Frustrations!

I took the courtesy car to work, and it was fine to drive, if a little too responsive when I braked! Today has been quite frustrating because the contracts I uploaded to our payroll system the other day had been rejected. One document had been rejected twice! It was a little disheartening, especially as we all had no clue why!

We've had rain again today, but I didn't hear any thunder. Keith went to the pub as usual, and Sophie and I opened a delicious bottle of Italian Pinot Gris while watching a BBC documentary about the 9/11 terrorist attack. It was about the President's immediate response to the events and was very interesting. I didn't realise that George Bush was so handsome back in 2001!

Dinner tonight was a very easy meal of fish finger sandwiches, rather than the curry we had planned! An easy end to a difficult week!

My head is spinning!

Unsurprisingly, I didn't have a good night's sleep and kept thinking about the accident. It hasn't been a good week for cars: I forgot to mention that on Saturday, when Sophie drove over to Daventry, she hit a rabbit. At first, she thought that she had hit it and it had run off, but when we left to go out in the afternoon, she had the shock of her life when she saw the rabbit's legs sticking out of the front grille of her car. It was a horrible sight, and because she had parked close to a wall at Becky's house, she hadn't noticed. The force of being hit had driven the rabbit right through the plastic grille at the front of her car, and it had snapped.

We had to get Keith to try and pull it out, and neither of us could look. Thankfully, he was able to get it out in one piece, but when Sophie said she wanted to bury it, we told he we couldn't as the ground was so hard.

Because Keith and I had to take Olive today, Sophie wasn't able to go to the gym. Between 6:00am and 7:00am, we sat and watched A Place in the Sun and witnessed a thunderstorm going on with some much-needed heavy rain. At work I chose a vegan sausage roll for my breakfast and kept in touch with Sophie, who said that a Seat Ibiza had been delivered as my courtesy car and the VW had been carried away on a low-loader. 

The day passed quickly, and Keith came to collect me at 4:00pm. We headed down to Riverside to see Jamie, the bathroom designer, and he kept us waiting again! We both thought he would have done the design and was going to show us how he envisioned the en-suite to look, but he hadn't even started and wanted us to choose all the fittings this evening! My head was still spinning from the events of yesterday and my job, so I said I wasn't in a position to do anything this evening and couldn't make important choices just like that! We made another appointment and fled home!

It was great having Sophie at home as she'd hoovered, made my porridge for tomorrow and was cooking chicken stroganoff for dinner. We sat and chatted over a glass of wine, and I said that I hadn't expected the courtesy car to be emblazoned with the name of the company that specialised in crash repairs. There was no hiding! I will take it to work tomorrow, but I want to use it as little as possible!

I grind to a halt...

Tuesday was a quiet, uneventful day with very little to write about! I am slowly learning the processes at work, but it can be frustrating at times as the company I now work for is a lot bigger than my previous one! I'm sure I will get used to it soon, although I do suspect that a lot of my colleagues feel the same way, and we're all groping our way in the dark!

Keith and I watched the last episode of Best Medicine after eating this evening, and it will certainly be a series I'll miss! I'm 99% sure there is a second series, so we'll watch out for it!

Wednesday

I said goodbye to Sophie this morning when she went to the gym, and went back to bed for a little lie-in until 8:00am. Michelle, my friend and neighbour, was coming around for coffee mid-morning, and I quickly tidied up and hoovered before she arrived.

We had a good chat sitting in the conservatory, but she had to leave at midday as I had an appointment with Gabriel at 1:00pm. Every minute of today has been taken care of! I'm determined to have one Wednesday without any appointments!

Gabriel and I chatted, and he gave my left calf a deep massage. I told him I'd knocked my heel on Sunday and had aggravated the pain in my heel, so he didn't make me do any exercises. I drove home, had a quick bite to eat and went to see my Mum. She was surprised to see me, and I suggested we go out for a drive, something I heartily wish I hadn't said!

We drove out towards Harrington and then Arthingworth, retracing the route Sophie and I took on Saturday. In the distance, I could see several huge wind turbines and decided to see if I could drive near them and photograph them with the cloudy sky behind. I love seeing ranks of them in France!

We drove near, but the road I was on brought me out onto the busy A508. Over the Bank Holiday weekend, there is a music and arts festival, Shambala, going on and a lot of people were arriving for that. I indicated to turn right and saw a Jeep approaching. He slowed down and indicated left, so I went for it as there was a queue of traffic behind him.

However, instead of turning left, he carried on, and as I went to go, we collided with the most awful crunch and bang, and my Mum and I were thrown about. It was horrible. I couldn't believe it had happened, and the passenger got out of the car, shouting at me as to why I had pulled out! Because the driver had indicated, although, in hindsight, this wasn't a good idea!

The car belonged to the woman passenger, and her friend was driving. He was a complete wally and just sat in the car bleating about me pulling out. The woman got into the driver's seat and moved the car as it was holding up a long line of cars.

We exchanged details and took photos of each other's cars, and then they drove the short distance to the entrance to the festival. The woman shouted and harangued her friend and wouldn't calm down, although I said we would get it sorted out. She was furious!

I was just glad that nobody had been hurt, but my Mum was a little shaken up. I drove carefully home after calling Keith to let him know. When we got home, he said I wasn't to drive it any more as the indicator wasn't working and he was worried about any unseen damage.

I phoned the care home to collect Mum, made her a cup of tea, and we started on the claim with my insurance. I felt angry with myself after almost 40 years of accident-free driving. Within half an hour, Mum had been collected by Anna and Alice, and Keith and I finished the claim form. The VW would be collected and repaired, and I could have a courtesy car while the car was being fixed. We then called Sophie, who was a little shocked but said she would work from home tomorrow to help out. We could then use Olive.

The rest of the afternoon and evening were a little subdued, and none of us fancied dinner, so we had leftovers from Monday night. I remained annoyed with myself for making such a stupid mistake, but I was just glad it hadn't been more serious. Lessons will be learnt!

Barry the badger!

Our next-door neighbours have been acting a little strangely recently: leaving their food bin out even though it was at risk of being turned over by a marauding badger who has been visiting our garden. Last night, they wedged open their garden gate and left a bowl of fruit on top of the food bin. Whether they were testing our theory that it was the badger doing it, or maybe the local cats, I don't know.

Anyway, this morning, Vince sent me video footage of the badger from midnight last night:

Let's hope they now shut their bin away so it doesn't get turned over and a mess left everywhere!

My day at work passed quickly, so that's another Monday dealt with! It's not my favourite day of the week, but next Monday is a Bank Holiday, and I'm off! Hooray for that!

Another day, another pub!

Our Sunday morning has been taken up with housework, but there was no dinner to prepare as we had a table booked at the pub! 

Sophie treated me to a real pamper this morning as well, cutting my hair and painting my toenails, bless her. She is very good to me, and I ordered a bottle of Tanqueray No. Ten Gin from Amazon as a thank you (Last night, I had finished the bottle we bought on the ferry, so it had lasted well!). Next Saturday, we're looking forward to seeing music from the Bond films at The Proms on BBC2, and I know Sophie will want to make Vespers while we watch!

We drove to the pub for our 2:00pm booking and took our seats. As we were perusing the menu, a couple came in with a small dog who was panting loudly, and asked me to move as they couldn't get past... Quite where they expected me to go, I have no idea!

The couple sat down, and I received a whiff of smelly dog and could hear the mutt constantly panting. Not really what I wanted while eating my Sunday lunch! Keith asked one of the staff if we could move, so we sat at a better table by the window and out of earshot of the panting dog!

The rest of our lunch passed very pleasantly. Keith and I ordered roast beef, while Sophie chose the chicken. We enjoyed halloumi fries and calamari to start and extra portions of pigs in blankets and cauliflower cheese. The meal was delicious and our beef moist and tender, and it went well with the bottle of Spanish Garnacha I'd ordered.

Sophie and I found room for puds: we each chose the peach and raspberry crumble served with custard. We're both looking forward to cooler days and more hearty meals! Keith paid the bill, and we returned home to do very little, although Sophie screamed at the television a couple of times when Newcastle scored and when Liverpool equalised!

Sophie and her after-lunch cocktail!

A tale of two pubs

Sophie was taking part in a 5K run in Rugby today and left at the very early hour of 7:30am. No lie-in for her today! I was awake at 6:30am and waved her off before having another coffee! 

My morning was spent doing some necessary but boring tasks, mainly related to money. I also looked at new flooring for our kitchen and living room and printed off the invoice for when we had our kitchen renovated in 2021. I am extremely disappointed with the floor we have and have noticed that it's Luxury Vinyl Tile, which is supposed to last 15-20 years. The area around our bar stools is scratched, and we have two cuts in the floor where we dropped cast iron lids onto it. I suppose this didn't help! The stone tile we had when we bought our house seemed to fare much better, and I'm determined to get it right with our next floor!

Sophie and I went to see Mum in the afternoon, and it wasn't the best of visits. She was having a "low" day and cried a bit when we were there, despite one of the lovely carers coming in and bringing her drinks and sweet treats. I do understand how she feels, and I hate it when she says she misses her home and all the lovely things she used to have.

After we visited, we decided to drive to Braybrooke and visit The White Swan, which has just been taken over by new management. We took our drinks through to the garden where several other people were already enjoying the afternoon sunshine. Sophie tried a half pint of  Everards Tiger Copper Ale, and didn't think much of it! I stuck with my Guinness Zero after insisting on having a half pint glass! 

We sat in the garden, chatted and munched on prawn cocktail crisps. Sophie had eaten a big breakfast and felt a little queasy again. She thinks that a meal after a run (they'd completed 9K in the end!) wasn't a good idea!

From Braybrooke, we drove through rural countryside to Arthingworth and The Bull Inn, a pub I'd been visiting for decades, but only every now and again. The man serving was very chatty and told us all about his side hustle of being ground crew for Virgin Hot Air Balloons. 

We sat all alone in the garden again and enjoyed the peace and quiet. It was bliss! A little boy kept coming near us every so often, and I could tell he wanted to speak to us, but was very shy, bless him!

Reluctantly, we finished our drinks and drove home, where Keith was watching football. The new season has definitely started, and my husband and daughter are looking forward to seeing Newcastle play Liverpool live tomorrow afternoon. 

Dinner tonight was chicken wraps with assorted salads, and our film choice for the evening was Insomnia, starring Al Pacino, Hilary Swank and Robin Williams, playing an uncharacteristically evil role!

Friday rolls around again!

The last day of the working week has come around so quickly again! It seems that as soon as Monday is over, it's a downhill swoop to Friday!

I had a good day at work, and Sheila left early at 3:00pm as she had been staying later and going in early. I do hope that's not a sign of things to come for me! I was kept busy for the last hour, and it was great to be in the office on my own.

Keith went to the pub this evening, and Sophie and I opened a bottle of Chardonnay, which was delicious. We watched the last two episodes of the Charles Manson documentary on Netflix, and I have to admit to being horrified by the crimes committed. I hadn't really realised how brutal they were until now, and how senseless. To have innocent people murdered was horrific, but it was the killing of eight-and-a-half-month-pregnant Sharon Tate that really disturbed me, and I was glad that the perpetrators either died in prison or were refused parole for so long.

We had a lovely supper of chicken Kievs, asparagus, broccoli and new potatoes and turned on BBC2 after eating to watch a Proms night celebrating Miles Davis. We listened to it for a little while before turning over to BBC4 and watching Top of the Pops from 1982. As usual, I Googled the bands and was amazed to see them as they are now! For me, 1982 was a couple of years ago, so the transformation from young women and men to pensioners was unbelievable!