Cats will play...

Sophie was driving back to Birmingham this morning, so she didn't go to the gym, and we sat and watched The Hotel Inspector with a coffee. This was the most bizarre of all, with an old hotel full of weird dummies, dolls, and themed rooms. Madness!

I drove to work for my last day of helping with the childcare payments, which only took me a few hours to sort out. The rest of the time was spent helping Sara and ordering random items from Amazon and Ikea! At least it was a bit different!

At 2pm, I drove to Beckworth Emporium to meet my friend Lynda, who was already sitting at a table in the restaurant. We both ordered pots of tea, and I treated myself to a gorgeous slice of Victoria sponge cake while Lynda chose a cheese scone and butter. It was great to catch up and have a good chat.

Afterwards, we had a look around the shop and again, I was amazed at the amount of stock they carry. It must be worth millions! I resisted buying any items, and we walked out to the car park to say goodbye. We're hoping to meet up in December for breakfast with Fiona and Andrea, which I'm looking forward to.

Back home, I pottered about, helped Keith with the shopping list and relaxed. We had decided to have fish and chips for dinner and had discussed going out for a drink beforehand, but we couldn't decide where to go! In the end, we drove to Broughton, picked up our meal and came home to have a drink.

I sat and read my wine book after dinner, and was engrossed in a chapter about Vouvray, one of my favourite white wines. It was fascinating reading about the vintages from the 1970s and even earlier years that the author had tasted. I've always loved Vouvray, but understand it's a little old-fashioned even now. However, it's a hugely underrated wine and has amazing ageing potential. I remember bringing home a couple of bottles from the 1970s when Keith and I visited in the '90s, and the wine was like nectar!

I was under strict instructions to get both cats in, and I had success as usual with Mooney. Both of them were outside, but Gomez sauntered past the house as if to stick two fingers up at me... I went upstairs, and Mooney curled up near my feet on the bed while I read, but at 9.30pm I went downstairs to see if I could get Gomez in. This time, he ran in, so I was able to feed them and go to bed. Phew!