Feeling drained...

After our lovely relaxing evening I thought I would sleep well, but I had a terrible night and Sophie did too. She was awake until almost 3am and came into bed with me after going downstairs for a while. I felt like I was awake most of the night so when it came time to get up I felt shattered. Not a good day to be tired as I was expecting Georgie, the new manager, and we had nearly 60 children in for another school visit. Plus, Sophie was covering for Polly and there was a chance we'd be at work until the bitter end!

I got on extremely well with Georgie and we spent the morning going over everything to do with the business and I showed him around and introduced him to Maureen and Ricky who had come in to help cook for the school visit. He left at midday and by 3pm we had shut as we had no customers in. Keith and I had gone to Booker to get a few bits and we came back to find Dad turning away a family, but as he said, it just wasn't worth staying open for another three hours for just a couple of children!

We scooted home and I changed into shorts and sat in front of the fan as it was very hot by now - it was showing 32c briefly at one point -  and I have to confess to having a short nap to try and reclaim some of the lost sleep! Afterwards I felt a lot better and we sat in the garden with a cold beer (well, I did, Keith stuck to water as he was driving Mike to Army Cadets) and enjoyed a lovely cool breeze.

After dinner we wandered over to a neighbour's garden to water the plants (they're off on holiday) and sat and drank in the beautiful views they have. There was a gorgeous breeze and Monty came over with us and had a good nose around in the bushes, miaowing at us all time time as if he were talking! An almost full moon hung low in the sky and all we could hear was the twittering of birds and a distant miaow from Monty! Another relaxing end to a busy day!

Important meetings...

I felt a little nervous today as the buyers were coming in for a meeting and we wanted to ask if we could delay the completion date by a week so that Mum and Dad will have returned from holiday.

Four of them came in at 10am, just half an hour before we had a school visit. Sophie was in charge today, helped by Mum, while Dad and I sat in the meeting. By the time I'd got back to the table with coffee and tea for everyone, it had been agreed to delay until Monday 13 July which gives us an extra week.

We had a good meeting and the new manager arranged to come in on Tuesday to work with me for a few hours to start learning all about the business. The HR woman for the buyers took away all our staff information and another man who dealt with marketing quizzed me on the website and the Facebook page we have. After they left I supervised the children on the playframe, along with the teachers who were very good at making sure their charges weren't being silly, and then went off to the bank and Tesco to buy lunch.

The school left at 2pm and we cleared up although there wasn't that much to do. We were able to head home at 3.30pm and I hoovered all downstairs at home and dusted the living room as I couldn't stand the bits on the carpet and the dusty shelves any longer! Keith took Mike for a haircut and I sat and watched Downton Abbey until they got back which was bliss and very cool with all the windows open to catch the late afternoon breeze.

Keith and I went out for a drink after he got back with Mike and we headed to The Griffin at Pitsford as our first choice, the Whyte Melville in Boughton, was closed. We were glad we'd picked the pub as it was very quiet and we had a chat with some real characters who were regulars in the pub. It was lovely to relax after our busy day and enjoy a drink and a laugh with people we'd never spoken to before. It made for a lovely end to the day!

It's curtains!

My ankle felt a little better today so I managed to get out and about! We took Sophie in to work again and tried to persuade Mikey to go with her as the weather was rainy and grey and I knew we would be busier than yesterday. He refused so I resolved to take him off the payroll when I go back into work next week!

In the afternoon I went to BHS with Mum and found some beautiful curtains in the sale, that would be perfect for the living room. They had shades of grey, cream and champagne so now I can look at paint to match the colours. We had a cup of tea in the store then mooched over to Homesense where we had a good look around, but thankfully I wasn't tempted by anything else!

On the way home I picked up Sophie from work and she told me she didn't like the curtains at all. That's hardly surprising as everything we do at the moment is wrong! When we got home and I put them against the sofa they looked lovely so I'm not going to take them back!

The weather improved in the afternoon and the sun came out so we sat in the garden for a little while with a glass of white wine. Bliss!

Resting up...

True to my word I tried to spend as much of today as I could resting my sore ankle. It helped that the weather was fine and sunny so Keith and I did spend some time in the garden in between running Sophie to work and Mike to a party that had been cancelled at the last minute...

Keith did all the driving as I don't think that helps much! We took Soph in to work, came home and relaxed before going back to Moulton to take Mike to a party. It was due to start at 3pm but when we dropped him off we waited to make sure it was going ahead. We're so glad we did as apparently the party had been cancelled so he came home with us instead. Another party he was due to go to in the evening had also been mysteriously postponed (I'm not sure we had the full story with all this!) so we decided to go to the pub in the evening before dinner.

Sophie wasn't keen on accompanying us so just Keith, Mike and myself drove up to The White Horse and sat in the garden over a few drinks. The previously blue skies had turned a bit cloudy but it was still warm and there were several other people enjoying the decking, including the couple who were renting Sarah and Liam's house next door.

We had just two drinks and the returned home to a dinner of sweet and sour chicken, planned especially as Mike doesn't like it. It was a good job we had an alternative we could offer him!

Getting ready...

I spent the morning at work preparing things for the upcoming completion. We haven't been given a lot of time and my parents will be away when it all goes through. Not the ideal time!

It was also Polly's last day at work as she goes away to Greece on Saturday so she was a bit emotional when she said goodbye to my parents. Who knows whether we'll still be here when she returns in mid July?

Sophie went off with her friend Daisy to Beckworth Emporium this morning as they'd planned to have breakfast there. I picked her up at 2pm from Daisy's house and we popped to Booker to get Maureen some bits before heading home. Today has been warm and muggy with overcast skies and shortly after we got home it started to rain.

My ankle is still very sore indeed so I decided to try and rest it tomorrow in an effort to make it better. After work my whole foot was swollen and tender so taking time out on Saturday to put it up seems like the best idea at the moment!

Enjoying the summer...

We finally had notification of our completion date for the sale today - Monday 6 July, although I'm still not convinced this is when it will happen!

Keith and I took some time out in the early evening to go for a drink at The White Horse in Old. We sat in the garden as it was beautiful and sunny and it was bliss to relax for a little while and soak up the sun. The people who own the pub have made the garden area a really lovely and welcoming place, with picnic tables, pots of herbs and even a corner sofa to relax on. With views of the church next door it's a great place to sit and sip a drink and chat.

Our peace was shattered by a couple who arrived in an old open-topped sports car and who then joined us on the decking where they proceeded to have a loud mobile telephone conversation involving lawyers...why they felt the need to do this in a pub garden and not in the privacy of their own home or office is beyond me...! Thankfully, soon after almost shouting into the device they left which was a blessed relief!

Keith and I went home to get dinner ready and I carried on my enjoyment of the summer evening by joining Sophie and Monty in the garden. Bliss!

Saying no...

Apart from a few grunts this morning Mike appeared fine after his hayfever bout last night. However, at work, when I was down in the kitchen chatting to Maureen about her holiday, Keith came and handed me my mobile phone as the school were calling me...

I took the call and learnt that Mike was complaining of a bad back again. This happened last Wednesday and after collecting him from school he was absolutely fine so today I refused to go and pick him up. I told the staff member to tell him to go and do some revision for his exams in the library instead! I didn't feel in the slightest bit guilty as I knew my son was just trying it on again!

We were very quiet at work today (it was a good job Sophie stayed at home) and after buying a length of velcro for the mats at work and fitting the strips, we headed home. My ankle was throbbing with pain (probably because I wasn't wearing supportive shoes) so I spent the rest of the afternoon with my foot propped on our new banquette in the hope that the pain would go away.

Later in the evening Keith and I went to look at the skies as we were supposed to be able to see a display of the Aurora Borealis if we looked to the north. All we saw were bats and some interesting cloud shapes...typical!

The longest day...

As Maureen was still away on holiday today, Sophie came in to cover Reception while Polly cooked. My daughter was really not in the mood to be at work today and charged a customer £48,000 to come in...oh, that it were true!

We were at work until the very bitter end today and it was bitter! We had an impromptu party arrive and the children were very badly behaved - screaming around the seating area on the little didi cars and trying to break our fluorescent lights by throwing footballs at them. We turned everything off at 6pm but they still refused to budge. Typical!

It was such a relief when they finally left and we could escape. We gave Polly a lift and then drove home where we decided to go to The Lamplighter once we'd taken Mike to Army Cadets. He was in a field this evening next to where he usually goes and we saw three hot air balloons in the distance, which looked lovely just hovering in the sky.

As usual, we had a very pleasant meal and a chat in the pub and all too soon it was time to go back and collect Mike. It was a beautiful evening and we sat and waited for them all to finish their exercises in the car, not daring to go and lean on the gate to watch them!

When Mike returned his eyes were all swollen and he said he was finding it difficult to breathe... Now. Mike can be a bit of a drama queen so we didn't take much notice of the breathing bit, but his eyes were puffed up so I gave him an antihistamine tablet and he went to have a bath. No doubt he will try and get out of going to school tomorrow!

Bunking off...

None of us really felt like doing lots of cleaning today at work - all this hanging around and waiting for a completion date is really taking its toll on us now. It's so frustrating not knowing what's happening and having our futures decided by someone else. Dad called the Landlord's agents direct this afternoon to try and get some resolution on a problem we're having with the rent so hopefully with that sorted out things can start to move forward.

We all left work at 2.30pm and I went home to do very little, I have to confess. I didn't sleep well last night and Keith was tired as well, so we just relaxed before I made dinner in the evening. Keith complained of feeling a bit dizzy so he sat on a chair in the kitchen while I prepared Macaroni cheese.

After dinner we caught up with the latest episode of Humans and then watched the stunning documentary on Japan that ended tonight. I would love to visit the country!

Celebrating Dads!

The weather today has been much better with blue skies and white fluffy clouds. Sophie was working again today and before we dropped her off we popped to Booker to buy some cold meats for our evening meal. Mum and Dad were coming around in the evening as today is Father's Day and Keith had opened his presents and cards before we left home.

We'd bought him two books and a case of Owd Roger so he was very happy indeed! After dropping Sophie off I went home, made a Key Lime pie and then did some gardening. The front verge took me all of twenty seconds to mow and I had a chat with Tom who told me he'd arranged for one of his colleagues to come and repair the grill we have at the bottom of our driveway. It's a narrow drain but is full of soil and leaves and looks horrible. It's not the best of designs!

I also chatted to Sue so it was quite a sociable few minutes! Despite the rain of yesterday the soil was still very dry so I cut the grass and swept up along the road and that was it!

Keith joined me when I moved into the back garden and did a few jobs before we sat and enjoyed a cup of tea in the sun. Before I went to pick Sophie up I hoovered downstairs and set the table for dinner so it was lovely to relax in the bath before making the final preparations for dinner of cold meats, salad and quiche.

Mum and Dad arrived at 7.30pm and my father opened his present of a bottle of Talisker whisky. Hopefully, when we visit Scotland in August we can go to the distillery on Skye and have a tasting.

We had a lovely meal and a good laugh. The children were on good form and did their best to entertain my parents. As it grew darker the lights on the Jasmine bush lit up and then close to 10pm the bats came out to do their nightly swooping!

Paint job

Not much of note happened on Friday (except for watching a good film called Into The Storm in the evening with the kids) but on Saturday the weather changed and we had a day of rain and grey cloud. Typical!

Sophie worked on Saturday which meant that I decided to paint some of our downstairs doors which I'd been putting off for weeks. I managed to paint four and was really pleased with the results. I used a roller which certainly made things easier and quicker!

Mikey stayed at home all day so there were no trips to Brixworth at all. He has his mock GCSEs all next week so I think everyone was doing some revision over the weekend!

Soaking up the sun

At lunchtime I went home to pick up Keith as he was meeting his two ex-work mates at a pub in Northampton. Sophie also came with us and once I'd dropped him off we went to Riverside and had lunch in Costa Coffee within the Next store. My daughter treated me, which was lovely!

We went home a bit early as it was such a beautiful day and sat in the garden with the cats for a while. I thought I had plenty of time to do some jobs but all too soon it was time to drive back into Northampton to collect Keith. We found him sitting with his friends by the river and I could easily have sat there for a couple of hours soaking up the sunshine and enjoying a drink but my husband was keen to leave.

As soon as we got home he disappeared upstairs to "watch the golf" but within minutes he was snoozing and he never came back downstairs!

An encounter with dinosaurs...

Keith came into work with me this morning and cut the grass. I went out to help him sweep up and twisted my left ankle really badly, breaking a strap of my sandal in the process. At first I thought I'd got away with it, but later in the afternoon it was really painful to walk on it, which was a nuisance!

We also had Mikey in at work with us as he'd been sent home from school with his back again. He and Keith had lunch at work then they went home as there was no point in having Mike hanging around the office being bored.

Sophie and I went out and I bought another pair of shoes to wear for work and then we went home at 3pm as we had a big night out in front of us! We were off to Cineworld in Milton Keynes to see Jurassic World in 3D, but also in their 4DX cinema where the seats move and you get all kinds of special effects!

As my ankle was now very painful indeed, Keith offered to drive and we left home just before 4pm, battling our way through the already heavy traffic to get onto the M1. Luckily we had a smooth journey on the motorway and arrived at the huge Xscape complex with lots of time to spare. We chose a lovely little cafe for refreshments before we collected our tickets, bought our 3D glasses and took our seats in the 4DX cinema.

The seats were very comfortable, with foot rests and a button in the arm rest that turned off the water if you wanted! After the usual trailers and adverts, we were treated to a trailer in 4DX and experienced the new seats for the first time! You're literally thrown about in them (in tune with whatever's going on on the screen), have water sprayed at you, puffs of air shot at your ears and weird things happening to your feet!

We all thought Jurassic World was brilliant. It carries on from the original and the whole island is now a theme park with real dinosaurs roaming about. With the interactive seats it felt like we were flying over the island and when there was windy conditions on the screen, we also felt a wind blowing over us! There were quite a few shocks, surprises and downright scary moments and I enjoyed the whole experience immensely! I can't wait to go again!

After the film we walked (well, I limped) over to Bella Italia in the theatre district for dinner. The restaurant was virtually empty which was a bit of a shock and we sat near an open door as the evening was muggy. I have to say I wasn't impressed with my meal at all, which was a shame as I'd really been looking forward to eating there again. Sophie and I shared a garlic and mozzarella flatbread that I thought had no taste, plus some olives to go with it. Keith had chicken wings while Mike went for Italian style meatballs in a tomato sauce.

After all the traumas on screen I chose a Vodka and Lemonade to steady my nerves (!)  but that was very disappointing as well...I couldn't even taste the spirit and did wonder whether they'd put any in! Sophie and I had the same main course, my favourite dish, which was breaded chicken served with green beans and spaghetti, but again the whole meal was tasteless and my chicken was over-cooked and dry.

We skipped desserts and paid the bill, emerging into a grey and gloomy dusk to find it had been raining while we'd been eating. It carried on raining on the way home and we marvelled at the huge storm clouds that had built up while we'd been inside. At least I didn't have to water the garden before I went to bed!

Watching bats

Today has been exceedingly quiet at work as the weather has been warm and sunny. Why couldn't it have been like this at the weekend?

After work Sophie and I went for a walk down to the village and when we got  back I sat in the garden for a while with Monty, who is in disgrace again. On Sunday evening he was in Sophie's bedroom and he sprayed on her bedding...needless to say he's banned from the house again but as it's summer I don't think he minds. We just wonder why he keeps on doing it when we shout at him every time and chase him outside.

I took some photos of him:

Unfortunately I've stopped putting bird food out in the garden as we have been swamped with baby Starlings and all they do is mess everywhere, fight, squawk loudly and frighten off the little blue tits, sparrows and robins. Hopefully they will go off elsewhere and we can resume feeding the little birds in a few days.

After we got back from collecting Mike from Army Cadets, Keith and I poured ourselves a wee dram of Welsh whisky and sat in the garden to watch the bats. They fluttered about above us and one was very close, which was a bit scary!

Photo from a walk the other Sunday:

A brush with the law...

After school today I had to collect Mikey and take him to one of the police stations in Northampton...

A couple of weeks ago, when he was in Brixworth with some friends, they foolishly decided to start a fire in a derelict building. Two farmers caught them and demanded their names and addresses. The next night we had a visit from a very decent police officer who came into our house and had a chat with us and Mike about what had happened. He said that we would need to bring Mike down to a police station in Northampton for a formal interview as what they had done was classed as arson.

Naturally we were shocked and upset (although Mike had confessed the evening it had happened) but the police officer was very understanding and said that it was unlikely that he would have to go to court or end up with a conviction for what he'd, very stupidly, done.

So, this afternoon after school I collected a very nervous Mike and we drove into Northampton. We were early which pleased the police officer and we were led to an interview room where Mike was asked to give his version of events. Everything was recorded on tape and it was just like a crime drama on television. I fervently hoped that I would never have to set foot in the place again.

After the interview the police officer said that he wanted Mike to write a letter of apology to the owner of the building and then he would arrange for the three lads to pay a visit to the Fire station in Brixworth to learn about the consequences of starting fires and what could have happened to them if things had got out of hand. This was something that we talked about in the interview as the police officer said that things could have turned nasty.

We left with a feeling of relief and as soon as we got home Mike wrote his letter of apology. Both Keith and I hope that's he's learned his lesson from this as we definitely don't want any more dealings with the law!

Thwarted plans...

Today we'd planned on going to the South coast for the day, either Eastbourne or Brighton, but on waking this morning and having a look at the weather forecast, we decided to abandon our plans. The only area of the UK that was due some sunshine was the west and neither of us fancied going there as anywhere decent would have been too far away.

We let the kids stay in bed and went to get the Sunday papers and some sausages for a breakfast treat. The grey gloom of yesterday was still with us but the rain had stopped, which was something, I suppose!

Sophie and I decided to go to a rustic garden centre in Leicestershire at lunchtime and on the way I filled the car with diesel in Market Harborough and then programmed Gladys to take us to the village of Cotesbach, about half an hour away.

I vaguely knew the way but our SatNav wanted me to head back towards Northampton for some reason! I ignored her and for most of our drive on the A4304 towards Lutterworth she kept shrieking at me to go back. In the end I was forced to turn her off as when we got to the M1 she told me get on it and head south even though the village was about two miles away, on the other side of the motorway!

The car park was busy when we arrived and we had a quick look at all the garden ornaments first. The barn (it's called Garden Barn) was packed with trinkets, pots, little statues and witty signs and general tat, but it was very expensive (compared with Beckworth). I saw some garden lights for £42! There were only ten of them!

I was on the lookout for some metal boxes to fill with plants and attach to the wall in our gravel garden as the two we used to have there were old wine boxes and had rotted away. However, there was nothing at all that I liked so we decided to have a cup of tea and sit in the pleasant garden area. Two teas and two slices of cake were just under a tenner (gulp!) but at least we were able to soak up a tiny bit of sunshine for a little while even though it did cloud over again.

We had another look around the garden area but still nothing appealed so we got back into the car and decided to call into the much bigger and more commerical garden centre in Harlestone on the way home. I bought some little garden lights for a much more reasonable £10 and a little plaque for Maureen at work.

The weather had turned grey and horrible again so it was home to relax, look forward to steak pie for dinner and watch the first episode of Humans!

The unrelenting gloom...

Today has been truly horrible with a constant drizzle and leaden grey skies that put me in a bad mood! Certainly not the weather for gardening or doing anything outside. I just felt sorry for anyone getting married today!

Keith and I went off mid-morning to borrow a tool from Ian (who comes into work on a Monday) as the light in our oven had stopped working. Keith needed a wrench to remove it so he picked that up and then we drove to a tiny hardware store nearby to get some bulbs. The shop was a little Aladdin's cave of household goods which had everything you could ever think of! It's a shame more shops like this don't exist any more.

We spent the afternoon doing very little and Mike went off to Brixworth to see his mates. I couldn't even go out into the garden to potter about as the rain just didn't stop all day! Horrible!

The Prosecco girls!

Today was due to be thundery and we had weather warnings again for heavy downpours of rain. The last day of the working week started off sunny and dry but by lunchtime the clouds had started to gather and it felt muggy and warm.

Mum and I went off to Jones's mid-morning and when we arrived back at work at lunchtime, we had very few customers in. As we had almost nothing to do we decided to call it a day and go home. Luckily we had parties in the evening but there were staff due to come in and cover.

I wasn't sure how I felt about going home, to be honest. I always feel a bit guilty, but I drove home anyway and had lunch before Sophie and I went to the M&S store in Kettering to take back a pair of jeans I'd bought the previous week. By now the sky was very overcast and grey and the weather matched my mood!

It took us ages to get into Kettering because of roadworks and then I discovered I hadn't got any change for parking so I asked Sophie to run in for me while I sat in the car park. Once that was all done, we drove to Beckworth Emporium for a drink and some ice-cream. As we sat and enjoyed our treat, it started to rain and huge drops fell on our heads! There must have been a gap in the glass roof!

We mooched about looking at plants and I bought three for some pots that were empty. By the time we left it was pouring with rain and really horrible so we splashed off home and I managed to get them planted in between the showers.

In the evening my friends Lynda, Fiona and Andrea were due around for an aperitif before we walked up to the village for a meal at the pub. I'd bought a magnum of Prosecco in Booker yesterday and it had been chilling nicely in the fridge. I'd also bought some olives and crisps which Sophie arranged for me in the conservatory while I had a shower. She also did my hair and make-up for me and made the conservatory very pretty with candles. She's a real treasure!

The girls arrived and we got stuck into the Prosecco and nibbles and had a great chat as it had been a while since we'd all seen each other. Unfortunately the weather worsened as we sat and chatted and Keith had to give us a lift up to the pub...it was a good job he hadn't had a couple of pints himself!

The White Horse was packed with people drinking at the bar but luckily we were seated straight away and the girls wanted another bottle of Prosecco...at £20! It took us ages to make our menu choices as we were all still chatting away but three of us went for the Scotch Egg starter while Lynda opted for the crab and crayfish Tower. I chose fish and chips for my main course, while the others all went for the Pork Belly and they said it was delicious! I couldn't finish my main course as I was full of bubbly Prosecco but I did manage to squeeze in a dessert of Key Lime Pie while Lynda and Andrea shared a cheese board and Fiona had rhubarb crumble and custard.

With another bottle of Prosecco and two glasses of Port the bill came to a reasonable £133 and I called upon my husband to take us home as it was still raining. While we waited for Fiona's husband to come and collect the girls I served coffee in the conservatory and when my friends had departed Keith and I watched an episode of The Affair. A perfect end to a lovely evening!

Cheesy nibbles!

We've had another very quiet day at work and Mum and I were so bored in the afternoon that we cleaned our office from top to bottom! Sophie was working on Reception today as Polly was off but luckily we were able to leave at 4pm as Paula came in to cover.

Sue came around for a drink at 6pm and brought lots of cheese and biscuits with her. I opened a bottle of the Ravenswood Zinfandel which I discovered at Majestic and this went down really well with the nibbles Sue had chosen. We sat and drank wine, had a good chat and nibbled on lots of cheese!

Keith realised that I probably wouldn't want dinner so after Sue had gone home we had some pate and toast and finished off the cheese and biscuits. Perfect!

Quiet start to the week...

Monday and Tuesday have been very quiet with not much going on! The weather has been horrible lately, with a nasty cold wind that has kept temperatures lower than normal.

On Wednesday we awoke to heavy grey skies and it felt really cold! What a difference to last year when I reported it as being HOT! in my diary!

Because of the grey skies and cooler temperatures we were busy at work and Sophie helped out at lunchtime. We managed to leave at 4pm though, and went for a walk down to the village. It had warmed up a little bit and then sun made an appearance which was nice.

Mum and Dad came around for a drink at 5.30pm and we showed them our new sofa and chairs. We still have to decide what colour paint will go on the walls!

We had a lovely chat and drank a bottle of Spanish red which was delicious. Today I ordered some wine from Majestic - six bottles of Ravenswood Zinfandel and scored a real bargain as the wines were reduced if you bought at least two bottles plus I earned a £10 discount on top! Yeeha!

Serenity!

We awoke to another gorgeous day and decided to go for a walk after dropping Sophie off at work. We walked into the village and then down the stony track to the Nature reserve. Apart from birdsong and the occasional drone of a plane, it was beautifully quiet.

Rather than walk the perimeter of the reserve we took a grassy path that led inwards to the reservoir and sat on a little bench to enjoy a drink and a biscuit. Here, it was so serene and I could have sat all day just listening to the calls of the birds and the rustle of the wind through the tall firs.

However, time was getting on so we carried on until we reached our normal walk and headed home.

Back home we'd just had lunch and was sitting relaxing when the phone rang and it was Sophie wanting to be picked up from work. By now, it was too late to go anywhere for a cup of tea so we came home and I pottered about in the garden until it was time to collect Mike from Brixworth.

I broke my non-drinking period tonight and enjoyed a glass or two of red wine with our chicken en croute! Delicious!

Taming the garden!

Keith and I both awoke at 6am this morning and after a couple of hours spent drinking coffee and watching Downton Abbey (my latest craze, albeit very late!) we set to work in the garden.

We started at the far end of our gravel garden and I raked up lots of dead leaves that had gathered around several plants and along the wall. Slasher Keith attacked the ivy and a couple of other bushes that had grown madly and left all the mess for me to clear up, not an easy task when the ground was gravelly!

We worked our way towards the conservatory doors and I was horrified to see how dirty the windowsills and windows were. I can't remember the last time we gave the conservatory a good clean!

I ended up picking up cut down leaves by hand as Slasher Keith carried on his destruction into the main garden, hacking away at the overhanging trees and bushes and then decimating the ivy in the side borders.

I disturbed Monty's peaceful snooze by getting the hoover and vacuuming up all the cobwebs and tiny leaves that had settled on the conservatory windowsills. This is a far more effective method of cleaning that trying to wipe them all away!

Keith had a break when he drove Mike over to Brixworth but I carried on cleaning up the mess and managed to damage one of my nails in the process, which was very painful!

By lunchtime the garden was looking so much better and I mowed the lawn and carried on cleaning the conservatory while a sleepy Sophie appeared, took one look at us working hard and went to have another lie-down!

We both finally finished at about 4pm and I went to have a sit in the "lurrve" seat in the gravel garden with Monty who kept miaowing at me, but when I picked him up, wanted to get down...bloomin' cat!

With all the bushes and trees in their summer finery, it was very peaceful and secluded down there and I really think we should try and sit down there more often this summer.

Keith and I managed to relax for a while before we had a bath and went to pick Mike up from Brixworth. We'd ordered two Papa John's pizzas (I bribed my son with one if he didn't go to an all-night party...) so we called for him first and then drove to Kingsthorpe to collect them. I always think of the time in Florida when we'd decided to have a pizza but we hadn't ordered them beforehand, thus sending the staff there into a complete panic!

Back home it was time for dinner and then a couple of episodes of a new series called The Glades before I collapsed into bed! I was shattered!

Not the best of days!

Sophie and I had today off work as we wanted to go to Milton Keynes to buy some summer clothes and also to check out a restaurant called Turtle Bay, which wasn't far from Las Iguanas.

Although we'd been given warnings in our area for heavy rain and thunderstorms, the day turned out to be beautiful, despite a shower as I drove Mikey to school. By the time we left at 10am the sun had come out and I was regretting my choice of clothes! My long sleeved top and jeans turned out to be a bit warm!

We called to see Mum and Dad at work first then headed off to Milton Keynes, via the A508 for a change, and then parked in the multi-storey. Our usual coffee stop, within Waterstones, had completely gone so that surprised us! We went to the cafe in M&S instead, which itself had been revamped and was unrecognisable! I didn't think it had been that long since we'd visited!

We had a good look around M&S and I picked out a pair of white jeans and some new knicks, but I didn't see anything else I liked at all. We went off to a few more shops but just nothing was appealing today and I began to feel a little bit dizzy. Whether it was the heat, I don't know, but I certainly wasn't feeling my best!

Sophie visited New Look while I sat outside in the sunshine, but she didn't see anything she liked either, so we went to Debenhams and even the lure of Mac make-up didn't work its magic today! We decided to give up on shopping and headed over to Turtle Bay for lunch.

The restaurant was quite busy with several tables taken but we had no problem being seated and Sophie chose a Mojito to drink while I opted for the homemade Pink Lemonade.

Sophie and Mojitos!

Turtle Bay serves Caribbean cuisine and the restaurant itself is bright with sunshine colours and Jamaican music playing in the background. We ordered a starter of garlic flatbread followed by Jerk chicken wrap for Sophie and a pulled chicken bun for me. Both dishes were served with thin French fries and coleslaw.

Sophie enjoyed the flatbread but I thought it lacked taste. The service was very good and our main courses arrived swiftly. I enjoyed my pulled chicken bun but Sophie spent most of her time picking out "slimy" vegetables from her wrap and left the second half, prompting the waitress to ask if she needed a take-away box. The answer was a firm "No!" so I don't think we'll be returning any time soon, and certainly not after the film we're planning to see in a couple of weeks time! I'm not sure that Keith would enjoy the food although they do serve goat curry!

It was bliss to get home after our unsuccessful excursion and sit in the garden to soak up the afternoon sunshine. Keith came out with me and it was lovely to be quiet and watch the birds flitting about!

The end of a (short) era.

We awoke to another gorgeous day with beautiful blue skies and much warmer temperatures. It seems crazy that on Tuesday we had to put the heating on in the office at work and today it was estimated to get up to 23c!

Mikey had to go to the Orthodontist this morning as he had already managed to do something to his braces and they had to be put right. Keith dropped him off at 8.30am and then he contacted me (on Facebook as Keith's phone wasn't working!) to pick him up.

I took him back to school (reluctantly) and then Sophie and I spent the morning getting things done and going to a few suppliers. We also went and cancelled our gym membership and luckily we had completed our year's contract in full otherwise I think they would have kept on charging us...I was more than ready for an argument, I can tell you!

I felt a little sad but with summer here, we'll be able to get out for a walk and I'm sure it'll be better for us and we'll exercise more!

Back at work we were busier than I expected which was a pleasant surprise!

We left work at 3pm and went home where I sat in the garden to soak up some sunshine. I also took some pics of our feathered friends:

Our Rook

Our gorgeous little robin

One of the many blackbirds that visit

Baby Starlings enjoying the water bath

Although they're more than capable of feeding themselves, these starlings still want Mum or Dad to do it for them!

The arrival of summer?

It's been a gorgeous day today with blue skies, little fluffy clouds and warm sunshine. As a consequence we were quiet at work and it gave Keith and I the opportunity to do a bit of exploring as a tree had come down on the other side of the fence in our car park.

While we were having a look at it we marvelled at the graffiti on the back of the units...

We've known about the graffiti for years and we're more than happy to let them show off their skills on the back of the units as they've never used the walls of our buildings. I must admit, with the blue skies as a background, the colours were fantastic!

As we walked back into the building, Garry arrived with a second-hand CD player for us which we connected up and it worked brilliantly! That saved us a lot of money as the ones I was looking at were all over £100.

Keith went home early in the afternoon and Sophie and I finished at 4pm to go to the gym. Neither of us were really in the mood and we both decided that we would cancel our membership after June as we're just not going often enough and doing what we should be doing.

Back home I discovered Michael was in Brixworth...again! Another trip out to pick him up before dinner!

Blown away!

The wet and windy weather continued this morning and the roads were full of debris that had been blown about all night.

Mum, Dad and I went over to the bank mid-morning and had a coffee and a muffin in BB's. We met their friends Garry and Gloria there and chatted about our coffee machine not working (hence the visit) and the fact that our CD player was also on the blink. There's always something!

When we arrived back at work the coffee machine had been fixed as the engineer had been out and swapped over the pump that had burnt out. Hopefully a new one will arrive tomorrow.

The rest of the day was spent getting lots of things done and then it was home to have an early dinner in the evening. The weather had improved but it was still blustery when we took Mike to Army Cadets. He came back out later in the evening with a new badge as he's now a 2 star cadet!

2000 posts!

This is my 2000th blog post and it seems fitting to start June with this milestone entry!

It was back to normal today as the children have returned to school and we were closed as usual. I picked Sophie up from home at midday and she came to the bank and Tesco with me. In the afternoon we went in search of a new CD player for work as the old one we have has finally stopped working. Dad had bought one at Curry's but the connections were different so we'll have to have a re-think!

In the evening Sophie went out with her friends for cocktails followed by a meal at Sophia's. The weather has turned increasingly worse today with heavy rain and high winds. The Met Office issued a warning of wind for our area and when we went back to collect Sophie at 11pm there were leaves and twigs all over the road! I was glad Keith was with me!