A day of indulgence!

I had a lovely lie-in this morning and woke up at the reasonable time of 8am. Lovely! Poor Sophie didn't fare so well and was woken by a horse and rider at just after 8am, though, and she was not happy! Why people feel the need to ride around our estate is beyond me! What's the attraction?

We had an appointment at Magnet at 11.30am but we were held up on the way by a learner driver doing 30mph on a 50mph road, and then a fallen tree as we made our way to the St James area of Northampton.

We were five minutes late but we didn't get a very warm welcome when we walked in. The man on reception looked at us as if we'd fallen out of a dog's bottom and the designer who had been assigned to us looked clearly unhappy. We found out later that she thought we were due at 11am so a complete mix-up!

This didn't set the scene very well and I nearly walked out when she queried our decision to have an island in the kitchen. She didn't seem at all interested in what we wanted and seemed very put out when I said I hadn't measured the windows and doors! By now I had lost all interest and had mentally decided that Magnet were not going to get our business!

We were taken to look at some cupboard doors which looked cheap and nasty and some worktops which were even worse. The prices she was quoting were ridiculous and I began to feel as if we were wasting her time. She eventually agreed to come out to the house to measure up as I had been so lackadaisical in not doing it properly, and I thought back to yesterday when the designer from Howdens had been really helpful.

We left to go home (avoiding the fallen tree) and Sophie and I then set off for Market Harborough where we were going to have lunch at Pizza Express. It's been so long! We parked in our normal place and walked the short distance to the restaurant where we were seated in a dark little corner. We didn't mind, though, as we were so glad to be back!

We treated ourselves to a glass of wine, dough balls doppio and a spicy chicken pizza. The food was delicious and our waitress very helpful and friendly. After we'd eaten we visited Waterstones and had a good look around and then popped into one of the charity shops where Sophie bought a lovely top and some trousers for less than a tenner!

We also went into Monsoon where Sophie bought two more bargains in the sale and I chose some hair scrunchies and clips. It was lovely to do some shopping but a pain wearing face masks everywhere!

We made our way to our favourite little cafe but to our horror it was closed! It had shut its doors at about 3pm so very early indeed! We were so disappointed, but we went to a lovely little place called Millers cafe instead. We chose a slab of coffee cake and a pot of tea each and it was very enjoyable. We were the only people sitting inside so it was lovely and quiet. Perfect!

By now it was getting late and a lot of shops and cafes were closing. We returned to the car and drove home where we found the tyre fitter seeing to my car. He had fitted two new rear tyres so now it should pass its MOT.

While he was finishing up I hoovered downstairs as all the leaves around the back door and in the kitchen were driving me mad! We are also seeing the tiny little brown flecks everywhere again and the wind has sent them all inside!

I wanted to return Dad's car as his was parked in the road and I hated it being in people's way, so we drove over to Mum and Dad's, dropped it off and then decided to call into the pub on the way home. Today has turned out to be a real day of indulgence!

The pub was quiet and we sat at a table opposite the bar with our drinks. After another one Sophie and I managed to persuade Keith to stay for dinner as the thought of going home and then barbecuing was not at all appealing!

We sat and chatted to Mark who cleans the windows for my parents as he was very concerned about them. He said he would help me with storage solutions so that was a bit of a relief. We enjoyed a delicious meal - Keith and I had fish and chips while Sophie chose the burger which she said was probably the best she'd ever had!