A bad decision!

Luckily Sophie felt a lot better this morning and I really needed her to feel well as the forecast was for rain and I knew we'd be busy at work.

We awoke to grey skies and by the time we were driving into work the rain had started in earnest. Sophie and I did the tills and opened up as Mum and Dad had to go to Booker to get a few bits. At 10am we went to the doctor's as Sophie needed another blood test: to check her thyroid levels and Vitamin D.

On the way back to work it was really chucking it down and I expected to see masses of customers at work. It was a bit of a surprise, therefore, to see the car park only half full but that was soon to change!

Sophie started work in the kitchen with Maureen immediately and at first things seemed pretty calm. However, by 11.30am we were flooded with customers and I had to man the till while Sophie helped Maureen to cook all the orders. I hadn't been on the till for a while and I was astounded by some of the demands from our customers! How Sophie puts up with it at the weekend, I'll never know! We had the "Excuse Me" customers in today, those who refuse to queue up but hover by the till and demand napkins, extra sachets of sauce, spoons, change, etc, without bothering to wait and oblivious to the fact that we're working flat out and trying our best to cook all the orders and serve people waiting patiently.

It was a hectic, demanding day and we really could have done with at least three more members of staff to come in and help, but they were all refusing to answer texts or phone calls!

I was just glad it was the last day of the school holidays as the noise levels were tremendous and the mess was just as it always is...terrible!

Sophie and I managed to escape at 5.30pm but I had a list in my bag of stuff that we desperately needed from Booker so I was planning to go on Saturday morning. We went home, had a quick shower and then Keith and I went out for a drink. He'd called Dave to cancel his usual Friday evening session and we decided to go to the pub in Old as it was so convenient. However, this proved to be a bad decision!

As soon as we entered the pub I knew we should have gone to Clipston (a pub we'd talked about going to), but it was too late to turn around and walk out. There were three children running wild in the pub, screeching and yelling and ramming toy trucks along one of the low tables. The noise was unbelievable.

Keith ordered a pint of beer but it looked like a bad sample of urine. It was cloudy, with bits floating in it, and looked thoroughly unappetising. As we stood at the bar I said to Keith that I couldn't stand the noise, having suffered children's screams all day and I don't know whether the woman sitting at the bar heard me as she turned to me and "apologised" for her grandchildren.

"They're letting off steam," she said indulgently as her charges carried on yelling and running the toys trucks up and down the table. The noise was so loud I couldn't hear Keith speak to me. We sat in our window seats for five minutes but the noise was so bad we were forced out of the pub and across the road where we sat at a picnic table in the sun, relishing the peace and quiet and watching one of the Red Kites being chased by a couple of crows.

We left our glasses on the table and drove over to Clipston. Years ago this used to be one of our favourite pubs as the Landlord was a huge whisky fan and he stocked over 300 different types of the Scottish tipple. It changed hands a while ago and went downhill, but was now back to being popular and we couldn't find a space in the car park!

Keith's beer was much better and I had a half of Titanic Stout as we sat and relaxed. OK, there were children here but at least they were well-behaved and sitting quietly! After our first drink we moved to the bar and had one more before leaving and going home to prepare the dinner. On the way we saw a beautiful little Muntjac deer who panicked when we drove past and dived into a gap in the hedgerow! Seeing him made our night!