A busy Wednesday!

Sophie's back tyres on Olive were being replaced today, so I took her to work in the VW. I suggested on the way that we call into our new gym, so she could see it for herself. I was supposed to have gone during one of my shifts, but that hasn't happened, and I doubt it would before I finished work on Friday!

We drove to the gym and went in, despite there being lots of builders on site. The lovely Shannon was in the gym, so it was great to chat to her, and she showed us around. Sophie was also introduced to Stuart and Martin, two of our senior managers, who were also in the building. I was then delighted to see Georgie come in, and he gave Sophie a lovely hug. Sophie and I were both impressed with the new gym, and it will look great when it's all finished. I dropped Sophie off at work and returned home to get on with my long list of jobs! 

After my busy morning, I went back down to Sophie's office, and we drove to Next on Riverside for lunch at Costa. It was great to sit and chat and do some shopping afterwards, as I badly needed some new perfume. I picked out a beautifully clean scent that will go to France with me.

After dropping Sophie off, I returned home and saw a huge black cloud in the distance. I knew that within a short space of time, we'd have torrential rain, and I was proved right! It absolutely hammered down, and then I heard a clap of thunder! I called for the cats, but there was no sign of Mooney. He has been disappearing for long periods of time, and we had trouble getting him in last night. I swear that sometimes he hides in the bushes and watches us call and call him!

I had an hour to spare to catch up with more jobs, and at 3:00pm, I set off in more heavy rain for Moulton to see Gabriel again at The Back and Body Clinic. We chatted about travel, and he applied more shockwave therapy and gave me a different exercise to do. I told him I intend to swim and do some yoga with Sophie in France, and although we will do some walking, it won't be on a par with Berlin!

Back home, I just had time to remind Keith of how to stop and start Olive (he'll be driving her when we're away) and then go and collect Sophie from work! The traffic was as heavy as ever, and it was great to get home and relax for a while before Sophie began cooking paella for dinner. We opened a red from Emporda (a region near Girona) to go with the meal, and it was delicious. Typical! We'll never be able to buy another in the UK!

Keith and I watched two episodes of World War II with Tom Hanks this evening. I made the decision not to go to work tomorrow as Nicola only wanted me in from 10:00am until 2:00pm, and it just wasn't worth the hassle of Keith making four journeys when he has enough to do!

An interesting meeting...

I was glad I wasn't on the phone today, as it gave me a chance to (finally!) sort out the playscheme prices. I had to call Anna at our software company in the end, and I was pleased it wasn't me, but a glitch in the system. I was relieved it was all fixed, because I would have faced a barrage of questions on my return!

Nicola had problems logging onto her computer this morning, and acted like a spoilt toddler. She was rampaging around the office complaining, and in the end, she forced Sara to swap desks. This meant she was now directly behind me!

The rest of the shift passed uneventfully, and at 4:00pm, I drove to my old workplace to meet Sheila and our former Area Manager for a chat. It was great to see them again, and I also had a hug with two other staff members I'd worked with closely. I didn't have a chance to have a good look around, but it was lovely to be back and park easily!

Sophie was already home when I arrived, and we sat at the kitchen island and all had a good chat about our days. Dinner was a simple affair this evening - chicken "cordon bleu" with new potatoes and asparagus.

Keith and I couldn't resist watching another episode of Panda tonight, and it was as brilliant as ever. I will really miss this series when it ends!

Feeling annoyed...

I had suspected that today it was just me (and sometimes Sara) answering the phones, and this was confirmed when I got into the office. I was annoyed about this as I needed to get a few things done before Friday, namely the Moan Report and the playscheme places, which I struggled with for the first couple of hours, as the prices were wrong.

Luckily, the phones weren't too busy, and in the end, I had to contact someone at our software company to help with the holiday club prices. Nicola spent most of the day moaning about the smell in the corridor outside our office, and then amused herself by emptying the bins because she thought they were smelling too!

We had Tilly in first thing, and she bounded about like a young dog, bless her! She loves coming into our office and having a snooze while her owner swims.

It was bliss to go home with Keith and know that Monday was over! At home, I pootled about doing the usual jobs and Sophie and I had the paté and toast for dinner that we were supposed to have had on Saturday. We then watched an episode of a new war documentary presented by Tom Hanks. I learnt some surprising things about the war that I hadn't known before!

An afternoon of sport

We've had a busy morning, preparing tonight's Bolognese sauce for dinner, cleaning the house and packing for France next week. We also made a list of things we needed Keith to get when he goes shopping tomorrow. Sophie and I had last night's leftovers for lunch, and at 2pm we settled down to watch the start of the Grand Prix in Monaco and the tennis in Paris. I hadn't a clue who the two tennis players were, but Sophie wanted the Italian Cobolli to beat the German Zverev. 

At first, I thought Cobolli would be thrashed, but it turned out to be a five-set match, with Zverev the eventual victor, much to Sophie's disappointment. It was a longer match than we'd anticipated, and we all wished that Sinner and maybe Djokovic had been in the final. What a treat that would have been!

I put the finishing touches to the Bolognese sauce and cooked the pasta while Sophie made garlic bread. It was delicious, and Sophie was able to put two portions aside for her lunches over the next couple of days.

After dinner, we indulged in another episode of Panda. We're trying not to watch them too much as there are only a few episodes left!

An unexpected visit

We awoke to grey skies and rain this morning, and the whole of next week is supposed to be cooler and wetter. Did we have our summer in May?

Sophie set off for Towcester in heavy rain to complete a 5k run with her work buddy, Becky. I pootled about and did the usual chores, such as loading the washing machine, unloading the dishwasher and tidying up. There's always something to be done! I did manage to catch the news, though, and saw footage of the 82nd commemorations in Normandy for the D-Day Landings. It was very emotional.

Sophie did her run in thirty seconds less than last time, so she was very happy! I was writing the blog when she arrived, and as I wrote about buying gifts for Mike and Keith in Berlin, our son messaged me! Spooky! He said he was going to pop in and see us this afternoon as he was going to a party in Northampton.

Sophie asked me to drive her to a beauty appointment at 2:00pm, and I was more than happy to help. She was in and out before her appointment time! We returned home and indulged in a slice of cake that Sophie had bought in Towcester with a cup of tea.

Mike arrived at about 4:00pm and laughed when I gave him the lighter I'd bought for him. Children can be so ungrateful, the little monkey! We had a very pleasant afternoon with him, and Sophie suggested a game of cards, which he readily agreed to!

A lovely, smiley Mike!

Outside, it was still pouring with rain, and it's been a total washout today. I felt sorry for anyone getting married, organising a barbecue or just trying to enjoy a day out.

Mike left at about 7:00pm, and Sophie and I ordered a Chinese takeaway. We were supposed to have been eating paté with toast and salad, but we both fancied something a little more tasty. Keith refused to have anything with us, so we halved the bill. Amazingly, we were able to order it online and pay by card!

After dinner, we watched a Netflix documentary about Rafael Nadal, which was very interesting. We are planning on watching the French Open final tomorrow, although I have no idea who the two players are!

MasterChef - the results!

Thankfully, today was better, and I was glad that Sara had taken the day off, so I had the office to myself until Kathy and Nicola came in. The shift passed very pleasantly, and I managed to clear all the emails in between answering the phone. 

Back at home, it was great to relax and look forward to the weekend. Keith wasn't off to the pub, as John is still in France, but he stayed in the kitchen while Sophie and I watched MasterChef, the penultimate programme, before we had dinner. The final was due to be shown at 8:00pm, and we couldn't access it on iPlayer.

We were also a little bored by the first half when they cooked for seven chefs, so we skipped until the second half when they were cooking for the final. We had both written down our predictions:

Sophie - Jhané or Kristen

Jane - Matt or Antos

Unfortunately, Antos made an Upside Down Pineapple cake, which let him down slightly, so he was out. We had a delicious dinner of chilli con carne, and then settled down for the final.

It was great to see the contestants cook so well and produce fabulous dishes. I was rooting for Matt, of course, but we both knew that Jhané was going to win... and she did! Well done to her!

MasterChef: The Results

• Cookery - far less than last year: 11
• A crumb: 15
• A tuile: 9
• Miso: 7
• A gel: 10
• Influenced by close family: 17
• Pomme pureé: 2
• Contestants crying: 21 (and also judges crying, Anna!)
• Home-made pasta: 12
• A foam: 3
• A bonbon: 4
• Showing off about travel (Frankie especially!): 10
• A chocolate fondant: Nooooooooooo! Only 1!
• Gochujang: 2 (we thought this was going to be big this year)
• A shard: 3
• "Too much on the plate": 3
• Deconstructed: 4
• Any kind of other fondant, i.e. potato: 8
• A crisp: 1
• Velouté: 4
• A soufflé: 2
• Cooked "three ways": 2
• A soil: 1
• Ras el Hanout: 3
• A soy-cured egg: 2
• False caviar or pearls: 2
• Underdone meat: 3
• A dust: 3
• An emulsion: 1

We loved Anna and Grace and thought they were worthy successors to Greg and John, but we must mention Anna's "orf it", said 16 times, and also a new one on us, "flavour profile", said 6 times. We do sometimes wonder if a repeated word, i.e. cookery, is said so the crew have a shot of something strong! We also noticed "very delicious" and "nicely cooked" were used a lot!

The funniest thing was a segmented orange, or a slice to most people.

We loved Anna's headbands and Grace always being so elegant and channelling Fanny Craddock. Roll on next year!

A somewhat challenging day!

Today has been a little challenging and not at all enjoyable! I went into work at 8:00am, but Sara had been expecting me at 10:00am. However, Nicola had said to me that it was fine for me to do my normal hours, which I was pleased about, otherwise I would have lost my Thursday afternoon off, traditionally when I go to see Mum.

She didn't seem at all happy that I was in at 8:00am, although I'm not sure how it made any difference? The phones are hardly busy at the moment, and she muttered something about having to answer the phone during the week when Jo and Kathy had been training and when they had visited our new gym. She barely managed to ask about Berlin, and then never said another word to me. It was very awkward.

I saw our MD, who had returned from his holidays, and asked about his trip to Vietnam, but he didn't seem to want to talk about it, so I wondered why on earth I'd bothered! 

I worked with Macy today, and when Nicola came in, she could sense there was something wrong with Sara, so they both went off for a chat. As I predicted, the phones weren't busy at all, so I was able to catch up with the emails, and also have a meeting with a woman from our software company who helped me with the playscheme places. By 2pm, the whole of the summer holidays were on the system, waiting to go live on Monday!

Just before I left, one of our finance women came into the office to see Nicola and said, in a scathing tone, that she'd been sent an invoice from customer service which related to one of the sites we no longer run. It had been me who'd sent it, and the work was from January, when we definitely did run the site! I was furious as they made me look like an idiot, and I turned around and told her the work was completed in January. She then made a remark about still receiving cinema invoices, and I said to Nicola that I wasn't in the habit of sending our finance department random invoices! I checked them first!

It was a good job it was 2:00pm as I was seething and would probably have been rude if I'd stayed. I met Keith and ranted at him all the way home, poor thing! It had not been a good shift!

Thankfully, Mum seemed bright and cheerful when I saw her, and I stayed for a good while, and we had a chat. We watched a little of a programme about the border force in Australia, and I was astounded at the things some people tried to bring into the country!

We've had more sunshine and showers today, and it's been more like April than June! When Sophie arrived home, we sat in the kitchen and chatted, and I told her about my day. I was just hoping that tomorrow would be better, and very glad indeed that it was Friday!