Barry the badger!

Our next-door neighbours have been acting a little strangely recently: leaving their food bin out even though it was at risk of being turned over by a marauding badger who has been visiting our garden. Last night, they wedged open their garden gate and left a bowl of fruit on top of the food bin. Whether they were testing our theory that it was the badger doing it, or maybe the local cats, I don't know.

Anyway, this morning, Vince sent me video footage of the badger from midnight last night:

Let's hope they now shut their bin away so it doesn't get turned over and a mess left everywhere!

My day at work passed quickly, so that's another Monday dealt with! It's not my favourite day of the week, but next Monday is a Bank Holiday, and I'm off! Hooray for that!

Another day, another pub!

Our Sunday morning has been taken up with housework, but there was no dinner to prepare as we had a table booked at the pub! 

Sophie treated me to a real pamper this morning as well, cutting my hair and painting my toenails, bless her. She is very good to me, and I ordered a bottle of Tanqueray No. Ten Gin from Amazon as a thank you (Last night, I had finished the bottle we bought on the ferry, so it had lasted well!). Next Saturday, we're looking forward to seeing music from the Bond films at The Proms on BBC2, and I know Sophie will want to make Vespers while we watch!

We drove to the pub for our 2:00pm booking and took our seats. As we were perusing the menu, a couple came in with a small dog who was panting loudly, and asked me to move as they couldn't get past... Quite where they expected me to go, I have no idea!

The couple sat down, and I received a whiff of smelly dog and could hear the mutt constantly panting. Not really what I wanted while eating my Sunday lunch! Keith asked one of the staff if we could move, so we sat at a better table by the window and out of earshot of the panting dog!

The rest of our lunch passed very pleasantly. Keith and I ordered roast beef, while Sophie chose the chicken. We enjoyed halloumi fries and calamari to start and extra portions of pigs in blankets and cauliflower cheese. The meal was delicious and our beef moist and tender, and it went well with the bottle of Spanish Garnacha I'd ordered.

Sophie and I found room for puds: we each chose the peach and raspberry crumble served with custard. We're both looking forward to cooler days and more hearty meals! Keith paid the bill, and we returned home to do very little, although Sophie screamed at the television a couple of times when Newcastle scored and when Liverpool equalised!

Sophie and her after-lunch cocktail!

A tale of two pubs

Sophie was taking part in a 5K run in Rugby today and left at the very early hour of 7:30am. No lie-in for her today! I was awake at 6:30am and waved her off before having another coffee! 

My morning was spent doing some necessary but boring tasks, mainly related to money. I also looked at new flooring for our kitchen and living room and printed off the invoice for when we had our kitchen renovated in 2021. I am extremely disappointed with the floor we have and have noticed that it's Luxury Vinyl Tile, which is supposed to last 15-20 years. The area around our bar stools is scratched, and we have two cuts in the floor where we dropped cast iron lids onto it. I suppose this didn't help! The stone tile we had when we bought our house seemed to fare much better, and I'm determined to get it right with our next floor!

Sophie and I went to see Mum in the afternoon, and it wasn't the best of visits. She was having a "low" day and cried a bit when we were there, despite one of the lovely carers coming in and bringing her drinks and sweet treats. I do understand how she feels, and I hate it when she says she misses her home and all the lovely things she used to have.

After we visited, we decided to drive to Braybrooke and visit The White Swan, which has just been taken over by new management. We took our drinks through to the garden where several other people were already enjoying the afternoon sunshine. Sophie tried a half pint of  Everards Tiger Copper Ale, and didn't think much of it! I stuck with my Guinness Zero after insisting on having a half pint glass! 

We sat in the garden, chatted and munched on prawn cocktail crisps. Sophie had eaten a big breakfast and felt a little queasy again. She thinks that a meal after a run (they'd completed 9K in the end!) wasn't a good idea!

From Braybrooke, we drove through rural countryside to Arthingworth and The Bull Inn, a pub I'd been visiting for decades, but only every now and again. The man serving was very chatty and told us all about his side hustle of being ground crew for Virgin Hot Air Balloons. 

We sat all alone in the garden again and enjoyed the peace and quiet. It was bliss! A little boy kept coming near us every so often, and I could tell he wanted to speak to us, but was very shy, bless him!

Reluctantly, we finished our drinks and drove home, where Keith was watching football. The new season has definitely started, and my husband and daughter are looking forward to seeing Newcastle play Liverpool live tomorrow afternoon. 

Dinner tonight was chicken wraps with assorted salads, and our film choice for the evening was Insomnia, starring Al Pacino, Hilary Swank and Robin Williams, playing an uncharacteristically evil role!

Friday rolls around again!

The last day of the working week has come around so quickly again! It seems that as soon as Monday is over, it's a downhill swoop to Friday!

I had a good day at work, and Sheila left early at 3:00pm as she had been staying later and going in early. I do hope that's not a sign of things to come for me! I was kept busy for the last hour, and it was great to be in the office on my own.

Keith went to the pub this evening, and Sophie and I opened a bottle of Chardonnay, which was delicious. We watched the last two episodes of the Charles Manson documentary on Netflix, and I have to admit to being horrified by the crimes committed. I hadn't really realised how brutal they were until now, and how senseless. To have innocent people murdered was horrific, but it was the killing of eight-and-a-half-month-pregnant Sharon Tate that really disturbed me, and I was glad that the perpetrators either died in prison or were refused parole for so long.

We had a lovely supper of chicken Kievs, asparagus, broccoli and new potatoes and turned on BBC2 after eating to watch a Proms night celebrating Miles Davis. We listened to it for a little while before turning over to BBC4 and watching Top of the Pops from 1982. As usual, I Googled the bands and was amazed to see them as they are now! For me, 1982 was a couple of years ago, so the transformation from young women and men to pensioners was unbelievable!

Missing Mooney!

I had another productive day at work, and things are beginning to fall into place now! Sheila and I enjoyed a bacon roll for our breakfast, and the day passed quickly and pleasantly.

Sophie was working from home this morning and said that Mooney had been naughty; jumping on her chair when she vacated it and acting like Monty used to when she worked from home during covid. It was great to get home and find her already there, and I toasted some crumpets to have as an afternoon snack.

After seeing Mooney in the morning, she never saw him again during the day, but, unusually, Gomez had been asleep on her bed for most of the afternoon. We had dinner, and there was still no sign of Mooney, and he didn't appear during the evening as he usually does. Gomez was still in the house, which was a bonus, but we were both a little worried about Moonbums, as he is never far away and loves to come in for a cat yoghurt or his dinner.

By 10:00pm, we were both worried, and Sophie and I were both calling him. There was no sign of him at all. By 10:30pm, I said I was going to go to sleep, but I couldn't settle until I knew he was in. In the end, at well past 11:00pm, Sophie and I decided to drive around the estate and call for him. We drove to the field entrance just past our estate, and Sophie called him. We then drove around the estate slowly, but there was still no sign of him. 

To our utter relief, just as we were about to give up and go back into the house, he came running towards us with a little shrew in his mouth. He had obviously been hunting and had ignored all of our calls! We scooped him up and scolded him while hugging him! We were both so relieved!

A late start!

I woke up at 6:00am this morning with a horrible headache. I waved Sophie off to the gym, then went back to bed and didn't wake up again until 9:30am! I couldn't believe it! I had slept through my alarm, two texts from Sophie and a phone call!

I pootled about in the morning, and at midday, Keith and I got ready to go down to Riverside for an appointment at Wickes. We had arranged to see a bathroom designer at 2:00pm and went up to the mezzanine floor where the open office was situated. There was nobody there, but when we leaned over the balcony a few minutes later, a man on the ground floor said he would be with us shortly. I took an immediate dislike to him and wanted to walk out there and then!

Eventually, he was ready for us, but I was disinclined to speak to him! He seemed very false and kept getting my name wrong! When Keith produced the measurements he'd drawn up, the man asked for dimensions that Keith hadn't included! In the end, he said he would come out to the house on Friday, and then have a follow-up meeting with us next Thursday when I finished work. As it was all free, I decided to go along with it, but I wasn't that happy with his attitude, to be honest!

From Riverside, we drove straight to see my Mum as I had some colouring pens that she wanted. Keith stayed in the car while I sat with her for a while. She made absolutely no sense at all today, and I wondered again whether she had a urine infection.

Back home, I did the usual chores but didn't have to prepare any porridge as I'm now part of the Thursday morning Greggs breakfast club!

A fruitful day

We have had a little rain, but certainly not enough to make a difference to our parched lawns. I drove myself to work this morning and was warned by Sophie that the A45 was closed due to an incident. Sheila also called me to warn me that the traffic was building up to the turn-off for the Weston Favell Centre, so I went a different way to avoid it.

I had an enjoyable day at work today, spending my time matching up invoices with payments we'd received. I think Sheila had left this as she wasn't too sure about how to do it, but I loved it! I felt like I had achieved something at the end of the day!

Sophie texted me when she was leaving work and said that the A45 was still closed. A woman had fallen (or more likely jumped) and had been hit by several cars, so the police were still investigating. What a terrible thing to happen. It took Sophie an hour and a half to get home, and she made the mistake of trying to get onto the A45 at the Barnes Meadow roundabout, only to find the dual carriageway still closed, and had to retrace her route. 

When she arrived home, we sat in the kitchen and chatted before preparing dinner, a disappointing meal of chicken and mushroom soup and crusty baguettes. I added some potatoes to the soup, and it was a very bland meal! Not something we will eat again!

The evening was saved by an episode of Best Medicine, and I looked forward to a day off tomorrow! Hooray!