Down come our trees...

We've been involved in a long wrangle for over a year now over some trees in our car park which have been causing damage to one of the buildings next to us. We were finally given the go-ahead last week to have them felled and the men arrived early this morning to cut them down. We all knew it was going to happen but it was still sad to see them go, as in Spring and Summer they really are very beautiful, especially the flowering cherry which has gorgeous blossom. Luckily I have two of their offspring in the garden at work but I'll have to keep a close eye on them as we don't want them causing damage as well in years to come!

We opened to the public today as a lot of schools had a training day and we were busy which was a bonus. Sophie and Mikey also had the day off so Soph helped out in the kitchen while I caught up with a load of office work that had to be sorted before the end of the month...yes, it's March tomorrow. I can hardly believe it!

Another disappointing day...

Well, today didn't really go as planned and was a little (OK, maybe a lot) disappointing. Mum and I, along with a reluctant Sophie, went off down to Kent to see if I could find the graves of my great great grandparents who were buried at St Mary's Church in Stone. I was full of hope and optimism as the grave would have been dated 1919 and surely, I imagined, it would be legible. I was hoping to find birth dates on the grave and therefore solve a big mystery.

The reality, however, was that I found no trace of the grave so either my great great grandparents didn't have a headstone, or the one they had had weathered away (hard to believe). I was bitterly disappointed but we went off to Stone Cemetery again in the vain hope we might find them there, but no luck. I knew deep down they couldn't have been there as they weren't on the burial records so we said a quick hello to Frederick and Fanny and then drove off to Watling Street Cemetery to find the grave of my great grandmother, Ethel.

My luck was really out today as we couldn't find that one either and I was coming to the sad conclusion that maybe my relatives just couldn't afford a decent headstone to mark their graves. My great grandmother had died in 1917 when the first world war was raging and had left about 12 children so maybe the money just wasn't there to spend on a headstone.

We drove to Nan's flat in the rain feeling as miserable as the weather and had lunch. I'd planned on taking her to Eynesford for a cup of tea but the weather had turned nasty so that plan was postponed. She was very surprised to see us and after having something to eat, Sophie and I ventured back to the graveyard at St Mary's Church to see if we could have another look and to write down an inscription that we saw on a grave that included the name Collins. However, the recent rain had made the words much harder to read (typical!) so after wandering around and scaring ourselves silly we admitted defeat and headed back to pick mum up for the journey home.

Oh well...at least the drive was fast and problem-free!!

Domestic bliss!

I wish I could say I did something really exciting today, but I can't. After a lie-in, which was lovely, I was forced into doing some domestic chores that couldn't be ignored, such as changing our bedding and cleaning the nasty cupboard under the stairs where our waste bin lives. The children are put in charge of washing up and stacking the dishwasher and their aim when they scrape the plates is not always spot on, as I found out this morning. I have an almost obsessional thing about the kitchen being clean and tidy and I was disgusted with the state of this cupboard, so everything came out and about a million pairs of shoes taken upstairs (most of them belonging to Sophie). I'm sure there was something living in the bottom of the bin so that was subjected to a gallon of hot water to kill off any nasty bugs that were lurking about...

Sophie, bless her, was working for us today so I dropped her off at work at midday (in my scruffs I have to add, so I didn't dare go inside in case I frightened the customers) and then went back home to continue the blitz on the house. Tomorrow I'm off to Kent with mum to hang around some more graveyards so I'll have no time to do anything in the house - Keith will just have to carry on where I left off...! Haha!

Friday 25 February

I heaved a sigh of relief when we left work on Friday to go home. It's been a busy week and I have to confess we were all shattered. My cold didn't help much, either, so when I got home it was to do very little. Sophie went off to a friend's house and after dropping Keith off at the pub, I had a long soak in the bath, which was bliss. We even had a takeaway for dinner so it was a very lazy evening!

Normally I love Friday night - I pack everyone off to bed at 10pm and settle down to watch a film or catch up with programmes I've recorded, but last night I was in bed and almost asleep before everyone else! 

Technology and me do not mix...

I have a cold and I'm not happy. I really don't need the nasty sniffles this week!

At the moment, technology and me are not getting on. Sophie's laptop refused to turn on the other day so it had to be returned to the repair shop. This time, however, it can't be fixed (or so they say). The motherboard is dead. So on Thursday I was fuming about the amount of money I'd wasted on trying to get it going again - £90 for the previous repair, £20 for a download so that Sophie could transfer her music and photos back onto it, £14 for a memory stick so she could save all her stuff (useless now as it's all gone again) and £14 for a new lead as I thought that was the problem. I'm not accepting that it's dead, though, and I'm going to contact Hewlett Packard to say that it really should have lasted more than a year and I want them to repair it, even though it's out of warranty. I'm prepared for a fight!

On Wednesday night I wasted a precious hour of my life trying to download a file so that I could transfer photos from my mobile phone to the home computer. Somehow I managed to transfer the pics of the barn fire to my laptop, but after that it refused to work again so I tried the home computer. After downloading the file it said it was unable to read something or other, resulting in more frustration! Maybe I should just chuck all our computers, phones, laptops and ipods into the bin and vow never to use them again...or maybe not! Grrrr! Why do we rely on these things so much!

Late again!

Yesterday was a bit quieter on the excitement front, although I was delighted to see my photo of the Barn Fire in the local newspaper! It's still burning (even on Thursday as I write this a bit late) and there are strong suspicions that it was started deliberately. It's just very lucky that the nearby houses weren't affected.

So Wednesday was another extremely busy day at work and we all mucked in to help, including Sophie who did a brilliant job on the till in the kitchen. We were hard at it right up until 5pm so when I got home I just collapsed on the sofa with a glass of wine and did very little! Roll on the weekend!

A bit of excitement...

Driving home from work tonight (and already spooked by seeing the Fire Brigade and an ambulance tearing past near work) we were shocked to get to the village and see a huge cloud of smoke in the sky. When we rounded the corner to head towards home we saw that a huge hay barn in the middle of the village was burning. The amazing thing was that there was no-one about, so I pulled in opposite and we called the Fire Brigade. As so often happens in a situation like that I couldn't remember the name of the road but managed to give directions. By now, a small crowd had gathered but I can't believe we were the first to call the Fire Brigade! We waited as more and more people stopped to watch, some people taking photographs, including us:

The Fire Brigade took a while to arrive (the one we had seen had no connection to this fire) and I started to panic that I'd given them the wrong directions! However, two of them turned up and then there was some confusion as to where the water hydrant was. The smoke was billowing over the village and there were explosions popping off and bits of burning debris floating in the air. The barn is surrounded by three or four houses and I think it had affected one of them as the firemen concentrated on that first.

We left after the firemen closed the road, much to Sophie's disgust!

Update: Just watched ourselves on Look East!!! Much excitement in the household tonight!!

Manic is an understatement...

It has been mad today at work - the truly awful weather probably contributed to how busy we were as it has rained hard all day. I'm very surprised it hasn't snowed as the temperature dropped to about 3 degrees centigrade and at one point it was very sleety. Yuk!!

Luckily we had plenty of staff in as mum and I had to rush off to Booker again to stock up and when we returned I discovered we didn't have any vinegar, essential with a nice bowl of chunky chips, so I had to rush off again! Arrrgggh! The noise level was tremendous and it's something I can never get used to, especially when we have to concentrate on things in the office and my head just started spinning! It was a huge relief to get home, draw the curtains and have a bit of peace and quiet!

Sunday 20th February

I've only just realised I didn't write this yesterday! To be honest I felt a bit yukky last night - funny head, funny tummy - so I went to bed early. Sunday was very enjoyable, despite the glooooooomy weather that hasn't lifted at all.

In the afternoon Mum, Soph and me went to Milton Keynes to do some shopping and it was very pleasant indeed. No crowds, we parked easily and then had a lovely light lunch at Caffe Italia. Sophie bought some summery outfits, ready for our forthcoming trip to Florida which is coming closer and closer! We popped into mum's for a cup of tea and then back home, I resumed my family tree research. I'd had a breakthrough in the morning, finding the final resting places of both my great grandparents at the very first church I'd visited in Stone. I'd been tying myself into knots wondering where on earth they'd been buried but the answer was closer than I'd thought so next time we venture down to Kent we'll call and see their graves.

So, after a delicious dinner, but feeling a bit fragile, I retired to bed early, ready for the busy week ahead!

Hiding from the weather

It's been a horrible wet, windy and cold day today so any plans we had for getting out into the garden or going for a walk have been put on hold. I don't mind, really, as it's the perfect excuse to stay at home in the warm and do very little. Next week will be very busy and hard on my feet so I don't feel guilty about staying on the sofa and relaxing.

Sophie's laptop has returned from being mended but minus all her music and photographs, so we spent a lot of time transferring them all from her ipod to the computer. We will definitely learn from this and make sure that everything is saved to a memory stick in future (one on order from Amazon as I write). She was pretty distraught that she lost all her stuff, but luckily it was all on her ipod anyway, but the memory on that is full! Although all this digital photography is great, I do sometimes yearn for the good old days when you took a roll of film to be developed and had the photos in your hand to look at!

Ooops! Late again!

Well, I do have a good excuse as yesterday was absolute bedlam at work and I was a wee bit tired when I got home and fit for nothing except lolling about on the sofa with a glass of wine. Half-term has certainly started with a vengeance!

Poor Sophie was dragged into work all day and when we got back from Booker with a car-load of stuff (I almost didn't get it all in) we were straight into it. We had the messiest customers in yesterday and mum forgets how many spillages she wiped up. Oh, the fun has begun!

Gearing up for half-term...

It's been a busy day at work which is a good thing, and an even better thing is that Sophie was in at work and was able to help out, in between learning about invoices and general office stuff. The weather has been horrible today - foggy, grey and damp, although I think the sun did try and come out briefly in the afternoon.

So, not a lot has happened today, except work. I was late home, had a quick relaxing game of cards with Keith, ate dinner and then enjoyed an evening of TV...it's Thursday. All the best programmes are on in a two hour slot!

Wednesday 16 February

I had two pieces of good news today. Firstly, at long long last, we signed our new lease at work, almost a year late! As you can imagine that was a relief and we can now move forward and try and complete the rest of the refurbishments we have planned. How I'd love to win some money and buy the building rather than rent it!

Secondly, the death certificate of my great great Grandmother arrived and although at first it didn't seem to give me any more clues, after a little digging, I managed to find out where she was living in 1911 because her married daughter had registered her death. I simply looked up her name in the 1911 census and found members of the family, plus assorted lodgers, living in a cottage in Stone, near Dartford. There were 12 of them in total so it must have been a crush! It was here that she died 8 years later. I still don't have her birth certificate and I can't find out where she is buried, but I'm a little further forward in finding out more about her, which is great!

Brrrr!

The weather has been different again today - cold, wet and windy, but when I left home in the morning it was lovely and I'd suggested to Keith that we go for a walk after work. By the afternoon it was horrible but it didn't stop Sophie and me walking to the post box, about fifteen minutes away, for some exercise and fresh air. She's been enjoying coming to work with me and we covered the office basics today. I'm not sure whether she's really interested but at least she'll have an idea of what it's like to run a business by the end of the week.

Back home and in the warm, I had a lovely bath and chatted to Keith. It was good to draw the curtains and block the wintry evening out. Did I say Spring was around the corner?!

Work experience!

Sophie started a week's work experience with us today and it's been great having her in the office. I'm hoping that over the course of the week she'll get a better understanding of how a small business runs, which should be interesting for her as she's doing Business Studies for one of her GCSEs.

We didn't cover much office stuff today as it's cleaning day and mum, dad and I scrubbed the entire floor which was bloomin' hard work! It does look lovely when it's finished though so all the hard work is worth it. When I got home it was straight into the bath and then I took Keith to the pub, winding him up a bit as the Landlord has put on a Valentine's special with a romantic menu. I said that it was so nice that him and his cronies would all be loved up together on this most romantic of nights! I can't really relay what he said back to me!

Moochin' about...

After a very relaxing morning spent doing very little, I ventured out into the wind and rain in the afternoon with mum and Soph to an Antiques Fair in the village of Cogenhoe (nobody did tell me how they would pronounce it). It was a bit of a sad affair with not much to look at, but when we did, we were pounced on by the vendors with offers of lower prices. I know they want to sell their tat (sorry..valuable antiques) but I do prefer to browse in peace without someone hovering over me and trying to induce me to buy something I happened to glance at for two seconds...

Luckily it only cost us £1.50 to get into the fair as we were all antiqued out within 15 minutes and driving towards Northampton where we had a lovely coffee and biscuits in the big BHS furniture store. I managed to avoid buying a beautiful cabinet for the living room and we went off to Home Sense which was stuffed full of more tat, but this time at huge prices. The last time we went in, during the summer, there were loads of reasonably priced pictures and different things for the home, but today nothing caught our eyes.

The weather had turned worse by the time we left so we called into mum and dad's for a quick drink and then it was home and a glass of wine. I decided, in a moment of madness, to contact some friends on Facebook who live on the estate, to organise a Royal Wedding Street Party in April...am I mad?!

Family Gathering

We've had a really lovely day meeting up with family whom we haven't seen for three years, since my Nan died in October 2007. I picked a restaurant called Sophie's Choice in Sidcup where we've been before on various Mothering Sundays and Birthdays. It's been a while since I went and although I found the way to Sidcup pretty easily, I got lost in the town trying to find the restaurant which was a bit silly of me, seeing as I'd arranged it! Luckily I was able to call Dad and he guided us in; he'd been using Gladys who in her usual impeccable manner directed him straight to the door! Perhaps it's time we invested in a Gladys of our own!

There were eighteen of us in total and we had the restaurant to ourselves. It was great seeing everyone again and I couldn't believe how my (second) cousins had grown! The last time I saw them they were teenagers but now both of them were very elegant and accomplished young women who were a credit to their parents. It was equally hard to believe that my cousins were either approaching 40 or in their 50s!! Where has the time gone?

We had a delicious and very plentiful meal (mussels in a mariniere sauce, duck - not my original choice but Mikey didn't like it, so had my beef - and tiramisu). The food was lovely and there was plenty of bread and butter on the table and coffee afterwards so everyone waddled out stuffed to the gunnels. The conversation flowed as we all caught up with what everyone else was doing and there are plans to hold it annually. In the past it was always a family tradition to go down to Kent in early February for my nan's birthday, sometimes driving down in heavy snow, so it'll be great to resurrect the occasion. There were also plans to hold an even bigger family get-together with distant cousins and maybe have the celebration in a village hall. My nan had about 10 brothers and sisters so the family is quite big!

It made me realise today how important family is and how vital it is to keep in touch with them. Hopefully we won't leave it too long until we all get together again. I received two beautiful bouquets of flowers as a thank you for organising it all which was a lovely touch. I was delighted as I didn't expect anything at all and enjoyed making all the arrangements. I've put them on display in the window so now everyone will think they're from Keith for the looming Valentine's Day...hahaha!!

My Nan and my dad, July 2006

Friday 11 February

It's been another busy day but I finished work at 3pm as Keith was meeting some mates from the place he used to work so I had to be at home for the children. I made use of an hour by sweeping all the leaves from the driveway and the front garden and managed to fill an entire black sack! Where have they all come from? (Don't answer that...) I thought that by this time of year there would be no leaves left but with the recent winds the garden and drive was strewn with twigs and branches that have blown in from other gardens...grrr! It was lovely to get out and have some fresh air though, and my sweeping coincided with the children coming home from school so there was a fair amount of chatting with the passing mums as well, which was lovely. We all lead such busy lives it's great to have a break and a chat every now and again.

In the evening Sue came around for a drink, bringing with her a bottle of Vouvray which was delicious. We talked about organising a street party for the Royal Wedding in April which I thought would bring the whole estate together, as it used to be when we first moved in ten years ago. It would be great fun to organise so we'll have to see what we can come up with!

Thursday 10 February

Ooops! I seem to have fallen behind with the blog...mainly because nothing has happened to set these pages on fire! Thursday was back to being busy, thank goodness, so the quiet of Wednesday must have been due to the Spring-like weather. I stayed at work until late as Sophie was helping out with a party so it was a longish day. In fact, I've come up with an idea of working Monday to Thursday from 8am until 6pm and then having the whole of Friday off...good idea, huh? The idea went down well with the parents so after the forthcoming half-term holidays I may start. It would be lovely to have a three day weekend every week and Keith and I will have a whole day to get things done in the house or go for walks and do some exercise.

Thursday evening was spent watching some very good TV. Why is it that there's nothing on for most of the week and then two good programmes are on at the same time!

Wednesday 9 February - first daffodils.

It's a sure sign that Spring is in the air when the first daffodils are on sale, so I bought a large bunch today to brighten up our living room windowsill. Very soon, when Keith and I go for a walk over the fields, we'll be able to see them on the banks of the stream in all their glory! Is there a more perfect image of Spring than that?

 

Yesterday was quiet at work which is always a bit worrying...we tend to think that customers have suddenly abandoned us, but I think it had more to do with the mild temperatures and sunshine!

A mad day!

Today has been hectic! Polly, our Receptionist, has been working all weekend so has had today off, which leaves the three of us to try and do our normal jobs as well as all the things she does! As well as running around like headless chickens, we've had the workmen in installing the heaters, and of course, it was a very cold start to the morning with the temperature at just below freezing when I drove into work.

Luckily, by mid-morning the heaters were working and I was given the task of altering the timings so that they would come on and go off automatically...I think I've sorted it! It's been a beautiful day today, and after the cold start it's become very Spring-like, but I'm not fooled! I think this time last year we had some snow so I'm not becoming complacent yet in thinking that the winter is over.

We've also had lots of people looking at the part of the building we're trying to rent out. It looks like the church that were going to take it have backed out, which is a bit of a blow, but we've had lots of interest so we're hoping that someone will move in and rent the space from us.It would make an ideal venue for self-defence classes or a dance studio and someone must want it!

Earlier in the day I'd phoned Keith to ask if we could go for a walk when I got home but by the time I finished work, my enthusiasm was waning. It was a good job, therefore, that Keith was all ready to go when I walked through the door, so I donned my walking boots, and learning from my lesson of the other day, added a coat, scarf and gloves as the temperature was dropping rapidly. We meandered over the fields, avoiding someone mending a fence as they might have told us off for wandering off the beaten track, and followed our usual path. The sun was just about to set and I took lots of photos. As the sun disappeared, the sky became a glorious blend of blues and pinks and we just stood and gazed at the natural beauty all around us. In the distance the blue of the sky looked like the sea, with the clouds resembling headlands and islands and we fantasised that we were living at the seaside, it looked so real.

By the time we reached the village the sky had deepened into an almost sapphire blue and we walked home enjoying the woodsmoke scents and the sharp cold air. I felt deeply relaxed and happy, knowing that a little tipple awaited us, a treat after our exertions!

Getting toasty...

Our new heaters for work were almost installed today...hopefully they should be fully functioning by tomorrow evening so the building will be a lot warmer! There was a fair bit of mess and upheaval today but it'll all be worth it when they're giving off lovely warm air and we won't have to hire expensive gas heaters any more.

It's been very windy again today and when I went out to tidy up the car park I was almost blown away! The weather in this country never fails to amaze me because it could be windy and mild one day and cold and still the next! I am looking forward to the Spring now, though, and there are little signs everywhere that it's not far off. I can see little buds on the trees and bushes and our daffodils are pushing their green shoots through the soil so maybe the worst really is over!

Creepy graveyards...

Mum and I went off down to Kent yesterday to see Nan and to visit a couple of churches. We had a brilliant journey down with not one single hold-up - if only all the journeys south could be like this! I showed Nan some of the family tree research I'd already done and I mentioned the problem of names being changed as her father's name was wrong on her marriage certificate! So often children were born with one name, but used another throughout their life which can make it difficult to find the right person.

After lunch we drove to Swanscombe using mum and dad's SatNav, Gladys. Nan had never seen it in action before and was amazed when she started issuing me with directions to get to the church! Without it we would have had trouble finding our way as St Peter and St Paul was hidden away in a large housing estate. There were a few graves dotted around the church itself but most of them had been weathered so much it was impossible to read the inscriptions. My ancestors died in 1848 and 1849 so hopes of finding their graves looked less likely. Across the road was another, much larger, cemetery so mum and I went off to have a look but the graves were much more recent and after half an hour of wandering around a very creepy graveyard we had to give up.

From Swanscombe we drove to Crayford to see the Roman Catholic church, St Mary of the Crays, where my great great grandparents were married in 1872. I was hoping to see if there was someone in the church to let me know if they kept records there, but as is the way with all churches in this day and age, the place was closed up and not a soul about.

So, slightly disappointed, we made our way back to Nan's flat for a cup of tea and then the long journey home, which like the morning's trip, was fast and trouble-free!

St Peter & St Paul Church, Swanscombe

Stone tablet in the churchyard.

Sad and slightly frustrating...

I haven't moved from the house and garden today, which suited me just fine. It's been very windy here but also very mild so I was able to get out into the garden for a little while and sort out all the dead plants which haven't survived the winter. Most of them were summer bedding plants (I was fed up with looking out of the kitchen window and seeing a dead geranium) but the one sad thing was our "leek" which looks like it has died. All the leaves are covered in mildew and the main stem is soft and slimy. We're hoping that it will make a comeback, as it has previously, but I think this winter was just too tough for the poor thing, even though I'd moved it into a more sheltered spot. We'll keep it until the Spring but if it doesn't grow back we'll get a new one to replace it.

It was so windy and mild that I even managed to get some washing out on the line so tonight I'm looking forward to fresh clean bedding and the smell of wind dried sheets! Lovely! While the washing was billowing furiously on the line, I concentrated on my dad's side of the family tree, but it proved to be extremely frustrating. I've come to a complete dead end on a couple of lines so more effort and research will definitely be needed!

A little bit of manicosity!

This morning was a bit manic at work. Mum and I walked into the building to find that our new heaters had been transported into the seating area via a forklift truck, which had left ugly black stains all over the new blue carpet... Mum, of course, was not very happy (an understatement) and bent Dad's ear a bit about why he hadn't put down any protective sheets... Hmmm!

Anyway, by the time we opened peace had been restored and apart from a small cordoned off area, things were back to normal. Mum and I went off to Booker where we were treated to a free bacon roll...I'm getting used to all these freebies!

Today has been very windy and wild but relatively warm - I said that it would warm up when we had the new heaters installed!

A little bit of relaxation!

Mum and I went to one of the local Wholesaler's we use today to get some bits for work and while we were there we noticed a sign saying it was a stress-free day. When we asked what it was all about they said that for a £1 donation towards the Samaritan's charity, we could have ten minutes on the massage chair with a hot drink and biscuits thrown in!! Well, that's my idea of relaxation, so after we did our shopping we went into a little room they'd decorated with photos of tropical beaches, candles and soothing music. We both sat down in the massage chairs, put our feet on a bumpy massage pad and enjoyed ten minutes of tranquil bliss! It felt really strange having imaginary hands kneading our backs but it was very relaxing, even if it did make us giggle a bit!

Having that ten minutes was lovely because today has been another busy day and this week has flown by in the wink of an eye. I can't believe it's Friday tomorrow and yet another week has disappeared!

Memories

Driving home tonight and listening to the radio, I heard a song that brought the memories flooding back from 30 years ago. The song was "Sailing" by Christopher Cross and it took me straight back to Italy 1981 when I was 13. The words and music (I have to admit) brought a few tears to my eyes and for a little while I was lost in happy memories of my teenage years and that wonderful summer of 1981 when, as a family, we drove down to Baia Toscana, near Follonica, and rented an apartment on the beach. I, of course, fell in love with a Dutch boy called Sylvain Van Pomeren (where are you now, I wonder!) and had my first real kiss.

"Sailing" would often be playing in the bar where we used to go for a drink in the evening and where I would meet up with Sylvain and the other gang of teenagers while our parents sat in groups talking. Now I'm 43 and a parent of a teenage girl older than I was then, I wonder where on earth those 30 years have gone...The funny thing is, I don't feel 30 years older. The memories are still clear in my mind after all those years and if I close my eyes I can still picture Sylvain on his surfboard, his blonde hair shining in the sun and the way he used to grin at me.

Enjoy!

Evening stroll

After a busy day at work, I managed to leave at 4pm and get home in time for a walk. Keith and I left the children at home and walked into the village, just as the sun was setting. It was a beautiful evening, the sky a cloudless blue tinged with pink from the sunset. It was also cold! I laughed at Keith who emerged from the house with a thick coat, hat and gloves while I just had a jumper and jeans on, but he had the last laugh as without the small amount of heat from the sun, the temperature dropped rapidly!

We did a different circuit in the village and I peeped into people's houses as we walked past - a naughty habit, but I can't resist looking into a room and catching a glimpse of other people's lives. We gazed out over the fields and I told Keith of my plan to cycle into work in the summer months. I wouldn't dream of doing it in the winter when it's dark and cold, but I quite fancy trying it during the sunny summer mornings and it will save me a fortune in diesel costs and enable me to lose some weight and get fit. It's about seven miles and the only drawback is a huge steep hill which I would have to tackle on the way home, but I'm determined to try.

Back home we relaxed with a game of cards and a delicious dinner!