Today was the last day of my holiday and I have to say I've really enjoyed being off work, pottering about, meeting family and friends for lunch and drinks, and just generally catching up with things I've been meaning to do!
The weather today has been horrible even though we saw the merest glimmer of sunshine this morning. However, it swiftly disappeared! The plan today was for me to go shopping with Keith as I had an order to pick up from the Kettering retail park, and then I was going to go and enjoy a coffee and a pastry in Costa while Keith went to Aldi and Tesco.
However, it didn't work out quite like that! We had arrived at Aldi at just past 8am and collecting my order was simple and straightforward. I went to Aldi to find Keith and ended up doing the rest of the shopping with him!
As it was busy in Tesco I helped him do the shop in there as well so I never did get the indulgent coffee that I'd been anticipating! We drove home and as soon as we'd unpacked I made a coffee and had breakfast.
A text from Sophie threw me into a foul mood as she told me that tomorrow she would have to drive to Thrapston to pick up her manager, and then get to the train station in Huntingdon to travel onwards to the Isle of Sheppey where they were visiting a prison. I was not at all happy as Sophie isn't covered for business travel on her insurance, but as her manager had damaged a tyre on her own car, she didn't have much choice.
Today was supposed to be mine and Keith's "Christmas outing" but we'd asked Mike if he wanted to come along, and we'd chosen to go to The Malt Shovel in Northampton. Before we went I prepared a Bolognese sauce for dinner tonight and we left for town at midday. The weather was grey and damp and the traffic heading into town was busy. On a whim I decided to park in the car park by the St Peter's Way roundabout but we had a problem with the ticket machine so we gave up and left the car in the Morrison's car park instead, even though we only had two hours.
The Malt Shovel was busy, but mainly with men drinking. I chose a half of a beer called Rosey Nosey which went flat after it was pulled. I should have stuck with a half of Leffe! Keith and Mike had pints and we shared a plate of nachos and chunky chips for lunch. To be honest, it wasn't what I'd really had in mind as I think we should have gone for a country pub mooch, but in the past Keith has been disappointed with the beers we've come across and in the Malt Shovel we were guaranteed some real ales at least!
When we came out of the pub it was chucking it down with rain and it was so dark, even though it was only about 2.30pm. We decided to have a last drink at The Royal Oak but when we walked in Ian greeted us by saying he was just about to close up for the day! We did have a last drink here though and then headed home in the pouring rain.
This morning, just before we left, Monty went out and I tried to get him back in before we went, but he was nowhere to be seen. I had suspected he was upstairs in Mike's room but when we arrived back home there was no sign of him. This was very worrying as he never goes far and is always about when we get back. I called and called him but he didn't appear and I started to get really worried. Before I'd even taken my boots off, Keith and I went back outside and drove around the estate and then a short way along the road to see if we could see him.
Back home I walked up and down outside the house and peered into the bushes to see if he was sheltering from the rain, although me shouting "Grub, Grubs" would have brought him running from the ends of the earth!
I couldn't believe that he wasn't around and I messaged a neighbour who regularly sees him about to find out whether she had seen him this morning. She said she would check the shed and garage but he wasn't there.
I didn't dare say anything to Sophie as I knew she would be distraught so all I could do was go outside at intervals and shout his name. I even started a missing cat account with a website that reunites lost pets with their owners! I did worry that he had gone off in a delivery van this morning or maybe had been frightened by one.
You can imagine my absolute relief when I heard him crying at the back door literally ten minutes before Sophie arrived home from work! I gathered him up and hugged him but he didn't know what all the fuss was about and wolfed down his dinner! He had given us such a scare and I think that he'd come back while we were out, found the garage door closed and wandered off to shelter from the weather as he wasn't completely soaked through.
So, today hasn't quite been the relaxing and indulgent day I'd hoped it would be, and tomorrow Sophie is off to Kent with her manager to visit a prison and I'm back at work... oh bliss! Mike's girlfriend Abbie arrived to stay with us this evening and Keith and I watched three episodes of a drama called Sticks and Stones back to back, which we both found enjoyable, although the ending was a little weak.
It was then an early night. I am not looking forward to tomorrow!
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