Wednesday

That strange sound at 5.30am was little Mouse ripping a chunk out of a 1930's armchair in the roon room, followed by the sound of me shouting.

Yesterday was unbearably hot - a quick flash of rain at noon and the constant rumble of thunder over the sea - but no propper break in the weather. Hot again already today - not even 6am yet.

Had an email informing me we are going to have approx 27 redundancies at work - and other changes. Not sue how / if this will effect me but not really thinking about it at the moment.

Today is the last day of my 20 day challenge. I've managed to get through over 2 weeks starting with a tenner and living on my wits and small change around the house ( actually - I did cheat and borrow a tenner off someone I work with ). The supermarket self service machines take small change so I've been paying for food with 5p pieces - I've also given about £50 in copper to the local animal rescue charity - after I realised that it was impossible to spend and I've had most of it for over 10 years- it filled most of a carrier bag.

I've actually eaten quite poorly - and have put on weight, fresh fruit and vegetables are really expensive so it's been rice, potatoes and pasta. Perversely - I've had a really good work month and have earned about £4k in 4 weeks - which is unusually high at the moment - but after tax, paying off more of the revenue, bills and other essentials - I will have nothing left. In 6 weeks the insurance on the house is due and I need to do some work upstairs. No matter how hard I work or how much I earn, and no matter how careful I am - there is never any money. I have a private dental appointment on my Birthday and an electricity bill to pay will will take up all of my disposable cash from this months salary - so here's hoping I get some more commercial work. I really need to buy £200 quids worth of sleepers for the garden so I can finally terrace it - that will probably add about 3K to the value of the house.

Talking garden, finished off the cherries yesterday - probably ended up with about 30 quids worth - and very lovely they were too! Will probably be able to cut more rhubarb at the weekend and that's something good top look forward to.

Have to run into work for an hour to see a student at lunch time - then back to tying up loose work ends.. have about £3 towards dinner... probably something with rice....