It was Keith's birthday today and I felt really sorry for him that he had to deal with the house move all day! Sophie took today off work but went to the gym first thing. By the time she arrived back and we were all ready to go, it was after 9am.
Everything had to be cleared out today so we made many trips to the recycling centre and to our house with the stuff that hadn't been put into storage. Today was much better weatherwise but we did have some heavy showers in the afternoon that put a stop to our work!
It was exhausting gathering up all the bits and pieces, and as we cleared each room I cleaned it. The house wasn't dirty anyway, but I wanted to leave it clean and tidy. When Keith picked up Mike from work they took the televisions and the chest of drawers from the bedroom which we were going to have.
Sophie and I made a trip to the charity shop opposite the Weston Favell Centre as they have a donation drop-off point there, but we had to go around to the back of the shop. We were met by a young lad who informed us that everything had to be either in a bag or a sealed box, so we were only able to drop a couple of things off, which was annoying.
I then had the idea to go to the reuse centre at Moulton Park but they had moved. Sophie googled local charities and a donation centre for Cynthia Spencer Hospice came up. It was two minutes away so we drove over and were informed by them that we had to have an appointment! I know COVID is affecting things at the moment, but this was ridiculous!
The man who appeared took pity on us and said he would accept our donations if we helped him take some stuff over to the other side of the warehouse. The place was packed with donations from people!
We drove back to the house, picked up some more stuff for the tip and saw Keith and Mike on the way. At least the four of us were now working on getting everything cleared!
By 6pm most of the stuff had gone and all there was to do was clean the kitchen, so we went home and had baths and showers, ready to go to the pub in the evening to celebrate Keith's birthday. Before we went he opened his cards and presents and I think he did well this year! He received a bottle of Irish whiskey from me, a canvas print of the Puig de Maria which we gaze up at from Pollensa square, and beer, books and slippers from Mike.
New rules have been introduced for pubs and people have to wear masks until they are seated. We took a table by the fireplace and there were three other tables occupied, so not too busy. We had to order drinks at the table (no standing at the bar) and it was lovely to sit and relax after our busy day.
We were given menus and I chose a burger, along with Sophie and Mike. For starters, Sophie and liked the sound of creamy mushrooms on toast and the men ordered cheesy garlic bread, but were then told that it wasn't available. They opted for soup and pate instead. While we waited we chatted about last year when we celebrated in Mallorca - what a lot of changes have happened since then!
Unfortunately, the wait for our meals was far longer than we would have liked and we didn't have our first course until almost 9pm. By now we were starving, and we fell upon the starters like ravenous wolves! The mushrooms were delicious and creamy and mine had gone within minutes! We had another wait for the main course and Keith looked at his watch to say that very soon the curfew time of 10pm would be upon us... I can hardly believe I'm mentioning the word "curfew", almost as if we're living in wartime! All pubs, restaurants and bars now have to close at 10pm to help stop the spread, although why that is, isn't that clear!
Our main courses were very good - Keith said the batter on his fish was the best he'd ever had, but the wait was far longer than was acceptable and we declined desserts. We would have had to take them home with us!
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