Dinner disaster!

Today has been very busy and despite Keith and I being in and out (almost constantly it seemed!) we have not seen our new neighbours. I had just had a shower when Sue popped over to, ahem, lend me a book on bread making, but we all know she really came over to see if we had any gossip, bless her! I couldn't give her any! Bailey ate all the cat food, we had a quick chat and then I carried on getting ready to go to Meerkat Harborough with Sophie.

I thought today was mild but we received a shock when we got out of the car and walked into the town! Market Harborough is always windy but today it was really blustery and it was a relief to go into Caffe Nero and have a drink and a cake. Afterwards, while Sophie made her usual visit to New Look I went into Tesco to buy a Birthday cake for Mikey (he'll be 14 tomorrow) and to get some flour as I intend to bake some bread this weekend.

The main point of coming to the town today was to go and see Duncan who was hosting a Burns Night whisky tasting. He had said on Facebook that if you turned up wearing something tartan then you'd get a bigger measure! We obviously made for the Edinburgh Woollen Mill where I managed to bag a Campbell tartan scarf that actually went well with the top I was wearing!

I thought the shop would be busy with people sampling some fine Scottish whiskies but it was pleasantly quiet and we spent a very agreeable half hour tasting (despite the tartan I asked for a small measure as I was driving) and chatting to Duncan and Nick. Duncan had entered into the spirit of things by wearing a kilt and he looked great!

Duncan!

I bought a bottle of Highland Park whisky from Orkney with my Birthday money. Of the three I tried it was the most delicious being slightly peaty and sweet. Strangely enough, I'm now a convert to having a tiny drop of water added to it. The water really brings out the aromas and softens the taste. I also treated myself to one of Duncan's gorgeous red wines, the Chateau du Donjon which is a whopping 14.5% alcohol!

We popped back to the car with our purchases and then walked over to the Joules shop as I wanted another bottle of body wash (Sue had bought me one and I love the fragrance and frothy bubbles) but the shop was closed for refurbishment. Deciding to call it a day we drove home (via Waitrose and Draughton) and I'm glad we did as about twenty minutes after we arrived we had the most violent thunderstorm with torrential rain, hail and strong winds. We saw flashes of lightening and heard booms of thunder which was really strange as I don't think I've ever witnessed a storm like that in winter.

This morning Keith had had a bet using £20 worth of vouchers that Mum and Dad had given him for Christmas. He'd managed to turn the £20 into just over £50 so he was very pleased! We popped over to the shop to claim the money and we were amazed to see trees down just outside Walgrave. There was debris all over the road and a man was cutting the branches up. I'm just glad we weren't driving in the storm! To compensate though, there was the most beautiful sunset and the sky was a mixture of peaches, greys and pinks. I couldn't capture any of it on my camera, though, as I was driving!

In the evening we'd planned on going to the Toby Carvery in Northampton to celebrate Mikey's Birthday (his decision, no idea why) but I hadn't booked a table as I thought that we'd just be able to walk in and be seated, even if it meant waiting a little while. However, when we arrived the place looked very busy and we were told (eventually) by a very harried front of house man that there was a thirty minute wait and after that he couldn't guarantee that he'd have any beef or turkey left! What! This is a carvery, for heaven's sake!

We would have been more than happy to wait half an hour but to be told there'd be no meat was ridiculous so we left and drove to the Oriental Paradise in Billing. This restaurant was heaving as well and they had no tables at all. I was beginning to feel very guilty now as I knew I should have booked a table at the Carvery but Mikey didn't seem to mind that his evening was in danger of being ruined. We made one last attempt at dining out by driving to Buddies near Junction 15 of the M1 but they were packed with people so we sat in the services and rang Lee's Express in Brixworth for a Chinese takeaway! Not really what we had planned but Mikey seemed quite happy!

By the time we got back to Brixworth I'd been driving for an hour and I was longing to get home and have something to eat and drink. We'd never been to the actual premises before - they're on an industrial estate on the outskirts of the village - and were amazed to see a long convoy of gritter lorries from the nearby depot making their way out into the night. Maybe it was a good thing we were headed home!