My month in numbers - August edition

Brought to you in conjunction with Julie Kirk's Month in Numbers challenge - you can find out all about it here ...

So as we pull up the anchor of August and set sail into the sunset it's appropriate to start with a photo of that sunset

which was the last in the 21 photos needed to complete Rinda's Scavenger Hunt. 

This month I had 31 days of not working and yet still being paid.  The major perk of being a secretary in a school.  The downside is that I am not allowed time off at any other time of year other than the official school holidays but let's not dwell on that.

The month started with 7 days in sunny Ibiza.  According to the in flight information screen that's just over 900 miles.  When we arrived at the hotel we were allocated room 101.  Hang on a minute.  According to the TV series, isn't room 101 where you put things you detest?  Didn't George Orwell invent room 101 as the place you put people to endure their own worst nightmare?  Well, my nightmare is lifts - can't bring myself to step inside one, so any room number that starts with a 'one' means I can walk to it via a staircase so that is fine by me.

For someone scared of lifts, staying in a hotel set into a hillside means there are a lot of steps to negotiate during the course of a day.  21 stairs between our room and reception.  32 stairs down to the dining room.  Another 19 stairs down to the bar/pool area.  Then another 21 to the terrace we used to like to have our sun loungers.  So with all that exercise how come I returned home to find I weighed 2lb heavier than when I left?

Number of books read - 4.  Quite a variety too.  First off was The Great Gatsby because although I had seen the film three times in my Robert Redford phase in the 70s, I had never actually read the book. Next up was The Abomination by Jonathan Holt.  It was one of the best books I have read this year and I strongly recommend it.  First of a trilogy, I can't wait for book two to be published.  Then I read the Little Coffee Shop of Kabul by Deborah Rodriguez which was an easy, good read and read within 2 days. The third was The Rose Petal Beach by Dorothy Koomson.  So good.  If you saw the Ice Cream Girls on tv, this is from the same author. Quite a few twists to the story. 

Moving on swiftly - I may be responsible for a wax candle shortage this month.  235 candles would bite the dust in August! 27 of them to a very special girl - my daughter.  How can I possibly be old enough to have a 'child' that age?

Meals out this month.  7 in Ibiza and 3 in England.

And a late inclusion.  16 butterflies found sleeping in our garage. The discovery of these was followed by the hysterical scream of 'We've got baby bats nesting in the garage - get them out!!!!'  Which was followed by a proper investigation, a sigh and a slight shake of the head and 'They're butterflies, Deb.  They aren't going to harm you.'  I'm still not totally happy about them being there but extremely happy that they weren't bats. 

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

So onto the communal count for this month. 

I'm throwing my hat in the ring for the earliest time I got up this month.  3.50am.  That was a night of very little sleep.  But in a good cause because I was booked in for an early flight from Stansted Airport! 

(It wasn't the earliest I was awake that night though and anyone with grown up children may understand this.  R had gone up to London with friends for a night out.  They had booked a minibus to take them back to a friend's house.  She was planning to stay overnight with that friend and then get a taxi home the next day. At the last minute she decided to come home after all.  The mini bus would drop her at the station and she would get a taxi home at about 2am - or 2.30am at the absolute latest.  I went to bed at 10pm to get a decent amount of sleep before the alarm went off at 3.50am.  At 2.45am I woke up.  Don't know why, just wide awake.  I knew that R wasn't home because she cannot come in the front door quietly and tends to put all the lights on in the house as she comes upstairs.  Looked at my phone.  No messages.  Wonder where she is. Lie wide awake for about 10 minutes.  Look at phone again.  Maybe I'll just call her to see how far from home she is.  No answer.  Whoever invented the silent button on mobile phones?  Then at just before 3am I hear the engine of a taxi outside, the slam of a door, the loud 'Thank you', the crunch of footsteps across the gravel path.  I get out of bed, tiptoe downstairs to try not to wake the dog and hear her mumbling outside as she searches for her front door key.  I open the door for her. 'Awwww Mum!' she says as she sees me, 'You shouldn''t have waited up.  'Night')   

Number of visitors to the house.  19.  Not bad considering we weren't here for a week of August!  However, 12 of them came in one batch for pre-going out drinks for our daughter's birthday.

So come on then, let's pop over to Julie's to see what numbers other people have come up with this month.