The threat of snow...

Keith took Sophie to work this morning as she is going out with Alice tonight and it's much easier for us to drop her into town and then pick her up, as there is no parking near her friend's flat.

Work was busy for me and the time flew by. I had to proof-read our upcoming new prices, which was a bit of a rigmarole and I was late finishing as I mucked up my cash-up sheet! Thankfully, Sheila helped me but it was almost 3.30pm by the time I was driving out of the car park.

We had a brief spell at home and then it was back out to get Sophie. Snow has been forecast for this evening and I just hoped it wouldn't start before we went back to get her later in the evening!

We were home in good time, mainly due to there being two accidents on the Bedford Road which stopped a lot of traffic near to where Sophie works. There was also an accident on the A45 (Sophie's usual route) so whether people were rushing to get home before the weather got worse, I don't know!

Keith cooked cottage pie in the evening and we had a somewhat subdued dinner, just the three of us. Afterwards, Keith and I watched Death In Paradise and I managed to stay awake this time!

We picked Sophie up at 9.30pm and then it was home for an early night. I am so glad it's Friday tomorrow!

Mrs Grumpy...

Sophie went off to work at 8am this morning, rather than 6.30am as it was very cold and frosty. Although we had some snow last night, it didn't really do much and we have just a light dusting on the hedgerows and fields. The roads were clear but I still told Sophie to take it easy.

Keith and I went shopping at 9.30am and called to see Mum and Dad on the way. We took them some of the chocolate birthday cake I'd bought for Mike and my Mum told me she'd had two teeth out and a filling from our new dentist. We're due to see him in February but now I'm even more wary than I was before!

Shopping took us a long time as we had to scrutinise every packet - it's amazing how much food contains milk and eggs! We bought loads (and I mean loads) of vegetables, fruit and nuts as well as some hummus and crackers. Vegan food is so expensive as well! A pouch of vegan cheese to use on our "cottage" pie over the weekend was about £3!

We arrived home at midday, put most of the shopping away and went down to see Sophie. We had lunch in Costa (a sausage roll apiece for Keith and I!) and I had two decaffeinated coffees as they were so delicious! Afterwards we visited Boots and Wilco's and after dropping Sophie back at work, we visited a bathroom showroom on Brackmills that was very expensive. We would like to replace the sink in our cloakroom as it has a crack in the pedestal, but the price of one in the showroom was astounding!

We also had a look in Screwfix before going home...and getting caught in the 2pm rush hour traffic! Keith's hours, once upon a time, used to be 6am until 2pm and judging by the amount of people flooding out of the estate, it's a shift that is still used widely, especially in all the warehouses on Brackmills!

I decided to go a different way, and tried to get the car washed, but the automated ones were closed because of the cold weather. Back home I sorted out the kitchen cupboards and Keith suggested we walk down to the pub and meet Sophie there as I was in a really grumpy mood! And we haven't even started our vegan diet yet!

We walked down and it was the most relaxed I felt all day. The sky was was stunning mix of purples, pinks and indigo and I couldn't resist taking a photo of the trees outlined against the sunset.

We sat in the pub and chatted and Sophie joined us for a drink. It was very cosy and relaxing, the highlight of my day!

At home Sophie cooked a vegetable curry (I'd prepared all the vegetables earlier) and it was truly delicious. We didn't miss the meat at all!

The measure of it...

This morning it was very frosty indeed and Sophie returned home after setting off to the gym as her windscreen had frozen en route! I went out to help her clear the ice away in my dressing gown...heaven knows what I looked like!

It was a beautiful morning, but snow was forecast for later, just like last week! Work was OK but I was glad to get home and at about 3pm a man arrived to measure up for our carpets. Monty gave him a really strange look but when the man took out his laser measuring tool and showed the cat the little red light, Monty was entranced!

He was very thorough and said he would either phone or email the quote over to us as soon as possible. We are waiting with bated breath and just hope it's not too expensive!

After he went we popped to Brixworth to get a newspaper as Keith has been stuck in now for two days as I've been driving myself to work. We looked at the skies anxiously but it didn't really start snowing until about 5pm, just after Sophie arrived home, thank goodness!

Vegan nightmare!

Soph went off to the gym this morning and I followed her an hour later. Keith was still tucked up in bed!

A narrow lane that I use every morning to avoid a busy crossroads has been closed because of roadworks so I took a different route to work today, which actually proved a lot better!

Work was busy and the time passed quickly - always a bonus! I drove home at 2pm and decided to hoover downstairs and tidy the house. It's been a beautiful day today but very cold. More wintry weather is due later in the week when we might have some snow.

After Sophie arrived home I had a soak in the bath and then we cooked supper - a vegan Mac 'n' Cheese, which turned out to be a disaster, I'm afraid. I have a feeling it's because we didn't follow the recipe too closely (we added more potatoes for example). Also, we were supposed to have soaked the cashew nuts overnight and we didn't do that! Sophie took one mouthful and refused to eat any more and it was a good thing we had prepared some (non-vegan) garlic bread!

A very cold walk!

We had a lazy start to our Sunday, which is just how I like it! Sophie wanted to go the gym so I said I would take her and pop into Tesco while she was working out. Just before we left Mike called and asked us to pick him up from Creaton so we made a diversion and went there first. It meant he had to accompany me, but at the Weston Favell Centre he opted to stay in the car and snooze! He'd had a late night!

I bought various ingredients in Tesco to make our own hummus and the baked porridge we all love. I filled up with diesel and then it was time to collect Sophie from the gym.

We spent the afternoon catching up with little jobs and went out for a walk with Monty before the sun set. It was bitterly cold with a freezing wind so we wrapped up very well! Monty came with us for one lap (we actually did three altogether) then it was home for a small cocktail and a snooze on the sofa.

Keith made roast lamb tonight for dinner and it was a real treat. Now that we are having roasts about once a month, they are much more of an event, rather than a weekly meal. The dinner was delicious and we drank a smooth and fruity Cotes du Rhone wine to accompany it. I can't believe our lovely weekend is over!

More Birthday celebrations!

It was Mike's Birthday today and he's 19! Wow! Where have all the years gone?

He opened his presents from us (an assortment of coffee and chocolates!) and we went over to see Mum and Dad so they could celebrate a little bit with him. Mum opened a bottle of Prosecco and we had some little cupcakes. Mike was delighted with his money and a voucher and it was great to sit and chat for a while.

We then headed into town as we were going to a Vegan Food Fair at Abington Park Museum. All the surrounding roads were full of parked cars but we managed to find a space and walked across the park to the museum. It started to drizzle and we all got wet! 

Predictably, the food fair was busy and veganism really seems to have taken off! We wandered about but there were crowds of people and it was difficult to get to the various stalls. Before we left we came across a stand with vegan chocolate and Nutella substitute so I bought some, along with a tub of nutritional yeast, something I'd never heard of before but is included in a recipe we're cooking on Monday!

We made our way back to the car in the drizzle and drove into town. Our plan was to park near Derngate, have a drink at a new bar we'd seen and then enjoy lunch at Akasaka. Parking was easy and we walked to the Maule Collective Bar opposite the Guildhall. They had lots of beers on offer, but cheap they weren't! We had two pints, two halves and the bill, initially, came to £21 but I queried it as that price was outrageous! It looked like the barman had added a glass of whisky onto our bill! Innocent mistake or were they trying it on? I'm just glad we queried it!

However, I did enjoy a Cranberry and Chocolate Stout (£3 for half a pint) but it's not somewhere we'll go frequently, at those prices!

Lunch was at Akasaka as Mike is a real fan (as are Sophie and I) and it was pleasantly busy. We had starters of Gyoza, fried squid, seaweed and I tried Tofu. We had a small bottle of Sake and for mains, three of us had the Chicken Katsu curry while Mike had his favourite, the Chicken Ramen soup. 

The service was a little slow but our great waitress made up for it with her lovely demeanour. The food was delicious, as ever, and Keith and I were amazed by a very young Chinese couple on the next table who constantly played with their phones all through their meal, even when they were eating. They hardly spoke a word to each other!

After the meal we waddled back to the car and returned home. Mike changed and left to go to a friend's house while we relaxed on the sofa and I fell asleep! Mike went into town in the evening so we didn't expect him home and after enjoying cheese and biscuits, we watched a great film starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth called Before I Go To Sleep. I'd read the book and it was very enjoyable with lots of twists and turns! 

A quiet day.

Sophie went off to the gym this morning and Keith took me into work as he had a GP's appointment at 1.30pm.

Work was OK and I kept busy so the time passed very nicely. I had suggested to Keith I would wait for him in the Weston Favell Centre in case he was late but he had texted me when he had left and was on time.

Back home, Gemma arrived as it's Mike's birthday tomorrow but they went out for a meal in the evening while we enjoyed chilli con carne. Today has been very quiet which was a bit of a relief as this week has been full on! I'm hoping we can get the carpets for the house sorted out next week as I would love to have them down in time for early March as we are holding a wine and nibbles evening for some friends. The only problem is we'll have to do some decorating first!

After dinner Sophie and I finished watching The Shape of Water which we had started seeing earlier in the evening. I thoroughly enjoyed the film despite it being a little strange, but it is, after all, a love story!

A lovely treat!

I'm so glad Sophie was off to a prison today and didn't leave early to go to the gym, as the roads near us were very icy indeed and we had rain falling onto the frozen surfaces and making them lethal. I followed Keith and Sophie into the village and I could feel that the tyres weren't making great contact with the road. Up ahead, one car was going really slowly and I think we were all in danger of not making it up the slight incline!

Keith and Sophie went off to Thrapston while I gingerly made my way to work, using the A43 all the way this morning! I later found out two cars had ended up in the hedge just outside the village and the Facebook boards were full of warnings of the black ice!

Work was OK and I was very glad to get out at 3pm and head home. Sophie had been to a sex offenders prison today and had finished early so when I arrived home she was already there, which was a bonus! Keith had asked her to help him measure up for the carpet and we made the snap decision to go to Whilton Locks carpets to see what they had to offer. More importantly, they had some good reviews!

It's a fair trek over to Whilton, as it's near Daventry and as we made our way there, the weather turned misty and grey. We used a road I'd hardly ever been on before and which skirts the Althorp estate. I suggested that on the way home we call into the Althorp Coaching Inn for a drink, an idea that went down very well!

Whilton Locks carpets had hundreds of choices on offer but we finally picked out a carpet and also some vinyl flooring which we want to put down in the hallway, the cloakroom and the study. The carpet will go down in the living room, the stairs and the landing. We arranged for someone to come out next week to measure up properly and took two books of samples home with us to see if they will suit our rooms.

When we emerged it was properly dark and misty and we somehow managed to find Great Brington by going along a dark and narrow road. I recognised the area from when Sophie and I had attended a literary festival at the house so we weren't completely lost!

The pub is, to me, one of our perfect country hostelries with very dim lighting, a huge fireplace, stone-flagged floors and lots of nooks and crannies lit by candlelight. This evening it had the air of a private members club as there were quite a few men occupying the tables and the conversation was low. There was no music blaring out and it was cosy and warm. We took a table by the fire and settled down with a glass of wine and a beer for Keith.

After a while a shooting party came in, which livened up the atmosphere a little and I couldn't help staring at the mens' socks and breeches! They were friendly enough, though!

We had a couple of drinks and made the decision to go to the Royal Oak for fish and chips. None of us fancied gammon steaks as we had planned, so we drove back over to home and took another table by the fire...this one was electric, though!

We ate a mammoth plate of cod and chips and then made our way home, feeling full. Mike had declined to come out with us earlier, even though we had hinted we might stay out for a meal but had seen a friend. The rest of the evening was spent collapsed in front of the television, digesting our supper!

Carpet hunting...

It was bliss to have today off and we didn't have too early a start, as we needed Sophie's car later on, so she didn't go to the gym this morning.

We took her into work and as soon as we arrived back home, Keith took the front driver's side wheel off my car as I've picked up another nail from somewhere. We managed, with some difficulty, to get it into the back of Sophie's car and drove over to Hi-Q in Kettering to get the puncture fixed.

While Keith took the tyre out of the car I went into the office to let them know we were there, but I was ignored by the two men behind the counter who seemed more intent on the computer than a potential customer!

We waited almost an hour for the puncture to be repaired and the man sorting it out called us into the garage to say that he thought my tracking needed looking at as one edge of the tyre was worn. Keith disregarded it and said to me it was rubbish so today we felt a little disappointed in their service. The same man then re-appeared and kept asking us questions as to the car registration number and where we lived. It was all very strange!

After paying we returned home, Keith put the tyre back on and I had a shower. It was then off to Tesco to do some shopping but we had a coffee and a sausage roll first as we hadn't had time for any breakfast!

In the afternoon I persuaded Keith to go down to one of the retail parks in Northampton to look at carpets. We went to three places - CarpetRight, Tapis and SCS - and had a good look at the hundreds of carpets and flooring types on offer. I'd done a bit of research as I didn't want the same kind of carpet we have in the living room which has been a huge disappointment to me. It's flattened in all the walked on areas and always looks dirty. I suspect it's polypropylene which, although soft, can flatten very easily.

We picked out a couple we liked and decided to do some more research before making a firm decision. Before leaving we popped into Currys PC World and bought some ear phones for Mike for his birthday. We also had a look at vacuum cleaners as Keith is totally fed up with the one we have now. We looked at a Vax Pet machine and we very nearly bought it, but I wanted to look at reviews first! It was then home to prepare tonight's dinner of braised steaks in gravy and go back down to pick Sophie up from work.

Dinner was delicious, I have to say, and the beef was really tender!

Snow!

Keith drove me to work this morning and Sophie decided that the gym wasn't for her as her cold is still lingering about. She left at 8am and braved the rush hour, something she's not used to these days!

Work was fine today and a lot quieter than yesterday. I learned that "heavy" snow was forecast this afternoon and I'm sure they hadn't given out warnings on the news this morning? Looking out of the window at the cloudless blue sky I found it hard to believe!

Keith picked me up at 2pm and the sky had clouded over and looked a bit ominous. Sophie texted me to ask if it was snowing at home but we had nothing at all.

By 3pm it had started to snow very lightly and by 4pm it was coming down quite heavily so I suggested to Keith we go down and get Sophie as she has never driven in the snow before. I, personally, hate it and loathe the feeling of being out of control if the car starts to slip and slide. We drove down and the weather was terrible - a mixture of sleet and snow and a grey mist.

We parked in the car park of the Hungry Horse pub and I bought Keith a pint. Outside the snow was falling in thick flakes and I was really glad we'd come down. However, after about half an hour the snow stopped so then I felt like a bit of an idiot as although the snow had settled on the grass verges, the roads were clear.

Sophie left work at 5pm and came over to see us. Keith drove my car home and I went with Sophie who is a very vocal driver! Keith was ahead but we couldn't really see him and after we turned off the A43 the snow started up again. After Holcot, we slowed right down as there was a driver up ahead who seemed very nervous and was going extremely slow! We followed the car right up until we reached our estate but they were doing no more than 20 miles an hour in the slush!

We found out from Keith that he'd overtaken the same car just after the Holcot roundabout so had been home quite a time! Outside it started coming down heavily again and I was so glad we were all home!

Dinner this evening was chicken curry and Mike's girlfriend, Gemma, was still with us. I was reluctant to let her go all the way home in the snow so I suggested she stay the night but as she's a vegetarian, we had to rapidly whip up beans and toast for her to eat while we had dinner! I'm not sure she was impressed but what could we do?!

A very early start!

We had a very early start this morning as Sophie was going to a prison and had to be at her manager's house for 6.15am. Keith and I took her there and as soon as we arrived back home I jumped into the shower and got ready for work.

I had a noisy session today and we had a new member of staff start with us, who has a very low immune system so she had to wipe all the surfaces down and wear a mask whenever she went out of the office. How she will avoid catching anything is beyond me as there is always someone with a sniffly nose or a cough!

When I arrived home from work, Mike asked for a lift to college so Keith and I took him, bringing back memories of all the times we drove him to and fro when he was a student there. On the way back there was some sort of incident on the A43 and there was a swarm of police cars parked up and men being led away in handcuffs! Intriguing!

Sophie called to say that she was about half an hour away so out we went again to collect her from Thrapston. she said her cold was terrible and she looked pale and tired, bless her. I don't think she'll be going to the gym in the morning!

A sociable walk!

After a leisurely start to the day, Keith and I took Sophie to the gym and while she was there we popped to Tesco to buy ingredients for tonight's dinner. We have decided to cook Gino D'Acampo's pasta with sausages so after trekking around trying to find authentic Italian sausage (salami?) we settled on two packs of sausage meat! It was also a good job that we'd gone to Homesense yesterday and had bought the orecchiette pasta there, as there was none in Tesco!

Our little haul (including beer) came to about £30, expensive for just one evening's shopping! We collected Sophie and came home to have an early lunch and then I decided to make the most of the dry and sunny weather and washed my car, which was filthy.

We were supposed to have been going out with Mum to Weedon this afternoon but she called to say she had a bad headache so we postponed the trip until next week. I washed Sophie's car which was also filthy and then went inside to relax for a while.

Sophie started with a cold today, poor thing - she has probably caught it off me. Mine is a lot better, thank goodness and although she was reluctant, I dragged her out for a walk around the estate as it was getting dark. Sue and Paul were standing on the green and talking to Lynn who is obviously the new slasher on the block. The bushes and small trees had been pruned to within an inch of their lives even though the council employ a local gardening firm to do it!

We had a very sociable and hilarious chat with Sue and Paul who are bemused about our plans to go vegan in February and the effects we may suffer! Monty refused to walk with us, probably because of the amount of dogs about, but he did come with us on the second circuit, albeit reluctantly!

Back home we relaxed with a drink and watched the relevant episode of Gino D'Acampo's travels around Italy, before making a start on dinner. We prepared the vegetables - tenderstem broccoli, green beans and asparagus and then cooked the sausage meat in our big casserole dish. After cooking the broccoli and green beans we mixed it in with the sausagemeat and cooked the pasta. We let the asparagus seep in hot water and at the end mixed it all together before sprinkling pecorino cheese over the top.

Sophie and I enjoyed the Italian Pinot Grigio and it was a delicious meal. Luckily there's enough left over for Sophie's lunch on Tuesday!

A mellow evening

It was heaven to have a lazy start to the day and not have to rush off anywhere! Keith and I went to get the newspaper from the garage in Moulton as we needed to put some air into one of my front tyres. I have another slow puncture that will need to be sorted out next week! Where am I picking up these nails?

When we returned we had breakfast and Sophie and I did some housework to make things a bit tidier. I am off next Wednesday and intend to blitz the house then. After a shower Sophie and I went to Riverside and enjoyed a hot chocolate at Starbucks. It was packed with people and I just about managed to get a seat. This is because, traditionally, we don't venture out on a Saturday so we're not used to the crowds!

The weather today has been grey and miserable, and very cold! More snow is forecast next week but we'll have to wait and see if we get any, it's so hit and miss in this area!

After Starbucks we ventured into a furniture/carpet store and had a quick look at the carpets. We're hoping to replace the study, living room, hallway, stair and landing carpets this year and I want to be sure of getting the right one. The one we have in the living room has been a disaster from the start as the areas where we walk have worn down horribly. We were accosted by one of the sales staff who told us that if we spent £250 on furniture (which we don't really need) we'll get big discounts on the carpet. I think we'll go somewhere else!

Homesense was busy and we picked out some foodie treats to buy and I spotted a bottle of wine that we'd enjoyed in Florida - a Pinot Grigio that came in a long straight bottle with a black cap. I think we bought it in Naples and it was lovely. It had better be - it was £12!

We staggered down to the checkouts with our purchases (I also bought some bird food) and returned home in the dusky gloom. Tonight Sophie and I cooked paella for dinner and while we did all the prep we enjoyed a drink and Sophie played some lovely mellow jazz on her phone. We both agreed that it would be great to go somewhere in San Francisco where we could listen to some jazz and sip on cocktails.

Our paella was a monster this evening as we added a lot of vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli and green beans) that Keith and I should have had on Thursday evening. I didn't want to waste them so we chopped them up and put them in the pan along with an onion, chorizo slices, chicken thighs and the rice.

We also added peas and served the dish with lemon wedges and it was delicious!

After we'd eaten and cleared away we watched The Commuter, a thriller starring Liam Neeson. It was a great film and made a lovely end to a very enjoyable day!

I can't breathe!

I forgot to take my Sinex decongestant to work with me this morning so had a very miserable shift where I couldn't breathe! Customers I talked to on the phone kept saying they felt really sorry for me as I'm sure half of them couldn't understand what I was saying!

I almost ran out at 2pm and Keith met me, saying we had to go and pick Mike up from Gemma's house where he'd stayed overnight. I couldn't wait to get home and spray some Sinex up my poor nose so I could finally breathe easily!

I fell asleep on the sofa and woke up feeling groggy and stuffed up again. When Sophie came home, she said she'd had a bad day and asked me to make her a Margarita...I was only too happy to oblige but I couldn't taste my Vodka and tonic so it lasted me all evening!

Dinner tonight was tomato soup, crusty bread and a fruit crumble to follow. We are going to have to start planning for our Vegan February soon!

A brief snow flurry...

This morning it snowed for a little bit but had stopped by the time I left for work, although I had to scrape the car! Keith took Sophie in as she is going out with Alice and Sophia tonight and wanted us to drop her into town after work. I drove myself and took a big pack of tissues with me because I have developed a horrible cold. I think I caught it from Joanne who I trained last Thursday... it started on my birthday and has just got worse so I'm very annoyed, as I was hoping not to get a cold this winter!

Work passed pleasantly enough but I was glad to go home and get warm. I didn't feel like doing anything as I was so stuffed up so it was lovely to loll on the sofa for an hour until it was time to go and get Sophie from work.

The snow of this morning had given way to sunshine and blue skies but it was very cold. The evenings seem to be getting lighter now and I can't wait for sunny mornings and knowing Sophie will be driving home when it's still daylight.

We got to her office on the dot of 5pm because of roadworks on the dual carriageway (I did a diversion) and then we dropped her off in town where Alice lives. Back home we relaxed for a while (I had a glass of Sherry while watching a recorded episode of Delicious...bliss!) and Keith made dinner of pie and peas, even though I didn't really feel like eating.

It was back out again at 10.00pm to pick her up and take Sophia home. The girls had been to a new Chinese restaurant in town and had enjoyed cocktails at a bar opposite to where Alice lives so had had a great time.

We arrived back home at 11pm and it was straight to bed for me!

A busy day off!

It was lovely to have today off but I was awake at 6am and saw Sophie off to the gym. Mike had an interview with Aldi today so we got him up in plenty of time and left the house at 9am.

We dropped him off at the supermarket in Kingsthorpe and Keith and I went to Waitrose as I needed some wedding paper. I wanted to send off a present to my friend Lesley in New Zealand because her daughter, Stephanie, is getting married in February. While we were there I bought some vegan ham and we checked out the rest of the vegan offerings. However, I don't want us to rely on vegan meat as that seems like a cop-out!

Mike called us to say he was finished and he agreed to walk up and meet us at the Costa Coffee next door. I treated him to a drink and a square of Millionaire's shortbread, but he thinks he mucked up the interview by getting one of the maths questions wrong...

We took him home and I wrapped up the parcel destined for New Zealand, hoping that it would get there in time! Once it was all ready, Keith and I drove over to the Weston Favell Centre as I had a contact lens check booked at Boots. Keith said he would go to the post office for me and I went in and had my eyes checked by the optician who has lowered my prescription again!

We'd arranged to meet Sophie after my appointment and we did a quick shop while she was on her way. It was back to Costa again where Sophie bought me a sandwich for lunch, bless her. The seating area was frozen, though, probably because it was open to the lower ground floor, which itself it open to the elements. The weather is set to get a lot colder over the next few days with even a possibility of snow.

We caught sight of my parents leaving the travel agents so I ran to get them and they joined us for five minutes. They'd been looking at cruises which I thought was a great idea, but I do think they needed to do some research first. They showed me the booking details and thankfully they hadn't paid anything!

Sophie said goodbye and went back to work and Keith and I drove home through driving rain. It really was a horrible day! Back home I had a look at reviews for the ship Mum and Dad were planning on going on and I was not impressed. I called them and told them where to look - www.cruisecritic.com - and let them make up their own minds, but I don't think it was the ship for them, to be honest!

Birthday girl!

It really didn't feel like my birthday today and there was no time to celebrate this morning as Sophie went off to the gym and I left for work at 7.30am.

However, during the course of my shift at work, a basket of flowers was delivered by Cobby's from my parents and Lynda dropped in with a lovely little watering can also full of flowers and a card. Sara had given me a card and I'd taken some chocolates in, so it felt lovely!

I sped home at 2pm and relaxed at home before having a warm bath and getting ready to go around to Mum and Dad's. I'd decided to have a fish and chip supper at their house as I didn't expect them to come around to ours in the evening and going out for another pub or restaurant meal would have been expensive. It seemed like the ideal solution...and it was!

We picked up the fish and chips on the way and I took a bottle of Cava to drink. Sophie very kindly drove this evening and Mum and Dad had bought several bottles of beer for Keith and Mike and had provided dessert of tiramisu or chocolate trifle, as well as a beautiful Unicorn birthday cake.

While we ate we had the news on and discovered that Teresa May had lost the vote on the Brexit deal. It indeed was a momentous day, but I'm sure not for her! I really do wish that David Cameron had never called the blasted referendum!

And there was me thinking it was because it was my Birthday!

A really strange thing happened during the evening, though...Mike took a photo of Sophie and I and when he examined it he could see a man's face staring out at us through one of the pictures on Mum's wall. It totally freaked me out, I can tell you, and scared the living daylights out of my Mum as she suspects the house is haunted!

After a lot of discussion and argument, we realised it was one of the MPs reflected in the picture's glass, but for one moment I did think it was a ghostly face!

Indulgent Monday!

I took myself off to work this morning and had a pleasant session, which was a bonus for a Monday! Fran was full of it as she has got another job and leaves in the first week of February. Hopefully, there may be some more hours for me!

I sped home at 2pm and collected Keith as we were Aldi and Tesco bound again. We needed some bits for dinner tonight as I had decided to make a bolognese sauce from scratch. We also shopped for Wednesday night and I bought a card for my friend Julia, whose father died at the weekend.

Back home it was time for a cup of tea and a biscuit and we settled down to watch last night's Vera before Sophie got home. Indulgent, I know, but outside the weather was horrible!

We started the bolognese quite late and I hadn't really done any prep so Sophie helped me chop up the veggies - celery, onion, carrots, a parsnip I found hanging about and some garlic. My daughter then browned the mince while I lightly cooked the vegetables in olive oil and a bit of butter. When they were soft we added the mince, tomato puree, wine, beef stock and tinned toms before letting it simmer for an hour.

I have to say the sauce was delicious and we did add some extra oregano, garlic powder and chilli flakes to give it a bit of a kick!

A change of plans...

I had originally wanted to go to see the Olympic Park in East London today, as a birthday outing, but I have to be honest and say that the recent spate of violence in the capital made me a bit wary of visiting at the moment.

I know that we would have been OK, but I didn't want to go somewhere and feel on edge all the time so we decided to go to Stratford upon Avon instead as we always enjoy the town and I'd booked a table at a riverside pub for the afternoon. I did joke to Keith that we'd gone from Stratford (East London) to Stratford (upon Avon)!

We had a leisurely start to the day and I watched the skies anxiously as I didn't want any rain! We drove to the town via the scenic route - over to Daventry, Southam, Leamington, Warwick and then Stratford, where we parked easily on the Recreation Ground by the river.

First up was coffee and we headed to the usual place we visit. The town was looking busy with tourists mingling by the river and looking at the narrow boats moored up near the locks. We took almost the last table in the cafe and enjoyed coffees and cakes before venturing back outside and deciding to do a riverside walk.

The walk took us along the river bank, past the Royal Shakespeare Company theatre and along to a small bridge. Plenty of people (and birds) were out enjoying the fresh air and views. It was so lovely to get out and stretch our legs for a change!

The Dirty Duck (or Black Swan) from across the river - our venue for a late lunch

Several men were out fishing (including a dog who looked highly excited at the prospect of catching something!) and there was a lovely atmosphere. The sun did peep its face between the clouds at times!

We went past some dangerous looking weirs and discovered that the Avon river rises near the Northamptonshire village of Naseby, not at all far from where we live! I didn't know that! It then goes off to Tewkesbury and merges with the Severn.

We crossed a narrow bridge and came across the Holy Trinity church, where we found out Shakespeare is buried! Oh, and Anne Hathaway too! It cost about £3 to go and see where he's buried, but we decided to skip that and just look at the beautiful stained glass windows instead.

When we emerged from the church the sun was out and we had lovely views over the river. We stopped to take some photos before walking back towards the theatre.

Interesting tree with lots of carvings on the trunk and branches

Back on the path we came across a memorial stone to Vivien Leigh, the gorgeous actress who starred in Gone With The Wind and who was married to Lawrence Olivier.

We had a quick walk through the theatre and a performance was just about to start. It was heaving with people and we were tempted to go up to the rooftop bar and restaurant, but we headed back across the locks to The Bear pub instead.

Keith and Mike were delighted to find some good beers on offer in the bar. They had two pints of Hook Norton's Twelve Days, a strong, dark winter beer. I tried a chocolate and vanilla Stout which was delicious.

We had a couple of drinks in the bar and talked about the possibility of going vegan for February. We would have to do it as a family and we all agreed that February was the best month as it was the shortest! There is a vegan food fair on in Northampton on the 26 January so we decided to go to that and get some inspiration!

We'd booked a table for 3.45pm but it was ready early for us. As it was a Greene King pub it served one of Keith's favourite beers, Abbot.

The pub is very old (1738) and is quite famous, apparently! I am sure lots of actors visit when they are appearing at the theatre nearby.

We had a table overlooking the river and we settled down with our drinks to study the extensive menu. For starters we decided upon the sharing platter, consisting of garlic bread, skinny chips, breaded mushrooms and prawns and battered chicken bites. We also ordered another order of garlic bread as we were hungry!

Sophie and Mike had chicken burgers for their main course, Keith wanted the mixed grill but was told it was off, as they only had ribeye steak, which he chose instead. This was served with mac 'n' cheese and crispy shallots, which bemused him slightly!

I made a mistake and opted for the chicken breast stuffed with smoky bacon and leek and thyme, wrapped in streaky bacon and served with roast potatoes, vegetables and a giant cardboard Yorkshire pudding. The overwhelming flavour was the thyme, which I have decided I'm not that keen on! I hate to admit to leaving half of it, but Keith, Sophie and Mike enjoyed their meals.

We left at about 4.30pm and meandered back to the car. I took a panoramic shot of the theatre...

The drive home was easy and took us about an hour and a half. They have finished the A45 extension near Flore and Weedon and this was a joy to drive as it bypassed the two villages quickly and easily.

We were home by 6.30pm and it had just started to rain. I thoroughly enjoyed our day out and the plan is to try and go out once a month, to a place we all pick. Let's hope we keep up with it!

Our first disaster!

Sophie and I had a hair appointment this morning at 9.15am as we both needed our tresses chopped. It was a truly horrible morning - drizzly rain and dark grey skies. Not a brilliant start to the weekend!

We were both very pleased with our hair when we were finished. I'd had about three inches lopped off and the ends looked a lot healthier. We drove to the gym which was packed and I dropped Sophie off before going to park. I've never seen the car park so full and I just about managed to find a space! I sat in the car and read the papers while Sophie did a quick workout and before going home we dropped off some unwanted books at the charity donation shop near Weston Favell.

On Friday night we'd been watching 90 Day Fiance when obviously something happened to the transmission and we found ourselves suddenly watching a hoarding programme on TLC. We couldn't believe our eyes at what we were seeing - a woman and her 20 year old son were living in a house filled with old rubbish which was everywhere. They had to step over it to walk through the house. We were horrified! The books I'd taken to the shop had been sitting on the table in the study for a week so after seeing the programme I was determined to get rid of them!

Keith went off to see Sileby play in the afternoon so it was a perfect time for us to curl up on the sofa and catch up with some recorded programmes, with Monty all cosy between us. Outside the weather hadn't improved at all and tomorrow is forecast to be windy and mild.

I made cocktails before we started dinner - a Moscow Mule for Sophie and a G&T for me and we watched Pointless Celebrities before going into the kitchen to cook. I'd already taken the pork spare ribs out of the fridge and we then made another marinade to brush onto the meat as it was grilling. We used our new little chopper to blend garlic, oil, peppercorns and bay leaves before dipping each spare rib into the sauce and putting them under a very hot grill. Sophie, meanwhile, prepared Jasmine rice while I watched the ribs.

It all smelled lovely, but when we tried a small piece of the meat, it was very salty... We looked at each other in alarm but I perhaps thought it was just because the piece of meat was so small. However, another bit tasted the same so we were very worried.

We had a right to be - the meat was too salty and Sophie and I gave up eating it. Mike and Keith struggled on but we all agreed that tonight was our first disaster because the meat was basically inedible. Oh dear!

After dinner we sat and watched Red Sparrow which I felt went on far too long. We were going to go and see it in the cinema, but I'm so glad we didn't now!

Phew! It's Friday!

Today, work was uneventful and I was glad I was busy with lots of admin work as the phone was much quieter than yesterday. I was surprised when one of the receptionists popped into the office as my Mum had dropped off some pillowcases for me! She'd given me a beautiful teal coloured bedspread last weekend and had washed the pillow cases to go with it. I went out to see them doing their aerobics but they had left early, as I later found out.

In the afternoon I pottered about and felt tired and achy again in the evening. Keith and Mike went off to the pub and Sophie and I prepared tomorrow night's dinner - spare ribs. We had to prepare a paste of salt, star anise and orange rind to rub into them and then leave them to marinate overnight. It was quite messy but the smells were lovely and more Christmassy than anything.

We managed a glass of wine and half an hour of 90 Day Fiance before Sophie made a start on tonight's dinner of chicken curry and I went off to collect Keith. I hadn't fancied dinner at all, but once I'd had some, I felt better. I was just glad it was Friday night, though, and the weekend beckoned!

A bit annoyed...

Sophie was off to prison again this morning, so I was able to use her car to get to work. I had a feeling that today was going to be "one of those days" when my Tassimo coffee pod wouldn't work!

I arrived at work to be told that I was training a new member of staff even though I had loads of invoices to process and Sue was more than capable of looking after her. Grrr! Our phones went down for 45 minutes so that gave me a chance to catch up and I briefly explained how we dealt with them to Joanne, who looked a bit bemused!

By 3pm I had had enough as I'd had a lot of difficult phone calls and my head was aching! I drove thankfully home where I did very little for the rest of the afternoon. Sophie was annoyed as well, as her manager took her back to work after the brief prison visit and she hadn't packed any lunch, thinking they would be out for most of the day. She left at about 4.30pm and was given a lift home, but all in all it had been a trying day! The weather was also horrible with temperatures hovering about 4c and a misty drizzle. Any colder and I'm sure it would have snowed!

I felt very tired and achy in the evening and went to bed at 9pm. Roll on the weekend!

Two days in one...

Keith drove me to work on Tuesday as Mike was at Gemma's house and we had a suspicion he would call to ask for a lift home.

Work was fine and we were kept busy by all the phone calls and admin work. Keith and Mike picked me up at 2pm and we called into Tesco to post a parcel for Sophie and I treated the boys to some beer. I also bought a wedding present for my friend Lesley's daughter who is getting married in February in New Zealand. I would loved to have gone, but at least we can send them something in our place!

On Wednesday, I took Sophie to Mum and Dad's house as she was meeting her manager there before going to Worcestershire, to visit an Open Prison for the day. I dropped her off and sped home as we had to take ET to the garage to have her rear end fixed! Driving in the school run traffic was no fun and I don't miss doing this at all! It took us almost an hour to get into town, drop the car off and head back out to the Weston Favell Centre where we had a quick coffee as I was starting work at 9.30am, and covering for a colleague.

Keith picked me up at 2pm and we toyed with the idea of staying in town until 4pm, when we could pick up the car, but we went home instead as I knew we would just spend money!

We were delighted with the job again and ET's rear back bumper looks as good as new. We drove home and within minutes Sophie had arrived home as well, which was a bonus! She'd had a good day and said the Open Prison building was lovely and set in parkland and looked more like a luxury hotel!

The Curious Incident of the Cat in the Night Time...

I really did not want to get up this morning and felt really tired. I was in the middle of a dream about Sophie and I being in New York at a design college so it was a real shock when she woke me up at about 6.30am...

I followed her downstairs and saw her off to the gym before making myself a much-needed cup of coffee and watching the news. I felt a bit better after a shower, but I have to admit it was depressing going off to work this morning. I wish I had an income so I could stay at home!

Work was OK and the time passed very quickly as we were busy. For the first 45 minutes we didn't have any calls as the people who are responsible for our phones (the council) got the days wrong and thought we were open 9am until 4pm today, our Bank Holiday hours!

At 2pm I dashed home and Keith and I went straight to Kettering to do some food shopping for the next three days. We treated ourselves to a cup of tea in Costa and when we arrived home Mike met us at the door as he was "starving"!

At about 5pm a local builder called around as we have had a problem with one of our conservatory doors - for some reason, the frame on one side has dropped so it's difficult to shut the door. We were a bit worried it was structural but the builder (husband of Sam who walks the enormous dogs) said it was a problem with the door itself, probably because it's so heavy. He said he knew a good company who specialise in windows and doors and he would give us the details.

Mike announced he was going out in the evening and staying at Gemma's house so we changed our meal for tonight - we were going to have Tacos but there would have been too much wasted so Sophie and I had some battered fish that was languishing in the freezer while Keith had a Tesco Finest ready meal that was a day out of date. The best laid plans!

After dinner we noticed a movement in the garden and saw that we had a visitor - one of the neighbourhood cats was balanced on the fence and when Monty saw him he growled and ran off into the living room! We think it's the cat we see at the top end of the estate and whom Monty is very wary of. Whenever we meet this cat, it's affectionate to us but Monty runs away and his coat goes all bushy! I did think that Monty would want to go out and confront him as he can be quite feisty (and takes on even big dogs), but there must be some real bad blood between these two as Monty wouldn't leave the living room and had a real owl face on!

At 9pm, bored with the crappy TV I watched an old DVD of my cousin Tracy's wedding back in 1987 that Mum had lent to me. It's really sad that Tracy has passed away, as has her mother (my Aunt) and her brother who died last year. Of course, my Grandmother and my Great Aunt were also on the DVD so it was great to see them again, even if it was just on film!

An indulgent Sunday!

After a long lie-in (it was almost 9am when I woke up!) Keith and I went to get the Sunday newspapers and called to see Mum and Dad for a coffee.

When we returned home we had a late breakfast and after we'd eaten and cleared away, Sophie and I sorted out her car insurance. She had been quoted just over £800 by her current insurers so we did a bit of shopping about and managed to reduce it to just over £750. However, when she phoned her insurers to cancel the policy they reduced her quote quite a bit! It just shows it works to shop around rather than accept a new quote!

I had a long soak in the bath and afterwards I applied slippery masks to the underside of my eyes, supposedly to reduce puffiness! I looked great! Sophie made me a cocktail so we decided to abandon our usual Sunday walk and sit and watch Who Wants to be a Millionaire instead! To be honest, the weather has been grey and dull so we weren't really in the mood to get out anyway!

Mike arrived home with Gemma (they'd been shopping) and bought Sophie a vegan sausage roll, which is kind of weird to me...but it tasted lovely and as Sophie and I were ravenous (we hadn't eaten much all day) it went down very well!

Sophie and I made a start on tonight's dinner - braised steaks with gravy - and cooked them for two minutes on each side before resting them in our new flame-proof casserole dish. We then fried onions, garlic and mushrooms and added stock and tomato puree to the steaks before letting them cook slowly for about an hour and a half. We also cooked some skinny chips in Keith's new air fryer as well as carrots and broccoli. With the gravy it was delicious!

Another clear-out!

I woke up later than normal this morning but by 9am I was removing all the decorations from the tree in the conservatory and putting them in boxes, ready to store them until next Christmas!

Sophie joined me and made a start on the tree in the living room and after everything had been taken off, Keith boxed them both up and put them on the eaves in the garage. We managed to get all the boxes of decorations into the plastic crate I'd bought, but there wasn't much room left over! I just hope they'll be OK up there until December, which seems a long way off, but isn't! We decided to keep our precious gonks in a bag in our wardrobe - I would hate for anything to happen to them!

I made a start on hoovering but then went with Keith to the tip to take some cardboard and the clothes we'd thrown out. After getting a paper at the Co-op in Brixworth, we headed home where I found Sophie had done a lot of the cleaning and the house looked lovely.

We carried on upstairs and by 1pm we were all finished. I've left some lights up - the ones along the fireplace, on the cabinet in the study and along the curtains so that will cheer us up in the dark months of January and February!

At 2pm Sophie and I went out - I dropped her off at the gym and then popped to Tesco to buy some wine for tonight as we are off to Sue and Paul's. I had to get a Chenin Blanc to pair with a bottle of Vouvray and also some flowers and chocolates to take around.

Tesco was busy and I queued for ages at the checkout. On the way back to the car I met Liam so we had a very brief chat and then it was off to collect Sophie who had finished her workout. We headed home to find Keith had gone off to see Sileby play and I enjoyed some cheese and biscuits while watching last night's episode of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Sophie is now hooked!

At 7pm Keith and I crossed the road to Sue and Paul's and shortly after we said our hellos, Richard and Michelle arrived. We had a glass of Prosecco laced with Sloe Gin to start and enjoyed a buffet of quiche, new potatoes and salad that Sue had prepared.

We had to take Vouvray and Chenin Blanc to see if Paul could detect one of his favourite wines! The wine I had taken was on the sweet side but most of us liked it. The Chenin Blanc - from South Africa - was drier, so we had a good discussion as to why! The next two wines were the Yellowtail Shiraz that Paul loves, and a Rioja, which I have decided I don't really like, to be honest!

After we had enjoyed the red wines, we had dessert as Paul had made a pear and nut cake which was lovely. It was very moist and light. By 10.30pm Keith was feeling really tired so we headed home but before bed we watched the last episode of Code 37: Sex Crimes, so we had a later night than anticipated!

Two goes into one!

It was back to work for me on Thursday and a very busy day catching up with orders and answering lots and lots of telephone calls. Consequently, the time flew by.

Keith had taken me to work as he was off to do our shopping and he picked me up at 3pm. On the way home we called into Brixworth to post a parcel for Sophie and then it was home to do some chores. I'm going to try and fill in the time between getting home and Sophie finishing work with doing useful things or even getting out for a walk. Sometimes, it's too easy to sit at the computer and waste a couple of hours!

On Friday we were very busy again at work and we had almost non-stop phone calls, a lot of which could have been dealt with by customers using our website. I drove myself this morning and I'm certainly looking forward to lighter mornings! It's still so dark at 7.30am!

Back home in the afternoon I raced around dealing with clutter in the house and Keith and I sorted out one of the drawers in our divan bed. He had stuffed a load of tee shirts in there before I'd had a chance to store my summer clothes, so we began a ruthless chucking out session and managed to fill a big charity bag with unwanted clothes. I was then able to put my summer clothes into the drawer as there was room! It's off to the tip for us tomorrow!

Sophie arrived home a little earlier than usual and we enjoyed a glass of the sparkling wine her manager had given her for Christmas. We finished off a chilli that Keith had started and after dinner watched two episodes of Luther back to back. It was a great series, but so frightening! It's put me off going to London next week!

A morning mooch...

I was up with Sophie this morning as she went off to the gym on her first day back at work after the Christmas break.

Keith and I decided to go for a "mooch" and picked an area near to Thrapston to see if there were any good pubs about. We headed for Titchmarsh first and came across The Wheatsheaf, which we later found out is part of the pub chain who owns one of our locals. We hadn't intended on going into any of the pubs, we were just interested in seeing if there was anywhere good to go at the weekend or maybe one evening in the week.

From Titchmarsh we headed to Clopton but apart from seeing a horse and rider in the distance, the village was deserted with no pub! I had a feeling we'd been to Thurning before and I'm pretty sure we went to a pub there, but either I was mistaken or one had closed down as there was nothing.

The landscape was flat and empty, with hardly any hedgerows and just the occasional farm building. The roads were narrow and we only met a handful of cars so we had plenty of opportunity to slow down and look at the map before deciding where to go.

After Thurning, we headed to the lovely named village of Luddington in the Brook and then Hemington, but we were beginning to realise that this area is totally devoid of pubs! We did wonder where the farm workers went in the past, and it's sad that more and more pubs are going out of business.

From Hemington we drove towards Polebrook and found The Kings Arms, which looked promising. We weren't far from Oundle so we decided to go there, get a newspaper and see what the small market town had to offer.

On the outskirts we found a Waitrose so we had a coffee and a cheese scone each and bought the paper. We drove through the town and spotted two or three promising places, but I'm not sure it's worth the trip out, to be honest!

We'd arranged to meet Sophie at lunchtime so we drove over to her office, picked her up and headed down to Riverside to visit Next for a cup of coffee. I was after a big plastic crate to store our Christmas decorations as I wanted to put them up in the eaves of our garage rather than try to cram them all into our wardrobe, but Wilko's didn't have one so after taking Sophie back we went to Jones's where I found one of the perfect size.

Back home I hoovered and tidied up and before I knew it, Sophie was home! We spent an enjoyable evening watching Escape to the Chateau and then Luther after dinner. It was scary!

A visit to Cambridge.

We awoke this morning after a lie-in and apart from a slight headache, I didn't feel too bad!

We'd decided to visit Cambridge today and I'd pre-booked a parking space with JustPark near the centre of the town. I'd also reserved a table at a pub called The Mitre for 2.30pm so we set off at 11am for the hour's journey to the city.

It was a dry day with the sun trying to peep through the clouds but there was no rain forecast, thank goodness! We made the journey in great time and found our space very easily - it was a covered spot underneath a building and was lovely and secure.

We walked towards the town and came to Trinity College and although it was closed to the public, we were still able to walk along the river and have a look at the beautiful grounds.

We saw some people punting on the rive Cam and I looked out for the Bridge of Sighs, but it was further up the river and out of bounds due to the closure of the college.

We found our way into the centre and stopped for a hot chocolate at Caffe Nero. This enabled us to get our bearings and locate Bridge Street where The Mitre is. There were quite a few tourists about and it was lovely to get out into the sunshine and admire the gorgeous architecture of the famous colleges.

All the colleges were closed, though but it was still lovely to imagine studying at one of them and being a student!

We meandered into the market square which was a bit shabbier than the area around the colleges and made our way to Bridge Street. However, we took a wrong turning as I thought we'd be able to access the street through one of the colleges! We did walk up Trinity Lane, though, and I was intrigued by the buildings, each with tall chimneys in a row! They did remind me of a street in Bruges, for some reason!

By now the sky had darkened and I could feel the odd drop of rain so we decided to get to the pub a bit earlier and see if they could accommodate us. It was lucky we did as one of the staff had tried to contact us to say the pub was closing early and last orders were at the time we'd booked!

We ordered some drinks at the bar and I ordered a half of Old Dairy Snow Top which was a lovely dark, winter beer. The boys each had a pint and Sophie enjoyed a glass of wine.

We chose a table in their dining area and had a good look at the menu, choosing nachos and garlic bread to start as a sharing platter and the usual suspects for our mains - fish and chips, burgers and a turkey dinner pie for me. The food was delicious and the service excellent so it was a good choice!

When we emerged at almost 3pm the weather had cleared again and we wandered up Bridge Street watching people on the punts:

Opposite was Magdalene College (pronounced Maudlyn) which was founded in 1428! It looked beautiful.

Before we left to go home we called into The Punter pub and had a last drink. I had looked at this for our meal, but the menu was a little small so decided on The Mitre instead. However, it was a lovely, cosy pub with art for sale on the whitewashed walls and lots of black beams and quirky furnishings everywhere. I'd definitely like to come back!

Our journey home was fine and we called into Tesco briefly before popping around to see Mum and Dad as they had left their phone in my car. We had a New Year's Day drink with them and a good chat and then returned home to relax and watch E.T. - a great film and one that Sophie had never seen before!

Later in the evening we watched Luther - that was a bit disturbing!

New Year celebrations!

New Year's Eve

The grey gloom gave way this morning, for a brief while at least, to spells of sunshine. We went over to see Mum and Dad and had a coffee with them before returning home. Sophie went off to the gym and I pottered about while she was gone.

In the afternoon we went to Beckworth for a slice of very gooey cake and it was much quieter than expected. Everything was a little bit subdued and after we'd enjoyed our cake, we wandered around but it seemed a little sad as there was just tat on sale from Christmas.

We didn't buy anything as we are all foodied out! We returned home and I sat and watched Maleficent on the television before helping Keith with dinner. We'd planned on having chicken en croute but we had beef left over from yesterday and some veggies so we made bubble and squeak again and cooked some oven chips in the air fryer. This time it worked OK, and the chips were lovely and crispy. Buoyed up by our success we put some onion rings in there as well and they were delicious!

After dinner we enjoyed Crocodile Dundee 2 and Mike dressed up to go and see his friends in the village. We changed and went over to Richard and Michelle's house at 10.30pm as we were seeing the New Year in with them and Paul and Sue.

We all sat in their beautiful living room and played a great game where we each had to come up with five names of people, either celebrities or people we knew. For the first round we had to give a short description of as many as we could in one minute. The second round saw us miming who they were (hilarious, especially as someone had said Fanny Craddock!) and the third round we had to give just a one word description. It was very funny indeed and Sophie loved miming! We split into two groups, male and female, and I'm proud to say that us ladies won, even though the men said it wasn't fair as there were more of us!

After the game we were given a glass of Champagne and we watched the fireworks in London, followed by Jools Holland. It was a great end to the day and we blearily made our way home at 1am.

Happy New Year!

Hector, one of Richard and Michelle's cats.