Saturday 11th December

Yesterday's highlight was receiving my very first state pension payment. It's paid in arrears every four weeks but this initial payment was for a shorter period to allow future payments to fit into their schedule, ensuring that I'll be paid on the correct date from now on. I'm just glad that the correct amount was paid into the correct bank account as there have been quite a few reports of people not being paid correctly and it taking a considerable time to sort out. Now I know that I'm in the system I can go ahead with my plans to have a cleaner and follow up on the quotes I received. 

This week's Age Well class focused on the importance of continuing to maintain mental and social engagement. The five points discussed covered the benefits of doing something new (change is good for the brain), managing stress, being positive about ageing, the benefits of volunteering, and challenging your brain with an activity or activities that make you think. I've been focusing on this aspect of life since I've been alone and think I'm doing well on maintaining the mental engagement side of things. In 2020 I started learning Italian and in 2021 I started having piano lessons, both activities chosen because I wanted to do them but with the added benefit that they also fulfil the requirement to 'do something new' and to 'challenge my brain'. I think I already do well for these two requirements as family tree research and puzzles of all sorts fit into this category as well, although to count the puzzles (jigsaws, crosswords, sudoku, etc.) they need to be hard enough to really challenge you - if you find them relatively easy to complete, then the 'challenge' element is missing so would be classed as something you are doing for fun. I do know that the social side of life needs to be improved, not just because of the restrictions imposed by Covid, so with this in mind I have agreed to take part in a year long photography challenge with friends during 2022. I don't know what it involves or how it will be organised but I'm sure it will be fun and will enhance my life in some way. I'll let you know what it involves as soon as I know.

I managed to place the rest of the adverts yesterday so fingers are crossed that everything sells. It took way longer than I'd estimated so I didn't make it to town but I did get the meal planning done and amended today's delivery to include the extras that I'll need. That's due this afternoon between 4pm and 8pm (the only slot available) so if it arrives early enough I will do a bit of batch cooking this evening. 

As for the weekend plans, I'll be staying at home. I'm expecting three visits from people to view items for sale and hopefully complete those transactions, and if I get any other enquiries on the new adverts I will try to organise for those items to be viewed over the weekend as well. I don't plan to do much today, just family tree research and catching up on TV programmes. Tomorrow morning I'll be on cooking duties, completing the remainder of the batch cooking to a background of Christmas music, and then the rest of the day of reading, watching a film (if there's one I fancy watching), and possibly some more online searching for the new outfit I want to buy in January/February.