"Compact it!"

I had another busy shift, and we're starting to make inroads into the cancellation emails. We have definitely passed the peak now! It was lovely to leave at 4:00pm and look forward to a day off tomorrow!

Sophie had suggested we go and watch Sileby play tonight at the O.N. Chenecks ground, on the Billing Road, in Northampton. I don't think Keith was too keen, but he agreed, so we decided to have beef and salad rolls before the game rather than eat dinner at home.

When Sophie came home, she made the baps for us, and we left at 6:30pm, as parking is notoriously bad at the ground. It's the main home of Old Northamptonians Rugby Club, and the Boys' School is opposite, so we weren't surprised when we arrived to see only a few spaces. I just felt lucky to get one! The car park was chaos!

We sat and ate our rolls in the car and then went in search of the bar. Keith paid £21 for us to see the match, and we asked a grumpy man selling soft drinks and sweets where the bar was. It was up a set of iron steps, with views over the pitches, and was busy with what looked like a committee meeting in progress, and a gathering of pupils from the school across the road stuffing themselves with pizza while their parents looked on.

There was an unappetising aroma of sweaty jockstrap lingering in the clubroom and lots of beefy men wearing club ties. It was all very cliquey! Keith ordered a pint of lager, while Sophie and I had halves of Guinness, and we sat at one of the tables. I contented myself with people-watching while Keith and Sophie watched football on a large screen in front of us.

At 7:45pm, the match between ON Chenecks and Sileby kicked off, and we went down to the pitch. Both Keith and Sophie disappeared to the loo, while I attracted the attention of an old man who asked if I'd ever played football... er, no! He then proceeded to try to tell me his life story, but thankfully, I was rescued by my family, who bore me off to the stand! Phew!

Keith said he felt seriously cold, so Sophie and I sat on either side of him to try to warm him up. There was a nasty, bitterly cold wind blowing, and I looked at the players wearing tee-shirts and shorts and shuddered!

Unfortunately, the game wasn't very good, and Keith said that one of the best players was missing this evening. In front of us, one of the Sileby coaches constantly screamed at the players, shouting, "Compact it!" and "Bodies around!" throughout the first half! He also kept referring to one of the players as "Shag", which was a bit disconcerting! When he screamed, "Quality, Shag!" I wondered what on earth he was referring to!

A few of Keith's cronies were present, and they all agreed that the performance was dire. We decided to leave at half-time as Keith was clearly freezing, and the match was so bad, it wasn't worth staying! We thankfully returned to the car, cranked the heating up high and drove home!

We were lucky to catch a great show on BBC2 with Katya Adler in Europe. It was a real treat to see her in Berlin and visiting the Russian Memorial in Treptower Park!

Shock news!

Today was the last day this week that Keith was going to take me to work, as Cheltenham is on from tomorrow, and he will be glued to the television every afternoon!

Work was as busy as ever, and in the afternoon, we learnt that from next week, all the gym equipment and spin bikes will be moved out of the three centres we're losing. We'll only be offering racquet sports, basketball, swimming and classes that don't need equipment, so that was a bit of a shock! I have no idea what customers are going to say, but I don't think they will be pleased! The end of the contract is getting so near now, and it's going to be a turbulent couple of weeks.

We spent the evening relaxing and enjoying roast chicken, new potatoes and salad for dinner. Keith and I watched the second episode of series five of Shetland and enjoyed it slightly more than the first one, which was very confusing!

Sunday syndrome strikes again...

It's been yet another grey and miserable day - when are we going to get a run of beautiful Spring days? The house was awash with laundry this morning as we changed beds and put some throws in the machine. I also put a colour on my hair, and I was mightily glad when I had finished two hated chores!

We had Friday's leftover Chinese for lunch before Sophie and I drove to the carwash in Kingsthorpe to tackle filthy Olive. Yesterday, I had followed two old Land Rovers that had liberally splattered the front of the car with what looked like manure! Horrible! She was well overdue for a good wash, and I was determined to get her cleaned today!

There was a long queue, and it took us an hour to get through, but she was back to her lovely white self afterwards. Now we just need to take the VW in for a cleaning!

Once Olive was all shiny again, I drove to the care home to see Mum for a little while. She kept thinking that today was Mother's Day, but it's next weekend. The care home has a little event planned in the afternoon, so I'm hoping we can go to that.

Back home, we both felt a bit glum, so we decided that from now on, we'll try to do something cheerful on a Sunday afternoon! We played Scrabble with a David McCloskey cocktail, and I narrowly beat Sophie for once!

Dinner was easy chicken burgers, and then it was time for a new episode of Shetland! We had sneaked the last episode of the previous series in yesterday!

A tale of two towns

After a lazyish start to the day, Sophie and I headed over to Olney to have a coffee and a pastry. The weather was grey and miserable, with heavy cloud cover. We queued to get to the centre of Olney, and couldn't get parked as the small area in the middle of the town was already rammed with cars, even at 11:00am!

We had no choice but to backtrack and park by the rugby club, a short walk away. Our first port of call was JJ's café opposite the market square. Sophie ordered a matcha made with oat milk while I settled for a flat white. I wanted to try her drink first before committing! We also indulged in a small cake each, as we hadn't had any breakfast.

I loved Sophie's drink, so when I'd finished my coffee, she went back to the counter and ordered me a matcha as well. I'm a convert! The café was pleasantly busy, and outside, there was a non-stop procession of people walking past. Olney has become very popular!

After our drinks, we called into the Oxfam bookshop, a second bookshop, which had a very eclectic range, and one of our favourite charity shops, where Sophie spotted a brand new pair of Birkenstocks for just £15! What a bargain! She could hardly believe her luck as they normally retail for about £90!

Suitably jubilant, we returned to the car and made our way to Woburn for the second half of our day out. Again, we had terrible trouble finding a space, and after about four circuits, we were forced to wait for a couple who had returned from a walk and were changing their boots!

We did a short walk towards the grounds of Woburn Abbey, but as the day was so grey and miserable, we walked back to the main street and had a look in Zoohaus. We both spotted the most beautiful leather-lined bar that would look fabulous in the conservatory!

At £1955, as well as the two bar stools, it was a serious investment! Maybe one day!

Amazing homeware!

Before our lunchtime booking at The Black Horse, we crossed the road and had a drink in The Nook. Sophie ordered half a Guinness, while I opted for a half pint of Witchstone, a malty dark beer, which was delicious.

We took our drinks and sat in the quiet lounge, enjoying the peaceful ambience of this little bar. However, the peace and quiet were short-lived when a group of three people came in with a dog and started playing a noisy game on one of the counters. The dog then started barking... We finished our drinks and fled next door to the pub!

We were seated deep in the pub, away from the noisy bar area, and studied the menu. Sophie was tempted to have one of the specials, a ham and leek pie, so I chose the chicken Milanese served with French fries and a green salad. We chose starters of padron peppers and halloumi sticks served with a delicious dip.

The starters vanished quickly, and Sophie enjoyed a glass of Chardonnay. Being good, I stuck to sparkling water! My main course had a hint of a herb about it that I didn't like, and was also very garlicky, so I was a little disappointed, but Sophie's pie went down very well, and it was just what she wanted.

As a treat, I ordered the chocolate fondant on the menu, but it must have thrown the kitchen into a real tizzy as my dessert took ages to appear, with the waitress even coming out to apologise and say the first one they had cooked wasn't up to standard! When my chocolate cake did appear, it oozed beautifully and was worth the wait!

We paid the bill, ambled back to the car and drove into Woburn Abbey's parkland to see the deer. Numerous herds were grazing the extensive grounds, with cars slowing down to look at them. We decided to make a detour to Ampthill to have a look around, and the town was very pleasant with an array of interesting shops. We will be back!

Our journey home took us towards Bedford and then back along the A428. We drove through Castle Ashby, Whiston and Cogenhoe before turning onto the A43 and home. The weather hadn't improved at all and was still grey and misty. When are we going to see the sun?

Keith had been to see Sileby today and was home watching the rugby between England and Italy. We mooched about, and Keith decided to record the football match this evening between Newcastle and Manchester City. I was pleased as I didn't fancy watching football on a Saturday evening!

The end of an era...

My shift passed in another dizzying blur, but before I tackled the emails, I put on the last of our films up until the 31st of March. Our last ever film will be an animated children's film, Hoppers. It will be screened on the 31st, at 2pm, and that's it. The end of an era. I felt very sad, as I've enjoyed working on the cinema stuff and reporting the box office returns. Some of our members can't take it in that we will no longer have the cinema, and I find it hard to believe as well!

Keith and I were celebrating 38 (38!) years together today, and he wasn't going to the pub, so we ordered a  Chinese takeaway and cracked open a bottle of Champagne. Sophie lit all the candles, and the house looked lovely. Our usual restaurant was closed, so we ordered from Brixworth and were pleasantly surprised by how good the food was! Sophie and I chose the set meal for two and tried dishes we wouldn't normally choose. The food was delicious, with enough left for lunch on Sunday.

Sophie and I watched Sabrina, a remake of the original 1954 film, starring Julia Ormond and Harrison Ford, who was a much better choice than Humphrey Bogart in the older brother role! 

Yippee! It's Saturday tomorrow and a lie-in beckons!

A flying visit

I took myself to work this morning, and we faced another mountain of emails. I think we have passed the peak, though, and Bob has been turned off. Customers must now email us directly.

My shift passed very quickly, and I sped home to find Kym already attending to Keith's feet. When it was my turn, she told me about the problems she'd been having with her wedding venue, and how the woman running it had conned about thirty brides out of their money. It sounded terrible, and she was furious! She also kept me entertained with her story about her Hen Night in Newcastle, and not being told what she was doing over the weekend. When she finished, we made another appointment, so I'm dying to hear all about it!

Once Kym had gone, we dashed over to the care home to see Mum, who was sitting in the dining room having tea. I stayed for a quick chat and then returned home to do the usual chores before Sophie arrived.

Dinner tonight was a delicious beef pie with loads of vegetables and a return to Shetland. We have one episode of series 5 to watch, and the tension is building!

Having a clear out!

I had a lovely lie-in this morning, and it was great not to have to rush about as I normally do. Keith had an appointment with the GP, and then he went to shop for tomorrow's dinner as he won't be able to go on Thursday. We have Kym coming at 2.30pm to see to our feet, and she always arrives early!

I pootled about and made an appointment for the tip, for 11:30am. When Keith arrived home, he backed the car up the drive, and together, we heaved the huge bag of garden rubbish into the boot. I made sure I wore gloves and a long-sleeved top! My arms are almost back to normal now, and I don't want the rash coming back!

Just before our allotted time, we drove to Brixworth and got rid of our rubbish, which included our BBQ as well. Back home, I made another appointment for 1:30pm, as we still had a large box of greenery, some electrical items, and batteries. I was glad that none of the stuff we took today went into the landfill skip!

I swept the garage and tidied up a bit, but there's still stuff that needs to be cleared out. We'll wait for slightly warmer weather!

The rest of the afternoon was spent pottering about doing jobs, and I had a soak in the bath. When I undressed, I found bits of leaves and twigs down the front of my top!

Keith had made a delicious curry for dinner, and then he retired to the living room to watch Newcastle play football. No Shetland tonight, then!