Having a smashing time!

Sophie was all ready to go to the gym this morning when she dropped her new water bottle, smashing the lid. I was upstairs and heard the noise, and when I came down, Sophie was wailing about the bottle, logging straight onto Amazon to order another. She was feeling a little emotional, and I tried to say we could sort it out at the weekend, but she was adamant she wanted to order another one immediately!

As mascara was running down her face and she was still crying, she decided to leave the gym for today! It meant we could watch another Come Dine With Me and enjoy a coffee together!

I had a busy shift at work, dealing with all the emails, putting on some more films and adding the prices for the Easter playscheme, which is looming! How quickly the time is going at the moment!

At 4pm I sped home and watched an episode of Motherland, which I am hooked on. I never saw the comedy series when it first aired, but I find it hilarious, despite my own children being adults themselves!

When Sophie arrived home, she put out some snacks she'd bought at Waitrose, and we tried another Pinot Gris from New Zealand which we both enjoyed. Our viewing choice tonight was a Netflix documentary about Charles Manson but I kept nodding off! Thank goodness it's Friday!

Keith came home from the pub and we had an easy supper before watching Crufts. Some of the dogs in the Toy category were like little fluffy balls!

An evening treat!

As Sophie was working from home today, she didn't go to the gym. We sat with our coffees and watched Come Dine With Me and this particular lot are a little strange, to say the least!

Because Sophie was at home all day, I was able to take Olive to work while Keith went shopping in the VW. I had a good shift and the time flew by as usual. At 2pm, I sped home to have lunch in the conservatory with Sophie, read the paper and relax. I seem to be always having to go somewhere on a Thursday afternoon, so it was a real treat to not rush about!

I should say that today, Keith and I have been together for 37 years! 37! Where has the time gone? He had bought me a bunch of lilies in the shopping, and a chocolate cake for Sophie and me to enjoy with a cup of tea!

Sophie had booked a table at The Royal Oak this evening and we arrived at about 7pm to a raucous lounge full of people celebrating the birthday of one of the staff. The noise was tremendous, and the place was so packed we could hardly get to the bar to order our drinks. There was also a man sitting at our reserved table!

I suggested to Keith we go to the room at the back of the pub where it was much quieter! I couldn't remember how long it had been since I'd last visited, but there had been some changes made to bring the pub into the 21st century. The back room (where Keith stands with John on a Friday night) had been re-decorated and had a pool table in the middle of the room. We sat and perused the menus and I was in two minds about whether to go elsewhere. I have very fond memories of the pub as Keith and I  have been visiting since 1989 and we made lots of friends there. Sadly, most of them are no longer with us.

We decided to stay and make the best of it and by 7.30pm our table was free and the noise had lessened considerably. We shared two starters of crispy chicken and halloumi fries and I chose the gammon as a main course. Sophie opted for one of her favourites, lasagne, while Keith settled for the steak and ale pie, which looked delicious. Sophie and I shared a beautiful bottle of red Portuguese wine and Keith stuck to beer, although he had to take one pint back as it looked horrible!

The food was very good, the service was great and by 8pm the pub had emptied out, which was lovely. It was more like the pub I knew of old! Sophie and I indulged in panna cotta for dessert which tasted great but there was no wobble!

By 9pm, we were all done and it was time to head home and see what the cats were up to!

A fit of temper...

Sophie did indeed go to the gym this morning (her leg was intact), while I had a lie-in, which was lovely! My plan for today was to go to Market Harborough to take the books I'd sorted out on Sunday, and to deliver my Mum's new phone to her.

The phone arrived at about 11am and I had a stressy time trying to fit the SIM card. I somehow managed to fit it incorrectly, and had the devil of a job trying to get it back out again! Keith tried to help but in situations like this, I just want to try and figure it out for myself. In the end, after getting very annoyed with the phone, I retrieved it with a pair of tweezers!

I was then able to charge it while Keith and I popped into Market Harborough, which was busy with traffic and shoppers. I dumped the car in the taxi rank (not a good idea) while I ran over to Oxfam, and then moved the car further up the road and parked on the pavement (not a good idea, either!). A lovely woman from Oxfam helped me carry all the books into the shop - and there were many of them! - so that was one job ticked off my list.

After Keith and I had popped to Spar to get a jar of dried parsley and the newspaper, we took the VW for a wash at an automated place just outside the town. A man sprayed the car with a pre-wash and then I had to drive through the carwash with the right wheels on a conveyor belt. It did a very good job, so I'll go back again!

We returned home and I entered my Mum's contacts into the phone for her. I'll have to notify everyone at the weekend that she has a new number. We then popped over to the care home to find my Mum sorting out photos and my Dad sound asleep. She was delighted with her phone but I did warn her that if this one was lost or damaged, that was it...

Back at home, I booked a donation appointment with the Cynthia Spencer Hospice charity shop on Moulton Park so I can take the rest of the stuff that's languishing in the garage more easily. Before then, Sophie and I will sort through the items as there are some nice pieces we can probably sell on eBay.

Sophie finished work at 4pm today so it was lovely to sit with her in the kitchen with a cup of tea and chat about our days! She's working from home tomorrow and I am going to leave work at 2pm and sit with her in the conservatory. Bliss!

Traffic trauma

Sophie still felt headachey this morning, and even though she was dressed for the gym, she decided not to go. We sat and watched Come Dine With Me this morning and met five new characters!

Keith took me to work and I had a pleasant start to my Tuesday. The rest of the day sped by and before I knew it, it was 4pm and time to head home. We've been treated to another sunny day with clear blue skies and it's set to continue all week. What a bonus!

Sophie came home this evening and declared she was going to the gym tomorrow morning even if her leg was hanging off, as the traffic had been so bad when she went to work this morning. I agreed... my morning commute at 7.30am is getting worse and the number of cars on the road is horrendous. It's not helped by the new houses being built along the A43, and the large new secondary school on the outskirts of Moulton. The problem is, I have no other way to go.

Our usual evening routine followed - catching the headlines of the news at 6pm (depressing), followed by a drink and cards and listening to music. There was enough pie left over from last night to feed Keith and me, while Sophie had a Tesco Finest paella that Keith had bought last week. Sophie enjoyed the meal but said her version was better!

Keith and I watched the penultimate episode of Virdee tonight, a new crime drama set in Bradford. It reminds us strongly of Luther and is quite disturbing, but immensely enjoyable. I will be sad when we have watched all of the episodes, but I have a feeling he will be back!

A sunny Monday

As predicted, Sophie didn't go to the gym this morning and we sat with a coffee and watched Michael Portillo in Portugal. In the first episode, he was in Porto and the city looked gorgeous. Outside, the sun was shining again so it made for a lovely start to our working week.

I love seeing the sun at this time of year, but it was low on the horizon when I drove to work making it difficult when it was directly in front of me. In Holcot, as I emerged from "cut-throat" alley, I couldn't see at all!

Sara was off again today, so I concentrated on the emails and had a busy shift. The day flew by! I sped home in the sunshine and pootled about until Sophie arrived home. Although the days are sunny and definitely a bit warmer, the nights are still cold and we put the heating on and lit the fire in the living room to take the chill off.

Keith and I played cards and we enjoyed Sophie's chicken and mushroom pie for dinner. It was a Hairy Bikers recipe and was delicious! We had put puff pastry on the bottom of the pie as well, and we'll definitely do that again!

A good clear out!

We awoke to another beautiful day, so our plans to get into the garden and clear the garage could go ahead! We picked up all the branches on the ground that Keith and Mike had cut down a few weeks ago, and I also picked up some litter that had been caught in the bushes when our garage door had swung open in the wind and a bag of recyclables had blown into the garden!

As Keith chopped up the branches, I put them into a bag and we took them to the tip along with some other items we no longer needed. I also put a couple of bags of old clothes into the car to go into the big recycling containers.

The tip was quiet when we arrived and we managed to get rid of everything easily. Two of the items, a soup kettle and my Dad's old CD player went to re-use so I was pleased about that.

Back home I swept the garage and tidied up and it looked so much better! I carried a box of books into the conservatory and cleaned them ready to be taken to a charity shop in Market Harborough next week. I stifled the urge to try and sell them as they were worth next to nothing online and it's just hassle finding a box to post them.

While Keith and I were working away in the garage and garden, Sophie had cleared out the freezer as there were so many containers of leftovers that we couldn't fit anything else in there! She culled a lot of tubs of curry and chilli leftovers, and we took them to the tip as well, disposing of them in the non-recycling rubbish skip along with a pair of Keith's old wellies. She also sorted out some clothes for us to take, so we had a very busy and productive morning!

As well as sorting out the freezer, Sophie also prepared a chicken pie for tomorrow night's dinner along with the vegetables, and hoovered! I mopped the floor in the conservatory and the kitchen and then we decided to try and get the VW washed as it was filthy. However, most of the population of Northampton had the same idea and both car washes we went to had long queues. The roads were busy as the sunshine and mild temperatures had drawn people out!

We gave up with the car, called into Waitrose to get Sophie some ham and bread for her lunch tomorrow and returned home where I had a long, and very hot, shower! Bliss!

Sophie had a bad headache in the afternoon and had a nap on the bed. I have suggested she go and see her doctor to try and get something to help as these headaches are now interfering with her daily life. She came downstairs a little later feeling better, but I doubt she'll be going to the gym in the morning.

Dinner tonight was Chinese takeaway leftovers and there was more than enough for another meal!

A little planning

We awoke to beautiful sunshine and blue skies this morning and this weather is set to continue over the next few days. It's still cold, though!

I wanted to set aside a few hours today to sort out our Vienna trip and book our overnight accommodation for our Spanish holiday in June. Sophie asked me to go to the gym with her this morning and she just wanted to do a run for half an hour. 

We drove into Northampton and the gym car park was heaving! I just about managed to find a space! While she was off doing her run on the treadmill, I tried to finish my latest book. When she came out a little while later, we called into the garage at Moulton and bought the Saturday newspaper, some hot cross buns for Keith, and pains au chocolat for our breakfast.

Back home, we enjoyed coffee and pastries, and then we sorted out the finances for Vienna. After this, I dragged Sophie off the bed where she was cuddling with Gomez and we started to look for Airbnbs for our journey to and from Spain.

We have decided to cross the Channel on Friday afternoon and stop near Calais. We all hate the very early morning start and a long day of driving, so Sophie and I have taken a half day's holiday on Friday, we'll go home, and then drive to Folkestone for a late afternoon or early evening train before stopping overnight, meaning we'll be fresh on Saturday morning! 

We opened the huge map of France on our kitchen island and put stickers on the places we wanted to stop near. On the way down, we booked an Airbnb in the village of La Chapelle d'Angillon, where the author of Le Grand Meaulnes, Alain Fournier, was born. I visited before, years ago with my parents, when I was studying the novel for my French A Level, and I was disappointed to find the gorgeous chateau there had been transformed into an American Wild West theme park! Very bizarre!

We have booked Le Troubadour in Rocamadour for the second night and then we'll be in our Spanish Airbnb for ten nights. Heading back up to the coast, we booked an Airbnb near Clermont-Ferrand, and then one near the wine village of Chablis. We loved it there so much we wanted to go back. Finally, our last one of the holiday is an apartment in the middle of Montreuil-sur-Mer, and we were delighted to find it was near a restaurant we took note of on our first-ever visit there, in May 2023. We contacted the restaurant and we booked a table for the night we're there.

The Tour de France passes through the town so, hopefully, we will get a great view! It was lovely planning the Airbnbs and we received lovely comments from the hosts. We just need to book the Calais house and we're all set. 

Sophie disappeared upstairs to cuddle with Gomez but before she went, she transferred the short video clips she'd taken of our holiday to Provence last October to me on my phone. We have been wanting to piece them all together and make a film so I set about doing that in the afternoon. I uploaded the clips onto the computer and with the help of AI, I did it! By the early evening, I'd added a lovely music track and uploaded it to YouTube so we could watch it on the television! Sophie thinks she may have left some clips out, so if she sends me more, I'll do a "Director's Cut" and make another one!

We treated ourselves to a Chinese takeaway in the evening and before it arrived Sophie and I played cards and we reminisced about our holidays in the past. We are looking forward to going back to L'Escala and the beautiful Costa Brava again!