A Saturday shift

Sophie took me to work this morning, and I did the Saturday shift with Shirley. It was a pleasant shift, not busy with calls, and I managed to get a lot of other work done, including the Christmas playscheme places.

Sophie collected me at 2pm, and we went home to have a late lunch and relax. Keith went to watch Sileby and came home at 5pm looking frozen. The weather has certainly turned colder lately, and we're putting the heating on to warm up the house.

I'd had a lovely relaxing afternoon watching a new Genealogy programme with Philip Glenister and John Simm who had taken DNA tests. It was very much like an ITV version of Who Do You Think You Are and was just as interesting. There had been a mention of Northamptonshire in Philip Glenister's background, but his story was sidelined by John Simm's revelation that the man who thought was his father, actually wasn't!

We had a relaxed evening, and Sophie made us both an Americano cocktail, which was a great aperitif before we had a glass of wine. We ordered a Chinese takeaway for dinner, as a treat, and watched another episode of Grand Designs, this time with a young couple building a house in Lincolnshire. It was perhaps one of the most boring episodes I've ever seen!

An after-dinner treat was a BBC2 show featuring 40 different, rarely-seen footage of bands and singers performing for the corporation over the years. It was brilliant!

Not quite the end of the working week...

As I'd dealt with a lot of emails yesterday, I was able to get some other admin jobs completed today, which was great as the half-term bookings open in nine days!

The shift passed quickly and it was great to leave at 4pm. However, I'm back in tomorrow so not a normal Friday night feeling of relaxation!

Sophie and I opened a bottle of Cotes du Rhone white this evening and it was deliciously fruity. After a good chat about our working days, we watched an episode of Grand Designs which started in 2019... always a bad sign if it has taken five years to complete a build!

Keith went to the pub to see John but there must have been a breakdown in communication as he wasn't there. Keith had been looking forward to having a chat with him about the wine regions we'd visited as John is definitely an oenophile! He returned early and put the finishing touches to a delicious curry he'd prepared earlier. We hadn't had one for a while and it was lovely and spicy!

I see the light(s)!

Today has been busy, and I walked into about 70 emails to tackle through my shorter shift. At 2pm, Keith collected me, and I dropped him off at home before picking up Mum for her nail appointment. She decided on a beautiful blue today, which matched the scarf she was wearing!

By the time I arrived home, it was 5pm, but Keith and I were cooking scampi and chips tonight for dinner, so no preparation was needed (Keith had earlier sliced up the potatoes). Sophie was already home and was heading out for dinner with Laura to Yardley Hastings.

I was still suffering from the post-holiday blues, so I watched an episode of Michel Roux in Provence to cheer myself up! He spoke about his love for butter and slathered it onto a baguette before stuffing it into his mouth! 

Our dinner tonight was simple and I used my new thermometer to ensure the oil was at the correct temperature. I'm always wary of deep-frying so I didn't take my eyes off the bubbling oil at all. Dinner was lovely and made a change as we hardly ever eat scampi or fry chips!

Sophie arrived home at about 10pm, and after a quick chat, it was time for bed. I went to sleep but woke up at about midnight with an itchy foot. I peered out of the curtains and was astonished to see the Aurora lighting up the night sky!

I could even detect the different colours without using the camera on my phone. One part of the sky was green, and there was a large swathe of a pinky/reddy hue right in front of me. It was fabulous!

Earlier in the evening, neighbours had been posting so I knew there was a chance of seeing them tonight. I'm just so glad I woke up!

Looking back

This morning, I found a photograph album of our 1993 visit to France, and I confirmed that Le Vendangerot was indeed the hotel Keith and I stayed in. I had kept receipts, and we noticed that the name was used on the bill when we checked out!

It seems strange to see the bill in francs, not euros!

Hotel du Commerce, not Commercial as we'd thought!

We also bought a case of Rully to take home:

It was great to look back at a holiday we took over 30 years ago and reminisce! It's a lot easier now with just the euro, rather than all the different currencies we had to deal with back then!

I spent the morning pootling about and trying to persuade Mooney NOT to bring in live rodents! A poor little shrew-type thing escaped his claws and went running about in the conservatory, chased by Keith with a net. It eventually found its way under the sofa and stayed there, but when it emerged later on, Mooney caught it again! The poor little mite must have been terrified!

I sat and had lunch with Sophie - the leftover pasta from last night, which was delicious - and then went to see Mum and Dad in the afternoon. I tried my hardest to get Netflix back on their television, but there was a problem with their internet connection which was beyond my control. When I left, I spoke with the receptionist and said I would email someone to help. My parents miss the films available on Netflix and they're paying every month for the service!

Back home, I made the porridges and Keith and I did the shopping list for the rest of the week. Back to the daily grind! I certainly didn't miss this!

Tonight, for the first time in ages, I cooked liver and bacon with onions. Keith could only get pigs' liver, but it was still delicious if a little stronger in taste than our usual lambs' liver. It was a real treat and we both enjoyed the meal, but Sophie chose one of her pasta dishes to eat. She's very adventurous with food, but draws the line, for some reason, with liver!

A dose of the holiday blues!

To my dismay, the A43 was still closed this morning, so the traffic was heavy on the way to work. I later found out that two men had sadly died on Monday afternoon, and this just confirms the loathing I have for this section of the road. It needs to be widened into a dual carriageway, but I can't see that happening for many years.

I had fewer emails to deal with today, and I was able to put most of the swim camps on for the October half-term, which is rapidly approaching! I did have a dose of the holiday blues, though! Outside, it was raining, and I kept thinking of the Provencal sunshine and the fields of beautiful vines!

Unbelievably, the A43 was still closed, so I decided to go home via Brixworth. When I arrived, Sophie was looking stressed after another day of training and dealing with Mooney-cat, who was constantly asking for attention, and in and out all the time. I think she was longing to go back to her office with no distractions and interruptions!

When she finished work, she prepared a pasta dish, and we opened a bottle of Italian red wine to accompany the meal. Keith and I played cards while she pootled about chopping vegetables and preparing the meal. We put the heating on in the kitchen as it was a chilly night!

Back to reality!

It was back to normality today and work for both Sophie and me, although my daughter was working from home and taking part in an online management training course.

Keith ran me to work as he had to go to Tesco again and I had a busy shift, catching up with Sara and  Sheila and dealing with as many emails as possible. I was amazed to see Sara's desk laden with chocolates and sweets when I arrived, so I've kept my contribution back for a week! 

At 4pm, Keith picked me up and we had an awful journey home, due to a bad accident on the A43. He had seen ambulances and a fire engine go past on the way to collect me and looking back, it would have made more sense to go another way home. We crawled from the A43 roundabout down to Holcot because of the new chicane, parked cars and the part where the road narrows. The small village just couldn't cope with the volume of traffic.

Sophie was tired from her training and having to deal with Mooney who was in and out of the conservatory all day. He is bringing small rodents in on a daily basis now, either dead or alive, and I dread to think what will happen when we have the cat flap fitted. We'll have to keep the double doors into the kitchen firmly closed or the house will be overrun with furry creatures!

Keith cooked a delicious chilli for dinner and afterwards, it was time to exercise our brains with the fiendishly difficult Only Connect, and then University Challenge, which I thought posed hard questions this evening!

De-catifying the house!

I had a great night's sleep but Sophie suffered overnight with a tight chest that kept her awake. She had let the cats into her room while we were away, and she said the bed and carpet were covered in cat hairs. I wanted to get rid of the catty smell that pervaded the house after they'd been kept inside for over a week with all the windows tightly closed. We all hoped that the catflap would be fitted before our trip to Berlin in November.

I was awake at 7am and had put the first of many washes into the machine. I then sorted out the rest of the laundry and Sophie said she was going to wash her entire bedding, even the mattress protector! Most of our luggage was still in the car so we emptied that out, and I removed the headlight convertors that had stayed put! Normally, one of them drops off!

Keith went to Tesco to buy ingredients for a chicken casserole this evening and Sophie and I unpacked the large suitcase and put the clean clothes away. I opened all of the windows and the back door in an effort to freshen the house up!

We had a busy morning but by lunchtime, the unpacking had been done, and the wines were standing proudly on the worktop in the kitchen (we had used up the spare slots in the wine rack!). Our wine fridge was full and Keith had prepared the vegetables for tonight's dinner. Vegetables! He prepared broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and green beans, and we added carrots and onions to the casserole! We missed our veg!

Sophie and I had sold some clothes on eBay so we packaged them up and popped to Mawsley to send them off. The weather has been disappointing today with heavy grey clouds and a chilly wind. It didn't stop me from opening the windows wide, though, and the catty smell has now gone! It helped that we'd removed the litter trays and I'd vacuumed the house and mopped the conservatory and kitchen floors!

I made up Sophie's bed with fresh bedding and we continued to do the washing all afternoon and into the evening. Poor Keith will tackle the ironing while we're both at work.

Dinner tonight was delicious and it was great to have vegetables again! I made dumplings to pop into the casserole and as the evening wore on we put on the heating to make the house cosy. The cats seemed to appreciate the warmth!

After dinner, Sophie and I caught up with Fake or Fortune, which was a great episode and kept us guessing right until the end!