Phew! It's Friday!

So, another week has whizzed by, and time is flying because we're so busy! We're now coming into the last two weeks of our contract, and I can see things getting more difficult before we finally exit the three sites. Customers have started hearing about the removal of the gym equipment, which is not going down well! What else are we expected to do, though? It's like moving house; you don't leave everything until the last minute!

In the afternoon, I was asked to send out 1,960 emails to the parents of our junior members. I had to be very, very careful to make sure I bcc'd the email addresses because of GDPR rules! I sent the emails with an attachment (another worry) to forty addresses at a time, and soon enough, we started receiving calls and emails! I was glad we only had another couple of hours to go until 4:00pm!

It was bliss to go home and look forward to the weekend. Keith went to the pub this evening, Sophie and I opened a bottle of Chilean Pinot Gris, and we watched a Danish documentary about a woman who went missing in a small town.

Our dinner tonight was not a success as we had baked potatoes which went very mushy when I cooked them... Sophie and I left ours, and it's put us off having them again. I am known in our household for liking my baked potatoes firm (and my mashed spuds with lumps, weirdly enough), but these were horrible!

The evening was saved by watching an entertaining show hosted by Alexander Armstrong as he travelled around India. An enjoyable end to Friday the 13th!

Good communications!

I have started arriving at work early and eating my porridge in the car while reading. I can also listen to the Easiest Quiz on the Radio again on Scott Mills's show! It gives me twenty minutes of peace before I go into the office and face the deluge of emails!

I was tasked with replying to a particularly irritating customer's email by our MD, which pleased me! This customer had been posting negative comments about us on Facebook, so I was careful in the way I replied to him! Let's see how he responds!

At 2:00pm, I sped home, typed a letter to be signed by Mum, so I could liaise with my Dad's pension company on her behalf, and drove to Kettering to see her. She was having her feet seen to when I arrived and was in a good mood. I chatted with the podiatrist, and when she had gone, I had a very pleasant visit with Mum. What a difference it makes! We looked at photographs and some of them were very poignant, especially one of my Dad, both Grandmothers, and my Aunt and Uncle, all of whom have now passed away. I loved a photo of my two Grandmothers in a pool, laughing in the sunshine. It's moments like that which are so precious.

Back home, I pootled about and did the usual evening chores. There is always so much to be done! After a simple dinner of fishcakes, Keith and I watched another episode of Shetland. We are nearing the end of series six now, and things are hotting up!

A lunchtime treat

I saw Sophie off to work this morning and then sent Keith off to Tesco to do the shopping for the rest of the week. He's enjoying Cheltenham, but he hasn't had any big wins, sadly!

I pottered about while Keith was away, and at lunchtime, drove to meet Sophie to go for a matcha at Costa Coffee on Riverside. It was a gorgeous Spring day with sunshine and blue skies, but it was still breezy with a chill in the air.

We went to the Costa within Next and found the place packed. I grabbed the last small table and asked Sophie to get our drinks and sandwiches for lunch. She came back with two matchas, and my first sip was delicious, but as I worked my way down the drink, it tasted a little bit green! It is green tea after all!

After we'd eaten, we had a wander around the shop, and I was surprised to see so many tacky things for sale. I only really shop in Next for perfume, but there seemed to be some sort of obsession for gaudy peacocks and Highland cattle! Weird! There were some seriously ugly things on the shelves!

I took Sophie back to work and went to get the VW washed at a garage in Kingsthorpe. I had to wait again, but it was worth it when the car was all shiny and clean! Before heading home, I popped into the Aldi in Moulton to get the minced beef that Keith had forgotten in Tesco this morning!

I spent the rest of the day pottering about and cleaned the downstairs of the house before Sophie arrived home from work. Keith and I did the preparations for tonight's dinner, a savoury mince crumble, which was delicious!

"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!