It's hotting up!

It already felt warm when I went to work this morning, and I was amazed to find one of the radiators on in the corridor as I walked in! I turned it right down and set up fans in our office to keep it cool. It was just Sharon and me working today, and the suite of offices was very quiet. I had dealt with all the emails before 9:00am, but one of our managers came in and said that lessons had been cancelled again at a local school, and could I send out emails and then call the parents? 

Doing this kept Sharon and me busy all afternoon, and the parents were surprisingly understanding. It may have helped that the half-term holidays start today, so a lot of children may be going away this evening anyway. It was great to escape at 4:00pm and make my way to where Keith was waiting for me. The temperature was registering 30 °C, but it went down to 28 °C on the way home, thank goodness!

Keith wasn't at the pub this evening as John is in France, so he kept himself to himself in the kitchen while Sophie and I watched the two episodes of Race Across The World back to back. The contestants were now in Mongolia, which looked beautiful but cold and remote! We opened a bottle of the Chardonnay I'd bought in Duncan's shop, and it was delicious.

We had a spicy curry for dinner, and then it was half an hour of Have I Got News For You before bed. It's the weekend!

More pain!

I woke up in the night with a terrible headache and took some paracetamol, but when I woke up again at 6:00am, it was still painful. I think it may have been where I tensed up during the treatment yesterday. I reluctantly took two Nurofen and drove myself to work, thankful I was only working until 2:00pm.

At 10:00am, I manned the phones with Nicola's daughter, Macy, and we had a pleasant shift. At 2:00pm, I dashed home to find Kym already treating Keith's feet. She then did mine and tidied up my toenails so Sophie can paint them. We are facing a heatwave over the Bank Holiday weekend with temperatures set to be about 30 °C on Sunday and Monday. Phew! It's certainly not typical of this time of year... It's not even summer yet!

I had a great chat with Kym, as I always do, and she told me all about her Hen Night in Newcastle and her forthcoming wedding in June. When she left, I had to have a little nap as my sleep was so disturbed last night. I woke up again feeling muzzy-headed and think my half hour was too long!

Tonight was the last episode of Race Across The World, but Sophie and I will watch last week's and tonight's tomorrow. I just hope we don't inadvertently find out who the winners are! Instead, Keith and I watched the last episode of Series 1 of Panda. It was hilarious, as usual, and I loved the banter between the two lead characters. I wonder if they have the same chemistry in real life?

Relief at last?

As promised, I called The Back and Body Clinic in Moulton today and asked if someone could call me to advise me about what I could do with my painful heel. I am heartily fed up with it now. When I leave work at 4:00pm, it really hurts and I'd do anything to sort it out.

Someone called me back just as our neighbour Lynn arrived with the raffle tickets I said I'd buy. These are to raise money for barristers and consultants in our fight against a huge solar farm planned for our area, and land towards Wellingborough, which is affecting several villages. I bought two books for £10, and we had a chat with Lynn about what's going on.

When she had gone, I had a look at the text that The Back and Body Clinic sent me, and then looked at the prices... an injection was about £500! However, I really need to get this sorted now as it's affecting my life and our travels.

I had booked an appointment for 5.30pm today, and Sophie said she would meet me there as moral support. She also urged me to contact the doctor's surgery, but I knew they would just recommend painkillers or a support bandage, and I'd done all that!

At around lunchtime, I showered and then went to see Mum. She was a little quiet today and didn't seem at all pleased to see me. I still didn't mention Vienna, but I did take some photos with me, which we looked at.

Back at home, I caught up with some jobs, and Keith and I left at 5:00pm. He was going to drop me off, and Sophie would drive me home, just in case they did administer an injection. As we arrived, so did Sophie, and we went in together, where I had to fill out a form. At 5:30pm, Gabriel called us into his treatment room, and we immediately took a liking to him. When he grinned, he reminded me of Mike in a good mood, so that was lovely. There was a lot of banter between him and Sophie!

I explained what had happened with my heel, and he had a good feel of the affected area, saying it was Achilles Heel Tendinopathy. He made me keep going up onto my tiptoes and then said he wanted to give me shockwave therapy to tear the tendon so my body would heal it. I said yes immediately, but he said I would need a course of at least six treatments spread over the next couple of months.

Gabriel made me lie face down on the bed and administered the therapy three times. It was extremely painful, but in a good way, if that makes sense! All the time I was lying there, my daughter and Gabriel kept up the good-natured banter! I think they were also taking the mickey out of me as well!

Afterwards, I did feel some relief, but I'm hoping that after the course of treatment, I will be pain-free. The appointment and consultation cost £92, and each one will cost that, but I didn't care. I just wanted to be rid of the pain when I walk! Sophie drove me home, and we had Tesco lasagne for dinner. It was too late to prepare the fajitas again, and we drank a gorgeous Californian wine with the meal. Keith can definitely buy that again!

A quiet Tuesday

I drove myself to work today and parked easily. The problems of a few weeks ago seem to be over, and I wonder whether something was going on at the hospital to make it busier? It's certainly a relief to get a space!

Today has been mostly quiet, and I accomplished Sara's job first thing with ease. Back at home, I was looking forward to a day off tomorrow and a chance to catch up with the blog. Oh, and see if I could have some help with my heel, as Sophie was threatening to take her friend Becky to Berlin instead of me!

Sophie had a headache this evening, and we half-heartedly watched MasterChef before dinner. We are making notes of the culinary terms again this year. They include:

Cookery - the most used word last year, and something that irritated us. Cookery is what we did at school; cooking is what the contestants are doing! Far fewer than last year so far - 6 mentions   

A crumb - 12 mentions

A tuile - Just 5 so far

Influenced by parents or grandparents - a whopping 17!

Contestants crying - 13

Showing off about travels - 10

"Three ways" (always sounds vaguely dodgy to me) - 2

Chocolate fondant - just 1!

And then we have Anna keep saying "Orf (off) it". "I'm getting a real flavour orf it" - 10

Anna's assorted colourful headbands - too many to count!

And this made us laugh: "A segmented orange", i.e. a slice...

After a very simple supper (we should have had chicken fajitas, but Sophie didn't fancy cooking them or eating them), we went upstairs to watch another episode. However, my poor daughter fell asleep, so we'll catch up tomorrow!

Back to reality!

I had texted Sara last night asking if it was OK for me to work 9:00am until 5:00pm today. She is off all week, and I didn't have Nicola's number to let her know. I can't remember the last time I went straight to work after returning from a trip, and it was a shock to the system!

Keith dropped me off, and before tackling the emails, I had to do a job for Sara that took me most of the morning to get the hang of! I eventually did, so I was able to clear all the emails and catch up. I worked until 5:00pm, and Sophie came to collect me. We headed home to do the usual evening chores and enjoyed chicken Kyiv for dinner.

After eating, it was an episode of Panda and then an early night!

Eurovision in Vienna, 14th to the 17th of May, 2026

More culture

Both Sophie and I were a little shocked this morning when we woke up to the results of the Eurovision Song Contest last night. The UK was placed last with just one measly vote, Israel came second despite all the controversy, and news that the song "Choke Me" came third really upset Sophie. Is the love affair over?

We'd decided to have breakfast in the hotel this morning, and really make the most of the 24 euro price. I went downstairs first after we'd packed, showered and dressed. I made myself a coffee, and when Sophie arrived, we both went into the dining room. There was only one other table occupied, so there was no mad scrum to get to the buffet provided.

We both made use of the lovely foods on offer - cereal, fruit, breads, cold meats, cheeses, croissants, scrambled eggs and even fizz! We both had a small glass! My only gripe was the lack of service from the breakfast host, who never did bring me another coffee! Sophie kept me regularly topped up from the machine in reception!

Suitably full from our first (and only) meal of the day, we went back up to our room, did a last sweep and checked out. We were able to leave our luggage, and we emerged into sunshine... typical as it was our last day!

Sophie's itinerary was quite loose today, so we walked over to Karlskirche, which reminded me of the Berliner Dom.

Unfortunately, one of the pillars was shrouded in scaffolding, and we were sure a Sunday morning Mass was taking place, so we didn't go in. Instead, I treated Sophie to a coffee from a little café nearby. As we sat with our drinks, a bride and groom arrived, accompanied by an array of photographers. We deduced that it was some kind of fashion show taking place, and they attracted quite a crowd.

One man even played the piano and the couples danced, much to the delight of the crowd. It was all very jovial!

I was beginning to regret my large breakfast, but after sitting for a while, we decided to amble over to the Wien Museum, which was free to enter. The ground floor was about the original origins of Vienna, so we made our way up to the higher floors, where the exhibits were a little more interesting. Here, Sophie and I meandered about on our own, learning about Vienna just before the Second World War and the Anschluss in 1938, when Austria and Germany were united. 

It was very interesting to read the history right up until the present day, and there was even a Foodora bag on show! Sophie and I had lost track of each other as we wandered around the exhibits, and we both enjoyed the museum very much.

Exhibits on the lower floors

We both loved this, and it reminded us of a Manet painting

After all the culture and learning, we went up to the terrace bar, where we had a drink. I chose a rosé, while Sophie enjoyed an Aperol Spritz. We took our drinks outside and gazed out over the beautiful views.

Back to the madness!

We had decided to take the train to the airport, and Sophie had been researching the route. We walked slowly back to the hotel, retrieved our luggage, had a lovely chat with the friendly receptionist, and then walked towards the Opera House to catch a tram.

It arrived within a few minutes, and we stayed on for a few stops, getting off at Rennweg. I had forgotten this stop, but I soon remembered when we alighted. We had changed trams here last time and had been very confused!

At Rennweg, we needed to get the train to the airport. We spotted a lift down to the platform, so went in, but when the doors opened, we rapidly went back in again. The platform was poorly lit, and there was a heap of clothes and bedding opposite, where it was obvious someone was sleeping. They were stirring, so we beat a hasty retreat and went back up to ground level. It was the only time we felt wary in all of the trip!

We found the right route down to the platform, and we were delighted to see that the train we wanted was arriving at 2:21pm, about a twenty-minute wait. As we stood there, more and more people arrived with suitcases, so we knew we were on the right platform!

The train arrived, and we managed to get seats around a small table. In the small bin by the table were McDonald's wrappings, which smelled horrible. Ugh! The journey to the airport only took about twenty minutes, and soon we were emerging into the madness of the airport. We had a long walk to Terminal 1, and my heel was hurting badly. I was not in the best of moods!

When we reached the check-in desks, we saw that BA were letting us put our bags in the hold for free, so we queued for ages to check them in. The people in front of us all seemed to have complex issues, and it took us ages! We saw lots more Eurovision T-shirts and hoodies!

We eventually checked the bags in and made our way through security (up and down, up and down, grrrr!). Here, I was subjected to a most intrusive search that made me feel very embarrassed. I thought at one point she was going to make me undress completely! This, of course, put me in an even more foul mood, so Sophie was, quite rightly, fed up with me.

We found our gate number, and my poor daughter went off in search of sandwiches. We enjoyed these, and I relaxed a bit! Very soon, we were asked to board, and then it was time to say goodbye to Vienna. Hopefully, we will be back again soon!

The flight passed smoothly, and we landed at Heathrow a little later than expected. We were delighted to emerge from Terminal 3 and see our bus arrive to take us to the car park. Jeeves directed us expertly to the M25, and we saw several 747s take off over our heads. How these things get into the air is beyond me!

A near miss!

The M25 was busy, and it needed all my concentration to drive on the hectic motorway. At one point, I pulled over to an inside lane after the car next to me also pulled over, but he realised he was in the wrong lane, so swung back over just as I was pulling over myself. I swerved back into my lane, thankful that the car behind me hadn't overtaken! We were a bit shaken up by this!

Luckily, the rest of the journey was without incident, and we arrived home at 9:00pm. We sat in the living room and chatted to Keith about our visit for an hour, and then it was bedtime. We are both at work tomorrow!

Eurovision in Vienna, 14th to the 17th of May, 2026

Another iconic café...

Sophie and I both had another great night's sleep, and I went down for coffee again while Sophie finished getting ready. It was lovely to sit and sip my coffee and drink a bottle of water.

This morning, we were having breakfast at Café Sperl, another location in Before Sunrise. This café was where Céline and Jesse pretended to have a phone conversation with friends. It had rained overnight, and the sky looked full of more. We walked to the café and joined the end of the queue for a table. Sophie was very excited to be at the café featured in the film, and we didn't have to wait long before we were shown to a table.

We sat in the window and had a good look at the breakfast menu. Sophie chose an omelette with ham while I settled for two warm rolls with butter and apricot jam. Oh, and copious amounts of coffee! The service was a little slow, but we were happy to sit and chat and stare out of the window at the people passing, now carrying umbrellas.

A man in front of us had ordered breakfast, and he followed this up with a slice of sachertorte! Why not? We lingered over our breakfast, soaking up the atmosphere as more people continued to queue to get a table.

After paying the bill, we walked down to the Naschmarkt, where we were hoping to visit the Saturday flea market. By now it was raining properly, and before heading over the road to the marketplace, we called into a small supermarket to buy some hair conditioner. Sophie also picked up a bar of chocolate and a small bottle of schnapps to enjoy later.

Wein Not?

Naschmarkt was very busy and crowded with people, and we kept getting dripped on from the awnings. We avoided the nut sellers (last time we were fleeced out of 10 euros), but the throng of people was a bit overwhelming, and Sophie wasn't even sure if the flea market had gone ahead, as it was out in the open. We decided to skip this, and we headed to Wein & Co instead for a glass of wine.

We took a table in the window again, and I ordered a Riesling while Sophie opted for a Chardonnay, both of which were Austrian, of course.

Outside, it was pouring, and it was almost hypnotic to watch the vehicles swishing past and people carrying umbrellas or wearing ponchos. The shop and wine bar were quiet, so it was lovely to sit and chat and watch the world go past.

We each had a second glass of wine - I chose a Sauvignon Blanc this time while Sophie sipped a second Chardonnay. The wine measures were 1/8 of a litre, so not huge. Once we'd paid the bill, we had a look in the wine shop, but it was a futile exercise as we couldn't take any home with us. We weren't sure if we'd be checking our suitcases into the hold, but there was a chance we wouldn't, so any liquids would be taken away from us. It was a bit mad, as at Heathrow we could take what we wanted in our hand luggage!

What a shame we couldn't take any home!

The weather was still horrible, so Sophie summoned up an Uber to take us to the Imperial Crypt. He arrived quickly, but as we neared the area where our hotel was situated, he said he couldn't take us as the roads were closed. It was very lucky he had parked right outside where we were staying! Sophie was furious and hellbent on getting the payment refunded, as he hadn't taken us to our destination and didn't even try to get us there!

We decided to abandon the plan to visit the Imperial Crypt as it was 15 euros each, and instead, we relaxed in the room. We had a late lunch booking at Figlmuller anyway, and Sophie was determined to get her shoes on the way there!

Enormous schnitzels!

We relaxed in the room for an hour before setting out for Figlmuller. Before we took the U-Bahn, we crossed the road and went to Humanic, a shoe shop where Sophie had spotted the Birkenstocks. She asked to try them on and decided they were perfect and would go with a lot of her outfits. They looked so sweet on her!

As well as the shoes, she bought a pair of liner socks, and we set off for the underground, taking the tube one stop to Stephansplatz. We had bought another 24-hour ticket, which would allow us to get the train to the airport tomorrow, rather than taking an Uber or taxi. It was a short walk here to the restaurant, and the area was busy with Saturday shoppers.

When we reached Figlmueller, we saw a queue of people waiting for a table! We were so glad we'd booked, and we were able to go straight in and to our table on a gallery overlooking the ground floor.

We ordered two glasses of Weisburgunder (Chardonnay) and had a good look at the menu. The restaurant is famous for its schnitzel, but I wanted to try something different so I chose the calves' liver, served with onion rings, browned potatoes and an apple slice. Of course, Sophie chose the schnitzel accompanied by a cucumber salad.

We also ordered a large bottle of sparkling water and sat back to soak up the ambience. I loved looking down on the people dining below and was also intrigued by a group of four men at a table opposite. They looked like two sets of sons and fathers.

Sophie was delighted with her schnitzel, but I think I made the wrong choice. The onion rings were lovely, but I just knew the potatoes had been reheated (they have a kind of taste when they've been cooked previously), and my liver was overcooked. Still, the wine was delicious, the atmosphere was great, and the waiters were friendly.

After the main course, I decided to have dessert, and it had to be the chocolate fondant, served with cream. This did not disappoint! Sophie skipped pud and ordered a glass of Schnapps.

It had been a lovely meal, and the service was what I would describe as relaxed, despite the queue of people still waiting outside to get a table! We paid the bill (110 euros) and made our way to another underground station to get the tube back to the hotel.

Unfortunately, my heel was now playing up, so I limped behind Sophie until we got on the train. Back in the room, we relaxed for a while and then showered, ready to go out for 7:30pm. We wanted to spend the evening at the Eurovision Village, next to the Rathaus and could get the underground again.

No bags!

I put on the support bandage I'd bought from Amazon and hoped it would help with my heel. I'd been taking co-codamol, which I think helped a little, but by now I was heartily fed up with the pain. Over the course of the three days so far, we'd walked over 20,000 steps (imagine if we hadn't used trains, trams and buses?) and I think my heel was starting to protest.

When we arrived on the platform, there were a lot of people destined for the Eurovision village. Many of them were carrying flags. We all boarded an empty train and went three stops to the Rathaus. Signs directed us to the village, and there was a lot of construction work going on here.

There was a long line of us heading for the village, and the surrounding roads had been closed. There were numerous police vans parked up, and in front of us, we could see the bright lights of the village and a long queue of people waiting to go in.

If I had read the instructions on the app properly, I would have known that bags were strictly forbidden in the Eurovision village for the final. We queued up, only to be barked at that no bags were allowed. An Englishman behind us told us that he'd been in for one of the semi-finals, and they'd been allowed then, so he was annoyed as well. We could see another tent with yet another queue, and Sophie went to investigate. She said that people were just leaving their bags on a bench in a tent and being given a ticket. 

This certainly didn't appeal to us, and the thought of getting the underground back to the hotel, leaving our bags there, and coming back didn't appeal either! We decided to give it a miss (I imagined it would be crowded and noisy anyway!) and stopped off at a wine bar before heading back to the hotel. 

The woman running the place said we couldn't pay with a card, so, again, we had to be careful of what we ordered with our dwindling euros! We both chose a Campari Spritz and settled back to watch people arriving in waves for the Eurovision Song Contest.

We both felt a little disappointed, but over the course of the last three days, we'd come to realise that we weren't diehard Eurovision fans like we thought we were! We had seen people proudly sporting wristbands and others wearing T-shirts and hoodies. 

As we sat and sipped our drinks, my foot really began to hurt, and I realised it was the support bandage. I took the bloody thing off, and the pain immediately lessened. So much for that, then! What a waste of money!

We finished our drinks, I paid the bill (15 euros), and we made our way back to the U-Bahn station, walking through a pleasant area of bars and restaurants. The Rathaus looked gorgeous all lit up and we'll definitely come back on a future visit.

The underground station was very quiet and only a handful of us boarded the train. There was a quiet atmosphere on the train, and I loved doing a spot of people-watching! Back at Karlsplatz, we emerged from the station and bought two small bottles of wine from the currywurst stand. The Spar was closed, and we never did manage to go in and buy what we needed!

We were able to catch the first song (Denmark), and we both settled down to watch it on the television in our room. No doubt, there were plenty of places in Vienna we could have watched it, but we were content to have a quiet night! While we were watching, Sophie downloaded a food delivery app, Foodora, and ordered some Japanese food - dumplings, crispy chicken and edamame beans.

We both went down to fetch it halfway through the evening and ate at the round table. We had everything we needed - cutlery, plates, bowls and glasses!

We watched until all the songs had been performed and then decided to go to bed. It was past 11:00pm by now, and we were shattered! The results could wait until tomorrow!