An evening out

Today dawned overcast and grey which seems to be the norm at the moment! Sophie and I went off to Majestic in Northampton as I needed to buy some wine for my Dad for Father's Day. I chose three bottles of his favourite Rioja, Marques de Caceres, and bought a Gran Reserva, a Reserva and a Crianza. It was slightly more than I was intending to spend but I know he'll love the present so it was worth it.

On the way home we collected Mike from Brixworth, had some lunch and then headed off to Guilsborough to go to a flea market that I had seen advertised when we were going to the surgery. It was being held in the village hall and wasn't very large but we did have some lovely cake and a cup of tea and a chat with a couple of the stall-holders. People kept giving us funny looks, probably because we're not village natives and they wondered who we were! We had a couple of looks around the tables and although I saw some nice plants, nothing else really caught my eye.

In the evening we walked across the road to Sue and Paul's house for dinner. Unfortunately their garden is still not finished so my hope of sitting on their new terrace, gazing at the view with a chilled glass of bubbly did not materialise! We had the bubbly and the view but even if the garden had been finished we wouldn't have sat outside as it was still grey and gloomy.

Richard and Michelle, our new neighbours, were also invited and Sue had asked that each couple bring two bottles of wine so we could do a "Is It Worth It?" evening. Sue and Paul supplied a bottle of Prosecco and some Champagne, Richard and Michelle brought two Verdicchio wines from Italy while I went for an old stand-by, Chateauneuf-du-Pape and a bottle of Cotes du Rhone Villages. I'm very pleased to say that we all predicted which bottle was the more expensive!

We had a nice meal of lasagne, fried potatoes and salad followed by two delicious puds of lemon trifle or meringues. Bailey and Archie were very much in attendance and more than once I had a cold nose pushed onto my lap! The conversation, like the wine, flowed and it was midnight before we left!