A manic Tuesday!

I started work at 7:30am this morning because I needed to leave early for my nurse appointment. As I predicted, we had over 150 emails to deal with, and although I did my best, there were still over 80 left to do when I finished at 3:30pm.

I followed the SatNav advice and arrived at the surgery just after 4:00pm. No sunshine to accompany me home tonight; it was grey and rainy! The nurse called me in, and I explained that I'd seen my GP in October, but that over the last couple of days, the cyst had become red and sore. I'd tried hot and cold compresses, but nothing had worked. She examined it and said she was going to prescribe me a course of penicillin, and she also took my temperature, which was fine.

As soon as I arrived home, I took a tablet, with another one planned for just before bed. I really want to get rid of this cyst as it's painful and horrible! When Sophie arrived home, she'd had a stressful day, so we had a drink while watching Rick Stein in the Languedoc-Roussillon area of France. How I wish we were there with him!

A little Spanish celebration

I duly called into a Tesco store on my way to work and bought myself an egg and cress sandwich. There is no sign of our "restroom" being finished, so we are still eating at our desks.

Before I started, I had to call our GP surgery to arrange an appointment with a nurse. I was hoping to go on Wednesday when Keith and I have appointments for blood tests, but I was able to get one for tomorrow after work. The little cyst I saw the doctor about last October has become painful and red, and I'm worried it's infected. Just what I need!

We had many, many emails to deal with today, and we had Tilly, the assistance dog, with us for an hour. She was perfectly behaved, bless her, and Nicola made a huge fuss of her. Our MD wasn't aware, and Nicola dreaded him coming in when she was lying on her mat!

To add to my woes, I was on the phone until 1pm today, and the booking system went down, so I had to keep telling customers I'd call them back when it was up and running again. In the end, I used Sheila's computer while an IT man tried to get it fixed!  

Just after lunch, we had a fire alarm, and we all had to go outside. At least it was dry! This is the second one we've had in four days, and it's very inconvenient, especially when we have so much to do! I tried my best, but I couldn't clear the emails, so there's more to do tomorrow. Oh joy!

Keith and I drove home, and the weather was lovely, with blue skies and sunshine. What a difference it made to my mood and really made me think that Spring was just around the corner!

Another boost to our mood was our Puerto Rican night, in honour of Bad Bunny, who appeared in the half-time show at the Super Bowl. Keith had recorded the game last night, so we could watch the performance. We started the evening with gorgeous Margaritas and nibbled on olives. Sophie then prepared Spanish tortilla, cheeses wrapped in ham, a selection of Spanish hams, crusty bread and aioli, as well as stuffed peppers. The food was lovely, and the cocktails went down very well!

After we'd eaten, we watched Bad Bunny's fabulous performance, and Lady Gaga joined him with a fantastic version of Die With a Smile. The whole show was brilliant!

An interesting discovery...

We have spent another day pootling about, doing housework and laundry. The weather has been a little drier today, but more rain is in the forecast. There seems to be no end in sight!

After our lunch of Chinese takeaway leftovers, Sophie and I drove to Mawsley, where she sent off a parcel of books that she'd sold, and then we drove to the care home to see Mum. We stayed for a while, and I showed her the photos I'd found yesterday of the snow 17 years ago. She didn't seem to remember the day at all, and all the hard work clearing the snow. We were so reliant on the weather for business, and having snow really did it for us, as people didn't venture out at all!

Back home, I was tidying up some old files on the computer when I came across 132 pages of a novel I'd written back in about 2002-2003. It kept me hooked, so maybe I'll have to do something with it, and also bring it up to date, as there were some references in the novel that definitely belonged to the early noughties!

We had Sophie's vegetable and chicken soup, but I don't think any of us really appreciated it and all the hard work she'd put into making it... She took what was left over for her lunch tomorrow, and I resigned myself to calling into Tesco again to buy a sandwich!

After eating, we treated ourselves to an hour of Caribbean sunshine and watched Death in Paradise. Oh, how we all long for blue skies and sunshine!

Looking back...

We awoke to... yes, you guessed! Another wet and miserable day! However, I had a notification from Google Photos about this day, 17 years ago:

Mum shovelling snow

Mikey aged 9

Dad trying to clear it all away!

Back in February 2009, it had snowed over the last few days, and we were forced to go into work on Saturday morning to try and clear the snow away so customers could park! The main car park was unusable, but we had to try and do something as we had birthday parties booked! Imagine if all the rain we'd had lately had fallen as snow! It doesn't bear thinking about!

Sophie and icicle!

Back to the present day, we didn't have any plans for this weekend, so it was great to stay inside and keep warm. Sophie was determined to finish two books she was reading, and I pootled about doing some jobs. Outside was grey and overcast, and I looked at some of the flood warnings in place. I think England has over 300!

I had a very long soak in the bath in the afternoon and then lolled about on the bed reading. What a lovely way to spend a grey and dismal Saturday afternoon! When Sophie and I reconvened in the kitchen at about 5:30pm, we agreed we didn't fancy the soup that my daughter had spent most of the morning making, and fancied a Chinese takeaway instead!

Keith was in agreement, so we ordered our dishes, and Sophie and I played Scrabble. She made David McCloskey's cocktail - No3 London Gin, dry Vermouth and a twist of orange peel. It was delicious! I  beat Sophie tonight, and we played some interesting words!

Our meal tonight was particularly good, and there was enough left for lunch tomorrow. We elected to watch Casino Royale this evening, and Sophie and I indulged in a Vesper when James Bond enjoyed his!

Rain, rain rain...

Keith took me to work this morning, and I stopped off at a small Tesco on the way to buy myself lunch. We had nothing in the house as Keith didn't go shopping yesterday!

I had a busy shift, trying to deal with as many emails as I could, but as fast as I was answering them, more were coming in. Members were understandably worried about their memberships and losing three of the centres. Some of the people have been with us for decades, and I remember using Lings when I was a teenager! We dealt with them as best as we could, as we still haven't got any details about what's going to happen with the transfer to Everyone Active at the end of March.

It was a huge relief to finish at 4:00pm and join Keith in the car. I used the satnav to get us home again, and we were pulling onto the drive at 4:30pm, which was brilliant! Needless to say, we'd had rain and grey skies all day. I think this photo sums up the last few weeks:

The lovely Friday when Sophie and I drove the Normandy coast road and enjoyed a walk on the sunny beach seems an age ago!

Keith didn't go to the pub this evening, and Sophie and I opened a bottle of Porta 6 and watched the original Rebecca, starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. We enjoyed pizza, quiche and salad for dinner and then watched Alan and Amanda in Corfu. The glorious blue skies and sunshine were almost too much to bear!

Winter washout

It was pouring this morning when I drove to work, and I heard on the news that some parts of the country have had continuous rain since the start of 2026. I think we are all heartily fed up with the rain, the dark, and the chill. I long to see some sun, and I bet I'm not the only one! I wouldn't mind if it were cold and frosty with blue skies!

Letters went out to our members today about what's happening with their memberships at the end of March, so we had a flurry of calls and emails. Unfortunately, many members are cancelling because they only use the sites that will be taken over by Everyone Active, so I expect to see quite a few more cancellations in the coming weeks.

I left at 2:00pm, drove home to see Keith briefly, and then went to Kettering to see my Mum. She seemed a little brighter today and had had her hair done. We sat and chatted for over an hour, and then I sloshed my way home in the gloom, as it had now turned misty as well!

At least this evening we didn't have to think about dinner as we were meeting Michael in town to have dinner at The Lamplighter. Need I say it was chucking it down when we drove into Northampton? We ran into the pub, dodging puddles and arrived wet and dishevelled!

We took our drinks up to a table and texted Mike to say we had arrived. He came through the door a few minutes later and bought himself a pint before joining us. It was great to catch up, as we hadn't seen him since my Dad's funeral in early December. 

We ordered our meals: beefy nachos to share as a starter, followed by fish and chips (Keith and me) and burgers for Soph and Mike. We sat and chatted, but the loud background music and awful choice of playlist made it uncomfortable. Keith couldn't hear anything we were saying, as directly below him (we were seated on a little raised stage) was a noisy group of people that made it difficult to hear.

Keith and I enjoyed our fish and chips, but although the batter was deliciously crispy, the fish inside was very thin. At least, Sophie and Mike scoffed their loaded burgers and pronounced them fab! It was a good night, but I don't think we will be back soon, which is a shame as it's always been a favourite of ours. The music was just too raucous for me!

We bade farewell to Michael and sloshed our way back home. The roads were covered in water, and large puddles lined the side of the A43. When we arrived home, the cats ran in as they'd been out while we were in Northampton. I think they were very glad to see us!

A tale of two firsts...

I wanted to go and get our passport photographs done today, so Keith and I decided to go to the Weston Favell Centre, post a parcel back at the Post Office and get them done in one of the special booths.

We had a frustrating journey as we discovered the road up to the A43 was closed. A driver warned me, so we turned around and went via Moulton. I followed the driver who had flashed me, and he drove like a snail the whole way! At the moment, we are suffering from potholes on all of our roads, and it's the worst I've ever experienced. Whether he was driving so slowly because of the condition of the road, I don't know, but it was very frustrating! I then managed to get behind another slow and timid driver just before we got to the shopping mall... arrgghhh!

We went to the Post Office first, and then I treated myself to a coffee and a BLT sandwich in Costa. Keith didn't want anything, even a cup of tea! We used the escalator to get to the ground floor, and I was astonished to see a new climbing facility where Wilko's used to be! The place was called Pinnacle Climbing and they had a separate area for children called Clip 'n' Climb. It was very colourful with two levels that I didn't know existed! The place was empty, but it's probably hectic at the weekends.

 We found the passport photo booth, and I took my photo, but I couldn't pay. Inserting my card didn't work, and using contactless wouldn't work either! It was £10 for just one photo, so I decided we'd do it at home instead!

We drove to HomeSense next, and I was on the lookout for a little table for Sophie's chair where she can put a lamp and her drink when she sits and reads. HomeSense had loads of tables, but none of them were suitable or were way too expensive! I did buy a new jar for storing our dishwasher tablets, a new holder for the kitchen towel and a pretty box to store all my Dad's paperwork.

Next door was The Range, a store I'd never been in before. We spotted a white table with an alcove for books and a drawer, but there was no price on it. In fact, hardly any of the items seemed to have prices displayed, so in the end I had to ask a staff member to help. It was £40 and was ideal for what we wanted, so I asked the man helping if he could take it down to the tills for me. I also treated myself to a new lunch bag as my previous one had been put in the tumble dryer and had shrunk!

Our last stop was to Starbucks to buy Sophie and her friend, Becky, an iced matcha latte each. We delivered the drinks to their office and headed home. However, on the way, I said to Keith I'd love a cold beer, so we went to The Royal Oak, and we had a drink. For the first time ever, I ordered a pint of Guinness! The sandwich I'd had earlier had made me thirsty, so the beer was delicious! We spent a very pleasant half hour enjoying our drinks and chatting in a deserted pub. 

Back at home, we pootled about, caught up with the usual Wednesday jobs, and I arranged Sophie's "nook". When she arrived home, she was overjoyed!