I woke up this morning at 9.02am, which shocked me. I hate waking up so late and feeling like I've wasted a good portion of the day. We had arranged to collect Mum and Dad from the care home at 11.30am, and take them to the flying field for a barbecue in honour of one of the very long-standing members who had sadly died earlier this year - in his 90s - so he hadn't done bad!
There was no time for a leisurely breakfast, and outside the weather was extremely gloomy, grey and miserable. Sophie and I left at about 11.15am and I was supremely grateful for my daughter accompanying me as I was sure it wasn't her kind of thing at all, and I was convinced she would far rather have been out with friends or simply stayed at home with the cat.
When we arrived at the T-junction to turn right to get to the A43, a black Mercedes in front of me stopped and put their hazard warning lights on. Next thing, a burly man in a hoody jumped out of the passenger side and shouted at me to go around his car. When he first got out I imagined the worst, but it soon became obvious he was having a blazing row with the woman in the driving seat. Not wanting to hang around I went left and drove to Mawsley where I turned around. When we arrived back at the junction the car had gone.
By now we were later than I wanted to be, and as we drove along I suddenly realised I hadn't taken a lateral flow test... This meant that I had to take one in the care home and wait half an hour for the result, which meant we were even later. My parents were in reception waiting for me and seemed bemused by all the rigmarole I had to go through. Seeing as we were all double-jabbed, and Sophie was also in the car (but had taken a test for work), it was all a bit pointless, in my opinion.
We were on our way by 12pm and made it in good time to the flying field where the grassed area was full of cars. People were milling about wearing thick coats as the wind was blowing strongly - not really the ideal weather for a summer barbecue!
We stood on the path running alongside the hut and various people came and said hello to my parents, and brought my Dad a coffee. There had been some flying, but this seemed to be over and a lot of men were surrounding the barbecue and grilling sausages and burgers.
We just stood about and my Dad seemed very quiet, while my Mum looked thoroughly miserable. Unfortunately, I overheard her telling some old friends that they hated where they were at the care home and they were bored stiff, which was not really what I wanted to hear!
My parents had something to eat, and when the men organising the barbecue were begging people to have a burger or sausage roll, Sophie and I relented and had one, too! The food was very good and the burgers thick and meaty! When the cooking was over, a beautiful wooden seat was unveiled with a plaque for the former member, and his family said a few words, which was lovely.
By now we'd all had enough so we left to go home. It was very difficult getting my Dad back into the car and I think him sitting in the back was a mistake. We headed back to the care home, and unfortunately, Sophie and my Dad had a bit of an argument. He'd said we never see them which hurt Sophie as this was the second Sunday in a row we'd taken them out, and I don't think he realises how difficult it is for us to manoeuvre him into the car as we're both scared he's going to fall.
While we were driving, Mike called and asked us to pick him up from either Rugby station or Milton Keynes as the trains weren't stopping at Northampton - what a surprise! We said we'd go to Milton Keynes (again) and dropped Mum and Dad off at the care home. There had been a real sense of unhappiness in the car on the way back and I have no idea how I can solve it.
On the A43 we had another drama! This time, a car emerging from the Broughton turning didn't look like he was going to stop, and was halfway out into the road before he slammed his brakes on, making me and the two cars behind me, swerve out of his way! My nerves were now jangling and all I wanted to do was get home and have a cup of tea! This junction has seen two accidents in the last two weeks and I didn't want to be the third!
Keith stayed at home while Sophie and I hared off to Milton Keynes to get Mike. The road leading to the station was closed so we had to take a long, loopy diversion to get back to it, but we were still early, which was good. The station was extremely busy with people being picked up and dropped off and Mike emerged at about 4.30pm looking hot and bothered.
We drove home (no dramas!) and Sophie and I managed to relax with a drink and an episode of a new series on Netflix about beautiful holiday homes in Bali. How I wished I was there! Seeing as we can't travel much at the moment, watching series like these is all we can do!
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