Last day of the month!

I know I keep harping on about it, but the time really is flying by at the moment and I can't believe that September is over after today.

Today has been uneventful in the extreme, so not much to write about at all. Sophie and I went to the gym in the afternoon and met Mum and Dad there but it wasn't the most successful of sessions! Despite doing very little in the morning I ran out of energy and did a pathetic work-out which is ironic as last Sunday, after imbibing more than a few glasses of wine and having very little sleep, I had bags more energy!

Sunset watch.

It's been another beautiful day today but the heat has certainly gone out of the sun! I made the most of the good weather by tidying up the front garden and washing my car in the morning - we've had a long run of sunny Saturdays!

After I picked Soph up from work we went to the gym and I swam while Sophie talked. She really doesn't like swimming so although we were in the pool for half an hour I felt like I'd hardly done any exercise at all! I managed to persuade her to come into the steam room and sauna with me as I thought the heat would do her cold good!

Back home I felt bored and restless (Keith was flicking between the Ryder Cup and the football) so Sophie and I went out again to try and capture the sunset which was almost perfect, the glowing orb sinking slowly over the horizon while the sky and fluffy clouds turned peachy-pink. Then it was home to dinner and a glass or two of St Emilion, on special in Tesco!

Going solo...

Unfortunately, Sophie had no choice but to work tonight as we were busy with two parties and a Sleepover, so the gym had to be abandoned for one evening. I went home and tried to persuade Keith and Mikey to come for a walk with me but they were having none of it (the bloomin' Ryder Cup is on all weekend so Keith will be glued to the TV screen) so I went on my own!

And do you know what? I thoroughly enjoyed myself! Normally I would have taken Max the dog but he had probably already been for a walk so I set off at 4.30 and was back home just under an hour later, which I was mightily pleased with! It was great to be on my own for once and not having to worry about whether I was walking too fast or too slow. I enjoyed it so much I'll definitely be doing it again!

After I took hubby to the pub I picked Sophie up from work and then went home to watch "Ever Decreasing Circles", a sitcom from the 80s that I absolutely love!

The smells of Autumn

Thankfully, today has been a bit quieter and more enjoyable than yesterday and the weather (up until 3pm at least) has been glorious.

After work Keith, Sophie and I went off for a walk, despite the rain that fell as I drove home and which threatened to put us off. The fields and hedgerows smelled wonderful - damp, leafy and Autumnal - and made me realise how much I love this time of year. Sophie had borrowed one of the school cameras and took lots of photos of the ploughed fields, the trees and the changing colours of the landscape. The walk took longer than usual and as we neared home we waved to Mum and Dad who'd arranged to come around for a drink at 6pm to give Mikey a book on weight-lifting as a small pressie.

We shared a bottle of wine and had a good chat as the weather outside turned again, the sky morphing into a shade of orangey-grey while the rain drummed on the roof of the conservatory. We made it home just in time!

Messy day!

Today has been one of the days! Keith came into work with me first thing but then left to go home as Mikey was off school due to a heavy cold, poor thing. He is not a good patient!

At the height of the lunchtime rush I decided it would be a good idea to change the ink in our postal franking machine and managed to put the container in the wrong way around which meant it jammed. After fruitless efforts to free it (and ending up covering my hands in red ink) I called Pitney Bowes who, I'm sure, put me through to India. I have nothing against India but it makes it really difficult when the person on the other end of the phone is so far away and I can't hear them properly!

The man on the line tried to tell me what to do but I gave up to go and cover Reception for Polly and clear up a huge amount of sick that had just erupted from a baby at the bottom of the slide...I have to say there was more over his mother which was some consolation!

That dealt with I returned to the franking machine and by sheer brute force managed to yank the ink canister out and put it back in the right way. Was I glad when it started working properly! The alternative would have been a brand new machine and no doubt a hefty penalty to pay!

On the way back to work after picking Sophie up from school we noticed a man lurching around, falling over and not being able to get back up again. He looked drunk but equally he may have been ill or had a stroke. I drove back to work but then made the decision to go and see what had happened to him so we went back to where he was and saw that he was lying by the side of the road. Another couple of cars had also stopped so we all got out and approached him but he kept saying he was OK and not to call an ambulance. I think he may have been foreign. I was not happy about leaving him as he could have fallen into the road or hit his head so I called an ambulance and we went back to work. An hour later the ambulance service sent us a message saying that they couldn't find him so we don't know what happened to him. I only hope he got home safely.

Sophie and I spent the evening at the gym and had a very good workout followed by a swim and a spell in the spa. A blissful ending to a hectic day!

Mistaken identity!

Sometimes I feel like I make such an idiot of myself, when really it's not even my fault! Mum told me that this morning one of the girls who works for us at the weekend, Hannah, was coming in to see me and as we've been holding indvidual meetings recently I wasn't too surprised, despite this particular girl saying she couldn't come during the week!

Anyway, Polly popped in and said that Hannah was here but when the girl appeared she certainly wasn't the Hannah I was expecting! It turns out she was a friend of our weekend receptionist who'd come in for a job interview! She completely threw me which made me feel like a complete idiot! Of course, I hadn't prepared anything, and had actually taken out our Hannah's file as well!

To give myself a bit of space I handed her a job description and an application form (that I was going to send her in the post) and managed to pull myself together!

Luckily the rest of the day went a lot more smoothly and Sophie and I went home, me to do some exercises on the Wii and her to complete a mound of homework. We had planned to go for a walk and capture some changing Autumnal leaves but the weather turned very wet and blustery so we postponed it until later in the week and just enjoyed watching the wild wind out of the window!

Birthday celebrations!

Having a birthday on a wet, windy and dismal Monday morning is not a good idea! Keith managed to open his presents and cards before we all flew off to start our week and then came into work with me where I kept him and Ian very busy with lots of jobs!

We almost had a repeat of last Monday as the electrician was in again and the carpet fitter finished the job he started last week. Lots of cleaning was done and then it was off to the gym for Sophie and me after work but we had a meal out to look forward to tonight as I'd managed to persuade Keith to go out to celebrate.

We had a lovely meal at the pub which was very quiet indeed (just how I like it, to be honest!). The children had chicken wings to start while I tucked into a gorgeous local pate with lots of buttery toast (diet is off tonight). For a main course I enjoyed a rump steak with all the trimmings and Keith had an absolute whale of a fish on his plate which even he struggled to finish! I think he had a good Birthday!

Brrrr!

Well, summer disappeared completely today and it's been cold, wet and windy! I woke up with a bit of a headache but that didn't stop Sophie and I from going off to the gym and despite the hangover, I did quite a bit! It was bliss to sink into the heated spa afterwards though!

After the gym we made a quick visit to a nearby garden centre that's more like a department store to get Keith a couple of presents for his Birthday tomorrow and then it was home to doze on the sofa and watch the rain and the wind from the comfort of our warm living room!

Out of our comfort zone!

Tonight my parents hosted our Wine Evening and the theme was wines from different countries such as Greece, Germany, Portugal etc. The banned list consisted of France, Spain, Italy, the USA, South Africa, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand and Australia.

Eight of us walked up in the dusky evening (it's really quite dark by 7.30pm now) and I was looking forward to seeing some different wines over the evening. Mum and Dad served cocktails to the ladies and beer to the men and then we settled down to taste some wines. Amazingly, we had three Greek whites, one of which unfortunately was corked. The wine I chose, a white from Santorini at a whopping 14.5% was delicious so I may well be heading back to Waitrose to buy another bottle. One couple who had recently returned from Kefalonia bought a bottle of the local white which was also very good. We also had an English white wine which was crisp and fruity but I'm never convinced that our own wines deserve their hefty price tag!

After a break for some truly delicious food, we started on the reds, one of which was my Chinese wine, which was surprisingly good! The other reds included two from Lebanon and a Hungarian wine that was on the tannic side.

As it's Keith's birthday on Monday Mum and Dad gave him a big gooey chocolate cake and we served the last wine of the evening with that, a Hungarian dessert wine which was gorgeous, and this actually won overall!

It was a great evening but I have to say I was a wee bit disappointed with the wines. Now I think I know why we tend to buy our wines from the "banned" list. They really do produce crowd pleasers!

My 1000th Blog post!

Well, this is my 1000th blog post and here's to the next 1000 posts! I've really enjoyed jotting down what I do every day, my musings (sometimes) and my photos. There hasn't been a lot of stories lately, but hopefully I will write more soon!

Back to work!

Back at work today I managed to catch up on a lot of things that I'd had to leave earlier in the week so it felt satisfying to work through my "To Do" list and tick off some onerous tasks!

The weather is cooling down considerably now and it's becoming dark between 7-7.30pm so summer is most definitely over. After work Keith and I went for a walk and I found it extremely easy again! The fields were all ploughed, the deep furrows looking like crumbled chocolate. We had a good chat and when I got home I treated myself to a glass or two of Californian Pinot Noir while Keith watched Newcastle play in Madeira. Now that's somewhere I'd like to be right now!

Tomorrow it will be my 1000th post! Bring it on!

Another jolly!

We don't seem to have spent much time at work this week as today we went off to the NEC in Birmingham for the Leisure Industry Week trade show. We were really hoping to see a new bouncy castle to buy but our part of the show was very small indeed, and the show itself was much reduced from previous years, although the sport and fitness section was well attended.

We had a wander around and after lunch went to one of the PPA talks called "The Magic of the Mouse" which, as the name suggests, was about adapting the phenomenal success of Disney to our own businesses. It was a very interesting talk and we did take some tips back to work with us.

By 2pm we'd seen all we wanted to see and headed home in time to pick Sophie up from school. On the way we were amazed to see a fly-by of a Vulcan Bomber over Pitsford Reservoir which Dad thought was fantastic!

Sophie and I went to the gym much later today, after 7pm, as we thought it might be quieter...how wrong we were! It was packed but by the time we went down to swim it had emptied out considerably so we swam ten lengths then relaxed in the spa. Brilliant for relaxing just before bed!

Off down south

Today was a Granny visiting day as my Nan had an eye test booked and needed Mum and I to get her into town in a wheelchair.

We had a very good journey down to Kent (the M25 is a dream at the moment) and after a quick sandwich for lunch (no biscuits!) we helped Nan into the car and drove into town. While she was having her eyes tested we went and did a bit of shopping, then had a coffee so when we got back to Specsavers we had been gone about half an hour, but she was waiting for us with a very annoyed look!

"Where have you been?" she demanded and all the other customers who were sitting waiting sniggered!

Nan was then fitted for a pair of bi-focals (this could have been done while she was waiting!) and then it was back to her flat where we made her a much-needed cup of tea! Job done!

The journey home was fab and by 7pm I was chatting to Keith in the kitchen with a glass of wine as he finished dinner!

Manic Monday!

It was certainly all happening at work today! We had the electricians in doing some essential work, a carpet fitter laying down new flooring under the framework, our burglar alarm company in to do their six monthly check and our pest control man who comes in every three months to check on our rodent traps!

Keith and Ian were also in and working through the long list of jobs I'd given them and with the phones ringing it was all very busy indeed! To make it all worse, our coffee machine was refusing to dispense any coffee, so needing a fix of caffeine desperately, I drove over to a local garage and bought three lattes and some pastries to keep us going throughout the morning!

I volunteered to do the bank run and bought lunch for all of us while I was out. The afternoon was spent tidying up the car park and then hoovering up all the dust that the electricians had dislodged! After picking up Sophie it was time for the gym and although I was a wee bit weary I did my usual workout and then went thankfully home to have a long hot bath! Bliss!

Lazy Sunday afternoon!

We're starting to get into a routine now with the gym so after having an early breakfast we did our workout, had a swim and a dip in the jacuzzi and then had lunch before heading home for a lazy afternoon.

The evenings are certainly getting darker much earlier now so walking the cats has come to an end for a while. Having said that, before we know it, the days will soon be lengthening out again so I'm not too worried!

Another busy Saturday

Today I had a hair appointment (the ends of my locks are a bit ratty) and I'd made it for 12.15, just after Sophie is supposed to start work. Only she wasn't working today...

We both went off into town, I had my tresses chopped by two inches and then we drove all the way over to Market Harborough as Sophie refused to go into Northampton town. I can't say I blame her for that, though! After mooching around MH (I tried on a pair of trousers a size smaller than I normally wear in Monsoon and they were loose on me!) we went back home, picked up our gym bags and headed off to Virgin for a swim. It was a little bit busier than last week, but Mum and Dad were there so we did a few lengths (I did considerably more than my daughter who really does not like swimming) and then relaxed in the spa.

After getting home I dumped my swimsuit and towel in the washing machine and headed off to the pub to meet Keith, ordering a Chinese takeaway for us all on the way. It's Saturday...time for a treat! Keith and I spent an exceedingly pleasant hour in the pub and then it was home to devour dinner. I was super hungry!

Another week speeds by!

I can't believe that Friday has rolled around again! This week has flown by! It was our last day of cleaning, thank goodness, and work passed uneventfully.

Sophie and I went off to the gym at 4pm and did our workout before relaxing in the spa. Thankfully there were no fire alarms this evening and when we got home I did a quick body test in the Wii to find out I'd lost 4lbs since last going on there, which pleased me very much! I know I've lost weight as my clothes are becoming looser so all this exercise and cutting out sugary foods is certainly paying off!

I spent a very pleasant evening watching "Jane Eyre" starring Michael Fassbender who was very good indeed as Mr Rochester!

Bunking off early...

Mum and I finished work early today which was nice. The weather's been warm and sunny so we grabbed the opportunity and ran!

I wanted to get home a bit earlier as I'd planned on going for a walk, which is what we did. Keith wasn't keen but we dragged him out anyway and did the full walk, even taking in the sheep field rather than taking the short cut, like we normally do. The sheep seem very bemused when we walk through their field and stand their ground for quite a while until we get very close. I just want to stroke them but they run off at the last minute!

Back home we had a Tesco Finest meal for dinner and I counted nine vegetables to accompany it! No-one can accuse us of not eating healthily tonight!

Just a little bit mad!

I had a bit of a shock this morning when I drove into our car park and discovered that the people we sub-let part of the building to had been burgled. The thieves had taken a sledgehammer to the walls after first peeling back our beautiful new cladding, not once but twice. After the amount of work needed to punch two holes into the building they escaped with nothing which was a relief, at least. It does mean though, that we'll have to claim for the damage on our insurance which will no doubt bump up our claim next year!

 As our cleaner is on holiday this week we had to do the cleaning and then it all went a bit mad with deliveries coming in, customers queuing to come in the minute we opened and Keith and Ian finishing off the shelf in the kitchen. To add to the mayhem our cook was late in so we were rushing about like headless chickens! I'm just glad Mum and Dad stayed after we'd finished the cleaning!

In the afternoon, as an antidote to the bedlam of the morning Keith and I drove over to Waitrose in Rushden to source some more weird and wonderful wine. I was determined to find the Indian wine I'd read about but alas, there was none so instead I settled for a white wine from Santorini which was a mind-blowing 14.5% alcohol! I'm really looking forward to trying that!

We had lunch in Waitrose - delicious egg sandwiches - then it was back to work and time to pick up Sophie from school. We went off to the gym and worked hard (I did 15 minutes on the cross trainer tonight!) and then relaxed in the sauna and the jacuzzi. For some reason I decided not to get a shower this evening after being in the water and just got changed and was I glad I did as two minutes after I dressed the fire alarms went off! Nothing happened at first and then one of the staff members came into the changing room and told us to evacuate. I just felt so sorry for the people in the showers or the pool as we all had to leave the building and it was pouring with rain!

What an end to a very interesting day!

Manic!

We've had a manic day at work today and it was all little ones coming in to play! The three of us had to help out at lunchtime!

After work Keith and I went for a lovely walk and I have to say that there was a definite chill in the air! Autumn is certainly here. We walked for an hour and both of us felt great which was brilliant. It looks like all the gym work is paying off for me and Keith's hip gave him no pain at all, so he was very pleased.

I really felt as if I deserved my glass of wine tonight!

Cleaning!

Today has been the first Monday we've closed for what seems like ages so we had lots of cleaning to catch up with. Keith came into work with me and helped Ian, our handyman, put up a new shelf in the kitchen while Mum, Dad and I cleaned all the framework and four of the tube slides. They were very dusty and Dad said that we could easily have grown potatoes on them! The culmination of seven weeks of children playing!

We worked steadily until 3pm and after I'd picked up Sophie from school we headed to the gym but tonight both of us didn't feel like doing a full workout so we did our weights and I did twelve minutes on the cross-trainer (a record for me) where I had a very good view of the pool. Watching the swimmers power up and down certainly made the time go fast!

Keith woke me up at 6am this morning to see if I wanted to take Sophie out to photograph the sunrise. It would have been a better idea to have woken her first as she refused to get up when he went into her bedroom!

I tried to go back to sleep but in the end I got up and made myself a cup of coffee and enjoyed the beautiful morning that promised to turn into another gorgeous day.

After the lazy start Sophie and I went off to the gym and had a very good workout, followed by a swim and a dip in the jacuzzi. We even had lunch at the gym by which time it was almost empty - a great time to come!

I have to confess that when I got home I sat in the garden with Keith for half an hour and then had a long snooze on the sofa while he watched our local Rugby team play on Sky Sports. I think I deserved it!

At 7pm Sophie and I went off in search of another sunset but the sky was very cloudy and although Soph took some pictures the bright orange sun disappeared behind two big clouds so we called it a day and went home to eat Keith's delicious curry!

Blissful Saturday!

Today has been a really lovely day. I was awake very early at 6am so I went downstairs and watched the film "One Day" starring Anne Hathaway with a cup of coffee, which was a great beginning to the weekend.

After breakfast (and to work off my sausage sandwich) I changed our bed (always a major operation) and then washed my dirty little car. This is always a great opportunity for chats with the neighbours so Keith and I caught up with Gill from next door, Jenny whose daughter, Laura, had just passed her driving test and Liam who was walking Max.

Unfortunately Sophie had to go back to work today so we dropped her off and then Keith and I went to Waitrose to hunt for Indian and Chinese wines for the Wine Evening. We searched high and low for the wines and in the end I asked an assistant who found some Chinese red for me. Although I'd heard about Waitrose stocking Indian wines I couldn't find any at all so I bought an Austrian white which will do for now but I'm still on the hunt!

From Waitrose we drove to Booker to buy some more chicken as the chicken we'd defrosted this morning for our dinner on Sunday evening smelt rather bad...we're not sure whether it was because it was left in the car last weekend so we decided not to risk it!

On the way home Keith suggested a drink in the local pub and who am I to say no? I was half way through my drink when the phone rang and it was Sophie asking me to go and pick her up from work as they didn't need her. Grrrr! I left Keith in the pub, sped over to get her and then brought her back for a quick drink before we went home.

We had a quick sandwich and a sit down before we were off again to the gym to meet Mum and Dad who were just getting in the pool when we arrived. We only wanted to swim and luckily the pool was almost empty. Perfect!

I swam for half an hour and it seemed like I worked harder than I do upstairs on the treadmill! I am not a fast swimmer at all, unlike Liam who arrived shortly after us and powered up and down extremely quickly, but I swam steadily and I could feel my heart pumping away so that was good! I finished off my session with Sophie and Mum in the spa (also empty) so it was a very relaxing visit today. I think we will come at this time again as there were no swimming lessons on at all and no screaming children!

Back home Sophie dragged us out as she wanted to try and capture the sunset with her borrowed camera. Keith came with us leaving Mikey at home once again, although I think he enjoyed having the house to himself. We drove to a vantage point I'd noted a few weeks earlier and although we were a bit early Sophie did take some lovely photos. At one point a man drove by in an old Morris Minor so Sophie took a photo of the car and we chatted to the driver who was on the lookout for an old steam engine that we'd passed on the road as he wanted to take some photos of it himself. How lovely to strike up a conversation like that, with a complete stranger, because of a shared interest in photography!

We stayed watching the sunset and enjoying the gorgeous scenery for half an hour and then headed home to barbecued beefburgers, a good glass of Californian Pinot Noir and the knowledge that our own Andy Murray is through to the finals of the US Open! Hooray!

Friday...at last!

Today has been another scorcher and it's set to get hotter over the weeekend. I'm sure all the parents who struggled to keep their children amused in the wet summer holidays are really happy by this hot weather now!

I picked Sophie up from school and she was bubbling over with enthusiasm as her photography teacher had lent her a beautiful Nikon camera to take photos over the weekend for her homework. She has to take at least 24 shots of a transformation so she was talking about getting up early to capture the sunrise... Er, I don't think so!

Sophie and I went off to the gym and had a very good workout. Again, the pool area was busy with swimming lessons so we just relaxed in the spa afterwards and said hello to Liam who was enjoying the sauna. He told me he was really looking forward to the forthcoming Wine Evening as I've set them all a challenge to find wines for different countries. Hopefully it will be very interesting!

In the changing rooms we bumped into Sarah, Liam's wife, who had just arrived so we chatted about exam results (they have a daughter the same age as Sophie) and how Hannah was getting on at her new school. It's all change!

Going on a jolly!

As we were quiet again at work today, Mum and I had a jolly to Ikea in Milton Keynes, something we haven't been able to do for ages! We were looking for stuff for work so it wasn't completely self-indulgent but we did have lunch there and a good look around, buying another new rug for the Tots area, some plates for the restaurant and a little play-tunnel which should amuse the wee ones.

When we picked Sophie up from school we then headed off to a local wholesaler's as Sophie needed some folders for school - again she has to provide all the things she needs. They are treated much more like adults and she has several free periods during the week where she can sit in the common room and drink hot chocolate! I wish I was back at school again!

Unfortunately, after our little shopping trip we had to pick Mikey up from school as he had been in isolation all day, because of a misdemeanour last term. I personally didn't think being kept away from the other children all day was punishment enough but that's the policy of the school. I think he should have been kept behind every afternoon after school, but then it would have been a punishment for me as I would have had to pick him up every day!

In the evening I went out with my three friends I used to work with, Lynda, Fiona Andrea. Both Fion and Andrea have girls the same age as Sophie so we compared notes on exam results and talked about holidays. We had a very pleasant evening at the Chinese restaurant we went to the other week and as usual, ate far too much!

Back to normal

Sophie and Mikey started back to school today and as Soph is now in Sixth Form she is no longer entitled to a free bus pass. It would have cost us £600 a year which I think is outrageous, especially as the area around the school at the start and the end of the day is completely congested. We made the decision to take her to school as it's on my way into work anyway, but this morning was a bit of a shock because of the traffic and the fact that I am now tied to this schedule every day.

She'd arranged to meet two of her friends so we waited for them and then I sped into work, which luckily only took five minutes on clear roads. I'm not sure I like arriving half an hour later than I usually do, though, so I may ask Keith to do a couple of journeys a week!

Mum and Dad took today off so Keith came in with me and what a difference a week makes! The weather today has been gorgeous and it's set to remain like this for another few days. Typical!

After work we arranged to meet Mum and Dad at the gym and we had another shock there as it was packed out, mainly with children having swimming lessons so we didn't venture into the pool, but had a very relaxing time in the spa after our workout!

Last day of freedom (for the kids!)

Phew, they're almost over and the school holidays certainly went out with a whimper, rather than a bang! It's been another dry day although it clouded over at lunchtime and I thought we were going to have a storm - no such luck!

After work I went out and tidied our front garden which needed weeding and the verge cutting. Keith cut down some of a large conifer that has grown like a mad thing over the summer and in fact at one point I did think we were going to lose it as it looked so poorly. It's amazing what a summer of rain can do!

Susie arrived at 6.30pm as she and Sophie were off to a Chinese restaurant for a final meal before the holidays ended. I took them both and then came home and had a very simple dinner of soup and rolls with Keith. I'm trying really hard to cut down on the sugary foods and for two nights I haven't even had a glass of wine!

An active family!

We now only have two days left of the summer school holidays and I can honestly say that they've flown by. As the weather was lovely today we were pretty quiet but that suited me fine after the busy days of last week!

Sophie came in to cover over lunchtime but by 4pm we were all finished so we headed to the gym. We had a good workout and said hello to Liam, a friend from next door, who also goes to the gym. We chatted about his recent holiday and then Sophie and I had a shower (no swimming for us today) and went home to find Mikey on the Wii doing some exercise as well! We are an active family at the moment!

A little shopping trip

We were a bit overdue a shopping trip so today Sophie, Mum and I went over to Milton Keynes, had lunch at Caffe Italia and then hit the shops. Sophie needed a new bag for school while I wanted some new tee-shirts for the gym.

Sophie soon found what she wanted in River Island and also spotted a new jacket which her doting Nan paid for, much to my bemusement. We had a slight tiff in the shop as Sophie can certainly spend her money and I always come over as the moany mum as I'm looking ahead to things she's going to need and want such as driving lessons next year and a little runabout! Hmmm!

I never managed to get any tee-shirts. I had a look in M&S but they were all very boring so I returned home bagless. After a cup of tea at Mum's we went home and I made up for it a little by buying some Californian Pinot Noir from the Tesco Wine Club and then ordering the film "Sideways" which I love. I can now watch the film and drink the wine at the same time!

Weekend relaxation.

After a lazy start to the day Sophie and I went off to the gym and worked hard for an hour before going for a swim and then having lunch in the cafe. Very relaxing and civilised if I may say so!

The rest of the day was spent doing some family tree research and lazing around the house, which is just how
 weekends should be! We had a delicious dinner in the evening followed by the film "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" which was enjoyable escapism, if nothing else.

After the film, we managed to catch a Top of the Pops special called "School Days" to coincide with the return next week. The songs brought back many memories and even the children enjoyed listening to some of them, including Busted!