Victory!

I woke up with a full-blown cold this morning and really didn't fancy going to work, but needs must... Sophie took me in and went to do two Yoga classes at her gym. I was working with the lovely Sue today, and she very kindly offered to take the calls while I concentrated on the emails. I had 30 waiting for me in the cancellation box and another 20 normal ones, so I was only too glad to sort them out. By the end of the short shift, they had all been sorted. I helped Sue with calls as well, as we were busier than normal for a Saturday. The weather outside was horrible, so we took a lot of cinema bookings and swim enquiries.

Sophie picked me up at 2pm and we went home where I had lunch while reading the papers at the kitchen island. Bliss! The weather had improved and we saw a lot of blue skies and huge white clouds. Vikesh came around at 3.30pm and he and Sophie walked up to the pub for a drink before the England match at 5pm. I sat on the sofa with Keith and fell asleep for almost an hour. I was horribly stuffed up and I did wonder whether I had covid?

We all watched the football this evening and I thought it was dull in the extreme. With just ten minutes to go, England was losing to Switzerland, so we ordered our Chinese takeaway as we all thought it wouldn't go to extra time. And then England scored to equalise!

Just as the game went into the half-hour extra time, our meals arrived, so we had to pause the game while we ate! All mobile phones went onto mute and we weren't allowed to touch them, just in case we discovered the result!

At the end of the extra time, it was still 1-1 so the game went to penalties, something that Sophie loves! Switzerland missed with their first attempt and England never missed... we're through to the semi-finals and will play the Netherlands who beat Turkey.

After the game we watched Wimbledon and I hung on to see Djokovic win in a tense four-set match. He is the last of what we call The Great Four - Nadal, Federer, Murray and Djokovic - so I hope he makes it to the final next Sunday!

A new era..

So, we awoke to a new Government this morning, and in a way, I was glad because it will be interesting to see how Labour get on with running the country, and they will be under immense pressure to make changes. On a personal note, I hope they make a complete balls-up of it,  but we'll have to wait and see! If they do, they'll no doubt blame the Tories!

I tried to find out who had won in our local constituency, but the votes were still being counted. Daventry is normally a staunch Conservative area so it would be interesting to see what happened. The massive majority that Boris had in the 2019 election has been wiped out, but there were a lot more Lib Dem seats won, and the Greens now have four seats in Parliament! The turnout was disappointing, though, and just under 60% of the population bothered to vote, which is terrible. It was reflected in the women I work with, most of whom said they wouldn't go and vote as they couldn't see the point...

I drove to work and decided to tackle the swim camps and holiday activities this morning while Angela covered for me. It meant I had to leave the emails, but as I'm working tomorrow, I can sort them then. When Angela arrived, she cleaned her keyboard and desk as she was concerned about the rise of covid infections at the moment. I don't know whether her comments were a coincidence, but in the afternoon I felt like I had a cold coming on! 

I left work a lot happier than yesterday, as I'd managed to put on the first week of the swim camps and a lot of the holiday activities. Our MD had been sitting in our office all day, which was a bit off-putting, but thankfully he was out of the office when I took a call from a particularly nasty woman just before I left. She demanded that I go through all the swim stages on the Swim England website to try and ascertain which stage her daughter would be in so she could enlist her in our lessons. I refused, saying she knew how her daughter swam better than me, and to go and look with her daughter to work it out. She became nasty and abusive with me and demanded to know my name, which I was only too happy to give! If she emails in to complain, I'll be the one to see it first! Ha!

I went home and relaxed and when Sophie came home we cracked open a bottle of red wine and watched The Hotel Inspector. Alex Polizzi is my heroine and she wouldn't take any abuse!

P.S. The Conservatives held onto their Daventry seat, but Labour was snapping at their heels!

An avalanche of emails...

I arrived to find 90 emails waiting for me, and yet more in the cancellation box. I was starting to feel panicky, as I had so much to do and not enough time. It's taking me all day just to deal with emails, let alone do anything else, and I know Sara will be busy next week, as Nicola joked about giving her loads to do...

Keith picked me up at 2pm and we went home. I was going to go and see my Mum and Dad this afternoon, but I felt tired and stressed so I called and made my excuses. I felt miserable, probably because of the election looming and a predicted Labour win...

When Sophie arrived home from work we drove to the village, so she and Keith could vote. I'd already voted and sent off my postal vote a week ago. I sat outside the pub to wait for them, and when they emerged they said the two people manning the polling station were lovely... the old cow who was so rude to me at the last election wasn't there this time... typical!

We went to the pub for a drink and sat by the fireplace. The pub was full of men with dogs, who sniffed each others' bums (the dogs, not the men) and started playfights with each other. There was a great atmosphere, and we knew the majority of the people who came in over the hour and a half we were there. Dave's son, Josh, came in and it was great to see him and have a chat as well.

Our dinner tonight was supposed to have been a savoury crumble, and I'd made the crumble topping already, but Sophie was angling for a meal out. We decided to have fish and chips as it was almost 7.30pm by the time we left but on the way we called into the pub at Walgrave to see if they had a table. Obviously, other people had the same intention as us this evening - to vote and then support their local - as the place was heaving! We rapidly backtracked and drove to the fish and chip shop in Broughton where our dinner was freshly cooked for us.

Back home, we watched some of the news but I went to bed before the official News at Ten on BBC1. Keith came up and said a landslide victory for Labour had been predicted, which wasn't a surprise. Normally, I like to stay up and see the first votes come in but tonight I wasn't in the mood!

A little torture...

I had booked an appointment at the beauty salon for an upper lip electrolysis session and an eyebrow shape this morning, so no long lie-in for me today! Keith came with me and sat in the car outside while I was being tortured (the electrolysis session hurt), but it was all over by about 10.15am, thank goodness! 

We drove to Riverside to get the new (old) plates for my Audi, which cost me £36... this business of replacing number plates is not cheap! The weather had turned horrible, with a grey drizzle drenching everything, so we decided to have a coffee at the Costa café in Next before popping into Homebase, which was closing down and advertising big discounts on everything, except, curiously enough, white emulsion paint?!

We sat and enjoyed a coffee in Next, and then walked the short distance to Homebase. I was looking for a bargain garden table and chairs, but the only set I liked was still very expensive! It was sad in there as Homebase has been a presence on Riverside for decades, and I had no idea until today that they were closing down. With Wilko's next door also empty, it's a bit worrying.

Keith splashed out on a tube of glue and we returned to the car, getting soaked in the process. Back home, we pootled about doing jobs, and Keith put the number plates on the car, I also tried to get an online valuation for it, but the DVLA hadn't updated their records yet, so officially, it didn't exist! They should be sending me the new logbook this week and I'll look into selling it then. I will be very sad.

In the afternoon I made tonight's dinner - a potato soup which I gently simmered to cook the onions and potatoes. It smelt lovely as it gently cooked.

Dinner was a success. I shallow fried slices of frankfurter sausage and added them to the soup and we enjoyed a cheese flatbread as an accompaniment. It was simple, but filling and delicious!

Tense Tuesday!

Yesterday, Keith took me to work, which is how it'll be from now on. He'll give me a lift on Monday and Thursday and then trek over to Kettering to do the shopping. I'm in two minds about whether to get another car as it will put a lot of pressure on the VW, but it'll be better to just have two cars on the driveway, rather than squeezing three on!

Work was busy and stressful, as we had identified a problem with the direct debit payments of some customers and I was given the job to call them. This meant that I didn't have time to tackle a lot of emails or put on the swim camps. I also received six weeks' worth of holiday activities to put on! It's a good job I can stagger them!

At 4pm I drove home and relaxed. Sophie cooked dinner entirely as Keith and I hadn't done anything. It was a chicken pasta bake so I just thought we'd cook off the meat, add a sauce and the pasta and bung it in the oven. Sophie had other ideas, though, and chopped up a load of onions, peppers and carrots and then made a salad! Keith and I sat and played cards while she cooked but I said it was my turn tomorrow when I try and re-create a German sausage and potato soup!

We watched a mixture of tennis and football this evening and saw two British players go through at Wimbledon!

A painful decision

Sara is off all this week so I am in charge of emails, and it took me all day to deal with them. We also had lots of cancellation emails, and it's the time of year when we get a fair few as people decide to exercise outdoors or travel. Many of our students also return home, making my day very busy as I deal with the enquiries.

Yesterday I made the painful decision to sell my  Audi, so I had to take my private registration plate off the car and pay £80 for the privilege! On Wednesday, Keith and I will go and buy new plates (it reverted back to the registration that was on the car when I bought it) and I felt really sad. However, the car has done over 185,000 miles and I'm a little worried about a seatbelt or airbag light that's come on the instrument panel. I don't know why I get so attached to cars, but I do, and I've owned my A4 since 2013, so a long time. Nothing lasts forever!

Wimbledon started today and the Tour de France kicked off yesterday so plenty is going on this week as the football continues. I won't mention the election looming on Thursday... this is a politics-free zone!