Leap Year Day!

I wasn't quite sure how I was going to spend the extra day we have this year but in the end it was just a normal Wednesday!

Mum and Dad went off down to London as Dad wanted to go back to Stratford where he used to work. That whole area has been taken over by the Olympics and when they called me they said the transformation was startling. They both used to commute from Dartford with Dad working in Stratford while mum travelled further to work in the City, so they saw a lot of changes especially as it's been over 40 years since they worked there!

Back to normal.

Today Sophie was feeling a lot better but we kept her off school just in case. She was due to work for us in the evening but it wasn't a good idea for her to be serving food and coming into contact with lots of children so she had the night off!

I finished washing all the balls from the ballpond this morning but I don't think I'll be doing the other two in the same way! It was a long tedious job, but at least we know that that particular ballpond is very clean!

A sick little girl...

OK, I know Sophie's not really a little girl any more, but when she's poorly she reverts back to being my baby and I really felt for her today as she was sick first thing and the vomiting didn't let up until the early evening.

I went off to work and left her with Keith who did a great job of looking after her. We think it was just a bug and by the evening she was feeling a little bit better, but it was a worry, especially as she was looking so pale. I came home from work a little early (a good thing as I was cleaning out one of the ballponds - a horrible, tedious job) and called into the pharmacy on the way home to ask the chemist for any advice on what to give her. She told me just to keep her hydrated and I bought her some Lucozade and some bottled water for her to sip.

By the end of the evening she was feeling better but very tired and I was glad to see her with a bit more colour in her cheeks!

Scared witless!

I'd been waiting to go to the cinema for ages, to see The Woman in Black, and today I finally went, along with Mum and Sophie. We had to go to the cinema on the outskirts of Northampton and when we arrived, so did three coachloads of teenage boys! Sophie was in her element but the queues for the drinks and popcorn were about 15 deep so we went straight into the auditorium to find our seats.

By the time the trailers were on, the queues had subsided a little so I bought some drinks and nibbles and we headed back to watch the film. Which was VERY scary! I thought Daniel Radcliffe was very good in it and I think he's managed to cast off Harry very well. The film is very dark and relies on good old fashioned scares to make the viewers jump right out of their seats! Sophie was very scared by it, wimpering that she didn't like it half way through, which surprised me as she's a Horror film aficionado anf the rating is only a 12A!!

After the film we went to the local Garden Centre for a cup of tea and I allowed a team of men to wash my precious car, even giving them the keys and then worrying about it for the whole time we were in the centre! However, they did a brilliant job and I'll certainly be using them again, especially as it only cost me a fiver!

When I dropped Mum off at home I was lured into the house for a glass of wine that came from the La Clape region of southwest France, near Narbonne where we visited in 2009. It was a beautiful red wine with an impressive 14.5% alcohol content, so only a small glass for me!

Working weekend

Today I had to go into work for the afternoon, something I really wasn't looking forward to! However, the time went very quickly and it was good to go in and see what happens at the weekend, especially as we now have Laura working for us on Saturday and Sunday.

I must admit it was heaven, though, to get home and relax with a glass of wine and enjoy a good meal. Keith and I had prepared Coq au Vin in the morning and it was delicious. I wasn't the only one glad to be home...Mikey hadn't really enjoyed his night away and was really happy to be home! It's the best place to be!

It's Friday...again!

We were in early cleaning today and I felt a wee bit tired, as if I have a cold coming, which should serve me right after I was crowing about hardly having any colds yesterday!

At 10am I took the Audi over to Wellingborough to get the scratch removed and when I went to pick her up I was over the moon with the results from Chips Away who did a fantastic job and charged me only £30. Now I just hope nothing else will go wrong with  my new car and to celebrate I'm going to transfer my private plate to the Audi next week. I just hope that will be a new start!

In the evening I took Mikey to a Sleepover party at a friend's house where the mother must be either very stupid or very brave as there were 9 boys staying the night! Rather her than me!

Is Spring just around the corner?

Well, today has been beautiful! Is it the first day of Spring?

Sophie and I made the most of the gorgeous weather and went for a walk when we got in after school and work. I can't believe that less than two weeks ago there was thick snow on the ground and the temperatures were well below freezing!

We did the usual walk and noticed lots of plants coming into flower (bluebells and snowdrops), the beginning of daffodils and new buds on the trees. The birds were singing away so they were obviously glad that Spring is coming closer.

I'm not going to get complacent though...the old saying "Ne'er cast a clout til May is out" is a very true one!

Grey all day...

It's been yukky today, and funnily enough, when I looked back at my previous diaries (I keep a note of the weather each day...how sad am I?) I noticed that the weather was the same on the same day for the last two years...spooky, huh?

Anyway, my mood has not improved very much, it certainly matches the weather! Keith came into work with me, but he was late so I was left to fend for myself first thing. I had two difficult customers in, one complaining that she thought she'd come to the wrong place as there were no signs (despite a huge one at the entrance) and the other was a man I just could not understand, which made me feel very stupid and embarrassed!

Luckily, things improved after that with the help of a strong coffee or two! I was going to try and give caffeine up for Lent but it's proving almost impossible!

Bored!

I think I need a project. Maybe it's time to take up with the writing again, or look for an absorbing hobby to do. This time of the year is dismal and although there was a hint of Spring in the air this morning, the grey weather made a return in the afternoon. I always feel a rush of energy when Spring has arrived and I only hope that it's not too far off!

Back down to Kent

Mum and I drove back down to Kent today to take Nan for her second hearing test. However, as we were half way down the M1 she called to say she didn't feel well enough to go and had cancelled it. As this was the main reason why we were travelling down, it was a bit annoying but we pushed on anyway and arrived at lunchtime.

Monday is not the best of days to go down to Kent as it's the only day we have at work to catch up with the cleaning. We did, however, go and do all her shopping for her, go to the bank and at least have an afternoon with her as she now gets very lonely during the day.

I think old age is horrible and unfair, a cruel trick played on us by Mother Nature. I sometimes get the feeling that my Nan is just waiting to die and I suspect she won't make her 93rd Birthday in December, which is a terrible shame as she was a very active lady right up until about a year ago.

All I know is, I don't want to get old!

Muddling along!

Today I'd planned to concentrate on my Family Tree as I haven't done anything with it since November. However, things kept getting in the way!

The weather was beautiful for a change and I managed to hoover out my car as I haven't cleaned the inside since I bought it. It was a bit of a tight squeeze and at times I felt like a contortionist as I vacuumed the back! I then took it through the carwash again so it's now a sight to behold - if the cats dare to sit on it I'll string 'em up by their tails!

Out and about

Before I took Sophie to work today we drove over to Wellingborough to take my little Audi to "Chips Away" as I have a scratch on the driver's door. I have no idea how it happened but I'm beginning to worry that this car is bad luck for me! Although I suppose that's the three things that have happened now!

They had a look at the scratch and said they could try and polish it out for £25 but if I still wasn't happy I could have the whole door repainted for £160. I booked it in for the polish on Friday and I just hope that it'll work!

I dropped Sophie off at work then went to Jones's to buy another cat bed. I bought one a few weeks ago and both Monty and Archie have been fighting over it ever since. Last night they had a vicious spat so I felt I had no option to get another one and keep the peace! I picked out a lovely comfy black one for Archie decorated with paws so that should keep him happy and as I write he's curled up very snugly on it!

My last port of call was to pick up my framed photograph of the beach in Lanzarote and I was over the moon with it. When I got home I put it up in the living room so we can all see it every day.

In the evening Keith and I went to a friend's 50th Birthday party in town. I hate to admit that I really didn't want to go and would have rather stayed at home curled up on the sofa with a glass of wine and a good film! I'm not really a party type of person, if I'm honest. I prefer to go out to dinner with friends where you can have a conversation! My friend Lynda said she'd saved us two seats at one of the tables but it was right next to the disco so we had to shout at each other when we talked and with all the noise from the half term at work, the last thing I wanted was to endure more of the same!

We stuck it out for just over an hour and then I pleaded with Keith to go home, via the pub in the village! It was heaven to sit at the bar, chat to the Landlord and enjoy the relative peace and quiet!

Back in control!

Normally Fridays are one of the quieter days of our working week as customers get ready for the weekend, but today was certainly the exception! Polly had a queue of people for an hour with no let-up at all, so Mum and I made the decision to stop any more people coming in, rather than have a repeat of yesterday when we felt we had no control at all! We stood at the gate to the car park and told people we were full. Everyone was fine about it and understood our decision to keep the amount of customers to an acceptable level and appreciated us telling them before they found a parking space and unloaded the children!

Dad had been at home waiting for someone to come out and board up their bedroom window (it had a large crack in it) and when he arrived at midday he took over for an hour while we went in and helped the staff clear tables and wash up.

At 2pm I took Sophie to the dentist again and this time, as she knew what to expect, she felt a lot better. I chatted with the dentist who said he'd started seeing me way back in 1979!!

It was heavenly to get home in the evening and relax after the busy week. The children are back at school on Monday, thank goodness!

Out of control!

Today has been unbelievable. We've been so busy and the place has resembed a madhouse at times, with camps of people spreading themselves all over the seating area and children being very naughty! It really is my idea of hell!

I know I'm complaining about being busy and I also know that in a few months time this will all be a distant memory as people take the children outside to play when the weather improves, but there's a very fine line between being pleasantly busy with everyone having a seat and enjoying themselves, and being so manic that customers get stressed as well. The noise level has been tremendous again and I think we're all very relieved that tomorrow is Friday!

The things people say...

Today has been a good test of my patience, a quality I do not have in abundance. As it's half term we are very busy. In fact, it's the busiest week of our whole year and we do our utmost here to make customers' visits a pleasant experience. All of us work like trojans to clear tables, wipe up mess, sweep the floors and find seats for the customers who flood in. The weather is normally horrible, it's wet underfoot and people come here to let their children run off some excess energy.

I have lost count of the number of customers who have expressed their surprise at us being busy...what did they think we'd be like this week?? They should come back on a June afternoon when the temperature is 25 degrees outside and see us then. We'll be closing early as we'll have no customers!

One woman told me as I was passing that our toilets were "filthy, absolutely filthy" so mum and I trooped up to the loos and found some toilet paper scattered on the floor, that was all. We wiped all the surfaces down, picked up all the paper and replenished the soap but what worries me is that the woman who complained may well go home and then write a review on us on the internet, stating that our toilets resembled a hovel. And there's nothing I can do about it!

The majority of the people who have come here so far this week have been happy, but there's always a minority who find fault with everything we do, despite our best intentions. Hopefully, most of them who are unhappy will tell us so we can put it right straightaway, but there are always a few who will keep their thoughts to themselves and then moan about us to anyone who'll listen!

But anyway, I was prised out of the office today to lend a hand with washing up and clearing tables and the noise level was tremendous. Now where did I put my earplugs?!

All fixed!

All I wanted from today was the internet to be fixed at home and for my windscreen to be replaced with a shiny new one, and I got my wish!

I was at work at 7.30am and doing the cleaning for the last time this week, thank goodness. It was actually quite soul destroying seeing all our hard work undone in about half an hour when the customers came in, but I was glad we were busy.

The AOL engineer arrived at about 10am and managed to mend our broken connection. We're still not sure what caused it but we have a brand new router and everyone is now back and floating about in the world wide web!

Autoglass also arrived early and by lunchtime my little car was all fixed up. I'm not allowed to wash it until tomorrow when I will give it a thorough clean and polish as it needs it very badly!

The other big event today was Sophie's visit to the dentist to have two teeth taken out, poor thing. She really didn't want to go but the dentist was very gentle with her and she felt very little pain when he injected the local anaesthetic. It was all over in a few minutes but she found the sensation of a numb mouth quite hard to take, although I said the alternative would be far worse! When I was a few years younger than Sophie I had seven teeth taken out and was given gas to knock me out completely. I'm so glad things have changed these days!

Half term looms...

I hate getting up early on a Monday when the rest of the house is sleeping, but needs must. I set the alarm for 7am and was up, showered and out of the door by 7.30am. Mum, Dad and I had to do the cleaning this morning as Jeanette was on a day's holiday so it was more of a rude shock than normal!

We were pleasantly busy but I managed to escape having to go out and clear tables, wash up and generally be a dogsbody so that was a bonus! I'm not sure that will last all week!

In the evening I had a very relaxing bath, tried out a new moisturising face mask and generally had a pamper...I'm now all ready to face the rest of the week!

Car trouble

After a very slow start Soph, mum and I went off to Milton Keynes and this time we took Susie with us. I took Dad's car as the Passat is playing up (now she's retired, she's refused to start so Keith needs to buy her a new battery) and my little A1 was awaiting a new windscreen. Susie lives down a very bumpy track and with all the snow I did wonder whether we'd make it, but it was fine and we didn't get stuck!

The girls went off to shop while Mum and I meandered about and had a nice leisurely look in the shops. My mobile rang and it was Keith to tell me that Autoglass couldn't fit my windscreen as he had the wrong one with him. Grrrr! It was re-scheduled for Tuesday and will be done at work which should be fun as the car park will no doubt be full!

Sophie stayed at Susie's house overnight for a sleepover and it was very quiet at home in the evening with just us and Mikey. Not sure I'd want that all the time!

Not having the internet at home at the weekend is a complete pain. I brought the Tesco order home from work and then realised I wasn't able to order it online for Monday morning. Grrrr! I tried again with the router but we can't even connect to a nearby unsecured wifi signal so I have no idea what is wrong. Hopefully on Tuesday we can get it sorted out.

In the morning I helped Keith put our television on the wall in the bedroom and also put up the shelf I bought in Ikea. Keith grumbled a bit, but between us we managed to do it and everything looks a lot tidier now.

Late in the afternoon, when Sophie got back from work we went for a walk again and as it was a beautiful day we took lots of photos. It was blisteringly cold (-5 at lunchtime so the temperature had probably dipped even lower) but never have I seen the countryside look so beautiful. We had a gorgeous sunset which turned the sky a fantastic shade of pink and with the snowy fields and stark outlines of the trees I was in heaven.

When we got home and thawed out I lit all the candles and sat with Keith on the sofa while he watched the football. It was so cosy!

An unwelcome discovery...

Mum and I went off to the bank this afternoon in my car and mum noticed what looked like a nasty crack in the windscreen. Thinking it was just a water mark from the melting snow, I was very upset to discover that it was actually a crack and was caused by a stone hitting my windscreen the day before, when we drove to Ikea.

I was very annoyed and even more upset to find out that my excess for windscreen replacement was £100! Not what I really need right now! I arranged to have it replaced on Sunday, but in the meantime I have to be careful it doesn't spread further.

As I was home from work at a relatively reasonable time, Sophie and I went for a walk in the snow and very restorative it was, too! The peace and quiet over the fields was like a balm to my stressy soul and when we got back, very cold, but happy, I felt a lot better!

A trip to Ikea and more snow...

I was at home until 10am this morning, speaking to AOL and failing to get onto the internet yet again. They've now booked us an engineer to come out next Tuesday so I'm really hoping that will get us sorted.

At work we were busy but it quietened down in the afternoon so we were able to escape to Ikea in Milton Keynes as we needed some stuff for work. The sky looked a bit ominous and the forecast was for snow to hit us in the evening.

We bought lots of things for work and I treated myself to a new shelf for the bedroom, to put our Sky box and DVD player on, which should free up the chest fo drawers I have. I want Keith to put the television on the wall so we can move the drawers to another place. I'm sure he won't be very happy with me!

We managed to get home before it started snowing and I spent a very pleasant evening relaxing and doing very little!

Arrrrggggh!

After work this evening I tried for two hours to connect the new router I bought some time ago to my laptop and get onto the internet, but I still had no luck. In the end I called AOL, my Internet Service Provider, and they talked me though various things to try and get it to work, again without any success. They then booked me a call in the morning for someone else to try and help and to test the line.

It's extremely frustrating! We don't use the internet constantly but it's such a mine of information that we miss being able to check the weather instantly or just catch up with what's going on in the world wide web!

Brrrr!

This evening I had a girly night out to a Chinese restaurant in Northampton with Sue and Lynda. I volunteered to drive Sue and we met Lynda at the Oriental Paradise as she lives nearby. It was a freezing cold night with the temperature dropping rapidly as we drove and the forecast was for it to get down to about minus 8 or 9 during the night.

We had a great meal and made pigs of ourselves as they do an "all you can eat" menu! It was great to have a good chat and the food was very good indeed, much better than the Mandarin Buffet!

Driving home, very near to the Cemetery just outside Walgrave, the temperature hit -8, the coldest I've ever seen or been aware of in the UK!

It makes my blood boil!

I went with Keith to Kettering General hospital this afternoon, to see the surgeon about his hip as he has been in agony with it lately. His appointment was at 3.45pm and when we checked in the Receptionist told us they were running 40-50 minutes late. So we joined the other mass of people waiting and resigned ourselves to being there for quite a while.

However, when we were still waiting at 5.30pm I really did begin to see red. I find it unbelievable that we can be treated like this, just because it's the NHS. Keith was the last patient to be seen and we eventually emerged at 5.45pm, two hours after he should have gone in. I'm not saying we should have been seen dead on our appointed time, but a two hour wait is unacceptable. To make matters worse, he was only in with the surgeon for five minutes, to be told he'd be put on the list! Grrrr!

I spent the rest of the evening trying in vain to sort out our internet access, with no luck whatsoever. I'm definitely going to have to get a man in!

Deep and crisp and even!

Well, we awoke to a very cold day with about 3 inches of snow covering everything. Luckily the washing machine decided to behave and no damage has been done, thank goodness! However, the internet is still a problem with access coming and going which is a pain. The children are hoping that Monday will be a “Snow Day” at school but there’s no way of finding out over the internet!

I gave the downstairs of our house a really good clean this morning, including the cutlery drawers in the kitchen which were very bad…Ooops! It felt great afterwards, though, knowing everything was so clean.

In the afternoon Sophie and I walked up to mum’s house as dad needed help with his computer too. I was able to sort him out and just wish I could sort myself out! The walk up was lovely but it was very misty and I have a feeling that more of the white stuff is forecast for tomorrow, which should please the children!

We stayed for a cup of tea and then slowly walked home through the snowy village. I was beginning to think we wouldn’t get any snow this winter and I do love seeing the countryside transformed. It makes me feel like we’re having a proper winter!

It's snowing!

Our internet is playing up at home and we’ve had problems with it all day. I dropped Sophie off at work at 12pm and then spent the afternoon trying to install a new router that I bought ages ago, the last time the old modem played up. I didn’t have any luck so I think I may have to get someone in to help. The old router is back on and access is sporadic to say the least. Talk about frustrating!

At 4pm I went back to get Sophie and met mum and dad who had come in to help spread some salt over the car park. The weather forecast is for heavy snow tonight and as we were putting the salt down the first few flakes started to appear. Again, we were heaving and the car park was full so it was a bit difficult to put the stuff down but we managed to get as much of the car park covered as possible and I just hope that it keeps off the worst of it. Sophie worked until 5pm and then I followed mum and dad home in the snowy gloom, the flakes coming down thick and fast!

In the evening I had the bright idea of washing our deep purple throw as the cats had been sitting on for a few weeks and it needed a wash. I put it in the washing machine on its own (thank goodness) but after dinner when I went to check on it, I was horrified to see that the error light was on and there was a mass of fluff against the window of the door. Keith and I pulled the filter out and it was FULL of purple fibres…

We managed to get the door open and I pulled the throw out, completely sodden and almost in pieces. It had disintegrated inside the machine, almost like someone had shredded it with a razor! We cleaned it all up and then put the machine onto a wash cycle with nothing in it to try and dislodge some of the mass of fluff, but after a few minutes it stopped again.

As the kitchen had been awash with water and fluff we decided to leave it until the morning and just hope that we hadn’t completely broken it! I can’t be without a washing machine!

The snow continued to fall all evening and was still coming down thick and fast when I went to bed after 11pm. It looks like I’m going to get my snow day, just 24 hours earlier than I wanted though!

The calm before the storm.

It’s been another hectic day at work and we were very busy indeed. We are having over 100 children to a Sleepover tonight so we had three trolleys when we went to Booker. It was a good job they were giving out free bacon rolls to sustain us!

When we got back to work we had to muck in and help by clearing tables, serving and manning the Reception desk. We certainly are very popular at the moment and I can only think it’s a combination of some steady advertising and our new cladding which has definitely improved the outside appearance of the building.

I left at 4pm, though, and went with Sophie to have my hair cut, something that was long overdue!

Kids!

Keith came into work with me today as mum and dad were having the day off but when we went to the bank we met them as they were enjoying a cup of coffee.  They were heading off to Milton Keynes to do some shopping and to take Mikey’s PS3 game back.

Later, mum called me and said that the game he’d asked for was completely unsuitable as when the sales assistant had asked how old he was, he’d recommended she didn’t buy it. This made me think about how many of the other games he has which might be unsuitable, despite all his friends having them, and therefore putting the pressure on him to have the same games. Honestly, it’s a minefield being a parent these days! There was none of this when I was younger!

Sophie was working for us again after school so I went to pick her and Mikey up but my son has a very forgetful memory and forgot all about me taking him back to the office. In the end we had to go and find him and he received a bit of a tongue lashing from me! This all comes after I had one of the teachers call me the day before to say that he’d missed cookery three times as he hadn’t brought the ingredients into school. To say I was embarrassed was an under-statement!

Kids!