Sunday 6 February 2011

Time for Change

It’s been a very busy time for me, this winter.  When I last wrote in this blog in October 2010 I was waiting, like many other public servants, to see how Mr Osborne’s Spending Review of 20 October 2010 would affect me.  After much of a lifetime spent working in what seemed like the World’s safest job, I little thought that the changes which would come would be any more than a few adjustments, each of little magnitude, adding up to a bit more work and a bit less pay.  No significant change, I thought.  How wrong I was.

So by the time April comes I shall be without work.  In truth, I have rotten health so it’s something of a relief, and I’m certainly not going to moan about it.  I am fortunate that I have a husband whose income will feed us both and we will not be destitute.  I shall be shopping carefully and looking after us both well.

Bishops Castle Michaelmas Fair 2010
And as if losing my job wasn’t stressful enough, I’ll be moving house too.  We have spent this cold, cold winter in a rented home which has Victorian insulation (ie, none) and a very poor heating system.  We can’t wait to leave, and so we’ve been spending winter weekends preparing our future home so that it best meets our requirements.  No doubt I shall be blogging about solar power in the not too distant future.

All of this weekend work has meant that my bike has been locked away in hibernation!  My poor legs have hardly pedalled for three months and I’m going to have a really hard time getting fit again, especially as my new home is nestled amongst Shropshire hills, whose minor byways are not for the faint hearted.  At least I haven’t had to pump up tyres and oil chains.  But then, pumping up my tires can be exercise too, as it taxes my arms much more than knitting does. 

All change then.  A new home, a new lifestyle, and lots of adaptations.  I shall just have to wait to see how I shall cope with it all.