An alarming incident!

We awoke to better weather this morning with the sun shining out of a blue sky. I was happily pottering about when Keith shouted for me to go into the cloakroom with him... the box which contains the battery for our burglar alarm had scorch marks on it and we could smell burning! Not what you want on a Sunday morning! 

Keith tried to remove the outer casing but he couldn't budge it, and we had no idea what was going on inside, but the smell was very frightening! We called the engineer who had installed a new battery previously, but he had retired. I looked on the internet for a local company but everything was closed. In the end, we called Josh, Dave's son, who very kindly came out straight away and disabled the electrics. When they removed the casing, one of the components had almost melted! I dread to think what could have happened!

After a lovely lunch of leftover Chinese takeaway, we drove to Sophie's gym to speak to a manager there about her parking ticket. They weren't that helpful, to be honest, and the manager said it would cost him £50 to get the ticket cancelled! I'm sure our parking firm at work doesn't charge that, and I got the feeling he was telling porky pies!

From Virgin, we drove to the care home to take Dad's presents and cards and sat chatting with my parents for a while. As we left, the staff were bringing around celebratory cocktails! It can't be bad! We took the scenic route home, prepared the coq au vin for dinner, and relaxed for an hour before a game of Scrabble.

One thing I forgot to mention was that Michelle messaged me last week about the family next door who rent the house. Michelle had spotted a man going in a few weeks ago who looked like an estate agent and that gave me some hope they were moving! She then told me that Richard had been speaking to them last Sunday and they are moving abroad for a year. We don't know what's happening with the house, but once they're gone, at the end of July, I'm hoping we'll have a respite from the constant ball games! I know I sound peevish and moany but it will be lovely to sit in the garden with a drink and just hear birdsong!

Dinner this evening was lovely and we had the most beautiful sunset this evening. It's almost the Summer Solstice!