**Disclaimer: I’m writing this latest selection of rants and raves after an enjoyable (?) hot day in my office at home. As a result, I have a feeling this rants and raves post will probably end up being a tad more what I call ‘ranty’ than normal.  As always, all rants and raves and moans and groans and rants represent my personal views and opinions. And yes, I’m aware that we are in the middle of a pandemic, however, I think that I’m allowed to have a bit of a grumble**

I want to start by saying good morning, good afternoon, good evening, etc to whoever takes the time out of their day to read my latest selection of rants and raves. I hope that you are continuing to cope with the current situation and that your family and friends are all safe and well. I’ve finally stopped dreaming about working from the office in Solihull, slightly ironic as I’m one of the few people who have been given authorisation to return to the office.

 As per usual I’ve waffled on far, far too much so here is my latest selection of rants and raves. Like last time, in an attempt to be more positive I’ve started and ended with raves. I hope that you enjoy this small insight into my mind.

Rave: I still have a job

If you follow me on Instagram – if you don’t then you’re missing out on almost daily randomness – then you may well have noticed me sharing a few job-related posts. I can’t go into too much detail as I’m aware that some of my colleagues have tracked down my blog *waves*. Let’s just say the first couple of weeks in July were very stressful. I’m currently employed on a fixed-term contract – this in itself has been a ‘rant’ before – and I’d been working on the assumption that my contract would end at the end of November. Not ideal, but I figured that I had several months to find a new job.

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A conversation with my line manager resulted in the discovery that my fixed-term contract was actually due to end at the beginning of September; there was an error in the contract we’d both seen. This news completely threw me and caused a lot of stress. I stopped sleeping and was struggling to focus on anything. Add in the seemingly never-ending updates in the news about massive job losses, stories of hundreds of people applying for one job, a complete lack of hydrology jobs, and I was stressed.

Like a lot of people, I’ve never been very good at dealing with uncertainty. I had to deal with a couple of weeks of what I’d describe as ‘will they, won’t they extend my contract?’ It was all very stressful. Fortunately, my contract has been extended so I won’t be leaving at the beginning of September. I feel incredibly lucky as I know thousands of people have lost their jobs. This experience made me realise I can’t spend my whole career on fixed-term contracts. I’ve now allocated time each day to search for jobs.

Rant: My left knee

It wouldn’t be a rants and raves post if I didn’t rant about either my foot or my knee. This time I’m going to have a bit of a grumble about my left knee. Having said that, as I’m sat typing this blogging masterpiece the top of my left foot is feeling a little dodgy, I’ve been trying to ignore it but have clearly failed. I can feel a rather strange tingling sensation in the exact location of my metatarsal stress fracture. Please don’t let it be another stress fracture.

Anyway, back to my left knee. I’m getting impatient and I can tell that all the fitness I built up during the Couch to 5k has disappeared. I’ve also got some awesome products I can’t review until I’m up and running again. I haven’t run for over a month now, I know four weeks is nothing but I’m getting frustrated. I’ve iced my knee every day and have even given myself an ice burn in the process. I’ve completed my strength and conditioning exercises every day. I’ve been taking all kinds of supplements and have been avoiding the stairs as much as I can.

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One day my left knee will be completely pain-free, I won’t feel a twinge all day. The next day I’ll feel like I’m back to square one and will experience loads of random twinges. I rejoined my running club on a good day. The second I received my membership card I had a bad day and my knee started to hurt. I’m starting to think my left knee is trolling me.

Rave:  Bessy’s Sweet Bakes

I’m pretty sure it was Anna who shared a photo of some tasty looking cookies she’d bought from Bessy’s Sweet Bakes on Instagram. I followed the Bessy’s Sweet Bakes account and discovered that their shop is restocked every Tuesday at 7pm. I also saw that there are a limited amount of boxes each Tuesday so it’s a case of once they’re gone they’re gone. A bit like the London Marathon ballot used to be.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I was ready and waiting on the website just before 7pm the following Tuesday. It was cookie heaven with six different types of very tasty looking cookies to choose from. I decided to order a mixed cookie box to start with so that I could try one of each. The mixed cookie box arrived a couple of days later and I managed to work my way through the six cookies quite (cross out) very quickly.

Although I loved all of the cookies, the choc chip cookie and the salted caramel cookie were my favourites. I’m not sure what went wrong but I got my days muddled and missed out on the deadline for orders the following week. Last week, I ordered a box of salted caramel cookies – I think they sold out pretty much instantly – they arrived on Thursday morning and my day instantly went from a C- to an A+.  If you love cookies I can guarantee that you’ll love Bessy’s Sweet Bakes cookies.

Rant: Scam calls and cold callers

Working from home has a lot of perks, it’s also made me realise just how many what I’m describing as scam phone calls I receive a day. The numbers seem to increase each week, I guess scammers have to make a living somehow. My landline is registered with the Telephone Preference Service but I still receive several scam calls a day. I’m sure you all know the type; your internet has been compromised, do you want a new boiler? There’s a fault on your internet line, strange when I was using the internet when you called.

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The Telephone Preference Service is a bit of a waste of time as although it prevents unsolicited sales and marketing calls, it does not prevent recorded/automated messages, silent calls, market research, overseas companies, debt collection, scam calls.

I also get a lot of what I describe as cold callers. The best was a rather dishevelled looking man asking me if I’d like to buy some fresh fish from him. That would be a no. I got a ‘No Cold Calling’ sticker from Birmingham Trading Standards as I thought it would look a bit more official than one off eBay. Unfortunately, the more persistent cold callers don’t seem to take any notice of it. It’s reached the stage that if I can’t see a car/van parked up outside, I don’t even bother walking downstairs to answer the door.

Rave: My Fitbit Charge 4

Back in May, I bought myself to a Fitbit Charge 4. I’d been researching fitness trackers for a while and decided to bite the bullet and to treat myself for my birthday. Although I’m aware that I’ve only used 25% of its features, my Fitbit has turned out to be one of my better lockdown purchases.

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The Fitbit Charge 4 has loads of features but my favourite is what I describe as the ‘reminder’ to move’ feature. I’ve set myself a target of nine ‘active hours’ a day so every hour between 9am and 5pm my Fitbit reminds me to move if I haven’t completed a minimum of 250 steps during each active hour. When I’m focused on my work I tend to forget to move and to take a break from my computer screen so having a reminder is really useful.

I also love the weekly progress reports I receive by email. I’ve set myself a range of daily targets including sleep, calories, weight loss, stairs, steps, and what Fitbit calls active minutes. In an attempt to make myself more accountable I’ve been sharing my weekly progress reports on Instagram. When I’m up and running again, I’m looking forward to seeing how accurate the inbuilt GPS is.

Rant: Family telling me how to live my life

I’m not going to go into too much detail here because I’m in the process of writing a life update post. This really struck a chord, I’m the scapegoat. Anyway, I’m sick and tired of certain members of my family taking great pleasure in belittling me and telling me how to live my life.

The questions are all too predictable… ‘When are you buying a house?’ ‘Do you regret not getting on the property ladder?’ ‘When are you buying a car?’ ‘Are you sure that you won’t regret not having children?’Arrraggghhhhh

I’m 41 and yes I know I’ve made a few mistakes during my life. Haven’t we all!? If I could, I would probably do some things differently. However, I can’t change the past so dwelling on my past mistakes isn’t healthy.

Rave: Breakfast smoothies

I’m going to start with a rave about another lockdown purchase; my NUTRiBULLET. Now I’m aware that a breakfast smoothie containing amongst other ingredients strawberries, blueberries, and a banana isn’t the healthiest of breakfast options.

However, my ‘breakfast’ used to comprise of two packets of smokey bacon crisps and two dairy milk chocolates. I like to think that starting the day with a breakfast smoothie is a far healthier option. I’ve been making a berry and banana breakfast smoothie but I’m always on the lookout for alternatives so please let me have your recommendations.

If you made it to the end of this latest random selection of rants and raves, thank-you. Spending the time writing this post was definitely worthwhile as I feel better for having a good old rant. As always, I hope that my rants were reasonable and that I haven’t inadvertently offended anybody.

Do you get a lot of cold callers where you live?I think my parents have the right idea. I need a house with an electric front gate. My Nan used to blow a whistle down the phone when she knew it was a scam caller. I’d probably be arrested if I did that now.

What have been your best and your worst lockdown purchases? Not all of my lockdown purchases have been positive. Looking back, I can’t believe I spent so much on fruit and vegetable boxes. Living alone meant that some of the contents of the boxes went out of date before I could eat them.

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