Summer Fortunes To Spending Fortunes

I love May and June – late spring, early summer is where I always seem to get the most enjoyment out of life, the best feeling.

The weather is potentially at its best – not quite peak heat of summer, there can be long spells of glorious weather, as there was this year, there are good chances of thunderstorms – though of course not with my storm shield deflecting them.

The trees are blooming (albeit hayfever can sting), flowers looking gorgeous – I love passing by wild flower hedges, ducklings will have hatched – life is blooming once more. My detox is over, other people are enjoying the sunshine too, everyone else seems happier. And I bloom too.

I’ve been to a beer festival at Printworks, investigated the new Battersea Power Station centre – one gorgeous bar called Control Room B, albeit with shit beer, then the Joia rooftop restaurant opposite is just opulence – the kind I should be banned from.

Three trips to theatre – one to see The Wagatha Christie Trial (I didn’t really follow the actual trial so the play was a lot of me thinking “did she really say that in court?”), the other to see Patriots – a play about Boris Berezovsky, the Russian oligarch.

And the final one was to see The Great Gatsby, as a ballet – which was just mesmerizing – and my parents loved it, which I think was their first trip to the ballet. Son done well. Ballet for the win.

Oh and also went to see the BBC Earth Exhibition – overpriced but stunning videography.

I made it out of London too – twice! Once for a disco festival in Reading, in the old Abbey Ruins – alas it was ruined somewhat by horrendous queues for the bar, not to mention waiting for ages for a train home too.

The other trip was to Wales with two of my closest advisors – had some nice walks in the countryside, some good food (although a disgustingly burnt £30 steak too) and just generally enjoyed being chill.

Though I think the highlight of early summer was going to Taste London – a food festival in Regent’s Park. There was such a good vibe, glorious sunshine, some great food, some weird food, some…erm…vegan bacon, free wine tasting and even a little bit of music – not to mention the mixture of hot women and smoked meat smells – sensory overload.

Broken

Alas as the weather changed, and summer broke – life became more challenging, and I’m about to become as broke as our summer.

One of my goals this year was to get some health data – and well, it isn’t great. High cholesterol and blood pressure, though they forgot to test diabetes and liver functions, so I have to go back for more bloody blood tests. Urgh NHS efficiency.

I also need to sort my teeth out – alas I cannot afford both implants to replace those long gone and buy a flat – getting out of house-sharing, which is getting ever more intolerable, is more of a priority. But I have had some gloriously torturous NHS dental work done in the meantime for fillings that fell out during covid. Proper pain.

I’ve had a family funeral into the mix, and other concerns about people close to me – if you know, you know, but I won’t say on my blog obviously.

I do remember thinking during joyous June that this level of happiness cannot last – and BANG, it didn’t. Of course. Work is also painful…it is becoming harder and harder to achieve anything. I might be developing still, but I want our team to be successful and there are soooooo many hurdles being put in our way. Again, I’m kind of limited as to what I can say on a personal blog.

Then this flat buying thing. I feel like I got a good deal on the sale price – but fortuitous timing. I was rejected on a mortgage at 4.66%, but then achieved a mortgage on 4.99% – I was pissed off at the extra £50 a month, but now I’d be lucky to get 6%, which would be a prohibitive £200 extra a month ish.

Everything about buying a flat is so expensive. Even having to send signed documents at £6.85 with special delivery is like…urgh…why can I not use second class? 2x £1,000 apportionment retention fees have been added to my solicitors bills which are rather unexpected and unplanned for. I got my annual bonus this week (was nice) but this is now literally all taken up by upcoming expenses. Bang goes my holiday hopes…well…some of them anyway. If I want another holiday, then I actually have to save for it – ie spend less money. Spend less money when I’m not moving house is hard.

Spending less money when I need to choose a bed, choose a mattress…hang on…choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol (lol), and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments…yeah.

Anyway, so I need a bed, a mattress, a removals van, a toaster, curtains/blinds, a sofa-bed, a microwave, possibly a kettle. I need like a breakfast bar kind of table/stools for the kitchen. At the very least I need some form of chair for my parents when they visit to unpack my 1,800 CDs for my compact disc player.

I’m kind of scared about how expensive this is going to be. What else is going to poke its head around the corner?

Oh well, I’m going to Paris this weekend. Hopefully back to enjoying life after the struggles of the last couple of weeks. I’m proper excited now I’ve been researching restaurants…like…so many amazing restaurants. I might even have a cake.

Nobody tell M&S about the pigs…