Plans
We can plan as much as we like – but if those plans involve depending on other people, then sometimes, the plans go out the window!
Deliveries
Take today for example! One of my volunteers is waiting patiently for a delivery for our charity. They have taken at least three hours out of their day to wait from 9am-12pm for a timed delivery. This meant getting children out of the house on time (or early) to get to the delivery location. It meant planning ahead to have something to fill those hours whilst waiting. All the things you would do before leaving the house in the morning.
It is now 12pm. No delivery. The delivery depot is around an hour away. The delivery is not even on a lorry yet! New expected delivery is 1pm – 1.30pm. Not helpful to anyone. Beyond our control. Plans out the window! So three hours of volunteer time, is now four or five or even longer! Not helpful. Not amused.
Appointments
Then there’s my cooker. Now, with a food blog, a cooker is a very important part of daily life! Most meals are cooked from scratch so the cooker is used a lot. However, it has decided it no longer wants to cook! Thankfully, I have a cooker repair policy and a couple of weeks ago, I booked a repair for 3rd September. The engineer ordered no less than eight new parts. Today is 16th September and a different engineer was scheduled (and arrived on time) to come to fix it. Guess what… he turned up without the parts! Yes, and he drove around fifty miles to get to me! No parts. No fix.
Honestly, sometimes you couldn’t make it up!
What can you do?
I am sure this is enough to stress most people out? Maybe it is how we react that gets us through such plan disruption? Anyway. Today – plans out of the window for sure. Two peoples plans disrupted, because the reliance was on other people doing their job properly. I am – to say the least VERY cross! On both counts! For my volunteer who had taken time out of their day to do something good for charity and for myself cancelling other plans (oh yes, I have not even told you that I was supposed to be somewhere else at the exact same time that the engineer decided to arrive – somewhere that needed paying for and cannot be refunded)! and still not having the cooker fixed.
However, these events were all out of our control – EVEN if we had confirmed the delivery time and reminded the company to send the parts.
I can either spend the day getting more and more wound up, or I can get on with other things while I wait. Of course, In an ideal world I would choose the latter, and of course I know that is the best solution, but today. Today I am staying cross! I have wasted four hours of my day for something beyond my control. Sometimes it is too difficult to see past the present – especially when the problems are outstanding. As long as you acknowledge this, you can move forward. So now… I will leave the cooker until I receive a phone call and I will go and relieve my volunteer and wait for the delivery myself.
Changing Seasons
Ha! A random change of topic you might think! Not at all – the weather is changing so I am taking my focus to foods for cooler weather! I am thinking of all those lovely soups and warm comforting pies, getting the slow cooker out of hiding and creating lots more tasty recipes – which can be made without the cooker!!!
Have you had any soup yet? Do you have favourite Autumn foods? Are you looking forward to eating pumpkins and squash and leaving the salads behind for now?
What do you need for the new season?
A few weeks ago when it was back to school, many people out of education bought new journals, planners and pens. Yes, of course I bought myself a new notebook and a friend gifted me some lovely metallic pens. Now I think (for when my cooker is fixed), I need to get some lovely new Autumn cookware! Of course I already have a slow cooker, but there is no harm looking for a larger one, or maybe some new soup bowls!
These links will take you straight to Amazon where you can then search as usual for anything you need. If you follow these links, Amazon might pay us a small commission, which goes towards paying the website hosting fees. We’d be very grateful if you do, thank you! Have a look at these: chopping boards, kitchen knives, Autumn cookware, baking trays, slow cookers and find our favourite items in our NEW Life Diet Health Amazon shop. Much appreciated!
Sharing
I would love for you to share my website with others! If you have any recipes you would like to see, or topics you would like covered – drop me a line! As always, if you make or adapt any of my recipes, share your creations and tag me @LifeDietHealth on social media so I can see it too. You can also use #LifeDietHealth on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook or X.
I hope your day is going smoother than mine!
Leave me a comment below… I love to chat!
I hope to speak with you soon,
Laurena x
Sorry to hear about these headaches! Really not fair on your volunteer…
We recently had a puncture 10 minutes’ away from home. When the guy eventually found us, he said he couldn’t take us with him in our car… we just thought he would change the tyre there and then, but took the car to our garage (which had already closed for the day lol but somehow took it there).
Taxi drivers here must be pleased there are very few Ubers in Germany (only available in major cities) as it cost 40€ for a 10 km journey 🤪
Hello Eva. Most defintiely not fair on her – the delivery finally arrived around 1.30pm but then of course needed unpacking and sorting! Another 2.5 hours out of her day ( I wasn’t much use as I had a meeting)! She is most amazing – especially giving up her time like that to help others (the products will be distributed out to some of our 30 registered Community Partners – who in turn support around 2000 per week).
Re your tyre… how could he take your car away and leave you stranded (I am assuming that is what happened)? Hope it got sorted quickly (once your garage was open) but er, do neither of you know how to change a tyre yourself?
Raf would have changed it had he had one- a few couples stopped to chat to us about how awful it is that newer cars no longer provide it lol. Maybe we should keep a spare one in the boot. The tow guy assumed we would be picked up by friends or family, as if everyone has this, or at least people living nearby🤪
Oh! Not even a smaller temporary one or the sealant spray type? How bizarre! Maybe that’s one way of increasing profit margins- much like a shrinking chocolate bar! Same price less features! I still have one in mine!