Busy day!

Today was a day off for me as we were meeting friends for lunch at one of our favourite pubs. The children went off to school in the morning, Keith went off to Tesco and I was alone in the house, for the first time in ages! I made myself a delicious cup of coffee and savoured the peace and quiet by researching my family tree until Keith arrived home.

We had a very pleasant morning and then drove over to Sutton Bassett to the Queen's Head to meet Bruce and Hermione. I used to work with Bruce at Duncan's shop and we had a lovely lunch in the pub which was very quiet despite the gorgeous weather. Bruce and Hermione are really lovely people and we had a great chat about lots of things, including the time Bruce and I worked together in the wine shop.  As we said goodbye we arranged for them to come to our house for dinner with my parents, which will be great. The food was delicious and the portions huge so we virtually waddled out of the pub and drove home for a wee nap on the sofa!

In the evening I'd booked for Keith and I to go to see Milton Jones at Northampton's Derngate theatre which we'd been looking forward to for ages. Milton Jones is a comedian specialising in one liners who regularly appears on Mock The Week. We arrived in good time at the theatre, had a drink before the show and found our seats which were very good and, for me, brilliant as there was nobody sitting in front of me at all so I had a great view of the stage!

The show was enjoyable, but Keith and I didn't find it as funny as we'd anticipated. It was split into three parts, one of Milton Jones appearing as his grandfather, then he was followed by a young comedian called James Alcaster and then the second half was just the man himself. Unfortunately we sat next to a very strange couple who were determined that he was going to notice them one way or another, whether they made complete fools of themselves or not, and he did notice them! Well, he couldn't really fail to as they made a comment after nearly everything he said! I suppose MIlton Jones was used to coming up against people in the audience like that but I would have been mortified if my partner had behaved in that way!

After the show we headed home to relieve my mum of her baby-sitting duties. Normally the children would have been fine on their own, but I was more relaxed knowing that my mum was with them should anything go wrong. Sitting in a theatre full of people and a good thirty minutes from home made me a little anxious!

Coffee!

Our coffee machine has been broken for about two weeks now and a new one's been on order. Today it finally arrived which was great as I've really been missing my cafe latte! It's become so bad that I've been calling into the local petrol station on the way to work to pick up a latte, along with the van drivers who've been getting their fix as well! Not only that but after going to the bank I've been calling into Costa Coffee to buy one of their delicious lattes and, of course, I just have to treat myself to a chocolate twist as well, which is not good news for my waist line!

Hopefully, now we have our new machine installed, I'll be able to get my fix at work...for free!

Some photos...

 

Feeding the horses!

Tuesday 27 September - Return of Summer

Although this morning was very misty and damp the day soon cleared to brilliant sunshine, blue skies and warm temperatures. It's forecast to be an Indian Summer this week which is a mixed blessing for us at work. On one hand it means we don't have to put any heating on, but the warm and sunny weather means customers stay away!

After work Sophie and I went for our daily walk and it was truly beautiful with the sunlight glinting through the gorgeous colours of the trees and the smell of Autumn in the air. When we got home I felt a wee bit tired so it was nice to lounge about on the sofa and catch up with some recorded programmes before dinner!

Fire!

I forgot to say yesterday, that on the way to the coast we saw a very large fire raging near the village of Burton Latimer. We could see the smoke in the distance and at one point thought that the A14 may be closed, but the fire was right next to it, making for a very dramatic point in our journey!

Sophie took photos for me as I drove and the fire was still burning on our return journey. We learned that the fire was in a building storing recyclable materials and I heard on Radio 2 today that the road nearby was still closed!

Seal watching...

As everyone was fit and well this morning we drove over to the East Coast for a day by the sea. We stopped for a snack near Thetford, right next to a huge war memorial erected by two villages to honour their dead in the First and Second World wars.

The road over to Winterton is mostly dual carriageway so we arrived just before lunchtime and went for a very long walk on the beach! We knew there was a seal colony nearby and just as I was beginning to despair of ever seeing any, one popped up in the sea, very close to the beach. We saw several more after that and they seemed to enjoy popping their heads out of the water and watching us watching them!

The beach was beautiful - very quiet with just a few people walking their dogs as it was a bit too windy and rough to swim or sunbathe, even though it was warm.

We walked for about an hour and a half and then left the beach through a gap in the dunes and walked back to the car park and the cafe by a series of  sandy paths that meandered about behind the beach. It was very quiet and there was no wind away from the sea. It was a lovely walk but we were very glad to get back to the car and then have a sandwich in the cafe!

Saturday 24 September - Keith's Birthday!

We had a very lazy day today, totally different to the Saturday we'd planned! Mikey's had a cold over the last few days but on Friday night it became a lot worse and the poor boy looked really ill. Both Keith and I were up with him at 4am on Saturday morning so we decided that we'd postpone our plans to go to the coast, back to Winterton On Sea which we'd liked so much the last time we visited.

Keith opened his cards and presents and then we settled down for a day of doing very little! I did some research on my family tree and went for a walk with Sophie later in the afternoon, but it was lovely to just relax and stay at home today. We even ordered a Chinese take-away in the evening!

Mikey had a good rest as well and curled up on the sofa and fell asleep which was the best thing for him, to be honest. By the evening he was feeling much better so that was a relief!

Friday 23 September

I was in a mega grumpy mood today, even worse than usual, if that's possible! Mum and Dad had taken the day off as they are starting to have more time off, which is understandable seeing as they are both past the official retirement age! Because I was on my own hordes of customers arrived as I opened up, some of them wanting drinks from the restaurant as well...Now, as I can't be in two places at once I had to tell them that the cook would be in within a few minutes so I felt a bit guilty doing that, but what else could I have done, other than do a quick cloning job (now there's an idea!).

Keith arrived but my mood didn't get better as we had a group of women take over the tables between my office and Reception and every time I had to go to the desk I had to squeeze past them and millions of babies sitting on the floor. I asked them politely to make a gap for me and I think after I asked them a second time they got the message. Maybe it was the mad killer look on my face that did it!

I think we need to get someone in now to cover lunchtimes if mum and dad are to take more of a backseat, but I know what will happen...we'll go suddenly very quiet so have no work for them to do! Sod's Law!

Thursday 22 September - We escape to the pub...

The children have been more than a little vocal just lately - I'm not sure whether it's their ages or just them trying it on with us, but tonight, Keith and I escaped to the pub for an hour's adult time and it was pure bliss. I think they were a little put out that we'd gone without them, but the arguments have been raging over the last two days and culminated with Mikey shouting at Keith because a download on his Playstation didn't go as smoothly as planned...Keith lost his temper, so getting out and having a break was the best thing we could have done.

Keith and I sat in the back room of the pub, in splendid isolation but that suited us fine. When we went home and had dinner, things were a bit calmer and both children a little repentent, I'm glad to say!

Wednesday 21 September - In search of good coffee!

Our coffee machine at work has broken and I'm missing my daily fix of Cafe Latte! This morning, as soon as was possible, Keith and I hotfooted it over to the bank and then onto Costa Coffee for my craving. I even had a chocolate pastry twist with it as well...it was that sort of morning!

It's been a naughty day for food, I have to admit. Our cook at work made a Lemon and Ginger cheesecake and gave me a slice to try - purely for research purposes, you understand! I made very sure I went for a walk when I got home, in an effort to at least burn off some of the calories!

The gloom sets in...

Today has been grey and gloomy, a side of Autumn I'm really not happy with. I like it when it's misty in the morning and then the fog clears to a beautiful day full of mellow sunshine and blue skies. The grey lasted all day and when I arrived home it started to rain so that put paid to us going for a walk. Instead Keith and I played cards in the conservatory, made a delicious dinner and then played our new addiction on the internet all night - Words With Friends - which is another name for scrabble!

Scrubbing!

Today was spent scrubbing the floors at work which is a hard and dirty job, but someone has to do it! It's not my favourite things to do, but the payback is lovely when it's all clean and the floor is beautiful and shiny. It makes such a difference to the way the place looks! Keith came in with me and helped and when mum and I went home at 4pm we were very satisfied.

Needless to say, after all that hard work, I declined to go walking with Sophie and spent a very enjoyable couple of hours exploring my new laptop!

New laptop!

My old laptop finally died this morning. I turned it off on Saturday night and this morning, when I went to turn it back on, it wouldn't start. All through the morning I kept trying, but it would light up for a couple of seconds and then stop. To be honest, it hasn't been right for ages. It makes a terrible whirring noise, gets very hot and I haven't had sound or the use of the DVD drive for ages, which has been a pain.

I had a look at laptops on the internet and went off to Tesco to buy an Acer but of course, they didn't have it in stock, so I was forced to go to PC World where I told mum and Sophie who were with me, that I didn't want to be sold a whole lot of extras.

And I wasn't! I insisted I just wanted a laptop, a lovely Samsung in silver, and I don't think the salesman was too happy with me! He tried to sell me Microsoft Office and said that my new laptop didn't have a word processing feature, crucial to me as I like to use it to write, but it does! It has Office Starter and Excel software so that was a bit naughty. I never used Outlook or Publisher anyway and didn't need them at all, so I'm more than happy. He also tried to sell me Norton Anti-virus but I have all my security sorted with Avast, so he went off in disgust, took my card and that was it! Result!

In the evening we all went out, with Mum, for a meal at the local carvery. Dad is away flying (or not flying as the weather has been terrible) his model aeroplanes in Eastbourne, so we thought it was a good idea to have a meal together after the busy last few days. It was a nice meal, but Keith's roast it was not!

Saturday 17 September - an evening of wine.

I was hosting the Wine Evening tonight so today was spent getting the house ready and shopping for the food. As we'd spent the last few weekends giving the house a good clean and decorating there wasn't that much for me to do, so I was finished by 2pm which was a bonus!

The evening was very good with some very good wines, most of which came from Chile even though the theme was South America. The overall winner was a Chilean red - the Sunrise Merlot 2010 from Concha y Toro and available in Waitrose. I gave the winning couple a game of Russian Roulette played with chocolates, one of which contained chilli which was hilarious as the lady who ate it didn't even realise at first! It was a late night (the last couple went home at just after 1am) but it was very enjoyable!

Friday 16 September

I have to say that Friday was a fairly uneventful day which was OK by me, as I really wanted a quiet end to the week! Sophie and I went for a shorter walk when I got home for two reasons...firstly because the time was getting on and Friday is my taxi duty day and secondly the sky was looking very ominous and I didn't want to be caught out in a thunderstorm!

We arrived home just before the first fat drops of rain fell out of the sky and on the way back from taking Keith to the pub it poured down. I was hoping for thunder and lightening but I was disappointed. We haven't really had any good storms this year and I do love to see a display of what Nature can do!

Thursday 15 September - Run, run, rabbit, run!

After a frustrating day at work when the machines that help us, turned on us (the coffee machine went wrong, swiftly followed by a hot water boiler) it was lovely to get out for a walk with Sophie. We set off at a fairly brisk pace but we did manage to see a couple of rabbits and when I passed the hedge one of them was just sitting watching me. I called Sophie over but, of course, she couldn't resist going nearer to it so it popped down it's run! The farmers were out sowing seed and it put me in mind of one of our favourite songs - Charlie Simpson's "The Farmer and His Gun" Youtube version. We've been listening to Charlie Simpson for a while now and even I like him!

Wednesday 14 September

Wednesday was a busy day and I managed to get a lot of things done which was great. I do feel a sense of achievement when I tick things off my list, especially if they've been sitting there for a while!

No time for a walk after work as Sophie had an appointment for a hair cut, so I went with her and took the paper with me to read while I waited. Not quite the relaxing half hour I'd anticipated, though, as a small baby and a toddler were parked by the seating area while waiting for their dad to have his hair cut, and before I knew it I was entertaining them!

Tuesday 13 September

Photos from our walk today...

Monday 12 September - more cleaning!

My poor husband came into work with me today and worked very hard tackling the dust on the framework and our slides which hadn't been cleaned for weeks. It was so satisfying to get it all done and the play area gleamed after we'd finished, but I was very hot, dirty and sweaty so it was straight into the bath for me when I got home! I'd spent most of the day crawling around the playframe and lugging the hoover up onto the top levels, something I'm not really comfortable with!

Sue came around for a drink in the evening bringing a delicious Vouvray with her, so we had an enjoyable chat while the wind howled all around us. The remnants of Hurricane Katia have been pummeling the UK over the last few days but thankfully we had no real damage in our area, just racing clouds and most of the leaves from the trees deposited in our garden!

Sunday 11 September

Today was a busy day catching up with lots of household chores that had been put on the back burner for a couple of weeks. Keith mowed the lawn while I beavered away inside changing beds and hoovering the carpets but by 1pm I'd finished so Sophie and I went off to Home Sense again. She'd persuaded me to keep the lampshades I'd bought last week and I put the draught excluder on the window sill where it looked very pretty!

In Home Sense I bought two throws for the bed and then we went home to get ready for mum and dad who were coming for dinner. They'd just arrived home from their holiday in the US and were full of the things they'd seen and done. I was so relieved they'd had a good time and indeed they said it was the best holiday they'd ever had. I think being guided about and meeting so many people of their own age was a huge bonus so I can see this being the first of many similar holidays!

Saturday 10 September - a Spanish wine tasting!

I urged Keith to phone his friend this morning as I was still worried about him. Chest pains should never be ignored (as we know) and I really felt as if he should have gone off to hospital yesterday to be checked. Keith phoned but didn't get an answer so we were none the wiser.

Sophie and I went off to Market Harborough in the afternoon and I treated her to lunch in Caffe Nero as she'd been a very good little nurse to me in the morning. I was suffering from womanly cramps and the pain was severe to say the least so she'd put a hot water bottle over my tummy which had helped greatly. We had a milkshake each and then a mooch in New Look where I asked a woman (who I thought was a shop assistant) where a skirt was that Sophie was looking for...it turned out she was a customer as well but she played along with me, rather than be rude!! Trust me!

After doing a bit more shopping and buying the DVD of "127 Hours" to watch in the evening we meandered off to Duncan's to buy some wine for next Saturday, when I'm hosting another of my Wine Evenings. I'd tried two lovely South American wines a few weeks back and I was hoping he'd still have them, which luckily he did, although one was in the back of the shop as he's supplying a local restaurant with it.

He had a white Rioja on tasting as well as another Spanish red so I had a crafty sip of each and ended up buying the white Rioja, a wine you rarely see in the UK as most of the wine we get from this region is red. It was very fruity and delicious (I'm sipping it as I write this) and should go down well with dinner!

Back home Keith informed me that his friend was in hospital and had been admitted that morning. He'd had two stents fitted so it was obviously quite serious. Keith went off to see him and then picked me up afterwards and we both had a drink in the pub after ordering a Chinese take-away from the van in the village. His friend was comfortable and will probably be out by Monday evening so no doubt their twice-weekly drink will not be affected!

We had a very pleasant hour in the pub chatting to the Landlord and some friends and then went to collect our dinner which was delicious. Not the most healthy of meals, but it was Saturday night, we'd eaten some good home-cooked meals all week and that's my excuse!

Friday 9 September - "We plough the fields and scatter..."

Much against my will (it had been a long week) Sophie dragged me out for a walk after work again. This time it was a "Right! Let's do this quickly and get it over with" walk so we didn't linger as we had the other night. The air was full of the rich smell of turned earth as several fields were being ploughed as we walked. It was a beautiful evening, I have to admit and I did feel better when we arrived home, a bit hot and sweaty, to know that we'd done an hour's good exercise.

I drove Keith off to the pub and as we were a bit early stayed for a drink before his mate arrived. I was a bit concerned as he was complaining of chest pains and in my opinion, he should have gone off to the hospital, but he's the stubborn sort so I said I hoped he felt better and left them both to it.

Back home I spent a very pleasant hour watching more Tales from the Green Valley and thinking that today's farmers have it a lot easier than 17th century ones!

Discoveries!

Sophie and I went off for a walk tonight and we did the "round" which we haven't done for a good while. The changes in the countryside were quite remarkable which made the walk all the more interesting. I must admit that I was the one who noticed things as Sophie walked along with her iPod plugged in! I've been thinking about making elderberry wine lately as the bushes around here are groaning with elderberries, but I noticed that a lot of the bushes had been picked clean by the birds (I assumed it was them, unless someone else has the same thoughts as me!). We also saw a clump of wild mushrooms/toadstools but I didn't know whether they were edible or poisonous and I wasn't going to pick them to find out!

The huge wheat field we walk around has been harvested and ploughed already and the soil looked like the crumbly biscuit base of a cheesecake, which made us fantasise about desserts and chocolate, in particular! We also noticed that the farmer was out cutting the hedgerows and he'd taken off half an oak tree which I thought was unneccesary! Poor thing!

On the long slog uphill, we came across a dead bird that had been eaten but the head was still intact and its poor little eyes stared up at us in shock...I thought Sophie was going to cry. We also came across another baby oak that had survived the harvesting and somebody's train ticket from London to Kettering!

Nearer the village the pear trees were heavy with fruit with many lying on the ground. We were a bit nervous about taking them as two big houses overlook this field and I didn't want to get told off! Outside of one of the houses in the village was a basket full of pears and apples as obviously the crop was larger than the household could handle.

Half way through the village we spotted water gushing up from the ground, probably from a broken water pipe so Sophie had great fun paddling through the stream! I noticed a sign written in blue ink saying that the local water board were aware of the problem but the water was gushing out with a lot of force!

Down to the bridge and we saw that it had been mended after the brickwall had been hit by a car recently. We'd seen a man repairing it over the last few days and he'd made a really good job of it. It looked very neat and tidy with just the wooden fence to repair. Who pays for it, I wonder?!

We were almost home when Sophie decided to go and see the chickens that roam free in a smallholding along the main road. They all clucked when they saw her and she was a bit worried to see that one of them was bullying another, by pecking away at the poor bird's beak. It's a fact of life, I told her, but at least they were free to flap about and peck at the ground, unlike some poor things that are caged up all their lives!

So that was our walk! It was a beautiful evening, the sun shone, the air grew warmer. Are we to have an Indian summer maybe?

Wednesday 7 September - Kids!

Yesterday, the children arrived home before Keith and I so I texted Sophie to ask her to get the washing in as the weather looked like it was going to rain. It was also our bin day and on the way home Keith and I speculated on whether the little darlings had bothered to bring them in for us. When we got home, the bins were still standing forlornly at the bottom of the drive and Sophie hadn't bothered to get the washing in as "it was raining". Both of us exploded, especially as Mikey had, for the second day running, left his school uniform on his bedroom floor without bothering to hang it up or put his shirt in the dirty laundry basket. This followed on from his losing his bus pass this morning, on only the second day of term! Luckily for him he found it before it was time to take the bus home otherwise he may have had a long walk!

My mum was working in London at the age of 15, commuting on the train from Dartford every day, something I told Sophie through gritted teeth. The thought of my daughter catching a train early every day and finding her way to offices in London is laughable at the moment. Is it our fault? Do we mollycoddle kids too much these days? I remember getting home from school before my parents at her age, and preparing the vegetables for dinner before putting the hoover around, and I had to do this every single day!

Sophie and I calmed down and went for a walk but I'm not sure she'd taken any of our annoyance on board because when we got back and I got the hoover out, she lounged about on the sofa until I shouted at her to help her dad put the ironing away! As Keith is coming into work with me every day at the moment, the household chores have had to take a back seat. This also means that dinner tonight was a huge disappointment after a run of delicious meals. Keith had to take Mikey's trousers up and do some ironing so we opted for a Chinese meal from Tesco which was absolutely awful! I think we'll go back to home cooking for the rest of the week!

Back to School!

It was Mikey's first day at his new school today and far from being nervous about it, he was excited, which was a good thing! Not so sure his sister felt the same way, though!

Keith and I saw them off and then we drove into work. The difference in the traffic was amazing and it took me almost twice as long to do my normal journey! I was not amused. Next week I will go back to driving in at 7.45am when the roads are a lot quieter!

I don't suppose the weather helped much today as it's been very windy and wet. Not the most ideal of days to go back to school!

Turning back time

A new DVD arrived today from Amazon. Since researching my family tree I've become very interested in life in Victorian times (and earlier) and I thought that buying a DVD about life on a farm in Victorian times would help give me a better picture as to how my family lived in the 1800s as most of them were farm labourers with the odd blacksmith or "Horsekeeper" thrown in.

I ordered "Victorian Farm" which I'd missed when it appeared on television (I did manage to watch Edwardian Farm) but included in the box set was "Tales from the Green Valley" with the same people living for a year and working a farm in what was supposed to be 1620. I found it fascinating (my family think I am very sad) but I never did history at school as I hated the History teacher so I feel I've missed out on a lot of education. It was really interesting to see them struggling with life in the 1600s and I certainly appreciated going into my kitchen after I'd watched one of the episodes and just turning on the oven to cook our evening meal! As much as I love the modern world and all its fabulous inventions, part of me would love to go back in time and just live in a bygone age for a little while. The countryside on the film looked beautiful as did the old farmhouse with its stoneflagged floors and huge open fires. A romantic view probably, but I did envy the people taking part who, no doubt, went back to the comfort of modern living when the filming at the end of the day was over!

Out and about!

Today it rained...and rained and rained! I'm not complaining because it gave me a great excuse not to mow the lawn which is what I'd planned to do today! Instead we went off to Corby (tradition remember!) to buy Mikey some new school shoes and trainers and I treated myself to some new cushions for the beautifully clean conservatory as the pink ones we have in there are definitely a bit old hat!

In the afternoon, Sophie and I went off to Home Sense and after much mooching about I bought some new lampshades, what I thought was a pillow and a photograph frame. Unfortunately, when I got home, I didn't like the lampshades, the photo wouldn't fit (I'd cut it smaller for another frame) and the pillow turned out to be a draught excluder! Oh dear! I wouldn't have minded so much but I spent ages choosing them all!

Domestic chores...

I was awake at 4am this morning and could not get back to sleep, so I went downstairs and caught up with some recorded programmes until 7am, when Keith went off to do the shopping. I went back to bed and read but fell asleep, not waking up again until almost 11am! I was horrified as I'd planned on doing lots of things today!

After my sleepy start I did manage to motivate myself and I managed to get some overdue chores completed in the house. I had to clean the conservatory as it had been completely taken over by the flies and the wasps. I took out our three pepper plants, harvesting a good handful in the process! I cleaned the room thoroughly and then re-potted our three vines into much bigger pots and put all the plants back into the garden. The conservatory was much cleaner without them!

Just as I was sitting down to relax, the phone rang and one of the staff told me they'd run out of coffee, so off we had to go to Booker to buy some more, which was a bit annoying! Never mind, by the time I got back home it was acceptable to have a glass of wine, so I did!

Watching bats!

Today has been beautiful - a real late summer day with warm temperatures and lovely sunshine. After dinner I sat in the garden with a glass of white wine and watched the bats flitting about. It looked to me like they were flying in a big loop and I did wonder whether they were living in the eaves of our house or the garage. The sky was a gorgeous deep blue, cut in half by the fluffy vapour trail of a high-flying plane.

The children joined me after they'd washed up but I think their noisy chatter chased away the bats!

Thursday 1 September - Mrs Grumpy!

I find as I get older I'm getting more and more grumpy (my family will tell you I've always been that way) and today I was particularly irritated by other people's driving. Is it me or are people not indicating in cars any more? Are we all supposed to be psychic now and be able to tell where a car is headed without them using indicators? It's getting to be a real gripe with me!

On the way home from work, on a country road, I was overtaken by a young man in a small car who'd been hanging onto my tail for the last three or four miles. He overtook me and the car in front, swiftly followed by another young guy in a souped up thing who just about got in as there was a car coming the other way. Neither me nor the car in front were going particularly slowly, the road has a few dips and is quite narrow but I was glad to get them both off my back!

Then as we drove into our local village, a woman behind me drove the wrong way into our funny road system... we have a tree in the middle of a junction and anybody turning right must drive around the tree rather than in front which has confused people in the past. As I was turning right myself she can't have been concentrating very hard and obviously hadn't seen the very big No Entry sign!  She was very lucky there wasn't another car coming and realised her mistake when she saw me! So there was another reason for me to say a few words!

Hmmm! I relaxed though at home and enjoyed the lovely weather we had today. Summer seems to have made a return and the weekend is forecast to be warmer and sunnier than of late. Perhaps I can get out into the garden for some late summer sun!