More workplace niggles!

Sophie woke me this morning when I was in the middle of a dream and apparently I made a strange growling noise when I awoke... lovely!

Shirley came in from 10am until 2pm today, and I made sure she was ok logging in, as we have all changed to Windows 10 now, and things are a little different (and annoying). As with Friday, Sara didn't offer to help when she had queries, so Jo, who was sitting behind her, helped out. One of her first calls was a football pitch booking, something she had never done before. 

Sara came to me before the end of my shift and said that on Thursday, Friday, and next Monday and Tuesday, I was looking after the customer service emails, as well as making a start on the moan report. The good thing was that on Monday I was off the phones, so that was a relief! Next week we will start booking the half-term holiday activities so it will be busy, no doubt. Oh, what joy!

This evening, before dinner, Sophie and I looked at Airbnbs in northern France and Belgium, but we didn't see anything we liked at all. We're starting to get a bit worried about this now! Maybe at the weekend, when we're not so busy, we'll have a proper look.

I also suggested to Sophie that we go to London on her actual birthday to see the new "Immersive" Dali experience. It looks fantastic - https://immersive-dali.com/london/ so I'll book that in the morning. We were supposed to be going to London tomorrow, but Sophie had to cancel because of a work training session. It was a good thing, as the train staff are on strike anyway, as well as a lot of other public sector employees, including teachers. I wouldn't mind even a 5% pay rise at the moment, and Keith's workplace pension hasn't been increased for years!

Work niggles

At work this morning, I put the rest of the crash courses onto the system and also entered all the prices. I had to do this from scratch as for some reason I couldn't copy over last year's courses onto this year, so it was a laborious job. 

Jo was back from her holiday in Morocco today and looked tanned and relaxed. That won't last long! We had a busy shift, and when I went to heat up the risotto from yesterday for my lunch, it nearly became cold because I had to answer the phones before I could eat it! It really isn't good that I do an eight-hour shift with only ten minutes to eat lunch! I don't think it's good for me to have such a short break and gobble my food quickly! Can you imagine this happening in France where they have two hours for lunch!

I stood and chatted to Kathy and Jo after work about Shirley on Friday, and we all seemed pretty fed up. Shirley is back in tomorrow so it'll be interesting to see what happens again!

Back home, Keith and I watched the last half hour of Vera and I said to him that I'd given up trying to identify the murderer as not all the facts are presented to us. Spoiler alert... we didn't know the killer in this episode was gay!

A good clear out!

Sophie went to the gym this morning to take part in two yoga classes, and Keith and I drove over to see Mum and Dad and take them some shopping. On the way back home, I noticed the merest hint of Spring in the air, which was probably premature, but it inspired me to start clearing the garage out while Keith made me some toast.

We have to try and get three cars on the drive at the end of February, so we made an effort to clear out the first bit of the garage. We threw out many, many tubs of plastic which had held fat snax for the birds, old shoes and boots, some metal grills from the old oven, the old blind from our bedroom and lots more. I even put an old metal barrel into the back of the car that Mike had brought home one drunken night!

When Sophie returned home and had eaten some lunch, she went to the tip (or recycling centre) with me. We managed to recycle most of the stuff we'd taken, but they wouldn't take the barrel, and they had to fill out a refusal form, and take my car registration number. I was a bit mystified until I realised they were probably doing this in case we drove down the road and fly-tipped the barrel in a hedge!

I carried on cleaning the garage and we hoovered up all the leaves that had blown in and gave the fridge a good clean. It looked so much better when I'd finished. I suggested to Keith that we get rid of both the fridges in the garage (one is turned off anyway) as we can certainly cope with the one we have in the kitchen, as all we do is store bottles of water, milk and beer in the old one. This would give us a lot more room, and we could move some of the storage to the back of the garage. He agreed and said that once we get a warmish Spring day we'd spend all day sorting it out, and also get rid of some of Mum and Dad's stuff as well.

Sophie was cooking sausage risotto this evening so she prepped all the ingredients and I had another soak in the bath. Although today has been sunny and dry, there's been a nasty cold wind blowing, lowering the temperature considerably.

We played Scrabble again and Sophie beat me for the second time this weekend. Grrr! She made dinner which was delicious and plentiful, enough for us to take some for our lunch tomorrow!

Keith and I watched Vera after dinner but left the last half hour to watch tomorrow as it's work tomorrow and I have to be up early. The weekends go too fast!

Relaxing!

We had a lovely relaxed start to the weekend with pains au chocolate and coffee for breakfast and a read of the newspapers. Sophie was having lunch with Vikesh in Woburn so she went upstairs to get ready while I pootled about catching up with jobs.

I was going to take some things over to Mum and Dad today but an accident closed the A43 from the Mawsley roundabout to the A14, so I postponed the visit to tomorrow. The accidents on the A43 are getting far too frequent for my liking, and there seems to be something happening nearly every day. It's a terrible road, and I try to avoid it as much as possible.

Keith went to see Sileby play in the afternoon and the match was on! He continuously checks the fixtures page as the games are frequently postponed, but today has been dry and overcast with no frost at all so there was no excuse for the game to be cancelled. Sophie was picked up for her lunch, so I had the house to myself this afternoon which was bliss! I had a long bath and then caught up with the people featured in A New Life in the Sun.

Sophie returned home at about 5pm and had been to Nonna's restaurant in Woburn Sands. The manager of the restaurant used to be a waiter at Las Iguanas in Milton Keynes, and she's had a bit of a crush on him ever since he served us dinner when it was her birthday years ago. She said there was a fair amount of eye contact when he served them today and I do think she's very keen on him, despite seeing Vikesh! She brought home two bottles of wine for us to try that she'd bought in a shop in Woburn - an Italian red and a Picpoul de Pinet white - and some jams that Vikesh's family didn't want. What a lovely haul!

Keith returned from football looking half-frozen, and Sophie and I played Scrabble. She made me a couple of delicious Negronis and we nibbled on the contents of my Italian deli box from M&S. The nuts and cheesy bites were gorgeous. We had a very light supper this evening and enjoyed toast and paté before settling down to watch the excellent film, Where The Crawdads Sing. I'd wanted to see it when it came out in cinemas, but it was great on the small screen nonetheless!

A somewhat trying day!

Work today was not pleasant. Shirley was working with us, but it was only her third full day answering the phones so she needed a lot of help, which is understandable, but Sara seemed very reluctant to sit with her.

She wanted me to tackle the cancellation and customer service emails again, but I still had films to put on, as well as the crash courses, which are bookable from next Sunday... She wasn't happy when I said I would do as much as possible, but Sheila was also busy. I felt pulled in all directions! Kathy and I were answering phones, and there was no way we could do that as well as help Shirley, so Sara had to help out. She was writing up minutes from a meeting but gave up because she said there were too many interruptions... I also gave up on the crash courses, telling Sheila I'd put them onto the system on Monday morning before 10am. I also had lots of customers with heavy accents today, so that was a little frustrating. Sometimes, I think it's time to look for something different and do a job where I don't have to answer the phone!

So, as usual, on a Friday, it was a huge relief to leave at 4pm and go home. I walked out with Shirley and assured her that she'd done well and that I felt she'd been left to cope on her own, which shouldn't have been the case. She had also had some tricky calls, poor thing, and this can happen multiple times during a normal shift!

Sophie and I had a relaxed evening drinking wine and watching the film, "Don't Worry Darling" starring Harry Styles and Florence Pugh. It was strange but very enjoyable! I did say, though, that his singing is better than his acting!

Celebrating by text!

It was Mike's 23rd birthday today, and I'd sent him a Moonpig card with photos on the front of him out celebrating. I texted him to wish him a lovely day and said we were looking forward to seeing him next week. I will bake a cake and make his favourite meal, Jerk Chicken pasta.

I worked from 8am until 2pm today and tackled as many customer service emails as possible, as well as processing orders, so I was busy and the time flew by. At 2pm I dashed home, chatted with Keith for ten minutes, and then drove to see Mum. When she came out of the care home, she said she didn't feel very well, so we decided to stay inside and not go out as planned. She said she felt a little dizzy, and had had her hair done earlier so maybe she'd strained her neck. She has suffered from neck pain for a long time, like me, and being pulled about by the hairdresser probably didn't help!

We sat and chatted in the room which was lovely, and they both gave me a list of things they wanted. I left at 4pm and drove home, noticing that it's definitely getting lighter in the evenings now. 

Sophie cooked dinner tonight - cheeseburgers served with long-stem broccoli, asparagus and corn on the cob. We also ate chunky oven chips, something we haven't had for a while, and they were delicious. Apparently, air fryers are all the rage at the moment and we used to have one, but it never cooked anything really well, and certainly not as crispy as we'd have liked! Maybe it's time we started cooking with it... that's if I can find it in the garage where we stored it!

Another exciting day off...

Sophie's car was booked in for its MOT today, so we left home at 8am, dropped it off at the garage at Moulton and carried on down to Brackmills. I was astounded at the amount of traffic on the road, and the new dual carriageway was jammed with cars right up until the roundabout. It hasn't made much difference, then!

We made it to Café 900 in time for a sausage bap and a coffee, before taking Sophie to work.  Back home I called Mum to postpone our visit this afternoon, as I didn't know when the car would be ready, so we arranged to see each other tomorrow instead. 

I wish I could say that my day off was exciting, but it wasn't! I busied myself with housework and gave the en-suite bathroom a really good scrub, using my trusty bleach to get rid of the mould on the sealant, and cleaned out the drain which was clogged with hair... lovely! It needed doing but I do sometimes yearn to do something fun on my day off! Sophie has booked to go back to the Phi clinic in London on the 22 February so that's something to look forward to, and I've seen an "immersive" exhibition of Dali's work which we both want to go to, and which looks brilliant!

The day wore on and there was no phone call from the garage, which wasn't good news. When they did call in the mid-afternoon, they said that they had to replace one of the tyres and the engine management system was playing up, but it would be ready before 5pm.

I  prepared dinner for this evening - our favourite ham and chicken tangle pie, and just as I finished, the garage called to say little ET was ready. Keith and I drove to Moulton to collect it and told Sophie the bill was £140. She was furious, and I said to her that maybe it was time to look for something else now! I drove to Brackmills to get her and then we braved the heavy traffic back home. How she does this journey every night, I'll never know!

It was lovely to relax with a drink once we were home and after we'd chatted for half an hour, I finished dinner by adding the filo pastry top and popping it into the oven. As always, it was delicious!

Treats!

Back on the phone today, it was a lot busier than yesterday! Or maybe it felt like that as there were only two of us answering calls? I had the next lot of films to put on as well, so it was quite hard doing that and answering calls. Sheila also gave me the swimming crash courses to put on - the February half-term holiday is looming!

It was a relief to get out at 4pm and go home, after getting some diesel for my car. The cost of fuel is so high still and is a lot more than petrol for some reason. £40 just gets me half a tank these days!

When I arrived home I was delighted to find a gift box from M&S had been delivered. I used the £50 voucher I'd received at work to order a hamper filled with Italian goodies as a treat. The beautiful blue box contained a bottle of wine, cheese biscuits, olives, flavoured olive oil and jars of pickled vegetables, so it will be lovely to enjoy that one evening for dinner!

Helping out.

At work, I was off the phone today and helping Shirley, our new member of staff. She sat at the desk opposite me, and I was able to help with the queries she received. As well as that, I dealt with customer service emails and orders. The time passed very quickly! 

I didn't think the phones were busy today, and thankfully the problem we had last week with the memberships seems to have been sorted out. At 4pm I visited the post office in Moulton to send off the council documents by tracked first-class post. It cost over £7!

Sophie cooked a delicious dinner this evening - chicken in a black bean sauce with rice. It was so yummy that she had hardly any left over for her lunch tomorrow! 

Keith went upstairs to watch football after we'd eaten, and Sophie went to have a bath, so I settled down on my own to watch Simon Schama's History of Britain again, the bits I'd missed on Saturday when I fell asleep! I also watched the next episode which dealt with the Norman invasion and William the Conqueror. I always wonder what these famous men of history were really like? Tall, short, fat, thin, good-looking or ugly? They must have been formidable to lead their armies the way they did, and I would love to go back in time for just one day and experience what it was like. It would definitely have been smelly!

Feeling cosy!

This morning was even more beautiful than yesterday with a thick "hoar" frost covering the trees, fields and hedgerows. It was gorgeous! There was a hint of mist about, hanging over the fields and it was very cold again.

Keith and I decided to buy some curtains for the conservatory today, to put up at the doors to keep the chill out and give us some extra privacy. It will make the kitchen cosier on cold winter nights!

I picked out some lovely curtains very similar to our window blinds, and a curtain pole, and we drove to Kettering to pick them up from Dunelm. The first pole we were given was broken so we had to go back and exchange it. Keith does not like Dunelm after the window blind fiasco, and this just reinforced his opinion!

Back home, we had leftover Chinese for lunch, and Sophie arrived home as we were eating. She'd had a lovely time and said that the hotel was very quiet indeed, and the restaurant was closed... Their room had been great, but it was tiny, something I'd heard about the hotel. 

Keith put the curtain pole up and the curtains and we were delighted with how cosy it made the kitchen feel. When we have people over for dinner, it will also be nice to draw them and make the conservatory cosy as well. They reminded me of the thick curtains that hang behind some doors in Berlin restaurants, to keep the draughts out!

We spent an enjoyable afternoon chatting around the kitchen island and played Scrabble early. Keith and I had planned on having a steak pudding for dinner, but we couldn't be bothered to faff about with all the steaming it needed so we had a beef casserole with dumplings instead!

Sophie and I played two games (we won one each) and sipped cocktails before moving on to a bottle of red wine. The meal was delicious and perfect for such a cold winter's day!

Nature's beauty

After a lie-in, we enjoyed coffee and pains au chocolate for breakfast. Sophie didn't go to the gym this morning as she was out with Vikesh and staying at the very posh Falcon Hotel in Castle Ashby overnight. It's alright for some! He picked her up at midday and they headed to Wellingborough for lunch.

I had a job I needed to do today - give the bathroom a thorough scrub as it was long overdue. As I hardly ever use the bathroom I hadn't really noticed how much it needed a deep clean. The plastic strip along the bottom of the shower panel was brown and slimy and there were mould patches along the sealant. Within an hour, I'd sorted it all out with a bottle of trusty bleach and the bathroom was sparkling clean! It smelt lovely, too!

I pootled about for a while and then went to see my parents in the afternoon. I needed them to sign the council documents, so we did that and then we chatted. Their room was lovely and cosy - outside, it was sunny but very cold. This chilly snap is carrying on for longer than I thought, but I much prefer the cold, sunny days.

When I left Mum and Dad the sky was gorgeous - all pinky blues and peaches, and the outlines of the trees were beautiful. I decided to drive home via a single-track road and stop to take photos, but all the laybys were taken up with cars. Other people obviously had the same thought! On days like this, I really feel like the beauty of nature is a gift, and I just wished I'd been out for a walk earlier in the afternoon and taken some photographs.

Back home, Keith was settling down to watch football so I retired upstairs to watch Simon Schama's History of Britain. It was excellent, but I fell asleep! We ordered a Chinese takeaway this evening and the meal was delivered at about 7pm, just as Keith finished watching the football. What brilliant timing!

Our choice of viewing for tonight was The Gray Man, a violent film that Keith enjoyed, but I did not!

Catching up!

Work was just as bad today with lots of calls from members, but at least we had another couple of people in to help answer the phones. I was in a meeting in the afternoon to discuss how we could get the staff from different centres together and improve morale. It was an interesting discussion and great to see how other people approached the problem. I suggested people take part in a competition to scale a mountain by counting their steps, which went down well. Sophie had done something very similar at work when they "walked" from Land's End to John O'Groats. Even an activity like housework or gardening can be counted.

It was a huge relief to leave at 4pm and go home to relax. Sophie and I had been invited to Michelle's house this evening for a meal and wine and we were both looking forward to catching up with her and Sue who used to live opposite.

We took a bottle of Pinot Noir and a box of chocolates, and Sue arrived with Champagne! A real treat! Michelle had cooked a veggie chilli served with salad and rice, and the conversation soon turned to our new neighbours. Michelle and Richard had spoken to them when they first moved in, and I recounted the story of the parcel when Keith was eventually forced to take it around to them. As I said before, I don't think they'll be bosom buddies! Sue and I reminisced about the good old days of the Wine Club when we used to meet at each other's houses and have a wonderful evening. I miss those days... our neighbours have changed and I doubt we'll do anything like that again, which is a shame.

After the meal, we moved into the living room and ate the chocolates that we'd brought with us. It was an opportunity to say hello to Richard and Michelle's two cats, Lily and Hector, who are Siamese and a little bit aloof!

It was a lovely evening, and back home Sophie and I relaxed with Keith and told him about our catch-up before bed!

Membership mayhem!

I was looking after the customer service emails today but overnight, something happened with thousands of our memberships, meaning they were showing up as expired when they were actually still live. It meant that members were calling us, unable to make bookings online or be swiped into our gyms. 

When the phone lines opened we had about fifteen calls waiting, so I helped out until it calmed down. But I was dealing with loads of emails from members, too, and making them live again took time as we had to set the expiry date to the 1st of January 2100... quite a long time in the future!

I did as much as I could and cleared all the emails by 2pm. It was lovely to go home and not have to go out again this afternoon. I hoovered downstairs, tidied up and mopped the floor, something that was long overdue!

In the evening Keith went upstairs to watch the football and I had a very relaxing hour watching Winter Watch and sipping my new Woodford Reserve whiskey. Bliss!

Travel woes

Sophie was going to London today for an event at a prison in Surrey. She was taking the 6.25am train so Keith and I took her down to the station and we left at the ungodly hour of 5.45am. It had snowed lightly overnight so the roads were white and it was very cold!

We managed to get her there in good time, even though I took it easy on the ungritted country roads. Back home it was definitely time for a coffee, but I didn't go back to bed as we had to take my Dad's car to have its MOT done at 8am! Yawn!

Once that was done, and we were back home again, I had breakfast - leftover new potatoes made into an omelette, and then I tackled some jobs. Keith went to have his hair cut at about 11am, and when he came back I sat and filled out the forms from the council for Mum and Dad. It involved a lot of printing, and not for the first time I wondered what people without printers do?

In between the forms, I did a mound of hand-washing and put on two more loads of laundry. Keith stood and ironed another pile so we were kept very busy! We went and collected the car in the early afternoon and it passed the first time, thank goodness! It's my car that's playing up at the moment!

I did indulge in a nap in the afternoon and woke up at almost 5pm after a refreshing snooze. Sophie texted me to say she was getting the 5.20pm train from Euston and would be back at about 6.30pm as there was only one stop.

Just as we were setting out to meet her, she texted me to tell us not to leave, as there was a delay. The train had hit an animal, and they were stopped at Leighton Buzzard... It must have been a substantial animal for the train to stop and go out of service, so we had no idea what it was! Sophie was stuck on the platform at Leighton Buzzard for a fair while and didn't arrive back at Northampton until 7.30pm.

Our plans for dinner went out of the window, and I couldn't believe the number of cars at the station when we picked her up. It was a real scrum! We drove to Brixworth and bought some fish and chips for dinner, which were delicious washed down with a chilled glass of Viognier. I think we deserved it!

Sophie was shattered as she'd had a busy day, giving a speech to people in the industry and helping with all the organisation of the event. After we'd eaten we relaxed and Sophie gave me some late birthday gifts - all lovely pampering treats! 

A chilly start.

It was -5c driving into work this morning, but we didn't have any more snow overnight, just a hard frost. I took my Dad's car today while Keith kept an eye on my car. The tyre is still fine, so we're both a bit confused as to why it would suddenly deflate. I kept a close eye on the road as I drove in, in case I missed something yesterday and hit a hole or something?

Shirley came back for some more today and started taking calls at lunchtime. I had the rest of the films to input and other admin jobs, but I was glad when it was 4pm and I could head home. Keith and I indulged in a recorded programme of Vera which we both enjoyed. Watching it at 8pm after dinner makes my eyes droop, so it was good to see it before we cooked dinner.

I say we, but Sophie cooked a delicious meal of stuffed chicken wrapped in parma ham, served with crushed new potatoes and veggies. She made a very good job of it indeed!

Feeling a bit deflated...

I know I've said it before, but I really hate Monday mornings! Today it was cold, so I put the heating on for an hour before I left for work. It was lovely to get out of the shower and not shiver!

When I arrived at work, I immediately noticed that my front driver's side tyre was looking flat. I felt it and it was soft... I had no choice but to call Keith and tell him, but neither of us knew where the air pump was. Sophie called him and said it wasn't in her car, but he came out and decided he'd try and change it and put the emergency wheel on.

I went out into the car park with him, and it was bitterly cold. He had terrible trouble trying to unlock the wheel nuts and in the end, he had to admit defeat. Jo arrived while we were out in the car park, and our new member of staff, Shirley. 

Just after I'd started taking calls, Keith arrived back and he'd found the air pump. He inflated the tyre and took my car home, leaving me with my Dad's car. This is the second time this has happened in the car park, with both tyres on the driver's side, so it's strange.

Work was busy first thing, and Shirley was training with Jo all day. She looked a bit bemused by the number of calls we took and the variety of enquiries. I do wonder how she'll adapt, as we all found the job hard going at first until we got used to it!

It snowed off and on throughout the day and it's been very cold. Tomorrow is set to be even chillier! Brrr! I sped home at 4pm, and Keith said the tyre had remained inflated all day, which was weird. If it was a slow puncture, surely it would have gone down a bit?

Dinner tonight was a nice easy Pan Haggerty with corned beef, onions and potatoes served with peas. Delicious and perfect for a cold winter's night!

Celebrating in London!

I celebrated my birthday today, and Sophie and I had booked a Polish restaurant a while back near the V&A museum in London. It was a restaurant we'd always wanted to go to when we used to park the car in Hyde Park and walk down to the museums. We were hoping it wouldn't disappoint!

Yesterday evening, we booked train tickets, and we were hoping to get the 10.10am train down to Euston. We arrived with plenty of time, parked the car and bought a coffee before going down to the platform. There were a lot of people about, far more than I'd imagined on a Sunday,  but I think a lot of them were going to a football match in north London.

We heard on the tannoy that our train was delayed, which wasn't good news. Then, a Birmingham-bound train arrived on our platform and, as this was due to depart at about 10.30am, we realised that there were definitely going to be problems! We saw another Euston train waiting on another platform so we hot-footed it over, along with masses of other people!

Luckily, we managed to get seats, but as the train carried on down to London, it became even busier, with passengers standing in the aisles. The driver kept saying to people getting on that there was another one following us, but they ignored him and the train was soon bursting at the seams!

At Euston, we went outside to get an Uber but the road was closed (we later found out there'd been a drive-by shooting further down the road), so we took a taxi to the V&A instead. It cost £26! The driver was very friendly and chatty though, and wished me happy birthday, so that was lovely! 

Happily, the weather today was beautiful with blue skies and winter sunshine. We went into the museum by a different entrance and found the café where we enjoyed coffee and cake. I shared a scone with Keith, and I was amazed at the prices - £5 for a slice of cake and almost £4 for a coffee! I didn't mind, though, as visiting the museum is free.

We sat and discussed what we wanted to see - Islam, China and Japan, followed by medieval exhibits and then ceramics on the top floor. As we left the café, I spotted the actress who plays the mum in Outnumbered, Claire Skinner. She saw me looking, but I would never approach someone famous when they're out in public and she was sitting chatting with friends. She knew I knew, though!

The Three Graces

Casts of medieval tombstones

Large things (no idea what they are but they're reproductions)

Not the real David... and Sophie

It was lovely to wander about looking at all the gorgeous objects. The ceramics on the top floor were beautiful and the galleries were very quiet and peaceful. I'd never seen so much china crammed into one place, and I dread to think about the value of all the exhibits! We also had a quick look at the paintings and saw a couple by Turner and Constable. No Dali-esque ones today!

At about 2.30pm we left the museum and walked the short distance to the restaurant. I was a bit nervous about going in because as well as a restaurant, Ognisko is also a club. However, we needn't have worried. We were greeted warmly and our coats were taken, before we were shown to a table by the window. The restaurant was buzzing with people and the surroundings were beautiful - it reminded me of somewhere in Europe, which was apt seeing as it's Polish, and a lot of Polish people were sitting around us!

We were given menus and a bottle of sparkling water. Sophie and I debated about having a bottle of wine, but in the end, we went for a glass of the house wine, deciding to have a cocktail after the meal. Keith had a delicious Polish beer called Johannes.

We chose our starters - terrine for Keith, Polish dumplings filled with cheese and potato for Sophie and spicy Polish sausage and potato salad for me. For our main courses, I chose the pork schnitzel (it was like being back in Berlin), Sophie had the pork neck with a mushroom sauce, and Keith chose the cod.

The food was beautifully presented and delicious. The portions were also large and my starter would have been adequate for a main course!

My pork schnitzel was on a bed of roasted new potatoes and bacon chunks, topped with a fried egg. It was gorgeous and I did pass quite a bit on to Sophie and Keith to try! Sophie loved her pork neck - she said it was soft and tender and melt-in-the-mouth delicious!

As the afternoon wore on, the restaurant emptied out and the lights dimmed. It was truly a beautiful place and very relaxing. We had a fabulous time and the experience certainly lived up to our expectations.

Sophie with her dirty Martini

After our main courses, Sophie and I chose the chocolate mousse for dessert, and we ordered cocktails. A vodka Martini for Sophie, and a Negroni for me. The bill came to a whopping £183 (with a service charge of 12.5% included) but it was a truly lovely meal and the surroundings were beautiful. I suspect a lot of the people there eat at the restaurant every week and the clientele looked well-heeled and stylish.

We summoned an Uber for the journey back to Euston and sat in the lovely hall while we waited. A couple of older ladies were also waiting for a car, but ours came first, a very smart MG SUV, which was immaculately clean.

We had a brilliant journey back to Euston, taking in Knightsbridge (we spotted Harvey Nichols), Leicester Square, the West End and its theatres, and Chinatown. The streets were crowded with people out enjoying the shops, bars and restaurants. No scenes from an Uber pics this evening, as it was too dark, but it was lovely to look out of the windows and people-watch!

Arriving back at Euston was a bump back down to earth. We managed to get on a train that was waiting on the platform, but we had to sit in separate seats. I sat opposite a huge man sprawled over two seats who was eating chocolate with his mouth open and watching football on his phone. His wife was on the seat next to me, and the couple hardly said a word to each other for the whole journey, as both were engrossed in their phones or eating sweets. Luckily, the woman next to Sophie departed at Leighton Buzzard, so I was able to sit next to my daughter for the rest of the journey!

We reclaimed the car, drove home and relaxed for the rest of the evening. I called my Mum and opened my cards, before reading the paper in the kitchen. It had been an immensely enjoyable day, but a tiring one! Work tomorrow... ugh!

Pre-Birthday celebrations!

Sophie went to the gym this morning for her yoga classes, and I sorted out some paperwork and managed to complete a couple of jobs that needed doing. I printed the financial forms for Mum and Dad, but I'll deal with them on Wednesday when I have more time!

Keith and I enjoyed pains au chocolat for breakfast, and between us, we prepared the vegetables for dinner. The weather today has been wet and windy, so perfect for settling down and looking at Airbnb places for our forthcoming trip in April. I found a couple of promising houses, and when Sophie returned we booked a flat in Colmar for three nights. From here we can drive into Germany and even Switzerland! 

We still need to book a place for the night on the way there, and on the way back, but it's deciding where to stop! It was lovely to get our map of France out and look at the different areas. We had looked at places in Luxembourg but we're also thinking of Belgium as our outward ferry is from Dover to Dunkirk, so a different route from the one we took last year. 

In the afternoon we collected Mum and drove to Tesco at Kettering. Mum treated me to a bottle of Bourbon for my birthday, and I treated myself to a bottle of Gin and a bottle of Campari to make Negronis this evening. We drove over to Costa on the other side of the retail park and had a coffee there before taking Mum back, saying hello to my Dad, and heading home.

Keith was cooking dinner this evening, so Sophie and I played Scrabble and drank cocktails. A perfect pre-Birthday evening! I had two Negronis and Sophie enjoyed Manhattans. They were delicious!

My Negroni

We ate a beefy casserole with dumplings and loads of vegetables for dinner, and then I elected to watch A Knight's Tale starring two of my favourite actors, Rufus Sewell and James Purefoy. Scrumptious!

So glad it's Friday!

The promised films arrived today so I was able to put them onto the system for two weeks' time. One of them is A Man Called Otto, starring Tom Hanks, and I remember reading the book the film is based on, A Man Called Ove, which was set in Sweden. There was a Swedish film based on the novel, so why the need for another? It's like the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo! The original was brilliant, but they did another, starring Daniel Craig!

Anyway, that kept me busy for a while and we had far more phone calls today so the time flew by. It was great to escape at 4pm and look forward to my Birthday weekend!

At home, Sophie and I opened a bottle of red wine and Keith went off to the pub to see John. We watched two episodes of A New Life in the Sun and enjoyed chilli con Carne with baked potatoes. A lovely easy supper for a Friday night!

A busy Thursday

To be honest, it was a relief to go back to work today and be busy! I was dealing with customer service emails, some of which were quite moany because the situation with our swimming lessons has not improved. I was also hoping to get an email from our Marketing manager with more films as we don't have any more available after this week!

At 2pm I sped off to collect Mum and took her to have her nails done. While I was waiting, I scrolled through loads of photos of Monty as I want to have one printed and framed. Over the years both Sophie and I have taken loads of him, so there was plenty to choose from!

Mum's nails were done by 4pm so we headed back and I was pleased that it was still light. The last time we drove back it was dark! The nights are getting a bit lighter now, and I'm looking forward to when Sophie's driving back in daylight.

In the evening, Sophie and I looked at Airbnb places in Alsace. We've decided to stay in Colmar which is a gorgeous town and very near to the border with Germany. We have cancelled our planned trip to California in September and the money we received back will partly fund this next trip. Bring it on!

A somewhat trying Wednesday!

Today will definitely not go down as one of this year's best! It has been somewhat trying, and that's an understatement!

I had a long list of things I wanted to either achieve or get started today, and I failed at most of them. I emailed the company that has all of Mum and Dad's things in storage to see if they had a service whereby they sold the items, or knew of a company that did. We need to reduce their monthly outgoings now and the cost of storage needs to be cut out. They weren't very helpful at all, so that was a great beginning!

Next, I tried to get a settlement figure for Dad's car and the activation code to get this went straight to Mum's mobile. She called me but the code she gave me was incorrect, so we tried again. It didn't work the second time, either, so that was enormously frustrating!

I emailed John, Keith's drinking buddy, who has connections with Home Start, a charity that helps families, and he suggested another venture in Kettering that will collect and distribute unwanted furniture to people in need, so I'm hoping they will be able to help.

We needed to go and collect Sophie's quilt from the launderette, and I'd suggested we meet up for lunch, so we left and drove into town, getting held up all the way by roadworks and a learner driver, so another frustrating journey!

When Sophie came out of her offices, she had a face like thunder, and when we walked over to the café we saw a huge, long queue of people waiting at the counter... We decided to drive to a Subway nearby, but Sophie was in such a bad mood (because of work) that we gave up and took her back. Keith and I went to Riverside and had lunch in Costa before popping to Boots.

We're on the lookout for a dehumidifier for the kitchen, as whenever we cook with saucepans on the hob, we get steamed up. The condensation is literally running down the walls. We popped to B&Q first and after a long trawl around the store, finally asked a member of staff who said they were sold out. Yes, about right for today! 

We went over to Curry's on the other side of the retail park and they didn't have any either, so we admitted defeat and went home! This morning, when I was grappling with paperwork, it was sunny and bright, but the weather worsened this afternoon, and it was rainy and grey. It perfectly matched my mood!

All day I'd been waiting for a call from the council, and they finally phoned at 4.30pm. The man I spoke to emailed me two forms I need to fill in, but luckily, I have three weeks to return them. 

Dinner this evening was a delicious chicken and bacon pasta bake that Sophie made. She was in a much better mood and we watched A New Life in the Sun after we'd eaten. I envied the participants even more!

Meal mishap!

One of my morning treats, before work, is to watch A New Life in the Sun with my coffee. I have half an hour to ease into the day and this certainly helps! Imagine my delight when I saw L'Escala featured on a new episode! I texted Sophie to let her know and said we'd watch it tonight when she got home.

Work was fine, and I'm enjoying my new noise-cancelling headphones. They don't drown out all the noise but they do cut down on it a bit, which helps! I was kept busy with cancellation emails, and putting on some new activities, so the time passed quickly. I received another two calls from the council but was unable to call back so I'm just hoping that they'll catch me tomorrow when I'm not at work.

When Sophie came home we had a glass of red wine and watched A New Life in the Sun. The couple who have moved to L'Escala are running a bridal outfit/art shop next to where Sophie bought some jewellery, right on the seafront in a lovely area of the town. We recognised the shop immediately! It was lovely to see aerial shots of the resort, and it brought back some great memories of last year!

Keith was cooking beef stroganoff this evening and unfortunately, he burnt the meat, onions and mushrooms in our wok. We could smell it as he was cooking so we knew what to expect when we sat down for dinner. I couldn't eat the meal as it tasted of cigarette ends, and he was very apologetic. I just ate some garlic bread and drank some red wine, but it was a real shame, especially as we were looking forward to the meal, as normally it's one of his signature dishes!

After the meal, he disappeared upstairs to watch Newcastle play and Sophie and I indulged in another episode of A New Life in the Sun. I did envy the people who had moved, and admired them for making that big step!

Making plans.

The mad rush of calls that we normally get in January doesn't seem to have happened this year, which is slightly worrying. I managed to complete the December moan report in one day as we didn't have that many complaints in the lead-up to Christmas. Probably because everyone was busy with the festive season! 

My phone rang twice today, and when I left work I listened to a voicemail message from somebody at the council, so the wheels have been set in motion regarding the ongoing care for my parents, and the payment for it. I still have a sense of disbelief about what's happened to them over the last three years, and I sometimes yearn to turn the clock back to 2019 when they were in their own home and living independently. It still feels like an ongoing nightmare, and I know I'll never come to terms with what's happened.

At home, I prepared the vegetables for tonight's meal of chicken fajitas. Before Sophie started cooking this evening, we talked about her birthday, and we're now looking at going to the Alsace region of France and driving through Belgium and Luxembourg. Keith and I went years ago before the children arrived, and it's gorgeous, with a wonderful mix of German and French, so the best of both worlds! We have both booked holiday at work so now we need to decide where to stay! It will be something lovely to look forward to!

A dish of duck

This morning was spent pootling about at home, catching up with jobs and preparing tonight's meal of duck with orange, one of the Hairy Bikers' recipes. I thought it would be good to try something new for a change, and we hardly ever eat duck. When we do, it's usually in a restaurant.

The recipe called for kumquats and Keith couldn't find them in Tesco, so we googled alternatives and the suggestion was satsumas. We had to slice them in half, mix them with a sugar solution and try and cook them until they were soft. We then peeled the flesh from the skins and used a stick blender to extract as much juice as possible before sieving it. We then mixed this liquid with red wine vinegar, chicken stock, finely chopped shallots and the juice of two oranges. The whole concoction had to be reduced until it was thick and syrupy but we never managed that consistency, although the liquid did reduce substantially! And this was just to make the sauce!

In the afternoon we took Mum to Smith's Farm Shop and managed a cup of tea, two hot chocolates and cake before the café closed at 4pm. After we'd eaten and watched the two teenage staff do as little as possible to clean up (it brought back memories of running the business!), we bought some goodies and returned home.

Sophie wasn't keen on Scrabble tonight, and I think both of us were a little nervous about dinner. The duck breasts had cost £16 so the last thing we wanted to do was ruin the meal, something that could easily happen!

We had prepared a pan of vegetables and were planning roasted new potatoes to go with the duck breasts, so we put those in the oven and opened a bottle of red wine. The first thing we did was sear the duck breasts, skin side down, in a hot pan. We then put them in the oven to finish cooking, hoping the skin would be crispy as Keith had asked for. The last thing we wanted was for them to be overcooked and tough.

The sauce tasted delicious and reduced a bit more when we poured it into the pan where we'd seared the duck. When the duck was cooked we sliced it and served the meal. Voila!

The meal was lovely but Keith said the skin wasn't as crispy as he would have liked. However, the taste of the sauce was delicious and we'll definitely cook duck again, maybe with a cherry sauce next time!

Plans changed.

Today dawned windy and rainy, so a plan to go to Stamford was shelved until the weather improved! I had a bit of a lie-in and enjoyed a coffee while catching up with A New Life in the Sun! A perfect start to a lazyish Saturday.

Sophie went to the gym to take part in two yoga classes, and I sorted out mounds of washing. We had no choice but to use the tumble dryer as outside it was pouring! While Sophie was at the gym I prepared the vegetables and chicken for our meal this evening and pottered about doing jobs.

In the afternoon I started writing up a holiday diary from 1984 when I went to Italy with my parents and a friend called Suzanne. We were 16 and had a great time in the resort of Forte Dei Marmi. The holiday company we used then is still in business, and with the aid of Google maps, I could look at the street we stayed on and walk down to the beach. Ahh! Memories!

Sophie and I played Scrabble early this evening and sipped cocktails - a Dark and Stormy for my daughter, and a lovely Martini for me. As I hadn't eaten much today (just scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast) I felt pleasantly tipsy!

Sophie cooked dinner this evening - chicken fried rice - and the meal was delicious as always. It's such an easy dish to make, and I always think that rice dishes are very comforting, especially when the weather outside is so horrible!

Our film choice for tonight was Operation Mincemeat, which was fascinating!

Dreaming of sunny shores!

Even though it's only my first proper week back at work, I was mightily glad it was Friday! I will be so pleased when the mornings start to get a bit lighter, and the evenings as well! Both Sophie and I drive to and from work in the dark and it's horrible!

The phones were busy today and I had other jobs to do, so the time flew by. I came home and relaxed by watching a programme about Brits who start a new life in Europe, and I do wonder why some of them do what they do! One couple are running a bar and working 18 hours a day! Madness!

Keith went to the pub this evening, but his drinking buddy, John, was a no-show. He came home early while Sophie and I were drinking a delicious Viognier and watching a perfect rom-com, While You Were Sleeping, starring Sandra Bullock and the gorgeous Bill Pullman.

We had baked potatoes for dinner and then we caught up with Death in Paradise at 9pm. This is definitely perfect for this miserable time of year!

Difficult conversations.

Sophie was very upset about Monty last night, and we all miss him. If I see something brownish on a chair or on the floor, I think it's him. To try and cheer her up I suggested a discussion this evening about her birthday in April. She's had three disappointing years so it would be lovely to celebrate properly this April and I brought up a possible visit to San Sebastian, in Spain. We'd seen the town featured on Fred Siriex's foodie programme, and it looked beautiful.

I was at work today and doing admin but I nearly had to man the phones, as we had a staff member down and another who had to dip out for a few hours to attend a funeral. Luckily, Kathy came in to help out, so that was a bonus. It meant I could get lots done and tackle some very moany emails!

I found out yesterday that it was Maureen's last day at the soft play centre we used to run so I left work five minutes early to go and say goodbye, as she was having a little leaving do. On the way, my phone rang and it was the council about Mum and Dad's money, and the fact that very soon they would be below the threshold and reliant on the local council to fund their care. It was not a pleasant conversation and left me feeling very upset, especially when the woman queried where the money had gone. She'd been in touch with them last year when their bank account was relatively healthy but at £9000 a month in fees, where did she think it had gone? I was furious.

I said goodbye to Maureen and watched as she opened her presents from everyone, but I left as soon as I could as I was feeling a little emotional. Looking around at the business we used to own, and knowing now what the future held, was very sad.

I went home and called my Mum to say I'd be late picking her up, but she was feeling unwell, so we postponed our trip out. I did go over to see them, though, to drop off some items they needed and we had a chat about the conversation with the council woman. They were worried, too so it made for a miserable afternoon.

When Sophie returned from work we talked about future travel plans in an effort to cheer her up a bit. We decided to put San Sebastian on hold for later in the year, maybe, and drive there through France, stopping on the way. For her birthday she fancied a short break in San Malo, which sounded good!

Un-deck the halls...

Sophie woke me up this morning when I was in the middle of a dream, so as soon as she'd gone to the gym, I went back to bed for a couple of hours. I didn't feel guilty at all!

Today has been spent taking down the Christmas decorations and cleaning the downstairs of the house. Keith packed the trees away into their boxes and stored them back in the garage while I put all the decorations into gift boxes and stored them in our wardrobe. We have so many beautiful decorations now, and so many of them have happy memories attached. We didn't have long to display the two new ones we bought in Berlin, but it'll be great to see them for Christmas 2023!

As well as cleaning the house I managed to get a lot of boring jobs out of the way, chores that had been waiting for me to tackle for a few days. It's alarming how easy it is to lose track of things that need doing and my new diary was in contact use today as I ticked off things that had to be done.

I managed to have a long, hot bath in the afternoon and lit some candles, so when Sophie arrived home from work, the house was looking lovely, if a little bare. We still have the fairy lights twinkling on the fireplace and the new lights around the wine rack, so there's a little bit of winter cheer!

Phone niggles

I slept through my phone alarm this morning and woke up with a start at just past 7am when I should have been in the shower! I leapt out of bed, dived into the shower and made it to work with plenty of time, thank goodness! No coffee for me until I arrived at work, which was a horrible start to the day!

Sara came in just after me and still sounded ill with her cough. She'd been to the emergency care centre yesterday as it hurt her every time she coughed. I'm hoping mine will go away soon!

There were three of us answering phones today, and we had a problem with the system first thing when calls started coming through at 9am, the same as yesterday. The timings hadn't been changed and the phones played up for the whole of the shift with several "ghost" calls not disappearing from the screen so we never knew whether there was a call coming in or not!

As yesterday, it was a huge relief to leave at 4pm and look forward to a day off tomorrow. Keith and I are going to tackle the Christmas trees and clean the house, so not sure whether that's something to look forward to or not?!

Sophie had been to the gym today and had hoovered the house for me so it looked lovely when I arrived home. As a treat, we poured ourselves a glass of red wine and watched the last episode of Stanley Tucci's gastronomic tour of Italy, this time in Liguria where they specialise in pesto. The countryside looked stunning!

Keith had made a beef casserole and dumplings and dinner was delicious. Tonight, it was Sophie's turn for the back-to-work blues. She's going to find it hard to get up at 5.30am!

The back to work blues

It was a bit of a shock when the alarm went off at 7.30am this morning! Tomorrow is going to be worse! I met up with Jo in the car park and we had a good chat as we walked to the office. There were just the two of us working today, and I was hoping it wouldn't be too busy as I had a lot to catch up with! My desk was covered in notes, and bits of paper, but I did receive two more Christmas cards and a bar of chocolate!

The phone lines opened at 9am and we were busier than I had expected, with a steady drip, drip of calls that made it difficult to get anything done. Annoyingly, a lot of calls were from people asking about our opening hours, information readily available on our website. Are people really that lazy that they can't find out the information for themselves?

It was a relief to get out at 2pm and take my Dad's car to be washed. I estimated the last time we'd done this was just before we went to Spain in September! It really needed a good scrub, and I bought myself a chicken pasta salad to eat at home as I hadn't taken any lunch with me.

Sophie has been out with her new boyfriend, Vikesh, today and they took the train to Birmingham to do some shopping and have lunch. She arrived home earlier than I had expected and seemed a lot happier today. She still wanted dinner with us, though, and we tucked into Chicken Kievs with mashed potatoes, asparagus and broccoli.

I had a severe dose of the January blues this evening. I'm back at work properly tomorrow (Sophie has another day off) and in at 8am. With the demise of our little cat, Christmas over and our Berlin trip behind us I felt a bit glum!

At least I have my Birthday to look forward to!

Hello 2023!

Today has been spent quietly and we decided not to make our annual trip out for the day due to our recent arrival from Berlin. I still had some washing and a pile of ironing to tackle! I also wanted to get up to date with this blog - the 14th year of writing it! That's 14 novels worth of words!

We had a pleasant, sunny morning but in the afternoon it clouded over and became more grey and gloomy. I have this silly theory that New Year's Day shapes the rest of the year, but I'm going to try and ignore this! Last year, we stayed in all day, picked Sophie up from the station as she'd been out with Zain, and then took her out for dinner in the evening. Little did we know that she was harbouring covid!

And talking of which, the last place I want to be at the moment is in hospital because of rising rates of flu, covid and scarlet fever. I still have a niggling cough but thankfully it didn't materialise into anything else, like a heavy cold. With so much contact in the last week with strangers, I'll be delighted if we don't get a lurgy!

In the afternoon Sophie and I went over to see Mum and Dad, took them some chocolates and had a good natter for over an hour. They were interested to hear all about our trip and it was great to see them again.

Back home we played Scrabble and Sophie beat me twice... We had a very simple dinner - the prawn cocktail we should have had yesterday and Sophie discovered a creamy pasta dish in the freezer that she enjoyed. She was over the moon she'd found it!

I had a bit of the Sunday evening blues tonight. I'm back at work tomorrow, but thankfully it's a shorter shift, so that's some consolation!