A sociable day!

I'd swapped shifts with a colleague today but I was beginning to wish I hadn't because of some of the calls I received! Perhaps it's just the school holidays making everyone cantankerous!

At 2pm I went to pick Mike up from work and he was waiting for me today, which was great as I was then home before 3pm. I decided to clean Sophie's car and she helped me get it all clean and shiny before I turned my attention to the messy front garden, which was covered in dead leaves.

I cut back the bush at the front and managed to get at all the leaves trapped underneath it, putting them in a black bag as I'd read you could turn them into leaf mould this way. We now no longer have a garden waste collection (most of our garden waste goes onto the compost heap) so I've got to do something with all the leaves that make a beeline for our garden and back door!

Doing the front garden was very sociable as Sophie came out to sit with me and various neighbours walked past and stopped for a chat, including one woman who has two enormous dogs that she has to walk separately! She gardens for a living and also has four children so she's very busy! It was great to get to know her and meet the dogs.

I worked until 6pm and the garden looked a lot neater, with all the dead leaves swept up and the grass raked. Hopefully, this weekend I can get out and trim it a bit as with the recent rain it's started to grow again.

I had a lovely deep bath and at 7pm Sophie and I crossed the road to see Sue and Michelle for a catch up with a few glasses of wine and some nibbles. We sat in Sue's kitchen gazing out at the stunning views and had a good natter, which was very pleasant. Sue opened a delicious bottle of Champagne to thank Michelle and I for looking after the house and garden while they were away and then we moved onto Prosecco and a lovely Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa.

I didn't want to be too late tonight, though as I had work tomorrow so we said goodbye at 10pm and waddled off to bed!