A spot of shopping.

Sophie and I went to Milton Keynes today as she is on the hunt for a Graduation dress. It's been another warm and sunny day and I was struck by the lack of air conditioning in the shops. Are things that bad for retailers? It would have made today's trip a lot more comfortable!

Sophie wanted to drive so I directed her and she did really well as it was her first time going to Milton Keynes and driving on, to her, unfamiliar roads. After parking in the large multi-storey car park we went for brunch at Giraffe, and were served by a very friendly waiter who explained why it was so quiet - England were playing Panama today at 1pm! We had a delicious meal - I went for the Big Brunch while Sophie opted for the Morning Po Boy. It certainly made a good start to our day!

We went to M&S first as Sophie wanted some good foundation underwear. She chose a body shaper but it was dirty on the hem so we asked the assistant for another, but they didn't have any more in stock. At the cash desk I asked if they could do anything with the price and we were awarded £7 off! Result!

We then had a good look in House of Fraser, Monsoon, John Lewis, Next and Coast, where she tried on four beautiful dresses. There were sales on everywhere so some of the shops resembled jumble sales with Zara being the worst - the clothes were heaped up in piles all over the place and we took one look and turned back around!

Before going into Debenhams we treated ourselves to an ice-cream sundae from Baskin Robbins which was truly delicious! By now we were hot and tired and had almost had enough. In Debenhams she tried on two gorgeous velvet dresses, one in a beautiful blue and another in red, but one size was too small and the size up too large! I think they would have been too hot anyway.

We decided to call it a day and. feeling a bit disappointed, headed for home the way we'd arrived, via the A5 and the A508. Unfortunately, as we neared the roundabout to take the A5 we saw that the road was closed and we were diverted away from Northampton, following a long route that seemed to take us a fair distance from the way we wanted to go. Sophie was quite nervous and I made it even worse by panicking slightly, as we hadn't got a road map in the car with us and Google maps on my phone was telling us to take small random roads that looked like they led nowhere!

We arrived in Buckingham and stopped to buy a useless road map from a garage. It was all they had and the print was so small I had to use my glasses! We've been to Buckingham before and I wanted to get onto the A43 which would have taken us straight home but we couldn't see any signs for the road, just the M40 which I definitely didn't want to take!

We headed out of Buckingham and unfortunately, headed back onto the same road so we met the diversion signs again! I was hoping to get back into Milton Keynes and then take the M1 home and we ended up in the middle of the countryside with a lot of other, very confused drivers!

We agreed that I would take over driving while Sophie used her phone to navigate and we turned around as there was a huge queue up ahead. We returned to the roundabout and took the sign for the village of Deanshanger. From there we took a very narrow single track road and we were soon joined b y loads of other cars who were all trying to find their way around the diversion! Up ahead was another massive queue of cars so I got out and questioned the man in front of us who was trying to get to Bedford! I'm sure he was on the wrong road!

Eventually, the knot of cars in front of us sorted themselves out and we drove in a tight convoy through the countryside and back out onto the A508. Phew! It was such a relief to get home! Keith then told me that Mike was in Chapel Brampton seeing a new girlfriend and we had to pick him up in a short while! I just wanted to sit and relax in the sun with a drink!

After we collected him it was time for a G&T and a sit in the garden before Sophie and I cooked a chicken noodle dish from the Hairy Biker's Chicken and Egg cookbook. It turned out very well and was delicious!