A busy end to the week.

In the past, Fridays have been pretty quiet, but that was not the case today, I'm afraid! We were hectically busy, right from the word go, and at one point there were 15 calls in the queue! Not really what we were expecting, or wanting on the last day of our working week!

It remained busy throughout my shift, and I had some frustrating calls. One woman phoned three times and asked me the same question as if trying to catch me out. When I asked if I'd spoken to her before, she denied it, even though I knew she was lying. I think some people believe there's many more of us answering calls and phone again hoping they'll get a different person!

It was great to escape at 4pm and head home knowing I had three days off. It's a Bank Holiday weekend (but I am down to work on the 31st!). Sophie arrived home and after she changed out of her work clothes we started our evening with a mini bottle of rose Cava, before finishing up the wine we'd used for the Jerk Chicken yesterday. We also watched a good film - All Roads Lead to Rome, which was light-hearted escapism. If we can't travel at the moment, we can at least travel via films!

Some good news...

I had to remind myself to go to work this morning as I don't usually (this time around anyway) work on a Thursday!

When I arrived at work, Sara told me about some changes that had happened yesterday. She had realised that we were all finding it stressful at the moment, as the calls have been relentless and at times, long and complicated. A couple of my colleagues had found themselves stuck on the phone at well past 4pm dealing with different issues. This makes us very late leaving as we have to cash up at the end of the shift. From now on, we're logging off five minutes before the shift ends to avoid receiving a call seconds before we finish, and which could end up being long and involved. It's a particular bugbear for us all!

We could also have ten minutes' break if we wanted and I was really pleased that we were being supported and listened to! I know that a couple of my colleagues have found it tough lately, and I have felt fed up as well.

Today, after the initial rush again, it was quiet and I was able to do a job for Sheila - putting on the playscheme places for the May half-term holiday. It was great to get back in the swing of things and I'm hoping more jobs like that will come my way!

At 4pm I sped home and caught up with Keith. He had researched a van company that would take one of my Mum's sofas over to the care home next week. I think taking it over for her will cheer her up so we sorted that out, which was a relief. I didn't fancy trying to wedge it into the car like we did last time!

Before dinner this evening Sophie and I played Scrabble and I was beating my daughter when we had to stop to cook. Unfortunately, while we were eating the delicious Jerk Chicken, Monty decided to walk all over the board, dislodging all the tiles! Oh well!

Recycling matters!

I was off work again today and it was lovely to potter about this morning and not have to rush. We had made the decision to take the recycling to Milton Keynes as it was threatening to overwhelm our garage! I'd had enough of the boxes and the bags everywhere!

We had a very easy journey to Milton Keynes and dropped off a bootful of pet food pouches and Tassimo pods. Another load saved from landfill! We took the scenic route home via the A5 and we were amazed to see all the building work around junction 15 - it looks like they're making a new industrial park.

I'd suggested Jerk Chicken Pasta for dinner tomorrow night, but we had one problem - we didn't have any Jerk paste. I thought Asda stocked it so we headed there but after scouring the shelves and asking one of the staff, there was none to be had at all. We bought a few other things in Asda and then we were forced to go to Tesco at Weston Favell as I knew for sure they had it there.

I can't remember the last time we had visited - certainly not this year - and it was strange seeing the cafes still closed up. I managed to find the paste and bought three jars to make sure we had enough for the future! 

On the way out we witnessed a furious man shouting at one of the checkout staff. He was yelling at him to not throw his purchases down the conveyor belt! It's a good job he wasn't shopping in Aldi!

Back home it was lunch and then I resumed my sorting in the garage, this time for the recycling we collect locally. I was fed up by now as I really didn't want to spend the whole day doing this! I had lost track of the time, and Keith appeared to tell me it was well past 2pm and we had to go for Mike! Where has today gone?!

After collecting Mike, I re-potted our basil and mint plants, and finally was able to relax! Dinner this evening was a chicken noodle soup, and I started the preparations by chopping up ginger and garlic, making stock and simmering the chicken for about twenty minutes.

Before doing the final cooking, we sat and discussed the meals for the rest of the week, and enjoyed a non-alcoholic cocktail in the conservatory. Sophie was going to cook a meal from her new Indian cooking book, but the list of ingredients just for the sauce ran on for far longer than we had realised. We didn't fancy sending poor Keith out to try and get it all!

After the delicious soup, served with garlic bread, Sophie and I retired upstairs to watch a film, Bottle Shock about the 1976 comparison of French and Californian wines, and we applied a bright green mask to our faces which made me look like the Grinch!

Back to work...

After waving Sophie off to the gym this morning, I went back to bed as I felt shattered. I'd woken at 5am when the alarm went off and facing a day at work, I needed an extra hour! 

Work was not too bad, thank goodness, and after an early rush, it did quieten down a bit so at least we were able to catch up with some other work. Jo had had a bad day yesterday, with a series of grumpy customers so she was hoping for a better day today!

I sped home at 4pm and managed to do some chores before Sophie arrived home. Today, the weather has been dull and grey and during the evening it started raining, something we haven't seen for a long time! The gardens really need it at the moment, so at least it saves me doing the watering! Apparently, this April has been the frostiest for 60 years! It certainly has been colder, especially at night!

Sophie and I just had ginger ale with ice this evening and I do think that abstaining from alcohol stops me from waking up at about 3am in the morning!

A quick check-up

I was off work today and had swapped shifts with Denise so I could accompany my Mum for a check-up at the hospital this afternoon. She was a bit worried about a small lump in her breast so she had an appointment at the treatment centre in Kettering.

I spent the morning giving the downstairs of the house a good clean and throwing away things that we no longer needed. It's been another glorious day but there's still that chilly wind about! Keith went to do some more essential shopping for the next few days and then made me lunch, which was a bonus!

I had arranged to meet Mum at the treatment centre and I asked Keith to drop me off as I was a bit worried about parking. The last thing I wanted was to have to go elsewhere on the large hospital site to find a space! My Mum arrived within a few minutes of me getting there and we checked into the reception. The building looked brand new and I was impressed with the whole process. Mum was seen by a consultant first and he examined her. My Mum had breast cancer about 20 years ago and has had a mastectomy and reconstruction surgery. The consultant thought that the lump she felt was the edge of the implant, but she went for an ultrasound and a mammogram as well, and all was fine.

The breast clinic is called a "One-Stop" clinic and I was really impressed that everything was done so quickly, and in one place without her having to wait for the results. It really put her mind at ease. It was lovely being able to spend some time with her, and when we'd finished we called the Care Home who came to collect her.

Keith came back to collect me (he'd been to get Mike from work) and at home, I finished off the housework, and then was able to relax for a while. When Sophie came home from work we played cards in the conservatory with a mocktail... we're off the alcohol from Monday to Thursday to give our livers a bit of a rest!

Just pottering!

Today has been very relaxing and I haven't moved from the house at all! Mike was at work again this morning, and when he returned he said he wanted a hair cut. Keith drove him over and popped to Tesco to get some essentials while Mike was at the barbers.

I spent the morning pottering about and doing loads of washing as it's been breezy and sunny today, perfect for getting everything out on the line and drying it for free! I really love doing laundry on days like this!

Sophie got ready to see Laura and Daisy for lunch and went to The Red Lion at Yardley Hastings. There was a chill to the wind, and it was noticeably cooler than yesterday so I just hoped she wouldn't be exposed to the elements!

I watched the end of Too Close in the afternoon, a good drama that had been on a couple of weeks ago, but which was a bit depressing! 

Sophie came home at about 6.30pm laden down with gifts from her friends! She received beautiful scented candles, a bottle of Rum, chocolates and even an Easter Egg from Laura! We had a drink and had a good chat about her afternoon while Keith prepared our dinner of cold meats, salad and new potatoes. Even though Sophie had been out for lunch, she was still hungry as they'd had tapas dishes which had been a bit on the small size, portion-wise!

Ladies who lunch...

Unfortunately, I was awake at 4.15am this morning, woken by Mike and Keith having a conversation! Mike is working this weekend and had to go in extra early to get the greens ready for the golfers. Keith went back to sleep until 5am but I lay awake until I heard them leave. When I did go back to sleep, Mike calling at 7am to say he was finished woke me up again!

Sophie and I had lunch booked at The Falcon in Castle Ashby at 12pm and I had originally thought we could go to Milton Keynes to take the recycling first! It would have meant leaving home at 10am and rushing to get ready which we didn't want this morning.

The Falcon Inn and restaurant holds special memories for me. Keith and I spent our wedding night there 29 years ago, and it was a regular place I went to for Christmas dinners with my parents. It was a lovely place to go for a celebration dinner, and we've spent some wonderful times there. It was sad to see it all closed up but it's been extensively refurbished and the changes are spectacular. The Falcon was built in 1594 and is owned by the 7th Marquess of Northampton. It's a gorgeous building, with honey-coloured stone everywhere, sweeping grounds and beautiful terraces where you can enjoy a meal or a drink.

We arrived on the dot of 12pm and were greeted by two very friendly members of staff who showed us to our table overlooking the grounds. The restaurant was beginning to fill up, and some people were seated on the other terrace which was just for drinks.

We were given the wine menu and the lunch menu and asked if we wanted a bottle of sparkling water. We had already looked at the choices on their website, and all the dishes sounded delicious! We ordered a glass each of white wine, a Torrontes-Chardonnay from Argentina (delicious) and a portion of sourdough bread and butter, and olives. We decided to share a starter of asparagus (£12) and we both went for the tagliatelle for our main course. The fact that we'd decided on exactly the same thing throughout the meal was a source of amusement for our server!

We were very lucky with the weather, and although every now and again there was a gust of wind, it was extremely pleasant sitting on the terrace in the sunshine. By now the tables were filling up and a family trooped in and sat behind us. The mum and dad looked especially glum for some reason, I have no idea why given the surroundings and the delightful prospect of lunch out, and the two children sat glued to their tablets the whole time we were there.

I had imagined that the place would be full of the beautiful people, seeing as the renovations have created such a splash locally, but most people were dressed very casually and two women, who looked like they'd been out for a ramble, turned up and were seated on the drinks terrace. I heard one of them say that they'd spent their wedding night at the hotel as well, so there's no doubt the place holds special memories for a lot of people.

Our starter accompanied by bread and olives.

The first course of food was sublime, especially the asparagus, which was cooked to perfection and accompanied by burrata, - an Italian cheese I'd never heard of before - almonds and extra virgin olive oil. The bread was still warm, crusty on the outside, soft in the middle, and the olives were plump and just salty enough. We did think that three asparagus spears were a bit mean for the £12 price tag, but we really couldn't fault the taste or presentation.

After we'd devoured the starters our main course arrived - tagliatelle with courgette, basil pesto and a wonderful parmesan sauce. It came with a foam! We'd never eaten a foam before!

The pasta was soft and delicious - it was definitely the highlight of our meal. Sophie ate hers in record time, she was so impressed. I needn't have worried about tonight's barbecue at home as the portions weren't huge, but it was certainly quality over quantity, which is sometimes just what you want.

We couldn't resist a dessert and we both opted for the panna cotta served with rhubarb and pistachio nuts. It was so pretty, it looked like a work of art!

I had a decaffeinated coffee to finish off the meal, and while our server cleared our plates, I tentatively asked if we could look around the hotel. I said I quite understood if we couldn't, given the current pandemic, but I explained I'd stayed here on my wedding night and next year is our 30th anniversary. I was thinking of spending the night here with Keith as a treat. She said she would ask and while she was gone, we both used the beautiful toilet facilities. I went after Sophie and unfortunately banged my head badly on the lintel as I came out of the bathroom! Not really what I wanted! But then I suppose it is a very old building, and people were a lot shorter in the 16th century!

Back at the table, we were given the bill and it came to what I was expecting, a shade under £100 which included service at 12.5%, something we were not going to quibble about. I praised the food and service to the rather snooty Maitre D' who brushed off my compliments without saying thank you. It's been so long since we've been somewhere this good in the UK, and I think we've become accustomed to lack-lustre service and food! There was no mention of us looking around the hotel, and our server never came back to say we couldn't, so I felt disappointed and a bit silly for asking in the first place. It would have been nice for someone to come and say they were sorry it wasn't possible, but they could have invited us back in May when inside dining is allowed again. A marketing opportunity missed as the rooms start at about £250 a night!

From Castle Ashby, we drove to Olney and managed to park on the main street. We made straight for a lovely shop selling vintage treasures where I needed some more soaps. Sophie bought one each for Laura and Daisy as she's meeting them for lunch tomorrow to catch up after birthdays and Christmas, and wanted some gifts for them.

It was then lovely to wander around the shops, some of them selling some very strange things indeed! Olney used to be known for its antique shops, but now these have all been replaced by gift shops that sell things people don't really need! 

The town was busy with shoppers enjoying the sunshine, and the pubs were doing a roaring trade with outside diners and drinkers. We ambled back to the car and before heading home, popped to Beckworth to get some more gifts for the girls. Beckworth has changed since the last time we were there with the checkouts now situated in a new part of the store. Again, there was more tat on display, including a small bottle of shower "milk" for £20!  Am I really that much out of touch with prices that I find that ludicrous?

Back home we relaxed for an hour and then it was cocktail time and Scrabble. We played two games - Sophie beat me each time - and afterwards, we helped Keith with the barbecue. Sophie said she was so hungry her stomach had begun to eat itself! After a three-course lunch!

Our evening meal was delicious - I had marinated chicken breasts in cumin, turmeric, garlic, ginger and coconut milk this morning - and we also enjoyed juicy burgers with new potatoes, corn on the cob and salad.

After we'd cleared away we decided to watch the new Sky Atlantic drama, Mare of Easttown starring our very own Kate Winslet with an awful American accent. Sophie and I were not impressed, but Keith enjoyed it, so he can watch it from now on while he's doing the ironing!

Thank goodness it's Friday!

I was back at work today and manning the phones with Kathy. It started off being very busy as usual but it did quieten down after an hour, so that was a relief. Even so, I took some very annoying phonecalls on my shift, and these are the top five irritating ones:

Number 5: Dogs barking in the background

Number 4: People thinking it's a good idea to call and discuss swimming lessons for their children whilst driving. It's bad enough when the children are members, but extremely annoying when they're not, and you have to explain the whole process to them against a background of car noise.

Number 3: Callers asking inane questions that can easily be answered by a couple of clicks on the internet. They normally say they find the website confusing. I forgive genuine calls, but I would say 90% of these callers are lazy and can't be bothered to find out the information themselves.

Number 2: Callers who bombard me with questions and move on to another before I've had time to answer the first question they ask. 

Number 1: Children screaming in the background, and I mean screaming. Why? There is a scene in the excellent film, Mrs Doubtfire when Robin Williams's character is calling his wife about the job she's advertised. He adopts several different, and horrific, personas and one of them is screaming "Layla! Git back in your cell!" I sometimes feel as if we're being called by prank callers, trying to wind us up!

Halfway through my shift, Polly who used to work for us when we had the business came in to see me! It was wonderful to see her after a long time, but seeing her did make me very emotional, so we left the office and went outside to have a quick catch up. I am very emotional at the moment and prone to crying! It didn't help that our new managing director was sitting opposite my desk but he's known me for ages, and probably understood why I was upset thank goodness! In fact, nearly all of the people involved in the sale of the business 6 years ago were in the office!

Therefore, it was a relief to leave at 4pm and head home to look forward to the weekend. Friday night is Wine Night! Yippee! When Sophie arrived home she had a terrible headache, poor thing, so I gave her a head massage and then we cracked open a bottle of red to go with the chilli for dinner. We watched Come Dine With Me tonight, rather than a film and it was great to think we didn't have to get up early tomorrow!

Keith is jabbed again!

Keith had an appointment for his second jab today, so I had to go shopping with him later in the morning! I drove him to the vaccination centre at 9.30am and within ten minutes he was all done. We headed home for breakfast, wrote a hasty list, and then went shopping.

We went to Aldi first and I spotted an old man in there, a bit dishevelled and on his own, which made me feel very sad. He reminded me of my Dad, not because he looked uncared for, but because his hair was similar, as was the way he was shuffling along. It really upset me, to be honest, but at least he was out shopping and when we emerged from the store there was a badly parked car in the disabled bay that we think was his, so he's obviously independent, and probably fiercely so!

After shopping in Tesco we thankfully headed home, and after putting everything away I made a beeline for the garden and managed to cut the grass before we went to collect Mike. It has been a gorgeous day today with plenty of sunshine, blue skies and a gentle breeze. I've left part of the lawn in the garden to grow long as there are daisies and dandelions mixed in with the grass, and I'm also going to try and put some wildflower seeds down to attract bees and butterflies. 

I pottered about in the garden some more after we returned from getting Mike and it was lovely to be out in the fresh air and sunshine. When Sophie came home from work we enjoyed a game of Scrabble and a drink in the conservatory, which was bliss! It's been a much better day today!

Not the best of days!

Today has not been the most pleasant of days, in fact, it's been downright horrible. I forgot to mention in my blog yesterday, that when we eventually got home from collecting Mike, there were two letters for my Dad, both from Tesco bank. He has a Tesco credit card, and I noticed an amount of £194 on the statement. As the card hasn't been used since they both went into the care home, I was a little worried as to what it could be... I soon found out when I opened the other letter - a bill for tyres at a place in Glasgow! I had called the customer service line last night but they wouldn't talk to me without my Dad present, so it was lucky that I had an appointment to see them today.

I arrived at 10.30am and went through all the usual rigmarole of sticking a swab up my nose and down my throat, before filling in forms and then donning a load of environmentally unfriendly plastic PPE. When my parents appeared, my Dad had a go at me for not bringing in the bank statements he had asked for (I'd forgotten but what he was going to do with them is anybody's guess) so that put my hackles up straightaway.

I called the customer service line again and was put straight through to a lovely lady who tried to help us. Unfortunately, though, my Dad couldn't remember all of the security questions, so to cut a long and very painful story short, they're sending me a form with a number on it, which I will have to get my Dad to read out to them when I see them the next time. I understand the security involved but why couldn't they have tried to stop the fraudulent payment from going through in the first place? I can't do anything at the moment without my bank texting me to confirm it's me making a transaction, so why is it different for Tesco? Especially seeing as the card hadn't been used for ages!

After this fiasco, my Mum then started saying how unhappy she was, how the food was horrible and how bored she was, not really something I wanted to hear at the moment. She said their rooms were bare and she missed her things, which I could understand. I tried to reassure her that once things return to normal, I could take her out a couple of times a week and she could even walk to the nearby shops. So, not a good meeting at all, and I'll admit to shedding a few tears in the car on the way home.

Keith and I then popped to the docs to pick up our prescriptions and I said I wanted to take my Dad's car through the car wash as it was dirty and dusty. We drove to the Shell garage in Kingsthorpe but, as usual, it was closed so after buying some treats in the M&S outlet there, we went to Morrison's on the Kettering Road. I now really wish we hadn't as on the way home, during a lovely chat about the villa we rented in Naples in Florida, I am 99.9% sure I have been done for speeding... just what I need at the moment.

I was doing 38mph which was too fast, I'll admit, so I'll take the flak, but it's just another in a long line of niggles that are affecting us at the moment. There'll be a £100 fine and three points on my licence unless I'm offered a Speed Awareness course, which I think is online at the moment!

Mike had called us to say that he was finishing at his usual time of 2.30pm today, so we just had time to go home, eat a quick lunch and go back out to collect him. We needn't have rushed as he was over half an hour late. It was a good job we didn't mind waiting and we could watch the golfers play!

Back home again, I emailed the manager of the care home and asked if we could bring in some furniture and pictures for my parents. I am hoping this will make my Mum feel a bit better. I then managed to put the hoover around the ground floor of the house before we headed over to Kettering, this time in my car. On the way, there'd been an accident at the Broughton junction and the traffic was backed up right until the A14. We vowed not to go this way on our return!

We were met at the garage by the young, cocky mechanic who asked me "what was the noise this time?" as if I was a hysterical female who runs to the mechanic every time I hear a strange sound. We explained that the car sounded like it was in the wrong gear, so he took it out into the town, even though the noise is only really audible over 50mph. He came back, said he thought it was the wheel bearing and then asked Rob himself to take it out. He confirmed it but said it was difficult to say which one, even though both Keith and I think it's the front right wheel. As we were chatting, the engine made a strange cluttering sound that alarmed them both! They then said it might be some sort of flywheel attached to the clutch... if it is then we're doomed. So that's the wheel bearing and the other problem! As the car has done over 164,000 miles, it's only to be expected but I think her days are numbered.

Feeling deeply gloomy we headed home via Loddington and the single track road to avoid the mayhem on the A43! Sophie arrived just after us and again, it was bliss to have a relaxing drink and play Scrabble!

Grumpy customers!

If I was hoping for a better day at work, I was wrong! I had a series of grumpy customers in the morning, taking out their irritation and frustration on me, even though their problems weren't my fault! It's all part of the job, I suppose, but it does get a bit wearying!

Also, one of my colleagues kept logging off the phones again! Our main job, and obviously the most important one, is to answer the phone! As I had things to catch up on myself, and it would have helped if she'd answered a call that I had to deal with, I felt very annoyed! 

I had to drive myself today as Mike wasn't finishing work until 4pm, or maybe even later. I took it easy in the car, and I will be very relieved when we take it to the garage tomorrow to investigate the noise! I drove home, and as I pulled up onto the drive, Keith came out to say that Mike had just finished work and we had to go and collect him! It was back into the car, and off to Kettering, then!

Back home it was lovely to finally relax and have a drink. Sophie and I played Scrabble in the conservatory while Keith cooked a delicious chicken curry for dinner. It was spicy and full of flavour. After we'd eaten Keith disappeared upstairs to watch football while Sophie and I watched Come Dine With Me with some very strange characters taking part! 

Back to earth with a bump...

I was back at work this morning, working from 10am until 4pm. Keith drove me in because I was still a bit worried about driving my car with the terrible noise! Three of us were manning the phones and I think we were all hoping for a quieter day!

It certainly didn't start off quiet, and we had the usual run of swimming enquiries, but today at least I did take some different calls! I was enjoying work up until about 11am when it all went a bit pear-shaped. One of my colleagues kept logging off the phones, and as Kathy was also off and trying to catch up with her work, I found myself taking call after call on my own! I also had a run-in with Sheila about something I'd said to a customer that apparently was wrong (how I was supposed to know that it was wrong was a mystery) so by lunchtime I was thoroughly fed-up!

Just lately I seem to be getting irritated with a lot of things! Perhaps it's just getting older, or perhaps people are more thoughtless these days? Who knows? One of the girls that used to work with us popped in with her new baby, and the whole office just stopped! I like babies but I prefer children when they're a bit older, so I declined a cuddle and found I was (again) the only one answering the phones! The noise level increased as they all chatted and laughed, and I was annoyed at myself for being annoyed!

It was a relief when 4pm came, and I escaped into the beautiful warm sunshine. Keith was waiting for me, and when we returned home we sat in the garden with Monty for half an hour. I gradually felt all the minor irritations of the day melt away as the sun warmed us up! Looking back now, I sound a bit petty about all the little niggles, and I'm hoping tomorrow will be better! Maybe I'm paying for the lovely day I had yesterday!

Dinner this evening was a delicious beef pie served with veggies, and after we'd eaten Sophie and I went upstairs to watch Four in a Bed and enjoy a facemask. We have yet to re-book our facial, but we must try and do it soon. Oh, and arrange to get our hair cut!

The lure of lunch...

Sophie and I were booked in for a facial at Virgin this morning, and we were looking forward to it immensely. I made a banana porridge for breakfast and chucked loads of things into it, namely the leftover coconut milk, ground almonds and a finely chopped apple. I have to say it was lovely!

Just after we finished eating, and were preparing to go and get ready for our pampering session, Sophie's phone rang and it was the beauty salon saying our therapist had called in sick and they couldn't find cover! We were very annoyed as there would have been penalties for us if we'd cancelled at such short notice! We were amazed they couldn't find anyone else! Had everyone been making the most of the pubs opening on Saturday?

Determined not to let this spoil our day, we decided to head to Olney and see what was open. Before we went we watched the last two episodes of Come Dine With Me (more hilarity), and we donated some old but very pretty Gin bottles to a neighbour who was doing a craft project. I'm glad they were being put to good use!

It's been an absolutely glorious day today - warm in full sun but a little chilly in the shade, and the drive over to Olney was lovely. Spring has definitely sprung! We parked far more easily than I had imagined and decided to see if one of the cafes was open. It's tucked down a narrow alleyway that opens out into a sunny courtyard, and we were pleasantly surprised to be offered a table. It wasn't in the sun, but it was still pleasant and really wonderful to be out again, mixing with different people and smelling some gorgeous aromas coming from the cafe's kitchen. We have really missed this!

We ordered BLT sandwiches each and a small glass of wine to celebrate our first lunch out of the year!

The food was delicious and it was so enjoyable sitting out in the fresh air and doing some people watching while chatting. It felt like we had come alive again!

After we'd eaten and paid the bill we headed straight for one of the charity shops on the market square. Sophie spotted a pretty top hanging on the rail outside for only £3! Inside, we picked up some ramekins, which come in very useful for when we're preparing meals, and then it was upstairs to have a rummage through some more lovely outfits. Sophie found a dress, another top and a pair of gorgeous, brand new sandals that were selling in Next for £38. She bagged them for £8!

We staggered to the car with our booty and then popped to another shop further down the high street. Again, Sophie spotted a beautiful, Apricot summer dress for £5 and bought that as well! She was definitely on a high!

Before leaving we called into the Tesco Express and bought our lunches for the next couple of days. As we were having such a lovely time, I suggested an ice cream at Castle Ashby and this time the deli was open. We sat in the sun in the courtyard enjoying our ice creams and we were surprised to see The Buttery was still closed. They have a large outside area so we couldn't understand why they were closed. They would have been doing a roaring trade today!

Back home we sat in the garden for a little while with the cat...

The birds were out and enjoying the sunshine too, and when a blackbird flew down to peck at some food, Monty just looked at him with no desire whatsoever to try and catch him!

We hadn't played Scrabble yesterday so we did that today with a cocktail each. I had a delicious Martini. I loved how clear and sparkly the drink is, with the twist of lemon!

This evening we had the barbecue that we should have had yesterday, and the food was lovely. Our first barbecue of the year! Let's hope that the summer is on its way and things start slowly returning to how they were before!

Saturday working

I waved goodbye to my family this morning at 8.30am and went off to work. I was working with Sue, who I hadn't seen since December, and a new woman called Eve who normally does a reception shift but who would be working at the weekends from now on. She had already been in the contact centre and was able to answer phones on her own, with just a little help, so I'd been asked to try and deal with the emails we had - over 60 of them, so not as bad as it has been!

We started off very busy again, and 99.9% of the calls I took today were about the blasted swimming sessions, or people asking what time their children's lessons were, as they had forgotten...  It was very wearying. I would have loved someone to ring up and ask me to book a badminton court for them!

At about 11.30am it calmed down a bit so I was able to tackle the emails, which was great. At least it was something different! Sophie caught a train at about 11.30am and met Zain at Liverpool Street station. They then had a fantastic day eating and drinking their way around London, although Sophie did say that having to wear face masks everywhere, and also having to download menus on their phones was a bit of a pain. She said that the restaurants, cafes and cocktail bars were busy, with people being turned away if they hadn't booked!

At 2pm we were finished so I sped home and settled down to watch Prince Philip's funeral. The last time I had seen Windsor Castle bathed in beautiful sunshine was for Harry and Meghan's wedding so it was bittersweet on this occasion. I have to say though, that the whole occasion was carried out beautifully and it does make me proud to be British. The Royal Family looked stunning in their mourning clothes, and all the pageantry was fantastic to watch.

Once the ceremony started Keith and I put all of our freshly washed bedding back onto our bed and went back downstairs just as things were finishing. I was fascinated to see how William and Harry were together, but afterwards, as they were walking along with Kate, they seemed very friendly!

Keith and I mooched about for the rest of the afternoon and changed our plans for dinner. We were going to have a barbecue but with Sophie not sure what time she was returning from London, we decided to just have bacon and tomatoes with bread and butter. Not thrilling, but something we both enjoy! Sophie caught the 6pm train from London and arrived in Northampton at about 7.30pm, so we sped home with her, and I was able to relax for a short while and enjoy a G&T!

We didn't finish eating until well past 8pm, so too late for a film. Instead, we watched a couple of episodes of Come Dine With Me, which were hilarious!

Suspicious noises...

If I'm honest I was dreading today and tomorrow - mainly because I was at work, and I now knew how busy we could be (it was manic Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday according to my work colleagues), and also because Sophie was driving to Milton Keynes to meet Zain, and I always worry when she drives on her own, especially on our stretch of the M1 which is being converted into a "Smart" motorway, a serious mistake in my opinion.

I was looking forward, therefore, to tomorrow evening when my weekend could start!

I was working with Kathy today and at 10am when the phone lines opened, she was unable to log onto her computer. There would have been no point in taking calls, as she needs the system we use, so I had to battle it out on my own, noticing with horror, that at one point we had about 14 calls in the queue!

I cannot state enough how glad we will all be when we no longer have to book people in for a swimming session. Our online bookings system was never set up for swimming so consequently, we get many, many calls from people who either can't be bothered to work out how to do it or have done it but received no confirmation from us (a new glitch) and are ringing to make sure they are booked in.  We are tearing our hair out with it!

It did, however, calm down a bit mid-morning, and at least we had pauses in between the calls, which was a bonus and allowed us to catch up with things. I tried to do some of the customer service emails (Sara has Friday off) and poor Kathy, who arranges all of the football bookings, desperately tried to do some of her own work as well!

I heard from Sophie that she had arrived at Milton Keynes, and was having a coffee with Zain at Las Iguanas. I knew she'd try and sneak that in as well! They had a lunch reservation in Woburn so they were having a lovely day.

At 4pm it was a great relief to log off (we still had about six calls in the queue, but you have to stop at some point!). I drove home and noticed that the ominous noise from my car was getting worse. Last week, on the way to Market Harborough, I heard a noise like a low-flying aeroplane above us... Sophie heard it too, and I knew at once that something wasn't right. I had mentioned it to Keith who said he could hear it faintly, but now it definitely isn't faint and we both think it's the exhaust system. It now sounds like I have the car in second gear but I'm doing about 80mph, so, until Wednesday, when we're taking it to the garage, I'm going to use my Dad's car.

When I arrived home I received a message from Paul that his garages needed to be accessible from tomorrow so we pulled my car right up on the drive with half the bonnet in our garage. When Sophie arrived home her car was in the middle and my Dad's car at the back. I am glad we can get three cars (two of them quite big) onto the drive but it meant that the garage door wouldn't close!

With my darling daughter returned from her day out, it was time for a glass of Prosecco and a Doris Day/Rock Hudson film, this time Send Me No Flowers, which was hilarious! A really lovely end to a somewhat stressful day!

Kitchen woes...

Keith went and did our shopping this morning as usual while I stayed at home and did a few chores. I have felt a bit under the weather today with an earache, so we didn't get as much done as we did yesterday!  

I am back at work tomorrow so it was lovely to mooch about the house and relax. Halfway through the morning, the kitchen quote arrived from Anthony with the revised amount for the new stable door. We had to pay 30% upfront so we arranged a bank transfer straightaway. There's no going back now, and we can't wait to have the work done as there are so many things going wrong with our kitchen at the moment:

1. The oven door hinges have broken so the door falls down heavily when you open it. It has to be propped up with the kitchen roll holder.

2. We have to wedge the dishwasher door shut with an incense stick burner otherwise water gushes out.

3. The washing machine has developed a leak.

4. Neither the washing machine nor the dishwasher have kitchen doors attached so they stand out like sore thumbs.

5. One of the lights in the cooker hood hasn't worked for ages.

6. The freezer shelves are badly cracked and look horrible.

7. The corner cupboard where we keep our casserole dishes, jugs, etc is one of the worst designs I have ever seen and things get lost right at the back, never to be seen again.

I think that's about it, but the kitchen looks tired and is no longer fit for purpose. If there's more than two of us in there trying to cook, it's mayhem!

Keith cooked dinner this evening and we enjoyed chicken Kiev with crispy potatoes and asparagus. Sophie is off work tomorrow as she's meeting Zain in Milton Keynes, so for her it was like a Friday night!

Getting things sorted!

This morning we had a meeting at home with Anthony at Highfields. We were all ready for him, but then I decided to prepare a marinade for our evening meal, and before I knew it it was almost 10am and we hadn't had any breakfast! Consequently, when he arrived I was still munching on toast, and Keith nearly set light to the kitchen by attempting to stick two currant buns into the toaster! It was mayhem!

Anthony was joined by a man who was responsible for the new door and window, and he was kept busy taking measurements and discussing with us what we wanted. I have won with the stable door, as I think it'll be lovely in the warmer weather, and we'll be able to let so much more light in.

While we were chatting to the two men, Monty was peering out at them from under the table in the living room, as if they were two monsters we'd invited into our home! He then ran off in fright so I really think we're going to have to come up with a plan for when they start work in August!

After the two men had gone, Keith and I popped to Tesco where I bought a bottle of whisky for my Dad. We then dropped off two bagfuls of shopping for them and waved to my Mum who appeared at her window. It's been another gorgeous day today so when we returned home we carried on with the shredding in the conservatory, and finally managed to get it all done. At last! I also sorted out the drawers in our cabinet because I'm going to have to find room for everything that currently resides in there! It was useful having Mum and Dad's filing cabinet as a lot of the stuff went in there, including lots of old birthday and anniversary cards.

While we were sorting things out, I found our European health cards that had expired in September 2020. We are still eligible for healthcare in the EU so we applied for new ones! All in all, I felt like we'd achieved quite a bit today, and at least all the paperwork has now been shredded and is awaiting collection on Friday!

Tonight for dinner we were trying a recipe from the BBC Good Food guide - it was turmeric and coconut baked chicken. I had marinated the chicken with turmeric, ginger, cumin, garlic and coconut milk this morning and it was going to cook on a bed of wilted Spring greens. I had also added an onion and a leek as well, and it smelt delicious.

It took quite a bit longer to cook than I'd thought so it was almost 8pm by the time we sat down to eat. I loved the marinade on the chicken - it would be yummy cooked on the barbecue!

Making a start!

After one day at work yesterday, I'm now facing three days off as I'm having to cover Saturday this weekend. First thing this morning Keith popped to Tesco to get our shopping for the next two days, and when he returned I prepared tonight's dinner of spaghetti bolognese, which involved much chopping of vegetables! It's all I seem to do these days!

Once the meal was all done I made a start on a load of shredding, in readiness for our recycling bins to be emptied this week. We still had half a large bin full of our business paperwork still to shred, so I made a start on that, while Keith tackled our own papers. Funnily enough, the invoices and documents from the business dated back to 2014, the year of the blog that I'm transferring to a word document at the moment. It was very poignant looking at invoices, and specifically Tesco receipts to see what we'd bought seven years ago when everything was so different to how it is now.

Of course, the two shredders we were using kept over-heating and stopping so progress was slow! It did make us feel like we were getting things done, though! After getting Mike from work we put everything into the conservatory so we could carry on tomorrow. If the weather on Wednesday is as sunny as today, we'll do it in there!

While dinner was cooking in the oven we had a very pleasant hour spent playing cards in the conservatory. Outside it was a beautiful sunny evening and the room was warm! It's lovely to sit in there, staring up at the blue sky and enjoying the longer days!

A manic day!

Today gyms, non-essential shops, beauty salons, hairdressers and outdoor attractions have reopened. Pubs, cafes and restaurants can open but only serve food and drink outside. Things are slowly starting to get back to normal, but I do remember this happening last year! However, the difference is that we have the vaccine now, which I hope will make a difference.

Our phone lines were back open at work, and we were all a little apprehensive about how busy we'd be. When I walked into the office, the wallboard was already lit up with calls, which didn't bode well! At 10am, it was like the floodgates opened, and within minutes we had about 50 calls waiting in the queue. Although three of us were answering the phones, and Sara also stepped in to help, we never got to the end of them... at all. There was not one minute when we didn't have a call waiting, so it was hard work.

Most of the calls were about swimming sessions, swimming lessons and I enrolled several ex-members who were desperate to join again. One conversation with a woman who was asking about swimming lessons for her three children took me over half an hour to deal with. She wanted to know the ins and outs of everything, and had barely asked one question before moving on to the next!

I estimate we had over 300 abandoned calls (where the caller hangs up before we answer) and I dread to think how many we took between us because the wallboard went down and reset itself halfway through the morning. It just proves my point that throughout lockdown we should have had at least one person in the office answering calls, even if it was for just a couple of hours.

At 4pm we turned the phones off, and breathed a sigh of relief that it was over! We'd each had to take ten minutes off to have some lunch otherwise we wouldn't have eaten anything all day! It's quite difficult talking to a customer and munching on a sandwich!

I sped home in the lovely sunshine and managed to do an hour of housework before Sophie came home from work. She'd had quite a stressful day as well, so it was lovely to relax before we prepared dinner. Keith had chopped up vegetables and chicken for our fajitas so we didn't have a lot to do. As he had cooked Saturday and Sunday, I think he deserved a night off!

Snow day!

We've had a lovely, very relaxed day and spent all of it at home! Last night, Sophie and I prepared a dish of banana porridge and let it chill in the fridge, so all we had to do this morning was pop it into the oven. It was delicious and this is definitely the way we'll go in the future!

Keith went shopping and bought the ingredients for a spicy red pepper and tomato soup so Sophie had something for her lunch at work tomorrow. We made it this morning, and also prepared all the vegetables for our roast pork dinner this evening.

As it's Sunday, that means one thing - face pack day! We have now discovered the delights of Four In a Bed and Come Dine with Me, which have replaced A Place in the Sun! I have to say they're much funnier!

The weather today has been cold but sunny, and in the late afternoon, it started snowing! It came down and started to settle really quickly which we found very surprising for this time of year! It seems incredible that a couple of weeks ago people were out wearing summer clothes!

After I had a lovely hot bath, Sophie and I played Scrabble again in the conservatory and she had a Mint Julep with her new bourbon and some mint that Keith had bought for her in Tesco. She pronounced it delicious!

A free lunch!

I turned on the television this morning with my cup of coffee and saw yet more wall-to-wall coverage of Prince Philip's death. On BBC1 there was a news special all the way through until 2pm, after which they started showing sport. I mean, really? At least, Saturday Kitchen Live had been switched to BBC2! I know there are some who will say he deserves extensive coverage, and I agree, but at least restrict it to maybe the dedicated BBC news channel, so people can tune if they wish! Rant over!

Just after 9am two cars, one of them with a trailer, turned up at Paul's house opposite, so it was a good job my Dad's car was already on our drive! It would've been a bit embarrassing if we'd still all been in bed when they arrived!

We had a lazyish morning and my Mum called with a list of shopping she wanted me to get. We had planned on going to Boots at Riverside anyway, but decided, at the last minute, to go to Market Harborough instead, where there's both a Boots and a Savers. I just didn't have the stomach for the busy Riverside today!

We drove through grey weather into Leicestershire and parked extremely easily in the car park by the library. There must have only been four other cars there! It was chilly and breezy so we were glad we'd taken our coats!

Our first stop was Savers where I bought Mum's toiletries - all of them either Nivea or Pantene, and I'm sure they would have been a lot more expensive in Boots. Sophie needed to go there though, so we walked over, feeling a bit sad that all of the shops, pubs and restaurants were still closed. It will all change from Monday, though, when retailers can re-open and pubs, cafes and restaurants can serve people outdoors. I just hope the weather warms up a bit!

As our purchases were quite heavy we took them back to the car and decided to go to one of the little independent cafes that were doing takeaway sandwiches and coffee. However, on the way, a lovely little bakery and cafe were giving away free bread and buns and they virtually pushed them onto us! We turned around and headed home with our booty, and made sandwiches at home!

At 5pm Sophie and I enjoyed cocktails in the conservatory and two games of Scrabble. Keith cooked a lovely beef stroganoff, and then we settled down to watch a film Sophie had wanted to see, The Mauritanian, which we thought was great and starred Tahir Rahim who was also in The Serpent. He played a very different character in the film!

A Royal shock...

It was back to work for me today, and I was working with Kathy, perhaps my favourite colleague! She is always lovely and quiet, and we get on well. Nicola came in, full of bustle, and kept us busy throughout the shift. I had trouble accessing my own (and the customer service) emails, but it was all sorted in the end. 

I helped with several emails from customers wanting help, and then did some cold-calling of ex-members to try and entice them back, something I did not enjoy! I hate the thought that I was bothering people! Nicola let us off early and the next time we come in, on Monday, the phones will be back on, and no doubt all hell will be let loose!

During the shift, we learned the very sad news that Prince Philip had passed away today. He was just two months short of reaching 100 years. On the way home, when I turned on the radio, the normal programme hosted by Steve Wright had been cancelled and there was a news special playing. This set the tone for the television as well, and BBC1 was full of the sad news.

When I got home, my dad's car was on the driveway as Keith had used it to get Mike from work. We pulled it up as far as we could, as Paul needs to access one of his garages tomorrow and had asked us to park it elsewhere. With Sophie's car in the middle, we managed to get all three cars on the drive! We couldn't open the garage or have the bins on the drive, but until tomorrow night, it's fine!

Dinner tonight was very easy baked potatoes and Sophie and I sat and enjoyed The Devil Wears Prada, starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway. We watched it right up until 9pm and I was a bit surprised to see that no recordings were in process on our Skybox. I couldn't remember what time Masterchef was on, but we were both looking forward to watching the final tonight...

When we turned on the main TV guide we were both a bit dismayed to see that all the programmes had been cancelled and that BBC1 (as well as BBC2, ITV and Sky 1) were showing a documentary about Prince Philip and the Royal family. I am 99% sure that the programme on BBC2 was exactly the same as the one on BBC1! Why couldn't they have swapped the programmes over so that we could have watched the final of Masterchef on BBC2?

For me, this is only the second time in my life that a major Royal has died (the first being Diana in 1997), and I know for a fact that in the coming days they will squeeze every last bit of news out of the situation. There will be endless discussions and documentaries, interviews with everyone who has ever known him, and it will go on and on. Don't get me wrong, I think it's very sad, but he was 99 and he wasn't going to live forever. With his recent stay in hospital, it was perhaps inevitable that he was frail and not in the best of health. The problem is that people will get fed up with hearing about it constantly (well, I will anyway)!

So, no Masterchef for us! RIP Prince Philip.

Nasty smells!

Over the last week, we've all been suffering on our estate as the local farmer has been spreading "digestate" on the fields behind our houses. To be honest, he couldn't have picked a worse time with the Bank Holiday Easter weekend, and the warm weather we had last Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

We learnt from a local (who'd been talking to the farmer) that environmentally, it's very good for the land, but the smell is unbelievably bad! They take food waste from us (and supermarkets) heat it, which releases a vapour that's turned into electricity, and the slurry is then spread on the land as a fertiliser.

On our Facebook page, neighbours have been up in arms about the foul smell and the farmer has promised not to do it next year in the Spring. Or near a Bank Holiday weekend! I feel for the houses that border the fields as they must have it the worst. It's impossible to sit out in the garden or have any windows open at the moment!

Today has therefore been spent avoiding the smell and staying indoors. Keith did the week's shopping first thing and the rest of the day was quiet and uneventful. I went to collect Mike from work because Aintree has started and Keith was glued to the television! I will have a bet on the Grand National on Saturday (the race is running for real this year, after the computer-generated effort last year!) but I can't bring myself to watch it live! I get too upset!

This evening, after a delicious dinner of chicken in a white wine sauce with dumplings, Sophie and I watched the penultimate episode of Masterchef. If we are honest, this series has been a bit disappointing. I don't think any of the contestants have much character or personality and nobody has really boobed! The final is tomorrow night and I predict Tom to win!

Good news at last!

We woke up to a very light covering of snow this morning, but it soon disappeared. It remained cold all day, though, with a freezing wind. How unbelievable that we were sweating last week, and sitting in the warm sunshine on Sunday!

I have today and tomorrow off work, and first thing this morning, Keith and I contacted Anthony from Highfields about the quotes he'd sent through. Keith was confused as to why he'd quoted for the kitchen twice, and said it looked like we'd be paying VAT twice. Once is bad enough!

Anthony explained the quotes, and the total price the building firm quoted is for everything and includes all the appliances, the new external kitchen door, the new window... all of it! I said to Keith that I would love a stable door as then we can have the top half open in the summer and it would bring more light and fresh air into the kitchen. It's slightly more expensive than the door they have quoted, but I think it will be worth it. Anthony is coming over to us next Wednesday to discuss further and we have said we'd be delighted to go ahead with the work. We are so pleased! We now just need to choose the tiles and a new fridge freezer. Before the work starts we're going to have a ruthless cull of the stuff on the shelves and in the cabinet!

After speaking to Anthony, I busied myself by doing the shopping list, cleaning the kitchen window and the windowsill, and pottering about. Once we'd picked up Mike from work, I went out into the garden and planted the violas that I'd bought on Monday. It was still very cold outside, but I soon warmed up by shovelling compost into pots, and carrying them around the garden!

Back to work...

I have to confess I'd been dreading going back to work, as last time we were inundated with problems. I was working 10am until 4pm with Jo and Denise, but at least we weren't answering calls, and we could wear whatever we wanted as there were no customers in the building!

It took all three of us a while to get going on the computers again, as our passwords had expired, and there were some changes to our email system which took some getting used to! It was very strange seeing invoices I'd processed back in December - the last time I worked had been the 29th!

Once we had explored the changes, Sara gave us a list of people to call, all of whom had been old members. We had some offers on memberships, but none of us managed to sign anyone up today. I think people are still a bit cautious about joining a gym, even though we were offering memberships with a short commitment.

It certainly wasn't as bad as I'd feared it would be and it was lovely to be back with my work colleagues and the atmosphere was very relaxed.

During the day we had seen some more light snow flurries, but driving home it started to come down quite hard. At one point on the journey, I saw what looked like a blizzard in the distance, and as I neared home it was quite bad!

At home, Keith had checked my emails and had seen one from the kitchen designer, with a quote for all the building work attached. It came in at a shade under £30,000 which was a bit more than we wanted to pay. The appliances were over £3,000 so we will have to look elsewhere for them! As I subscribe to Which? I can look on their website for reviews, and appliances that are good value for money.

Sophie arrived home from work and I was glad that she was not still travelling, as the snow started to come down pretty heavily!

A quarter of a century!

Day 91

We let Sophie have a lovely lie-in this morning and when she woke up, she opened her cards and presents for her 25th birthday. I think she did very well, receiving a bottle of spiced rum and an ASOS voucher from Keith and me, Champagne from my parents, Honey Bourbon and Prosecco from Mike, and some beautiful glasses from her new manager at work. Is there a theme going on here?!

To our amazement this morning, it started to snow! Very light flurries, but unmistakably snow! It has snowed before on Sophie's birthday, but thinking back to last year when it was so warm and sunny, it was amazing to see!

After a lazy morning, Sophie and I drove over to Milton Keynes to take two boxes of recycling. From there we visited M&S in the main shopping mall to get something for dinner this evening. We had originally planned on going to the coast for fish and chips, but with the weather being so cold, and very windy by the seaside, we'd changed our plans.

M&S was quiet and we were surprised to see that you could shop for clothes, as well as visit the food hall. We trawled up and down the aisles, very conscious of the time we had in the car park, trying to get some inspiration for dinner this evening! M&S were doing an Easter meal for four, but Sophie wasn't impressed, so in the end, we decided to leave it and shop nearer to home later in the day.

From Milton Keynes, we drove to Woburn where we hoped we'd be able to get a coffee and some treats from the only teashop that was doing takeaways. However, when we arrived, to our dismay, we found the car park all shut up... why? What difference could it possibly make? A lot of people were still visiting the lovely little town and walking about in the sunshine (the snow had long gone) so there was obviously a demand for the car park to be open!

We carried on and decided to go and see the deer in the grounds surrounding Woburn Abbey. However, today, there was not one to be seen for miles... it was beginning to be that sort of day! Giving up on Woburn we drove to Olney where we knew there was a Costa open, if nothing else! We managed to park right outside the small Tesco Express and, at last, found something for dinner this evening - two Tesco Finest meals of chicken Kiev, and chicken in a mushroom sauce. We padded the meals out with more vegetables, and headed to the self-service till where everything we put through caused the machine to call for assistance! As there were hardly any staff about, this was a pain and in the end, we had to go through another checkout. By now, we were almost gibbering with rage and definitely needed some sustenance! A large Vodka would have been nice!

We did manage to get a coffee and a toastie in Costa and enjoyed them sitting in the car. Outside, the weather was still beautiful and sunny, and a lot of people were strolling about and enjoying the gorgeous conditions. It was such a shame that hardly anything was open!

I suggested to Sophie that we call into the shopping yard at Castle Ashby on the way home, and I'd treat her to a birthday ice cream, but when we arrived the deli was closed! Sophie ran to the loos but emerged seconds later to say there was no toilet paper! We were now starting to get thoroughly fed up and it wasn't really the sort of day we'd had planned for her birthday!

We did, however, buy an ice cream at Beckworth, and amazingly we arrived there literally ten minutes before they closed for the day. At least we got that right!

Sunday sunshine!

Day 90

Today has been beautiful, and so sunny and warm we sat in the garden for most of the afternoon! I didn't think it was going to be like this, so it was an unexpected bonus!

Sophie did all the preparations for dinner this morning, and soon the house was smelling of roasted coconut, in readiness for our Malaysian curry this evening. While she did that I hoovered downstairs and did a light clean, but the weather was pulling me outside! 

I went out and raked up the remainder of the branches from the Virginia creeper, and also raked up lots of leaves. I then pottered about, making a little "pond" for the birds with a large plastic tub and filling it with some pebbles. Sophie came out to join me and did a yoga session on a towel on the lawn. Monty, of course, thought this was for him and promptly sat on it, impeding Sophie's movements!

The robin was out with us a lot of the time, singing his little heart out in the trees, and watching us carefully in case we unearthed any worms! It was wonderful to sit with the sun on our faces and feel the warmth. The forecast is still set to be very cold tomorrow, so this is obviously just a brief interlude!

Towards the late afternoon, we started Sophie's birthday celebrations. She opened the bottle of Taittinger I'd bought her for Christmas, and we had a glass while playing Scrabble.

We also nibbled on some cheesy crackers, mozzarella, olives, stuffed peppers and feta cheese.

Just after we started our second game of Scrabble (Sophie beat Keith and me the first time) we decided to begin cooking dinner. We assembled all the ingredients and then the curry needed to be simmered for about forty minutes. Unfortunately, even after leaving the casserole dish on the hob for about ten minutes, the bottom caught and burnt a bit. We transferred it to a small gas ring and turned it right down, but Sophie was upset that the bottom was a bit black. It still tasted lovely, but in future, we'll stay with it and not get distracted by Scrabble!

After eating we watched Spectre and enjoyed the chocolate bread and butter pudding I'd made yesterday. It was gooey and delicious!

A little joke...

Day 89

Keith and I both urged Sophie to wear something warm today as it's been cold and grey for most of the time. She had high hopes that it would warm up, though, and wore a pretty dress with her suede jacket, tights and boots. We dropped her down at the station at about 8.30am, due to there only being two trains this morning, and the later one wouldn't get to Euston until lunchtime.

We returned home, and after breakfast, I made a chocolate bread and butter pudding for tomorrow evening's dessert. The grey gloom did lift in the afternoon and the sun came out, and at 3.30pm I was back at the care home and facing another test so I could sit with my parents for half an hour. At least this time I knew what to expect and how to complete the test!

Unfortunately, it wasn't the best meeting I've had with them both, as my Mum was obviously still not happy about living in the care home, and although I tried to lighten the conversation a bit, it was hard work. I can't imagine how she must feel, but I don't have any answers at the moment. Hopefully, when things return to normal I can take her out regularly and we can take some of her furniture into their rooms.

As a kind of belated April Fool's joke, I showed them a photo of Sophie on my phone, saying she'd had some cosmetic work done to her face:

The look of horror on their faces was priceless, and I let them believe she'd actually had work done to her lips and fillers in her cheeks! However, she had used an app on her phone to make her look like she'd had the work done, and I think they were mightily relieved when I revealed it was just a joke! I do find it incredible that some people go to these extremes, though!

Back home I mooched about feeling a bit down after the meeting with my parents, and Sophie texted me to say she was getting the 5.30pm train home, which meant she'd be back into Northampton at 7pm. We went to get her, and I was relieved when she was home. She'd had a good day but had felt cold, and was disappointed that at Borough Market there was nowhere to sit and eat outside as all the benches had been removed. She had received lots of gifts from Zain, though, and they'd had some delicious things to eat so it wasn't all bad.

We sat and relaxed with a drink, and then had a light evening meal of cold meats, salad and new potatoes. It was too late to watch a film after we'd eaten so we had a gradual wind-down until bedtime!

A Good Friday!

Day 88

I had a lie-in this morning, and woke up at about 8am, so a lot better than normal when I've woken just after 6am! As per the forecast, the weather has been mostly grey and chilly all day, with just the occasional glimpse of sunshine. 

We haven't ventured anywhere today and it's been lovely and relaxing, just as I hoped! It was bliss to mooch about and not have to go out but we kept thinking today was Saturday!

For lunch, Sophie and I had the leftover red pepper and tomato soup which we used as a sauce to go with some pappardelle pasta. Sophie had taken two mugs to work, but there was still plenty leftover and it was great to finish it up with the pasta.

After we'd eaten we had a facemask, a brightening one this week, all ready for Sophie to go to London tomorrow to see Zain. They aren't able to go inside anywhere, so will be relying on eating their way around both Camden and Borough markets! I just hope the weather warms up a bit, but we have a 50% chance of sleet and snow showers here on Easter Monday! Brrr!

I had a lovely hot bath in the evening, and at 6pm it was time for Prosecco and an excellent documentary about Doris Day. Keith cooked fish and chips for dinner - what else on Good Friday? - and then we enjoyed Masterchef. Both of us think the series has been shortened this year, probably due to the pandemic!

Revised plans.

Day 87

Today has been another, very busy day. I am looking forward to a bit of a break over Easter! I was forced to go shopping with Keith this morning as I needed to get Easter gifts from my parents for the children (and me!), and gifts for Sophie whose birthday is on Monday. This year her special day has coincided with Easter, as it tends to do most years!

We went shopping a bit later than Keith normally goes, and both supermarkets were busy. We met my old work colleague Lisa (after-school club) in Aldi, with her daughter Syd, so it was great to stop and have a quick chat with them. Syd starts secondary school in September, which I found unbelievable! How the years have flown by!

Keith and I separated in Tesco, and I bought Easter Eggs, presents for Sophie and greetings cards. The choice of Easter Eggs was staggering, and the aisle made my head spin! As well as buying different things for different people, I helped Keith find the ingredients for a meal we're cooking on Sunday evening. We eventually found desiccated coconut, but we had to search high and low! I now know how he feels when we give him weird and wonderful ingredients to find!

After shopping, we put some diesel in the car and sped home, only to realise that we had less than an hour to put everything away, and have some breakfast because we had an appointment at Benchmarx Kitchens at 12pm! We literally threw all the shopping in the cupboards and into the fridge, made tea and coffee and wolfed down some toasted hot cross buns!

We left a little earlier than we needed to, and we were glad we did as there were long queues at Brixworth tip. There must have been twenty cars waiting to go in so I should think they'd be waiting an hour or more to dump their unwanted stuff! It made overtaking the whole line of traffic quite dangerous, but luckily an oncoming car let us through! I made a mental note not to go that way home!

We arrived at Benchmarx Kitchens with fifteen minutes to spare and there were no parking spaces at all. I drove on and then turned around, and when we came back we were lucky to squeeze into a space. Perhaps the Greggs outlet opposite had something to do with the popularity of the place!

We had a little delay before we were allowed in, and while we waited I looked at the cabinet doors. The colour we had originally chosen looked horrible - it was a dirty grey, so we discussed the possibility of the midnight blue instead.

With Danny the kitchen designer, and Andrew from Highfields, we revised the design of the kitchen to our satisfaction. We have added glass-fronted cupboards on either side of the plinth on the wall by the existing window and changed the island so we have a stool at one end and another "kitty-corner", with more storage underneath. Danny changed the colour as well, so we have the midnight blue cabinets with a white marble-ish worktop and nickel handles. Keith and I were very pleased, and they said they'd have the updated design and costings with us by next Wednesday.

In the meantime, we will look at fridge-freezers, and prices for the washing machine and dishwasher. Highfields will supply Bosch appliances, but I want to make sure we get good value with these so I'll be doing some research!

We dashed home, did some tidying up, and then it was time to go and get Mike. The golf club car park was packed with cars but we managed to bag a space opposite the putting green. so at least we had a view!

Both Mike and Sophie are off for four days over the weekend so at least we have a break! After playing cards for an hour, Sophie and Keith cooked paella, which was delicious. I'm looking forward to having a lie-in tomorrow, but I have a feeling I'll be awake early as usual!