A busy Thursday!

I was facing a busy day as, after work, I had to drive to Kettering to collect my Mum and take her to have her nails done. I had a busy shift and escaped at 2pm for the drive along the A43.

I'd asked Mum to meet me in reception but she was still lounging on the sofa when I arrived and I hustled her downstairs... We don't have a lot of time and meeting her in reception would have been a lot easier and quicker!

Mum's nails were in a right state, as I had failed to find anyone else to replace the gel polish. Some of the nails had fallen off and Natalia set to, and within an hour, they were looking beautiful again. I sat and read while she worked but I almost fell asleep! At least she was a bit chattier today, and her studio was lovely and clean! I made appointments for October, November and December, so at least we won't have the problem of tatty nails again!

When she was all done, we drove back along the A43 and I took her up to her room. My Dad was awake and we had a brief chat before I returned home, where it was bliss to relax and indulge in a G&T!

Admiring the moon!

This time it was the Golf's turn to go to the garage for a service and to have everything checked before we go on holiday. Keith and I dropped the car off and drove to Harlestone for breakfast at Dobbies Garden Centre.

We were the first in the restaurant and chose the cooked breakfast with hot drinks, which certainly filled us up! After a quick look around, we drove to the Weston Favell Centre, changed some sterling into euros and popped into Tesco for some shopping.

We'd barely taken our shoes off back home before Glen called us to pick up the Golf! So, back we went and collected the car before going home again! Phew!

I spent the afternoon doing housework and was pleased when I'd finished as the house looked lovely. As I was dozing in an armchair, watching the Spanish cycling tour, I heard someone call, "Hello" and it was Sue asking if we had a spare key for Paul's house. At one time I used to keep spare keys for all of our neighbours, but sadly, those days are long gone, and I couldn't help Sue, unfortunately. We have a key box in our garage with a spare key as you never know when you're going to need it!

Sophie came home early this afternoon and got ready to go and have wine and nibbles with Laura at her house. She asked us if we could take her over and Keith and I were only too pleased to oblige. We dropped her off, returned home, and Keith cooked a very simple dinner while I watched "Your Home Made Perfect." I loved one of the designs where the architect turned the house upside down so they have beautiful views over their garden and the sea, but the couple went for the other design instead.

Sophie wanted to be picked up at about 10pm and we drove over, marvelling at the Blue Moon on the way. It was huge in the sky and the next Blue Moon won't be for another 14 years!

My poor attempt while Keith was driving!

Outside Laura's house

Fairly awful pictures, but it was the best I could do!

What day is it?

When I woke up this morning, I was convinced today was Monday! At work, the computers were playing up, and only a few were working correctly, so poor Sheila had to log onto every individual one to check. I was back answering the phone first thing but once it calmed down I was able to tackle the emails again. As it's so much quieter, Sara can't justify having someone extra in to cover my job, and I don't mind keeping an eye on the calls coming in and jumping on if it gets busy!

Thankfully, the computer problem was fixed by mid-morning and we were able to get on with our work! 

Back at home, I played cards with Keith, and we prepared chicken casserole with dumplings for dinner. It was the perfect meal as it was a real Autumnal evening with heavy rain. It's noticeably darker now in the evenings, with night falling at about 8pm. It's also the same in the mornings, and Sophie is starting to put the outside light on when she goes out to her car. 

Although it was dark and rainy, it was lovely and cosy! Bring it on!

A day off.

It was great to have today off as I usually work on a Bank Holiday Monday. It's been a mixed bag of weather today, with a lot of cloud cover and not much sunshine, so fairly typical!

Keith went shopping this morning while I stayed home and pottered about. I have been convinced all day that it's Sunday!

Sophie returned at lunchtime and Vikesh stayed for a little while, talking to Keith about football. Vikesh is a diehard Liverpool fan and, of course, Keith supports Newcastle, and both teams had played yesterday evening, with Liverpool beating Newcastle. Hmmm!

After Vikesh left it was lovely to just pootle about and relax. We had planned on going out but we both decided to just stay at home and chill! I sat in the conservatory and read for a while and we played Scrabble before dinner.

Dinner was leftover lamb and my version of bubble and squeak which I fashioned into a pancake and fried so it was brown and crispy all over. 

After we'd eaten Keith and I watched the last two episodes of Doc Martin, which was a bit sad. However, we have the 2022 Christmas Special to watch, and a programme behind the scenes to enjoy! Perhaps, like Sophie with The Office (US version), we'll just start watching it all over again!

A Sunday treat!

The weather today has been grey and uninspiring, so I postponed going out into the garden and did some cleaning and housework instead. There are certain signs that Autumn is on its way as there was a chilly little wind blowing and a damp leaf smell in the air. It's coming up to my favourite time of the year!

It was lovely to pootle about and Keith popped out mid-morning to get some baguettes and ham for lunch which we ate at the kitchen island. I was drooling over photos on the website Houzz, showing a beautiful kitchen with windows that opened right out onto the garden. I think next year we are going to have to invest in new windows and I'd like to get something different.

At lunchtime, I popped to Tesco to get some toiletries for Mum and took them to the care home. I sat with my parents for a good while and chatted. My Mum had called earlier and said that Dad wasn't well, but he seemed fine to me.

Back home, I sorted out some old family photos and decided to "take a walk" with Google Street View along Lowfield Street in Dartford where my grandparents used to live. I haven't visited for ages so it was very interesting to see new flats being built along this road. All the old shops had been pulled down to make way for the new, very posh, apartments. They're obviously trying to drag Dartford kicking and screaming into the 21st century!

I helped Keith with tonight's dinner - roast lamb and all the trimmings. Sophie hates lamb so we decided to have the meal as a treat, and it was, because we haven't had a Sunday roast for ages!

A spot of gardening

I wanted to get some gardening done today and go to the tip, so after a couple of coffees, Keith and I made a start. The grass was lush and long after the recent sunshine and showers, so we had to keep stopping and emptying the collection bin. 

Keith had seen a bird of prey yesterday in the garden, and it had attacked one of our little sparrows, which was a bit worrying. He said he hasn't seen the birds at all for a couple of days, and the food we've put out has been untouched. This might explain the little dead sparrow we saw last weekend with an injury to its throat, so this is not good news. We've come to love seeing the birds about, even if one of them has an annoying constant cheep! We haven't even seen blackbirds or pigeons, so we're a bit sad.

We cut the lawn and then put a load of unwanted items into the boot of my car to take to the tip, including two bags of garden rubbish. Our garden bin rubbish charge has jumped up to £55 for the year, which I think is outrageous seeing as it's only emptied once every two weeks, and not at all over Christmas and the New Year! We have dispensed with the services this year, and have been to the tip twice with garden rubbish since April!

 

When we arrived at the recycling centre - to give it its proper name! - there was a queue, and do you know which skip was the busiest? The garden waste skip! We also dropped off plastics, small electrical items, textiles and cardboard, so I don't think any of our waste ended up in the landfill skip, which was great. As we started to unload, it began to rain and then came down really hard! Typical! But at least we'd mowed the lawn!

Back home, I tidied up the garage and then cleaned our double hob hotplate, which had been languishing in the garage and was greasy and filthy. It had come in so useful when the kitchen was being renovated, and will no doubt be used again if we need it. 

Sophie was getting ready for her weekend away with Vikesh and he came to collect her at midday. They're off to an Airbnb in Lincolnshire so I'm hoping they'll have a lovely time!

Keith made me lunch and afterwards, I ventured out into the garden again, to try and tidy up the area behind the garage. This is a neglected and shaded area that I'm always a little wary of, as we discovered the rat's nest in the compost bin... There were huge weeds growing in the overspill from the compost so I pulled them all out and tidied up in the gorgeous sunshine. The weather is more like April at the moment with the sunshine and showers!

I had a long soak in the bath in the afternoon, and when I went back downstairs afterwards, the garden was full of birds again! The sparrows were back and I saw a pigeon and one of our collared doves who is never far away. We saw the dove earlier on the roof of next door's house, but we were really glad to see the sparrows back!

Keith and I played cards with a drink and we had a very simple Tesco Finest dinner. We were going to watch a film after dinner but we made do with the athletics instead!

Special wine night!

 After a good night's sleep, I felt a lot better this morning, plus it was cooler. It was a good job I felt more energetic as I managed to achieve a lot today! I had a whole load of films to input into the system up until October, I answered all the emails and put on the playscheme places, also for the October half-term week. I just need to put on the swim camps for October and then I won't have to worry when I return at the end of September!

It was blissfully good to leave at 4pm and look forward to a long weekend, as I'm not working on Monday! Hooray! Tonight was a special wine night - our Champagne and snacks evening, which we are going to enjoy on the first Friday after Sophie gets paid. Yipppeee!

Keith had bought us the Aldi Champagne, which is delicious, and disappeared very quickly! We also feasted on little satay chicken sticks, tiny blue cheese cubes, which were gorgeous, and cheese straws. Phew! We watched a new Netflix documentary about an Anthrax outbreak in the US just after 9/11, but the sky outside was a little more interesting, to be honest, and I'm sure at one point we heard thunder.

Keith didn't go to the pub tonight, and he cooked chilli con Carne for dinner. The Champagne had long gone so we opened a bottle of Malbec and sipped that with dinner. After we'd eaten, we watched the Athletics Championships from Budapest, which we enjoyed very much!

Cancelled plans

Sara wasn't in today, so I had complete control of the customer service emails... oh, the power! 

I had a busy shift and was planning to leave at 1.30pm, as I wanted to sit in on a meeting with my parents and the Parkinson's nurse, but Keith texted me to call him before I left. It turned out that she had arrived in the morning unexpectedly, so that was that.

I left work at 2pm and felt exhausted, for some reason. It's been hot today and the temperature was registering about 28c on the way home. I felt a bit deflated, as I'd been gearing myself up for the meeting this afternoon, so I confess I went home and did very little.

Sophie was having dinner with Vikesh and his family this evening and went to their house straight from work. I fell asleep on the sofa at 7pm and Keith made our easy dinner, and after we'd eaten (with me feeling distinctly groggy), I stacked the dishwasher and tidied away. It was then that I realised I hadn't prepared the pesky porridges or made the lunches... groan!

Sophie arrived home at about 9.30pm and had enjoyed a good evening celebrating Vikesh's Dad's birthday. She brought two slices of birthday cake home with her, which Keith and I fell upon, but I found it sickly sweet and, after two mouthfuls, I left it!

A disappointing evening...

My car was due its MOT today and Keith and I were a little worried about the outcome. We said that we'd accept anything up to £300 but after that, we would seriously think about saying goodbye, which would honestly break my heart. I've had the Audi for ten years and it's now done over 180,000 miles and still drives well. I'm always weighing up the pros and cons of having the bit of bodywork done and repairing the carpet in the driver's footwell and keeping her, but it's a mistake to get emotionally attached to a car!

We dropped her off at about 8.30 am and returned home, where I indulged in a coffee and pastry sitting with Sophie in the conservatory as she worked away. Outside it was grey and gloomy with the odd spot of rain, so the laundry had to go into the tumble dryer today!

Mid-morning, Keith and I popped to Tesco to take back my Dad's trousers and get a little bit of shopping. I bought a bottle of 19 Crimes Rosé for Sophie and me to enjoy this evening, as well as a bag of Popchips. Keith selected a zero-alcohol beer just to try!

In the afternoon the sun came out and it grew warm which meant that Sophie was bombarded with flies and wasps getting into the conservatory. It was very annoying! I sat in the kitchen researching restaurants in Amboise and Rocamadour which was very pleasant!

In the evening, we opened the wine but I was immediately disappointed. It was £9.50 but, to me anyway, it had a bitter aftertaste and certainly wasn't as delicious and fruity as I'd been expecting. Even the Popchips tasted like cardboard! Not the most successful of buys! Keith wasn't keen on his 0% alcohol beer, either!

We barbecued this evening and Keith was not happy about the kebabs I'd asked him to buy because I fancied something different. He put them on the barbecue but in the end, I cooked them in the oven. I also made a tomatoey vegetable dish with onions and a courgette but neither of my family would touch it! Honestly!

The sausages were good, though!

Work shock!

We had a bit of a shock this morning when one of the new girls gave her notice. Sara was dismayed with the news, and has asked her to still do one day to help out, and if she does decide to leave, to cover September as we're so short of staff then. 

The rest of the shift was pleasantly busy and I made inroads into the moan report to try and get it done before I go away. I'm chasing up our Marketing manager as well to try and get most of September's films onto the system, and also chasing Sheila for the October half-term! The problem we have at work is we're always working in the future... I've been putting the children's classes on until next March!

When I arrived home the kitchen smelt of spicy curry, which Keith had been preparing for dinner. It was delicious!

We watched the end of the volcano documentary (very sad and I cried) and then enjoyed the World Athletics Championships from Budapest, which was a lot more cheerful!

Another Monday rolls around!

So today is the start of the 5th week of the school holidays and they are flying by! Just one more week to go! It has been noticeably quieter than in previous years (2021 and 2022) and even today, traditionally the busiest day of the week, was nice and calm!

At 4pm I headed home, put the vacuum cleaner around, and did the usual evening jobs. Keith had been cooking the beef all day again in the slow cooker, and it was delicious served with roasted vegetables and baps. 

There was even enough left over for my lunch tomorrow!

After we'd eaten, Sophie and I watched the last episode of Aftershock about the Nepalese earthquake, and then we started watching another about a volcano erupting in New Zealand, which was quite harrowing. I don't think it's wise to mess with Nature!

Sunny Sunday

I didn't feel hungover this morning, even though I'd mixed white, sparkling and red wine at the Mexican evening. I'd wisely stayed off the spirits even though Paul and Sharon were handing out Margaritas last night! 

I did mounds of laundry today and managed to get it all dry outside, which was a huge bonus. The weather has been dry and sunny with a lovely breeze, but again we didn't see any balloons from the festival. I took the cases down from Sophie's wardrobe, so they're stacked up in the bedroom, and I'll no doubt fall over them in the night! I also typed out a packing list and ordered some items from Amazon.

Keith and I dropped some unwanted items off to our former cook in the afternoon, as she's having a charity sale at the care home where she works, and popped into a small Tesco Express nearby to buy salad and nibbles for this evening. I treated Sophie to a cucumber as a little joke, and some Pringles as well.

While we'd been out, Vikesh arrived, and he and Sophie walked up to the pub with Reggie for a drink. When they came back a little later Reggie ran around like a mad thing, bless him! He's such a sweet little fellow!

Sophie and I played Scrabble in the evening and listened to some great music as usual. Dinner this evening was pulled beef, served in brioche baps, salad and baked potatoes. It was a new meal for us and was delicious. Even better, there's enough left over to have it tomorrow with roasted vegetables!

A Mexican evening

We had an early start today as Sophie wanted a lift to the gym to do a yoga class, and Keith and I took the opportunity to drop her off and then drive over to Kettering to deliver Dad's new wheelchair which had arrived from Amazon yesterday.

We dropped her off at 9am and sped over to Kettering where Mum and Dad were sitting having breakfast. The new wheelchair can easily be put into the boot of the Golf, so that was a bonus. We chatted for ten minutes and then left them to their breakfast, and headed back to Riverside.

Sophie emerged at 10.15am and we returned home, stopping on the way to buy some pastries in the Waitrose shop. It was bliss to get home, have a coffee and the pains au chocolat!

I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon giving upstairs a good clean and removing several cobwebs from the walls and ceilings. I'm sure the little blighters have taken over recently! In the cloakroom, there were lots of tiny spiders and I do hope we haven't had a nest hatch out! Ugh!

Keith went over to Rushden to watch Sileby play, and Sophie and I relaxed before getting showers and meeting for Scrabble. We were all out for dinner this evening at Paul and Sharon's house and looking forward to a Mexican evening. Paul's house has stunning views over the countryside, and I was really hoping to see balloons drifting over from the festival taking place in town this weekend. It was too windy yesterday for them to take off, but we didn't see any, sadly. I shall look out for them again tomorrow.

We had a great meal with lots of wine and chat, and Richard and Michelle were there as well. Sophie and Richard became involved in a heated debate about immigration and prisons... It's something Sophie feels very strongly about so the conversation was rather passionate!

It's Friday... again!

It's unbelievable that Friday has rolled around so quickly again! Another week of school holidays gone, just two to go!

I was doing admin work again today and I finished the price comparison spreadsheet. Some places charge far higher than we do for swimming lessons so I think our parents get a bargain!

The phones were quiet today and I don't think we needed three people answering calls. It'll be interesting to see what happens when the summer holidays finish, but we do tend to get a lot of swimming lesson enquiries then.

At home, I pootled about and after Keith had gone to the pub we opened a bottle of Greek Chardonnay and started watching a Netflix documentary about dolphins in Spain. Sophie said she was bored with it so we switched to another Nepalese documentary, this time concerning the 2015 earthquake, with some very scary footage of scenes in Kathmandu.

Tonight's dinner was a little disappointing - we had quiche and crispy potatoes but we all felt we could definitely have done with a side salad or another vegetable to go with the meal!

A quiet Thursday

I didn't have the best night's sleep so I felt a little weary this morning! At work, Sara gave me the job of finding out the prices of our competitors in the county, so I did that as well as managing the emails. It made the shift go very quickly!

Back home I pootled about, hoovered the downstairs of the house and prepared the porridge for the next day.  I even managed a nap!

Sophie cooked a delicious paella for dinner and, again, there were two portions left over for our lunches tomorrow.

Last night, after our meal, Sophie and I went outside and took photos of the beautiful sky:

Hold-ups!

Sophie was working from home again today and arrived back at 8am, just as we were getting up! Keith and I pootled about in the morning, and we had the Women's World Cup on in the background. England scored first and when I went upstairs to get a shower, I put the game on and Australia scored! For this reason, I'm not going to watch the final on Sunday when England play Spain! It was fabulous that they won and beat Australia!

Keith wanted to drive over to Rushden this afternoon to prepare for a match he's going to on Saturday. Sileby haven't yet played a home game so he wanted to see them play away. I had to pick up a delivery from Brixworth Library so we headed there first. The road out of the village was supposed to be closed today but, although it was open, there were huge machines parked up outside the village. I just knew, that later on when I went to collect Mum, it would be closed!

We parked near the library and I followed a Mum in with three children. All I had to do was pick up a parcel, but the Mum in front of me wanted to sign her daughter up for the Summer Reading Challenge. This, of course, involved lots of questions and took forever... I stood and waited patiently at first, but when the woman then said she wanted to sign her two sons up as well, I became a little annoyed. The member of staff could see I was waiting and had probably guessed that I was there just to pick up a parcel, so why didn't she deal with me while the children were looking at the books?

In the end, as the woman droned on and on, I had to ask if there was anyone else to help as I had very little time (we were picking Mum up after our visit to Rushden) and she came over. She dealt with me in less than a minute!

We followed Trish's directions to Rushden, found the ground and scouted out what the parking was like. Once this was done, we drove back to Kettering and I went to collect Mum. On the way to their room, one of the carers said that the brake on Dad's wheelchair was faulty. He's had it for three years so I said I'd buy him a new one to replace it. Just another thing to add to the list!

We took Mum home and made a cup of tea to go with a cake I'd bought at a Co-op earlier. Sophie was in a meeting so we sat in the living room with Keith and chatted but Mum seemed very down today and it was hard work, to be honest. I tried to put a video of our wedding on, but the DVD player refused to read the disc so we had to give up! Not the most successful of afternoons!

As we left to take Mum back, there was a sign saying the road into the village was closed so we were forced to drive to Walgrave and take the narrow single-track road to get to the A43. We dropped Mum off and returned home, and I felt pretty miserable about how the afternoon had turned out. It seems that whatever I do is never enjoyable for my parents and I just end up feeling guilty.

Sophie finished work and at 6pm, we cracked open the bottle of Champagne that had been chilling in the fridge and played Scrabble. Sophie ordered a Chinese takeaway and we had a much better evening than yesterday!

The glums...

I was back on admin today and tackling some difficult emails again. I do prefer dealing with the written word though, as I can take my time to form a response! I had to chase up a couple of the managers today for their responses and polished their answers, which is always enjoyable. I feel like a copy editor!

It was our wedding anniversary today and we celebrated 31 years! Yikes! We had planned on having a Chinese takeaway but the two places that deliver to our area were closed, so we postponed the meal until tomorrow. Sophie had treated us to a bottle of Champagne, and we said we'd enjoy that tomorrow as well!

So, it was a bit of a glum evening, if I'm honest. I was in a ratty mood as I was, childishly perhaps, disappointed that my parents hadn't even bought us a card, yet I'd shopped with my Mum in Tesco last week. The weather turned dark and rainy in the evening so rather than barbecue the burgers, we cooked them in the oven. We were late putting the potato wedges into the oven so they were limp and greasy, and the salad Keith had bought only yesterday had already turned and was brown at the edges. Ho hum!

I was also mightily miffed that Keith hadn't taken it upon himself to buy me a new bottle of Gin... he can add blooming peppers to the trolley, but not a good bottle of Mother's Ruin!

Pepper-gate!

It was pouring with rain this morning and horrible and dark when Sophie set out for the gym at 6am, and it hadn't improved when I left at 7.30am!

Much to my disappointment, I was back on the phone today as the girl covering me didn't want to work on a Monday... Hmmm! Who does? It was a bit of a shock as I haven't answered many calls so far during the school holidays! I said to Sara I would try and answer the emails in between calls, which was quite hard as some of the written queries were complicated!

At 4pm, I dashed home and started to prepare dinner. Keith had made himself a celery and stilton soup as he didn't fancy our planned meal of sausage and vegetable bake. We had only decided on this to use up three wrinkly peppers in the fridge, and when I went to get them, I spotted another three that he'd bought today! I went mad as we now had six and they definitely hadn't been on the list! Arrgghh! We had a few words and when Sophie arrived home, she went mad as well! It may sound petty, but I do wish Keith would keep to the shopping list when he goes, and not go off-piste! We are trying really hard to use up the food we have and not waste it, and we had planned meals around the food we already had in the fridge!

Dinner was lovely, though, even with the slightly aged, wrinkly peppers (we're going to have to come up with another meal to use the new three, and Keith doesn't even like them, which is madness!). I padded the traybake out with new potatoes, mushrooms and carrots and served it with salad and roasted vegetable cous cous. Yum!

After dinner, Keith disappeared upstairs to watch the football while Sophie and I chose a documentary on Netflix to watch about the tragedy in Nepal when sixteen Sherpas were killed by an avalanche in the Khumbu icefall.

I have very strong feelings about climbing Everest and believe that climbers should be stopped from going up now. The problem is that the Sherpas all make much-needed money from their job of helping foreigners make the summit, and Nepal derives a huge income from trekking permits. 

In the documentary, after the tragedy, a small group of Sherpas refused to go up again that season (2014) which caused amazing reactions in the people organising the expeditions. I won't repeat what some of them said here, and both Sophie and I were shocked. However, it was an excellent documentary and the dignity and compassion of the Nepalese people shone through. They were portrayed in a much better light than the foreigners!

List-gate...

To make up for the slothfulness of yesterday, Sophie and I tackled the conservatory this morning. I have honestly never seen so many dead flies and insects in one place when we pulled the sofa away from the wall and looked behind the desk where our printer lives! 

I hoovered, and we decided to change the furniture around so we could open the double doors to the gravel garden. Why is there always so much to do in the house? A ground cover plant - or maybe a weed? - had covered the gravel by the double doors, and although it was pretty with little pink flowers, it had really taken hold, even though we have a membrane under the stones. This part of the garden has gone wild and we never use it, which is such a shame. I would love to clear it, put down some flagstones and have another outdoor seating area here.

I had wanted to sort out all the paperwork in the filing cabinet for ages, so I made a start on that while Sophie prepared the vegetables for tonight's chicken stir fry. She also tackled a huge pile of shredding for me and the kitchen was awash with bits of paper!

I'll be the first to admit I work quite haphazardly, and I think I annoyed Sophie by flitting from one job to another. It's how I am, though, and I get distracted quite easily as she will be the first to tell you! The conservatory was in a right mess as we had piled everything up onto the table, and I decided to put some crystal and old ornaments on Facebook to see if anyone wanted them for free before I took them to the charity shop. Well! You'd thought I had offered gold nuggets as there was a huge clamour for them from our estate and the local village! It was great, though, as I know they'll be going to good homes!

Sophie and I sat down to have some paté and toast for lunch, and she tried to compile the list of meals for the next couple of days. She then accused me of not taking it seriously (I was distracted by all the comments on Facebook) and we had a bit of an argument, which resulted in her flouncing upstairs in a huff. I tidied everywhere and then went and had a shower, with the intention of going to the Co-op in Brixworth as we had no porridge (Keith had forgotten it).

In the end, I didn't go, Sophie and I made up and we played Scrabble. I beat her by over 100 points so I took my revenge that way!

I have to say she cooked a delicious dinner and there were two perfect portions left over for our lunches tomorrow!

Idling the day away...

Today has been very relaxing and indulgent, and apart from giving the fridge a deep clean and chucking out some very dubious jars, I haven't managed to do a lot at all!

We didn't even have dinner to prepare for tonight as Sophie is out with Vikesh, and Keith and I are just having paté and toast. I felt a bit weary today, so staying indoors and relaxing was lovely. A lot of people at work have had colds over the last couple of weeks, and so far, I've managed to avoid getting one! Long may it stay that way!

The weather, of course, has been showery, so anything planned for today would have suffered. At the care home, they were having a fete and I hoped Mum and Dad would go to it and have a good time. I felt a bit guilty for not going, but I just wanted a day at home to catch up with myself!

Sophie made a delicious toasted sandwich for lunch and then went to get ready for her evening out. She and Vikesh were going to his brother and sister-in-law's house for a Mexican-themed night and she was looking forward to meeting some more of his family.

Keith was engrossed in the football all afternoon, so I watched Four In a Bed on my bed and went downstairs at 6pm to have a drink and see about dinner. I can't say it was the most interesting meal we've ever had and I did wish that we'd cooked something more substantial! We're going to have to stop doing this whenever Sophie is out for the evening!

A relaxed end to the week

Today has been very relaxed at work as Sara, Sheila and Nicola were all out in the afternoon, leaving the four of us to get on with our work. Kathy came in with a streaming cold, which wasn't pleasant and proceeded to cough and sniff her way through the whole shift. I just hope I don't get it! The problem now is... is it a cold or maybe covid? Nobody is bothering to test anymore.

It was great to escape at 4pm and head home. Sophie finished at the same time so it gave us a headstart to Wine Night but she hoovered downstairs for me first, bless her. 

We cracked open a bottle of chilled Greek Chardonnay and settled down to watch Love Again which I'd rented from Amazon. It was a good film, if a little cheesy in places and Céline Dion had a major part in it!

Keith came home from the pub, we had dinner, and he disappeared upstairs with a glass of whisky to watch the start of the football season. Groan! Sophie and I are both now football widows as Vikesh is into the game as much as Keith is!

Sophie and I watched a new episode of Remarkable Places to Eat with Fred Sirieux and Dermot O'Leary, who I took an immediate dislike to... I have no idea why!

Birthday shopping

It was back down to earth with a bump today, and a busy shift looking after emails and updating the moan report. At 2pm I sped home, ordered a birthday card for my Dad from the children on Moonpig, and then went to collect Mum to take her to Tesco.

We bought gifts and cards for my Dad's birthday tomorrow and had a coffee. We'd bought him a new pair of casual trousers, a top that went with them beautifully, and a bottle of single malt whisky. I'd looked at three miniatures first until I noticed the price per litre - £93! The full bottle of single malt was only £3 more!

It's been a lot hotter today with temperatures hovering around 28c. Why can't we have sunshine and a reasonable 22c? Phew!

I dropped Mum back, wished my Dad a happy birthday for tomorrow and returned home. Sophie had a minor tantrum this evening when she discovered Keith hadn't bought a cucumber in Tesco, even though she'd asked for one... hmmm!

It was salad and cold meats for dinner, with new potatoes. An apt meal for a warm evening!

A celeb sighting!

We left home at 8.15am this morning and made good time until we became stuck behind a tractor in a long convoy of vehicles! However, we made it to the station in good time and managed to grab a coffee and a pastry before our train left at 9.18am.

Luckily (very luckily!) we managed to get seats, one behind the other. At Milton Keynes, Mr Sniffy, who was sitting across the aisle from me, departed (hooray!), which meant Sophie could sit beside me. As we travelled towards London, the train became even busier, which meant lots of opportunities for people-watching. A woman alighted at Leighton Buzzard and proceeded to leave voice notes for a friend about her date the previous evening. The whole carriage was treated to an account of her date and how the man had woefully fallen short of her expectations... not in the bedroom, I hasten to add, but in terms of ambition, as he'd been working at Tesco for ten years! Poor thing! She had lurid blue nails so maybe he was put off himself!

At Euston, we made the very sensible decision to hire a black cab to take us to Marylebone Street. We couldn't actually be dropped off in the street itself as part of it was closed, but he dropped us outside Cote Brasserie, our lunch destination, and we walked the short distance around the corner to Daunt Books, where we spent a very agreeable half hour perusing all the many tomes on offer. I could have stayed all day!

My idea of heaven!

From Daunt Books we crossed the road and had coffee at 31 Below, managing to take a table outside to sit in the sun. Bliss!

We enjoyed a coffee and sat and soaked up the atmosphere of busy, bustling Marylebone Street, doing a fair amount of people-watching and enjoying the warm weather.

After a brief stop to take photos of the hydrangeas in the deli next door, we walked the short distance to Harley Street.

Dr Bawa saw Sophie for her review, took some photographs, and arranged another appointment in early January. We strolled back to Cote Brasserie, and even though we were early, we were able to take a table outside in the sunshine.

First up, of course, was a perusal of the menu and cocktails. I chose a Cote Negroni while Sophie went for an Aperol Spritz. We decided to take advantage of the "Prix fixe" menu which was £20.95 for three courses. I chose the charcuterie board to start followed by a chicken breast in a mushroom sauce, rocket leaves and frites. Sophie chose the mussels in a tomato sauce for her starter and opted for the same main.

My charcuterie board was delicious with two types of tender ham, toasted sourdough bread and cornichons. Sophie pronounced her mussels to be gorgeous.

We'd ordered a bottle of Rosé but it took a fair while to arrive. The restaurant was busy, but the staff were friendly and one of them seemed to take real enjoyment from chatting up the women! He was originally from South Africa and was very funny. Two older ladies had arrived to sit near us and they were real characters and flirted with the waiter, telling him stories of how they'd met in the 60s! It was fascinating to listen to them! I honestly do think that Marylebone Street and its surroundings are our spiritual home in the city!

 Our wine eventually arrived amidst a flurry of apologies and we tucked into our main courses, which were also very good indeed. It was gradually getting hotter so after we'd eaten, Sophie and I swapped places and I enjoyed the shade of the awning.

As we were sitting relaxing and sipping our wine, Sophie spotted Rylan Clark walking past! His super-white teeth shone in the sun and we alerted our waiter who said that, sometimes, James McAvoy visits the restaurant!

We both enjoyed chocolate mousse for dessert, lazily finished our wine and then paid the bill. The restaurant had deducted our cocktails from the bill because of the delay with the wine which I thought was a lovely touch. We hadn't been as demanding as a trio of women who had been sitting near us, and noisily asking for everything to be brought at once, and I think the staff appreciated our laid-back attitude!

We managed to hail a black cab, arrived at Euston with half an hour to spare and took the 3pm train back to Northampton. It was a great journey and I enjoyed staring out of the window and looking at the scenery flash past.

Keith picked us up and we returned home for a nap, and a light supper. It had been a truly excellent day!

Last of the cool...

Today has been another quiet day but Sophie and I are looking forward to our trip to London tomorrow. We booked the train when we were at home in the evening, and have decided to take a black cab from Euston to Marylebone instead of an Uber as we always get stuck in traffic.

From tomorrow the weather is set to improve for a few days and temperatures of 24c are forecast with sun. It's about time! I think that July was the wettest on record for the UK! At least the gardens benefited and our grass looks lovely and healthy!

Keith and I tried a new drama tonight, called Annika, on one of the Sky channels and there were some amazing shots of the scenery in Scotland. Keith enjoyed it but I wasn't so sure!

A quiet Monday

Sara had taken today off so I was kept busy with emails and the start of the moan report. We had a rush of calls first thing, but it's definitely quieter than the previous school holidays. In the past, I remember lots of calls waiting as people rang up to book swimming sessions but these have all stopped. It's amazing what a difference it makes!

Not a lot of note has happened today. I did some housework when I returned home which kept me busy, and the house looked lovely when Sophie arrived back from work. 

Dinner tonight was OK, but the bubble and squeak was a bit gloopy... Keith had added mashed potato to the mix which is never a good idea as it turns to mush. We are still having difficulty choosing meals that we all like, and I will be glad when we go on holiday and eat out!

After dinner, Keith and I watched the last two episodes of TraumaZone, with some upsetting scenes (the warnings, for once, were justified). It was incredibly sad seeing Russian mothers searching for their sons who had been fighting in Chechnya, and I just thought about Mikey and how terrible it must be to not know what happened to your child. 

Sophie started watching the programme with us, but soon fled upstairs. I didn't blame her!

A sociable day!

Today was supposed to have been almost as bad, weatherwise, as yesterday, but we got away with it, enjoying blue skies, sunshine, and no rain. I pootled about all morning, catching up with jobs and scanning some photos onto the computer. I'd wanted to try and tidy up the garage but gave up, leaving it for a day when I hadn't got to go anywhere. I just wasn't in the mood to go to the tip with all the rubbish!

Sophie went out for lunch with Daisy and Laura to Farndon Fields, and at 2pm, I went to the care home to see Mum and Dad. I bought myself a sandwich in the Co-op as I hadn't had time for lunch. Mum was a bit down today so it wasn't the most cheering of meetings, and I left at 3.30pm to be home at the same time as Sophie.

Vikesh came over to see her and they went to the pub for a drink. The weather said it was going to rain as they set off, so they drove there but we didn't have a drop, just some dark clouds. While they were gone I sat and read all the newspapers and was sitting in exactly the same position when they got back. It was bliss to have a quiet hour and a good read.

Sophie and I played Scrabble and I thrashed my daughter even though she had Vikesh to help her. I used all my tiles on my very first word which definitely gave me a head start! Vikesh kept trying to come up with words that didn't exist, which was hilarious! We drank a beautiful red wine called Pepper Box and it went very well with dinner tonight - beef casserole with a crispy potato topping and lots of vegetables.

There was a lot left over so we've kept it for dinner again tomorrow night, served with bubble and squeak!

Stormy Saturday

We've experienced another wet and windy Saturday, and again, I felt sorry for anyone organising outdoor activities today, as the weather has been truly awful.

I'd booked a table at Teapots in Olney for lunch and Sophie and I were looking forward to having a look in the shops and having something to eat. We sloshed over to Olney in heavy rain and winds and managed to just about get parked in the car park in the middle of the town.

We visited a charity shop overlooking the marketplace first and Sophie found some lovely clothes. I was on the lookout for a blender (almost impossible) and a pretty pot for our Basil plant.

We walked up to another two shops where Sophie bought more clothes - she now had a haul of a pretty pink lacy dress, a red polka-dot top and a gorgeous 100% silk blouse that will look fabulous with white trousers on holiday.

It was almost 1pm so we splashed our way back to Teapots and took a table right at the back of the small teashop. Sophie ordered a coronation chicken sandwich, while I opted for a cheese and onion toastie. I was disappointed with my toastie as the bread was very thin and I had been expecting something a little more substantial for almost £7.

We finished with a pot of tea and a slice of rhubarb and almond cake, but this was a little dry and crumbly. Hmmm! Maybe next time we visit we'll look at going somewhere different, which is a shame as the little teashop is so friendly. The bill came to £28 for the two of us, so certainly not cheap!

 

Selection of cakes

We visited two more shops before leaving and driving home. The rain had stopped briefly but on the drive back it started again. It was also misty and grey. What an absolutely horrible day!

Back home it was time to relax and I sat and watched the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships coming from Fort William in Scotland. The riders were taking turns to speed down a mountain like bats out of hell and, predictably, some fell off. It was riveting! It was like skiing without skis or snow! The rain was pouring down there as well but that's not surprising for Scotland!

Sophie and I played Scrabble in the evening and enjoyed a whiskey and red Vermouth cocktail with some posh crisps and a hummus dip. Sophie had put little tealights in the glasses liberated from the old wax candles and they looked really pretty.

We had Keith's chicken curry for dinner a bit later than normal and afterwards settled down to watch another scary, new drama called Wolf. After an hour we looked at each other and all wondered the same thing... what on earth was it all about?!

Scared silly!

Sophie was going to Woodhill prison today for a meeting with a couple of the staff there, and I was not looking forward to her going, to be honest! She set off at 8am, and I did admire her for going alone and meeting the staff there. She's only ever gone with colleagues before so I was very proud of her!

My shift at work passed quickly as I dealt with the emails, put some new films on up until the end of August and checked the next week's children's activities. At just before 4pm I had to change some of the sessions, which annoyed me hugely, as I should have been informed much earlier. Sara also had to stay behind to change the website, so she wasn't happy either!

When Sophie arrived home (she'd been back at work in the afternoon) we opened a new bottle of wine (a Chardonnay) and settled down with some nibbles to watch the Netflix documentary, The Night Stalker, which was suitably scary! We watched it after dinner as well, and we were on our own again as Keith had gone to bed! We certainly made sure that all the windows and doors were closed!

Creepy crawlies!

My shift passed very quickly today as I had so much to do. I had some difficult emails to write, telling people things they probably didn't want to hear after requests they'd made. We get the odd email saying that they thought a membership had been cancelled but it was still live, and generally, they want a refund. Sometimes, this can have been going on for years, so we have to investigate and see who was at fault. What I can't understand is why people don't notice? Don't they check their bank statements?

At 2pm, I sped home and took advantage of Sophie's absence by re-using several old, spent candles, and making them into a new one. Sophie gets annoyed when I refuse to throw out our old glass candles, so I've resorted to hiding them from her! I had a stash in the living room behind a little ornamental chest of drawers, so Keith and I put the glasses into a pan of gently simmering water to melt the remaining wax, I then removed the wicks and we put the molten liquid into a pot to heat up a bit more. After cleaning out the glasses, I just had enough wax to make one candle! The old glasses were now lovely and clean, and we can either use them for new candles using some wax pellets I already have, or we can use them as holders for tea lights (or even drink out of them!). They would also be perfect for chocolate mousses!

Sophie arrived home and had a good chuckle when she saw what we'd done, but I was proud of our recycling afternoon! Once the wax hardens, we'll light it!

After dinner, we watched The Sixth Commandment again, and Sophie discovered that Ben Field (the murderer) is in Woodhill prison, where she is going tomorrow! 

Before bed, we had to catch and release two spiders - a huge one had been lurking in the cloakroom for a couple of days but had ventured into the hallway. I asked Sophie to deal with it and she just about managed to get a pint glass over it, it was so big! The other was directly above my head in the bedroom but was a bit smaller, thank goodness. Both are now enjoying the cooler temperatures... outside!

A rude awakening...

We had a power cut first thing this morning, just after Sophie left for the gym, and it triggered Richard and Michelle's burglar alarm which started shrieking. There was no point trying to get back to sleep, and when the alarm stopped and nothing came back on in the bedroom, I knew our electrical switches had tripped again. I went downstairs and balanced on our little step ladder to flick one of them back on, and Keith woke up. What a start to the day!

It was definitely time for a coffee, and I sat and watched George Clark's Old House New Home. A couple had bought an enormous house and had completely gutted it to start again. When they'd finished it did look gorgeous! When Sophie arrived home, she showered and had her breakfast in the conservatory, all ready to start work.

I grappled with some financial jobs, and mid-morning, Keith and I went to book my car in for its MOT, and the VW in for a pre-holiday service. We then popped into a very busy Aldi and bought dinner for tonight, before sloshing home in the awful, drizzly, grey weather. Is it really August, or November?

Lunch for Keith and me was a pack of two vegetable kebabs which had a very strange, almost chemical taste! Hmmm! I'm not sure we'll buy them again! They did nothing to satisfy our hunger so we both had a beef and tomato bap afterwards! I blame this chilly, horrible weather for our appetites!

The afternoon was spent pootling about and doing exciting jobs such as tidying up the airing cupboard and sorting out all the towels and bed linen we keep there. It was in a huge mess and at least now I know what we've got and what we don't need!

Sophie went to the pub with Vikesh in the evening for a meal and they stayed for a little while for the monthly quiz. I went and had a soak in the bath which was lovely and perfect for a nasty evening!

A regular Tuesday!

We had our young newbie working with us today and she did very well, bless her. She was sitting next to Sheila who was able to help her with any queries.

The pattern of phone calls has changed in the last couple of days with no intense rush first thing, but we're having an almost constant "drip, drip" of queries throughout the shift. I was glad I wasn't answering calls! I wouldn't have achieved anything!

I felt a bit weary when I got home and I was glad I was off tomorrow. Sophie cooked fajitas for dinner and we watched a new drama after we'd eaten called The Sixth Commandment, starring a much slimmed-down Timothy Spall. It was gripping!