku…

After almost a month, I finally have the decision on whether I qualify for any financial assistance. They’ve had me attend numerous appointments, provide 2 months’ worth of bank statements, asked why I paid a lot of money to a certain group – it’s my credit card bill, asked details of what was on it, asked about my pension – all details I had given T at our initial interview. I has been passed onto J as T was going on holiday, and it seems he was so focussed on his holiday that he neglected to c…

Okay, that’s something they suggest on a shampoo bottle; however, this seems to be my sleep (or not) pattern as of late. Falling asleep to the neighbour’s TV (how did I manage before?) then being woken by them at stupid O’clock (just for you Gracie) leaving their house and chatting loudly outside whilst they wait for their taxi. Then I fall asleep again, only to be woken around 4:45 by awful pins and needles in my hands. By this time, I’m so p*ssed off I can’t then get back to sleep. Good grief!…

I love words, and whilst I don’t confess to being verbose, I do like long words that require a little thought. From a young age, I would look up words that I didn’t know, and my Mum went out of her way to provide us with an encyclopaedia set. I know they’re old hat now, with easy access to the net, however as a child, I loved to sit with a book and look things up and I still do love words and books. Doing an English degree helped add fuel to that love and I thoroughly enjoyed essay writing, an…

Thursday: I popped out to the supermarket before 8am to get some much-needed groceries. It was already 19C. It was forecast to be the hottest day so far this year, so an early shop was in order. I bought most of what I needed in one store, though needed a few things still, so popped along to the local store only to find there were no salad items at all, and none of the chilled items I wanted either. Apparently, they had issues with the weather, and a number of their fridges had stopped working.…

There is a song that has the title Mad dogs and Englishmen. Apparently satirising our unwillingness to take a siesta during the heat of the day. Well, Monday I tried to take a siesta. It was d*mn hot here, and very airless so after lunch I escaped to my bedroom where I listened to the dog pacing downstairs, blaring music, drilling, and some a-hole revving his engine in the street. The final straw was the dog barking at the person who delivered yet more junk mail to our house. After 35 minutes of…

After more than 2 years off from plundering ships on the open waves, this pirate’s treasure chest is starting to look a tad depleted. Initially, I was recovering from being worked almost to death 60% of the time and bored to death 40% of the time. Then of course both parents passed away, and a house move to save money longer term ensued, then I was merely ‘lazy’ for a while. Now, it’s full steam ahead looking for something that will add to the coffers. After seeing nothing much for months, I hav…

I’m an optimist, or optimistic; I’m positive, confident about the future, about things changing for the better, both on a global and a personal scale. Sometimes, I confess, I see the world through rose-tinted glasses, and often, I have my head in the clouds. I know bad things happen, and I do read the news however mainly only the bad things are reported, and I still maintain there are a lot of good people in this world. Whilst I don’t really put much score in astrology, I am a typical Libran. I…

I like food, and if it’s not too spicy, or screaming in garlic, then it likes me too. Obviously, we need food to survive and without it, we would soon die so it’s essential to our wellbeing and health, however if it can be enjoyed too, then all for the better. When I was at university, we had a very long lunchbreak one day a week, it was just the way the timetable worked out but sitting around waiting for our final lesson of the day was a drag so I determined that on that day, I’d invite my…

Despite sleeping a lot better recently, this week the Klutz Gene has been working overtime. I’ve twice walked into the bookcase in the living room. One time just a graze from the corner, the other time I must have walked heavily into it and actually cut my shoulder on the corner. Just a small cut, but man did it bleed. Taking an oven tray out of the oven, I managed to touch my other arm with the tray, no idea how, and was ‘treated’ to a thin burn more than 2 inches long. To add insult to injury,…

Forget Dora, I’m Fran the Explorer lol. A few times, after dropping off my son at Uni, I’ve cut through the housing area rather than go around on the main road. My sense of direction in the UK is particularly poor, however it didn’t let me down, and I found the shop I wanted, and cut out numerous traffic signals and traffic. I say in the UK, because many years ago my then-husband and I visited friends in Canada. He was always ‘lost’ however I always knew where we were, and I said at the time, an…

Friday was an auspicious day; it was/would have been my dad’s Birthday, it was the longest day or Summer Solstice, and I had an interview for an admin job. I’ve been somewhat distracted of late mostly by the latter, but also by the first a little, and I’ll phone my kid sister this weekend to check on her; she was closer to Dad. So, an interview. The post was in a local hospital, an admin role that also involved answering phone calls to the department. I’d done my research, had a little noteb…

Recently, I opened a new jar of coffee. We have coffee bags here – ground coffee in a bag much like tea in a tea bag. Also ground coffee for the espresso maker. However, day to day, we drink instant espresso, powdered coffee, from a jar. It’s very good IMO and certainly does the trick if one is in a hurry. Opening a fresh jar always smells so good and I’ve been known to breathe it in, deeply. Love that aroma. Another nice thing to open is… look away all you marmite haters… a fresh jar of mar…

It’s been a busy time here. Saturday, we actually had some sunshine, and looking ahead and seeing rain on the weather forecast, I decided it would be a good idea to get on top of the laundry. I managed to get 3 half-loads almost dried, with the final load just needing a quick finish in the tumble drier. In between checking laundry, I spent the weekend cleaning the house from top to bottom including the oven and fridge prior to the upcoming house inspection. Monday, I popped out for a top-up s…

As someone who has lived most of their life in Wales, I do still follow events there even though I’ve moved away. This week, after spending at least £44M on a public inquiry and ‘other costs’ over the years, the Welsh government has now scrapped the idea of an M4 (motorway) relief road. It’s good news for the immediate environment as one of the relief road possibilities was through an area of natural beauty full of wild birds, however it’s bad news for commuters. As someone who used to live in t…

Yet again I’ve had a gas bill for over £1200, and yet again I made an official complaint. A manager called me, stated that it had all been sorted, but that for reasons known only to herself, someone had gone into my account and altered the meter reading back to the incorrect 5-digit reading. OMG! He’s sorted it all out, again, and it now seems they owe me over £150. I’m not sure about that though they state E-On provided the wrong readings in the first place. A meter reader is coming out next mo…