Queues again!

Day 68

Sophie and I enjoyed our breakfast in the garden this morning and we were accompanied by a little "fat" baby - a young Blackbird who was very happy pecking about in the grass and showed no fear of us at all! He or she came really close several times but then must have realised they were all alone so set up a plaintive squawking which brought both parents flying over! He/she then seemed content to sit in the branch of a tree and just chill!

It's been another gorgeous day with fairly high temperatures and limitless blue sky and fluffy white clouds. Keith and I pottered about in the garden all morning and we made a "sort of" start on the conservatory which is badly in need of a thorough scrub. It's covered in bird poo and dust, as well as the horrible green stuff we have here which covers everything. Keith cleaned the gutters out and I did some pruning and general tidying up. Because of the dire lack of rain, our grass is starting to go crispy and yellow again, like it did a couple of years ago when we had a drought. However, there is some rain in the forecast for the middle of the week and June can be very changeable!

In the afternoon Sophie wanted to buy some treats for her friend Laura, so we popped to Beckworth where she bought chocolates, cheese and biscuits. As the Prosecco was very expensive, I suggested we go to the Weston Favell Centre where we could pop to the post office as well as go into Tesco where their prices are more reasonable.

We parked right outside in an almost deserted car park and walked in, but then we noticed the queue so we changed our mind! We then tried the BP garage at Kingsthorpe but the wine was about the same price at Beckworth so after buying the newspaper we headed to Aldi, further down the road. However, the queue here was very long so we drove around the car park and decided to go to Laura's as I knew there was a Tesco Express nearby. This queuing business is really starting to get us down and it's almost like it's not worth going out!

On the way, I noticed that Lidl was queue free so we made an abrupt decision to go there. Here, there wasn't a one way system and it was a bit of a free-for-all, to be honest! We picked out some Prosecco, as well as some beer for the men and a snack for our lunch which we ate in the car. By now, the temperature was about 24c so it was quite warm sitting in the car! The roads all around were busy so it looks like things have returned to normal!

We dropped off the goodies at Laura's house and Sophie was able to stay for a quick chat. Unfortunately, there was no hugging like there usually is! Our last stop before going home was Starbucks again, where we'd promised Mike an iced coffee. However, there were ten cars in front of us and after waiting ten minutes and not moving at all, we gave up and went home. It really isn't worth it at the moment!

Sophie cooked dinner tonight - a Mary Berry recipe for chilli con carne and very good it was, too!