Bang, bang!

Today has been lovely at work as there was just Kathy and I working, and no one else in the office! It was so quiet and peaceful! I managed to get a lot done before the phone lines opened, and I also cleared all the customer service emails as well, apart from a handful from parents who had written in to complain about cancelled swimming lessons again. As I had spoken to them on the phone and advised them to email us, I was hesitant about then replying to them in writing! I'll leave that for Sara to deal with on Monday!

At 4pm, I sped home to see Keith and Sophie, and my daughter was feeling much, much better. Obviously, a couple of days of rest had revived her spirits! We decided to go to the fireworks, and before we left we put some potatoes in the oven to bake and switched on our slow cooker to cook the chilli Keith had prepared earlier. He went to the pub for a drink with John and Sophie and I drove to Loddington.

I had mistakenly thought that, as the fireworks were being held at the cricket ground in the village, there'd be parking, but there wasn't. I managed to park on the road nearby and we walked into the ground after paying £5 each.

There were already a lot of people gathered and we treated ourselves to a polystyrene cup of mulled wine to warm ourselves up! It was a clear night and we could see the moon and stars overhead. Most of the children present had been given multi-coloured light sabres to wave about, and they were really excited about the whole evening, screaming and running about, brandishing the light sabres like mad, so watching them actually hurt our eyes! What happened to good old sparklers?

The fireworks started at about 7.15pm and were over pretty quickly. Unlike Old, there was no bonfire to gather around and the fireworks, although very good, were of the bang, bang, bang style with lots of pretty colours. We had enjoyed the display but we both felt like "outsiders" as it wasn't our village. Silly, I know, but we did miss our own display which was always a really good night, with a chance to meet up with friends and neighbours.

As soon as the display was over we hot-footed it back to the car and managed to get out of the village quite quickly. Back home, Keith was sitting in the kitchen waiting for us and after opening a bottle of red for Sophie and me to enjoy, we ate dinner.

After we'd eaten we watched the first episode of the second series of The White Lotus, this time set in Sicily. It was just as quirky and funny as the last series!