Happy times

Today would have been my Dad's 84th birthday. Here's a lovely photo of him celebrating his 70th with my Mum at the Wavendon Arms in 2012:

Happy Birthday, Dad xxx

Big fires everywhere...

I didn't have the best night's sleep, and I had no idea why. I woke up feeling a bit mopey and wished it was Saturday morning again! Sophie didn't go to the gym, so we both sat with a coffee and watched most of an episode of the second series of Stanley Tucci in Italy. It was great that I could ease into the day like I used to!

On the way to work, I called into a Tesco fuel station shop and bought milk for our fridge so I could enjoy my Tassimo coffee. The office was hot today, and it was bliss to escape and turn on the air conditioning in the car. As I neared home, I could see a plume of smoke in the distance, and it looked like it was near Walgrave. However, appearances can be deceptive, and I learnt when I arrived home that there was a fire near Corby at a recycling plant.

I then learnt that Mike's old place of work, Kingsthorpe Golf Club, was on fire as well!

Photo from the Chronicle & Echo website

This is getting serious now, and with another heatwave this week, we have been warned that there could be more fires breaking out.

It did feel a little cooler this evening, and Sophie decided to keep the cats in overnight. We had burgers for dinner and watched an episode of Celebrity Hunted. I don't know when it was filmed, but the countryside looked as dry as it is now!

Feeling the heat!

Sophie woke me from a vivid dream this morning in which an old neighbour was taking us to an Airbnb before we went on holiday. I realised I had no luggage with me, just a big bag of stir-fried vegetables. Perhaps the heat is finally getting to me! It took a while to shake off the dream; it was so real!

Sophie and I went to see my Mum at 11:00am, and I bought her a box of chocolates. When we arrived, she was lying in bed, and I found it difficult to wake her. She then didn't seem to realise it was us, which was a bit worrying. Eventually she came to fully, and we chatted, but she didn't seem right. I said I would take her for a drive and an ice-cream on Wednesday, and then popped into the lounge to speak to one of the carers about Mum. She assured me that yesterday, at the Fun Day, she'd been fine, but sometimes in the morning, she didn't want to get up.

Sophie and I said goodbye to my Mum and gave her a hug. Her room was hot, so maybe she was a bit dehydrated. We drove home, with the air conditioning full on as it was another warm day. I am fed up with this heat now and the terrible dryness affecting us in this part of the country.

Back at home, Sophie spent ages preparing tonight's dinner of Hainanese chicken and Basmati rice. She had so much to do, bless her! I helped out with what I could, and then we did some housework before having lunch of fish finger sandwiches and the last dregs of a bottle of white wine that had been languishing in the fridge.

The afternoon was spent relaxing after the housework, and I had enormous trouble submitting the first five hundred words of a novel I'd like to write to a competition. Our home PC is on its way out, and I needed to access Microsoft Word on it. In the end, Keith finally got it going for me!

Sophie and I played Scrabble in the early evening, and after a promising start, Sophie overtook me and won! We drank some more dregs of wine - a sweet Vouvray - before opening a bottle of sparkling wine from the same village. Sophie put the finishing touches to the meal, which was delicious! Her hot chilli sauce certainly made its presence felt!

After dinner, we watched a new French crime comedy called Carpe Diem, which is on Channel 4 on a Friday night. It was funny, and the setting of Nice was especially good. It's a worthy successor to Panda!

Changing plans

Sophie went to Daventry this morning to do a 5K run with her work buddy, Becky, and I had a relaxed start to the weekend. She achieved her fastest run yet, but had a disappointing breakfast afterwards, which made her feel queasy all day.

I pootled about, did a load of laundry and caught up with some jobs, and at 2:00pm we drove to The Tollemache (or Tolly) Arms in Harrington. The plan was to go and see my Mum first as I hadn't visited last week, but then I realised it was the care home's family fun day and we didn't fancy joining the hordes!

We sat inside the pub, in a little nook, and I kept getting told off by Sophie for people watching! There were so many staff that they were almost falling over each other! We had two drinks - I stuck with Guinness Zero - and had a good chat. At about 4:00pm, we left and drove via the A14 to the care home, but the family fun day was still in full swing with loads of people milling about, so we decided to visit my Mum tomorrow instead, when it would be quieter!

At home, we relaxed and then decided to watch Single White Female at 6:00pm. This is now becoming an enjoyable tradition! Sophie was adamant she hadn't seen the film before, but then realised a quarter of the way through that she had... we still enjoyed it, though, even though it was a bit far-fetched!

As Sophie still felt queasy, she didn't fancy dinner of beefburgers, so we made do with some tortilla chips and dip and then toast. Keith was equally happy not to eat and made himself some boiled eggs and toast.

After the film, we watched, in its entirety, Quantum of Solace, one of the most confusing Bond films I have ever seen. I read the plot but still didn't have a clue what was happening, and this was perhaps the third time I had seen it! However, it was nice to sit and watch Daniel Craig for over two hours!

Coffee? Sorted!

I was delighted to use a Tassimo coffee machine in the kitchen at work today! What a bonus! While Sheila made herself a cup of strong tea, I used the disc I'd taken in with me to make a coffee. This is more like it!

We had a very interesting and varied day today, tackling things like block bookings, invoicing, and contracts of employment. The job is certainly more interesting and varied than what I used to do, so I feel a lot happier.

We left just before 4:00pm, and I was home way before 4:30pm. It feels like I have some of my life back, as I'm not leaving until 7:30am in the morning. When Sophie arrived home, we cracked open a bottle of French white wine from near Carcassonne and indulged in some tortilla chips with a dip. We watched a very interesting episode of Fake or Fortune, which was about fifteen Lucian Freud etchings discovered in the garage of a printworks. There was no real conclusive answer, but each etching was still worth about £6,000-£8,000!

After Fake or Fortune, we watched the last Scandinavia programme with Simon Reeves. It was another eye-opener!

Feeling better!

Keith dropped me off at work this morning, and I had a much better day. We tidied up the timesheets and tackled the sickness spreadsheet, so that was all done. By mid-afternoon, we had submitted everything, which was a relief. Starting when I did, right at the beginning of the month, I was thrown in at the deep end, excuse the pun! I felt a lot happier, thank goodness!

It's a novelty getting home before 4:30pm, but that may change when the large school next to us resumes in September. I remember it took me a while to get out onto the main road, but it will be better than where I used to work!

Dinner tonight was a delicious cottage pie, and I was grateful that it felt a little cooler today. However, this is short-lived, as we are due yet another heatwave next week, with temperatures set to be in the mid-30s on Wednesday and Thursday. This is turning out to be one scorcher of a summer, and outdoor attractions must be loving it! It's not so good for indoor play places or the cinema!

Getting things done

Sophie was working from home today and had set up her laptop at the kitchen island. Outside, it rained heavily, but only briefly, which was disappointing. We were hoping it would set in for the day and make a difference to the garden!

I had a coffee and then tackled some overdue jobs, one of which was colouring my hair, and it really needed it! The sun over the holiday had lightened it, and lots of grey was showing through, so I couldn't wait to apply the colour and go back to a brunette!

I still felt a bit mopey about work, and I was glad I had today off to sort out a list of things I had to do. I managed to annoy Sophie while writing the blog, so she put her headphones on and listened to John Mayer! At lunchtime, we drove to Broughton and sent off three parcels; I was glad she came with me as I would have been easily confused with the different QR codes! 

Need I say that after the morning rain, the sun came out and it was another beautiful day? I had an appointment in the afternoon for an eye test and asked Keith to come with me so he could do a little shopping.

I arrived early (as usual) and had to go through a series of tests before I saw the optician. I had a photo taken of my eyes, a pressure test and a peripheral view test, all of which I passed. The optician reminded me of Sophie's ex-boyfriend, Vikesh, and was quite quirky. He pronounced everything was fine with my eyes, and that was that for another two years!

Walking back to the car was a depressing experience. I try to avoid the centre as much as I can and noticed that NatWest was now no more. How many years had we been visiting that almost every day when we had the business?

Back at home, I was delighted to find that Sophie had prepared my porridge for tomorrow, and offered to make me a sandwich for lunch. She also hoovered! I wish she could work from home every day!

A little wobble...

I didn't sleep well last night and woke up feeling a bit down this morning. The change in Sheila had been worrying me, so when I went into work this morning, I asked Sheila exactly how stressful the job was. She had been in very early again, and I mentioned I'd hardly seen her drinking or getting up from her desk. She admitted it was stressful, and I said there was a fine line between being nicely busy and being overwhelmed with work. However, she did say that entering the timesheets would soon be a thing of the past, as this was becoming digitalised, thank goodness! I even found out I need to ask for holiday on a paper form!

I spent the rest of the day entering hours, and we had another Teams meeting at 11:00am with the payroll department, which nearly sent me to sleep. I was beginning to wonder if I'd made the right decision... What was also worrying was whether my contract had been received by the payroll department so that my wages would be sorted out by the next payday. I had a niggling feeling my contract hadn't been submitted in time, which could mean no pay this month, a very worrying prospect.

We worked through lunch again, and tried to sort out some of the problems on the timesheets, which had engulfed our desks again. I absolutely cannot work in a mess, or with loads of bits of paper everywhere. It just feels like I'm being overwhelmed!

I left at 4pm and felt even more miserable than this morning. When I got home, I burst into tears and said to Keith that I wished it was how it used to be... working for my old company, in my old office (not where we moved to) and doing my old job. It was an impossibility, but I needed to vent!

When Sophie arrived home, we sat in the kitchen and talked about my day. She quite rightly said that I had a history of getting tearful in a new job, but I admitted honestly that I really didn't want to work anymore; I'd had enough! I also said that I felt like I'd had no choice but to leave my old job, so I was trapped.

It felt good to let it all out, and by the time we had dinner, I felt a little better. To cheer me up, we watched an episode of Best Medicine, which was excellent. I've almost forgotten about Doc Martin now, as this new series is just as good!

Being the "newbie"!

It felt very strange indeed to be going back to the place I used to work this morning. It was the same, except it wasn't, if you know what I mean...

I said hello to Amanda, who was working on reception, and made my way upstairs to my new office. Our old office is being made into an extension of the gym, and we weren't allowed in there as it's a building site. Sheila was already in (she gets in at some unearthly hour), and we had a chat before making a start on my training. We had the office to ourselves today, but we still had a lot of people popping in with questions. One of the first things we did was gather up the timesheets to enter people's hours onto the computer. This turned out to be a time-consuming job that I really thought needed modernising! Surely, people could enter their own hours onto our payroll system and then get them checked by their supervisor? An app on their phones would work well!

We had a Teams meeting with two members of staff and spent the rest of the day sorting out the payroll. There were reams and reams of paper, and lots of them had to be checked again with a supervisor. This meant there were loads of sheets of paper everywhere with scribbled notes on some of them. I can't work in a mess! I'm hoping that things will improve when I work on my own, as Sheila can be a little disorganised!

I went to get a coffee mid-morning and was horrified to be charged £3.80 as I hadn't yet received my staff fob! I definitely won't be doing that every day! Can you imagine how much that would amount to every month?

Sheila doesn't take a break for lunch, so we both worked through, which I wasn't keen on. An eight-hour shift needs a break! She also didn't go and get herself as many cups of tea as she used to and hardly left her desk... hmmm!

At 4pm, I went to re-join Keith, who was waiting for me, and we had a much shorter commute home. I was parking on our driveway before 4:30pm! That was definitely a bonus!

Dinner tonight was an easy supper of fishcakes with mash, and then we watched World War II with Tom Hanks, which made for uncomfortable viewing. Sophie had wanted to watch the episode because it was about the resistance, but immediately wished she hadn't!

Making plans

Today has been spent catching up with housework and preparing tonight's dinner of chicken casserole and dumplings. It's been another sunny, dry day, and I'm certainly not having any trouble getting the laundry dry at the moment!

In the afternoon, we made an effort to sort out Keith's birthday celebrations. He is celebrating a special birthday this year and insisted on going to the coast so he could have fish and chips. But it had to be the coast in this country!

Sophie and I searched and searched, and I even went all the way around the coast of England to try to find somewhere suitable! Most houses were lacking in some way, and a lot were very expensive! I tentatively explored France, but he said he wasn't going to France; he wanted somewhere on the north-east coast! We eventually settled for an inland village near Alnwick and booked for his birthday weekend. From the cottage we booked, it's about forty minutes to the sea, so not too bad!

We also, sneakily, booked a few days in Antwerp in November (just Sophie and me) and a short weekend break to France in October for the three of us. Well, you have to have something to look forward to! I have to say that the bookings of these trips coincided with a little peach vodka cocktail! Life is to be enjoyed as much as possible!

We enjoyed the chicken casserole for dinner this evening, and I made some hearty dumplings to go with the dish, as well as roast potatoes and an array of vegetables. This weekend has been immensely enjoyable, and I started to feel a bit nervous about tomorrow!

Saturday indulgence

Sophie and I, after a lovely relaxed start to the day, drove to Market Harborough this morning for lunch and some shopping. We went to Just So Italian first and enjoyed a coffee and pastry each. As usual, the ambience was great and the food delicious.

Sophie didn't want to visit any charity shops today, as she felt she had enough clothes, so we concentrated on bookshops instead. Outside Waterstones, she ran into a friend from work, and they had a good look at the books on the ground floor, while I went up to the second floor and mooched about there. Sophie ended up buying several interesting-looking books, and we headed for the Oxfam next. On the way, we spotted a new art gallery, and we were drawn in! There were some beautiful works of art, and we spotted one by Damien Hirstent! A lot of the artwork was priced in the hundreds of pounds, but we saw a couple that were tens of thousands! I know that Market Harborough is an affluent town, and Leicestershire a rich county, but the gallery looked like it would be at home on any elite London street (and in fact, later, when I looked them up, they do!).

In the Oxfam shop we both bought books, and I picked up a great hardback book by Bill Bryson, "The Road to Little Dribbling." It was only £2.99! 

From the bookshop, we popped into an old-fashioned bedding/towels/carpet shop as I was on the hunt for king-size pillowcases, something I find difficult to find. I did find some, so I'll make a note for future reference. My pay this month has been dire, as I owed the company holiday pay (well, we did go for it in the first six months of this year!) and the expenditure will have to be carefully watched until I get paid again!

It didn't stop us from having lunch at the little Thai, though, and we enjoyed prawn crackers, fishcakes and chicken moneybags followed by Mussamun curry with chicken. We chose a small glass of wine each and a bottle of sparkling water. After we'd paid the bill, we called in to see Duncan, had wine tasting, and bought a bottle of wine each. It was great to chat with Nick and Duncan and catch up with their news.

Our last stop before going home was The Wine Shed, and we sat outside enjoying the lovely afternoon sunshine. It was relaxing to sit and natter and do some people watching!

Minutes before our parking ticket expired, we returned to the car and drove home via the scenic route (Maidwell and Draughton). Along the way, we stopped to take some photos of the sun-baked countryside:

Sophie and Olive

Back home, Keith was out watching Sileby play and Sophie and I pootled about before deciding to watch the film Copycat starring Sigourney Weaver and Dermot Mulroney. We don't normally watch films so early in the evening, so it made it a bit of a treat! While watching, we later enjoyed a plate of garlicky doughballs, and I made a strawberry Eton Mess. Delicious!

We finished our evening with The Proms and the beautiful Concerto de Aranjuez by Joaquin Rodrigo! It was so gorgeous, it brought a tear to my eye!

Saying goodbye

Typically, I was late leaving this morning and encountered the bin men in "cut-throat" alley in Holcot. Two vans in front of me reversed, so I did the same. I tried to make up time on the rest of the journey and arrived in the car park at work on the dot of 7:30am.

When Kathy arrived at work, I was given a lovely leaving card, a £50 voucher to spend at Beckworth, or any Blue Diamond garden centre, and a bottle of peach fizz. I tried very hard not to get emotional, and it was wonderful seeing all the kind messages people had written.

Unfortunately, the rest of the day was extremely quiet, and I had nothing, and I mean nothing, to do. It wasn't how I wanted my last day to be. I sent off the moan report and said how much I'd enjoyed working with everyone, and had some very kind messages in return. The rest of the time was spent tidying up my emails, and the time dragged. It was a huge relief when 4:00pm arrived, and we could leave. I bid a fond farewell to Nicola and Kathy and walked away for the last time. These are the things, for posterity, that I will not miss:

1. The horrible commute to work
2. The niggling worry that I won't find a parking space
3. Driving through the hospital grounds
4. The odour as I walk into the building. It's a kind of sewage smell
5. The horrible kitchen, which I can't ever see getting finished and being somewhere nice to sit and relax! The water from the tap is never cold!
6. Walking through the sports hall to get to our office and disturbing a class or people playing badminton
7. The heat we've suffered recently in the office and the lack of air conditioning
8. The dismal outlook
9. The wooden floor
10. The lack of drawers or cupboards to store our things. It was unbelievable that we weren't allowed to take our drawers with us
11. It took ages to fetch my lunch, and it was even worse if I had to heat it up in the microwave. Half of my fifteen minutes had gone by the time I sat back down at my desk!
12. No printer or shredder in the office
13. Nicola being so close behind me when she used to have her own office
14. No cleaner to empty our bins or keep the office clean
15. Getting off the hospital grounds to go home. On some occasions, it's taken me almost twenty minutes!
16. I hated going to the loo, as well!

I think the time has come for something different! 

I drove home and relaxed, and when Sophie arrived, we opened a bottle of English Pinot Noir rosé and munched on some lentil crisps with a salsa dip.

We watched Fake or Fortune again, and it was riveting! I'd like to see a whole series of fakers and forgers!

Dinner was a spicy chilli con carne, and after dinner we continued watching a Netflix documentary about the 2012 sinking of the Costa Concordia. I'll never look at cruise ships in the same way again!

Visiting old haunts

I offered to go shopping with Keith this morning, just for a change, and it was quite enjoyable! We went to Costa first and had a coffee (and an almond croissant for me), and then did some of the shopping in Aldi. There was an unpleasant aroma of "cows' bums" about this morning, so somewhere, a farmer was spreading manure over the fields!

We sped through Tesco and arrived home at midday. I pootled about for a while, and then drove over to Kettering to see Mum. She had been out at a garden centre on Monday, and I'd seen photos of her just with her Zimmer frame, so I felt a bit more confident taking her out. I decided we'd go for a drive as I really didn't fancy sitting in her stuffy room for an hour.

As usual, it was a gorgeous day; we'd seen some cloud this morning and the tiniest spots of rain, but it had come to nothing. We drove past her old house first, did a lap of our estate and then headed into Northampton via the Brixworth bypass. I wanted to go and see our old soft play business, and to be honest, I was shocked when I drove into the car park. The surface of the car park was still potholed, with one cone standing forlornly over one deep rut. The car park nearest the building, which used to have a lovely area of grass and trees (and where I used to feed the crows), had a huge amount of old dead wood and greenery piled up next to the fence... It looked awful. Were they trying to stop people from coming over from the area of wasteland behind the car park? It used to be so lovely here with the cut grass and trees!

There weren't many cars in the car park, but then, with the weather, I didn't expect anything else. It was a little worrying, I have to admit! We drove into Northampton and around the estate where we used to live. The houses and gardens looked a little scruffy, and when we stopped outside our old house, I couldn't believe how much the trees and bushes had grown. We used to be able to see the dual carriageway and the Weston Favell Centre from our garden, but not any more! I am amazed the little spinney opposite the house was still there! It was a perfect spot for new houses!

We left the estate and drove into the centre of Northampton and past Tricker's in St Michael's Road, where my Mum used to work. She was very happy there, and she wondered why she had left. It was great to see her recognising our old haunts and looking happy!

Before taking her back, I decided to call at the reservoir car park and buy an ice cream for us, but the van wasn't there! Typical! We had both thoroughly enjoyed our little trip, and we'll definitely do it more often!

Back home, I did some housework and then tried to cool down in the kitchen by having all the doors and windows open. It was an easy dinner tonight: chicken Kievs, asparagus, long-stem broccoli and crushed new potatoes.

After we'd eaten, we watched an episode of World War II with Tom Hanks. Tonight's episode was about the aerial bombardment of Germany, with Hamburg obliterated by bombs and fire. A million people were made homeless, and I hadn't realised that the city was so badly affected. I am learning a lot about the war by watching this and just wish I'd studied history at A-level!

Still a bit mopey...

I wasn't in the best of moods this morning because I was dreading a GP appointment this afternoon to see about a mole on my back, and I was facing a load of online training courses for my new job. I snapped at Keith, and then apologised, so it wasn't the best of mornings! 

I knuckled down and did as many courses as I could, so at least I've made inroads into them! Most of them were common sense, and the health and safety one was something I used to deal with when we ran our own business. I suppose the courses are aimed at young people starting work!

Keith offered to come to the surgery with me, which I appreciated. I was very anxious about the mole, and Sophie had wanted me to go after worrying about it for ages. I was seeing the lovely doctor I'd seen before, and he took a good look at the mole, which is on my left shoulder and under where my bra strap lies. He was able to put my mind at rest immediately, saying it was some kind of sebaceous wart (it would be, wouldn't it? So sexy...) and that it was common in people over 40. It was completely benign and nothing to worry about, but if it ever became a problem, one of the specialist doctors at the surgery could whip it off.

I felt a huge sense of relief, and then he went through the details of my abdominal scan on Saturday, which showed no problems at all with all my internal organs. Phew! This has been a year of poking, prodding and pricking, and I hope that I can stay away from the surgery for a while now, although I had to book a blood test in August to see how my liver is doing after my indulgences!

Keith suggested a drink at the village pub, and I readily agreed. I stuck to Guinness Zero, and we sat in the window and chatted. The pub was very quiet, and it was a lovely hour of relaxation. Maybe we should do this every Wednesday!

Back home, I pootled about, did another online course and tried to stay cool. The weather has been hot, dry and sunny again, but it's supposed to get a little cooler over the next few days.

Sophie cooked a delicious nachos and chicken dish, and Keith and I watched two episodes of Best Medicine after we'd eaten. In the second episode, Martin Clunes made an appearance as Doctor Best's father, with a silly American accent. I felt a bit confused, to be honest! Why wasn't he with Louisa?!

A bit mopey...

I took a box of chocolates and a box of biscuits into the office today as I would be saying goodbye to three of my colleagues. Yesterday, I froze two bottles of water and put them in a cool bag with the chocolate and biscuits, as our office has been so warm!

By 9:30am, I had run out of work to do, which was alarming. I had polished the moan report, sorted out the playscheme places and answered all the emails... if I wasn't leaving, how would I fill my time? I felt a bit emotional today, and it's started to dawn on me that next week I will be working for someone else. How could I have gone from being so busy at times that I didn't have a spare minute, to running out of things to do so early in the day?

Angela and Jo asked if our MD had said anything to me, and the answer was still no. I noticed that when he came into the office, he didn't make a beeline for the chocolates, as he normally would. I suppose taking one would have prompted him to say something!

At 4:00pm, I hugged Claire, Angela and Jo and said that we must try and stay in touch. I know it will take a while for me to shake off the loyalty I feel to my present company, especially when the soft play centres are such a personal issue for me.

I drove home feeling a bit mopey and pottered about until Sophie arrived. We all sat and watched a documentary about a foiled terror plot, which led to liquids being banned on flights. It was very interesting and terrifying to think what could have happened!

Dinner tonight was cold meats, frozen (it's a long story) salad and crispy potatoes. After dinner, we watched World War II with Tom Hanks, the D-Day Landings. It was terrible seeing so many young men going off to almost certain death.

I'm hoping tomorrow I will feel a bit more cheerful!

A challenging day...

Keith dropped me off at work today, and I was on my own in the office until Nicola came in at 9:00am. When Angela tried to log in, her computer started playing up, so she was forced to call IT to sort it out, leaving me to answer the phone.

We had more phone calls than I was expecting today, so the shift passed quickly. Unfortunately, Angela had another issue when she cashed up, which made me late leaving. Keith actually came looking for me!

We drove home, and the traffic was already bad on the A45. It was even worse when Sophie left, and she was held up by an accident. I started cooking the paella for tonight and did most of the preparations before Sophie took over. The meal was as lovely as always, with more than enough left for lunches!

The news is still full of the fires breaking out in France, with one of the worst near Bordeaux. I just hope the vineyards near the city haven't been affected... can you imagine? Apart from a tiny amount of rain here yesterday morning, which probably dried up the minute it hit the grass, there is no more for us in the forecast. And we have high temperatures forecast for Wednesday, when thankfully, I am not at work!

Badger tales!

I might have had enough excitement for one day last night, but Sophie obviously hadn't! When she woke up this morning, she was eager to tell me what happened yesterday evening when she went to get the cats in. Mooney was behaving strangely, and she heard a lot of rustling going on in the back garden. She took a look from the conservatory and was astonished to see a badger emerge from our bushes and then hoover up the cat biscuit we'd put down after Milo had been eating it yesterday morning. Sophie said he ambled about the garden, completely oblivious to her presence, snuffling about and making sure he had got every piece of cat biscuit on the lawn. He then shuffled off through the open gate, startling Mooney, who was wide-eyed with amazement!

We have seen badgers near the house before, and we now think this one was responsible for overturning our food bins the other week. We haven't seen any hedgehogs for ages, but we now seem to have a badger visit! We'll put some more cat biscuits down, plus water, and see what happens!

We did have some rain this morning, but it wasn't a lot, and certainly not enough to make any difference to our parched grass. Sophie and I sat in the garden with our coffees before having breakfast and making a start on our jobs. I had the Bolognese sauce to make, and Sophie blitzed her room. We were a busy household as I asked Keith to put up our "Place de L'Apero" plaque and I ordered some little hooks to display a couple of tiles that need fixing to the wall.

Although the sky clouded over at times, it was dry and breezy enough to get loads of laundry dry. We didn't see any rain at all. Sophie washed every single item on her bed, including the mattress protector and her throws. While this was going on, my Bolognese sauce simmered away on the hob.

We decided to eat a little earlier than normal, but watched the start of the Tour de France in Paris before I put the finishing touches to the meal. The Tour was doing three circuits of Montmartre, and we managed to see the hotel we stayed in!

Dinner was delicious (even I enjoyed it), and Sophie made a lovely batch of garlic bread to accompany the meal. After dinner, we relaxed and caught up with an episode of Best Medicine. It's Monday tomorrow, and my last week in my current job!

And... relax!

Sophie woke me at 7:00am this morning as she was off to do a 5k run at Brixworth Country Park, and I had to eat and drink something before 7:30am as I was having an abdominal ultrasound scan later in the day.

I waved her off and caught up with some jobs; it was lovely to potter about! Outside, the sun was shining, and it was breezy. We are due some rain tomorrow, but not much. This dry and sunny weather has been continuing for over three weeks now. I can't remember the last time we had any proper rain, and, of course, the situation is terrible in south-west France (near Bordeaux) and around Madrid with fires. We even have a fire in the Cairngorms, in Scotland.

Milo paid us a visit this morning! Keith heard what he thought was one of our cats eating biscuit in the conservatory, but it was Milo who had sneaked in through the open door! He then came right into the kitchen! He didn't seem at all worried about coming into the house and miaowed constantly! I don't think our two cats are keen, though!

Sophie arrived back home at 10:00am, looking a bit red and sweaty, but was pleased she'd done her run. We sat and chatted, and then we both got ready for my hospital appointment at 1:40pm. We parked outside my office and walked to the radiology department, where I was called in for the ultrasound soon after I'd sat down. The radiologist was lovely and did a thorough scan of my abdomen and liver. He said it was all fine, which was a relief!

Sophie and I bounded out of the hospital (I couldn't get out fast enough!), and we went up to my office so I could show Sophie where I sat three days a week! Sharon was just finishing her shift, so we said hello, paid for the parking, and went back to the car.

As a treat, we had decided to have a late lunch at Beckworth, and we were glad there was only a twenty-minute wait. While we waited for the buzzer to go off, we wandered around looking at all the stuff for sale; I know I've said this before, but I dread to think how much money is tied up in their stock, unless they have it on a sale or return basis!

We were both starving when we took our seats in the restaurant. I hadn't eaten since 7:30am, so we chose a pastrami and salad sandwich to share, an extra portion of chips and a small glass of wine each. There was a slight wait with the drinks, but when the food arrived, we fell on it like starving wolves!

As you can imagine, the food disappeared rapidly, and we ordered some more treats: a cream tea for Sophie and a slice of Victoria sponge cake for me, accompanied by a pot of tea. All the food was delicious!

My gorgeous slice of Victoria sponge!

It was heaven to relax after the hospital appointment and sit in the lovely restaurant. We hadn't been for a while, and we did miss going regularly, but the wait times have always been horrendous.

After we'd paid the bill, I bought a loaf of bread, some popcorn (for popping at home) and a packet of crisps from Jeremy Clarkson's farm. We were pleased to see that the plastic bag containing the crisps was compostable!

Back home, it was time to relax before Sophie and I played Scrabble with a G&T. The gin we bought on the ferry was delicious! No wonder John asked me to get it for him! I beat Sophie at Scrabble, and then we played cards, and I beat her again!

As soon as we sat down for our late lunch today, I knew we wouldn't be eating tonight! Sophie was going to cook paella, but we postponed this until Monday. My daughter asked if I would cook spaghetti Bolognese tomorrow, and I agreed even though it's not my favourite meal!

We all watched Argo tonight, a film that we all found thoroughly enjoyable, even though they stretched the truth a little. David McClosey and Gordon Corera had recorded a podcast about the Iranian hostages and how they were freed, and it was great to learn about what happened.

I was going to stay up and watch Gladiator, but decided against it! I'd had enough excitement for one day!

Car park shock!

I was shocked to arrive in my usual car park this morning and see there were no spaces at all... in the end, I luckily found one in the small car park opposite our office, and Sara said she hadn't been able to get one either and had to park opposite the Barrett Maternity department.

I had an uneventful shift, and it was just Kathy and me in the office in the afternoon. I officially ran out of work at 3:00pm. There were hardly any emails to answer, I had put everything into the system that I could, and the moan report was up to date. I think the signs are telling me to go!

Keith wasn't at the pub this evening, so he sat in the kitchen while Sophie and I watched last night's episode of Fake or Fortune. It was as entertaining as ever! How I wish we could find an undiscovered masterpiece in the loft!

Driven to drink...

As Olive had been kept at the garage all night, I took Sophie to work this morning. We were a little early, so she treated me to a flat white from Costa, and it was a lot better than yesterday!

As soon as I arrived home, Keith went to Kettering to do the shopping, and I quickly tidied the house as I was expecting a man from an air conditioning company to pop around. He had been recommended by Jo at work, and he was coming to have a look at the rooms we needed cooling down! 

He arrived at 10:00am, and we had a lovely chat while he measured two of the bedrooms and the living room. If this heat continues every year, I think all of us are going to have to adapt the way we live. Sleeping in the heat hasn't been fun, and if we can have air conditioning installed, we will.

After the man (Ian) had gone, I cleaned the conservatory ready for Kym's visit to see Keith this afternoon. I had cancelled two appointments today: an eye test at Boots and my visit from Kym, as I just didn't have the time!

After lunch, I drove to see Mum and took with me some shopping that Keith had bought for her. She was still sitting in the dining room when I arrived, and we went back to her room. She seemed a little more cheerful than last week, but was still a bit maudlin when I left.

Back home, I looked at the list of training courses that my new employer had sent me, which put me into a really bad mood. I calculated there was about eight hours' worth of training to be done; there is no way I can fit this in before I start! I haven't even started with them yet!

When Sophie came home, she pointed out that one of the training courses stated I had a year to complete it, so I calmed down a bit! We talked about the house we'd seen in St Valery-sur-Somme, as I'd found details of it on the internet. It was a mere £657,692, and looking at the inside, it needs a lot of work to update it. It was gorgeous, though, and I would want to keep the original character. I just need to win the lottery now!

Unusually, I had a vodka and tonic before dinner (I've been cutting out alcohol in the week) and we chatted before Sophie prepared a meal of chicken and vegetable bake with cous cous. After the meal, Keith and I watched an episode of World War II with Tom Hanks and one of Best Medicine. It's Friday again tomorrow! Where has this week gone?!

A little discombobulated!

Olive was booked in for an MOT today, so we dropped her off at an In and Out centre at 8:15 am and went to a nearby Costa for a coffee. Inside the café, it was warm, and the ceiling-mounted air conditioning units were clearly not working. Sophie and I both ordered a flat white each, and they were not good. No lovely velvety froth at all!

After dropping Sophie at work, we returned home, and Keith decided to tackle the bushes in the back garden. I had a list of things I had to get done, but I sat at the kitchen island so I could see him working. It was quite cool in the garden and perfect for getting the job done.

Once I'd finished my list of chores, I went out to help and held onto the stepladder for him. I then raked everything up, and we put it into a large Hippo bag to take to the tip. The bush that Keith had been pruning has long, sharp spikes, and his arms were covered in scratches! I made a booking for the tip, and then we managed to get the unwieldy bag into the boot of the car. I also had another box of garden rubbish that needed disposing of, so I lifted it onto the back seats, where the bottom of the box promptly disintegrated, spewing grass, soil and weeds everywhere. I was not happy! We managed to transfer everything to two smaller boxes, and I attempted to hoover everything up! This was becoming the theme of my week! 

At the appointed time, we drove to Brixworth and managed to heave the huge bag into the skip. Even if we had taken out the garden bin subscription, we still would have had to do this, as there was so much rubbish!

Back home, we both showered and drove to collect Sophie from work. Olive had failed her MOT because of a tyre, and Sophie hadn't managed to get back to the garage in time to authorise the work as she'd been in meetings all morning. Olive would have to stay overnight! Sophie finished at 4:00pm today, and we called into a Bewiched coffee at Billing for a matcha each, which was delicious. The café overlooked the lake at Billing and huge geese were wandering around the car park. For some strange reason, I had asked Keith to come with me (I was a bit confused!) even though we weren't bringing two cars home... It's all been a bit much for my little brain today! I had fifteen emails this morning from my new employer with training courses I have to complete before I start, so I was a bit discombobulated!

I had an appointment at the Back and Body clinic at 5:00pm, so Sophie came with me, and we had a great chat with Gabriel. The shock wave machine didn't work at first, and I thought I'd got away with it, but someone fixed it, so I had my final session. And, yes... it hurt!

Back home, Keith and I played cards, while Sophie finished the book I'd bought for her - The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak. She had enjoyed it, which was great as it's always a risk buying a book for someone else!

Office cleaning!

By 8:30am, I had answered all the emails and completed a job that Sara asked me to do. I think the timing is right for me to change jobs! As we no longer have a regular cleaner, I volunteered to hoover the floor in our office. A pile of crumbs had been on the floor for weeks, and we haven't had Tilly come in and hoover them up!

One of the Duty Managers kindly brought the hoover up for me, as well as a stack of black bags so we could empty the bins. We really shouldn't be doing this! It didn't take me long to run the hoover around, but I had to do it in between phone calls!

I spent the rest of the shift occasionally helping out with calls (Angela had a computer problem) and writing the moan report. As the day wore on, it became warmer, and there is still no end in sight to this dry spell.

Back home, it was a very simple supper and then another episode of Best Medicine!

A quiet start to the week

Not much has happened of note today. Sophie's foot hurt, so she skipped a visit to the gym this morning. My shift passed pleasantly (Nicola was still on annual leave), and I did a handover with Sara. I managed to book the after-school and under-5 activities until next March, so that will be one thing Sara doesn't need to worry about, unless things change. Between us, we also added the October half-term playscheme places to the system. As I won't be working Wednesdays, I'm happy to pop in and help if needed.

Keith collected me from work, and we returned home to prepare dinner and relax. I managed to catch the end of a stage of the Tour de France, which ended in Chalon-sur-Saône. I'd hoped we might see some of the Burgundy vineyards, but it was mostly very dry fields!

After dinner, Keith and I tried again with Best Medicine and enjoyed it. A suitable alternative to our much-missed Panda?

Tidying up

Sophie was back at Woburn today, meeting her friend Laura and her dog, Wilbur. They were driving separately, and as we walked back to the car last night, we both realised it was the Sunday Food Market in Woburn today.

Sophie was worried about getting a parking space, so she left a little earlier. I had advised her to take the same route that we used yesterday, as the M1 with no hard shoulder makes me nervous. I really don't trust Olive at the moment!

Sophie texted me when she got to Woburn to say there were no spaces at all in the car park, and she was seething. She wished she'd postponed for another date, preferably when the market wasn't on! In the end, she suggested Woburn Sands, and she and Laura parked in a lay-by before walking back to Woburn itself. It had put Sophie in a bad mood, so I don't think she really enjoyed her day out.

Back at home, I decided to tackle the garden and try to tidy it up a bit. I cut back some plants that were clearly struggling with the hot, dry conditions, knowing they would bounce back when the weather changes. I'm just glad I didn't put down the grass seed I'd bought!

How dry the grass is!

When I finished, the garden looked slightly better, but there is still a lot to do! Maybe after a period of continuous rainfall!

I spent the afternoon pottering about and Sophie returned home at about 4:00pm. We sat and chatted in the kitchen, and she told me all about her day, which she hadn't really enjoyed. We opened a bottle of rosé before dinner (one we'd enjoyed in France), which was beefburgers, salad and potato wedges.

After dinner, we watched a new episode of Fake or Fortune, featuring a woman who was convinced she had a Fabergé flower. It was a real roller-coaster of an episode, and both Sophie and I thought the woman was a bit of a fantasist! It has been a very enjoyable weekend (for me anyway)! Back to the grind tomorrow!

A day at Bletchley Park

Sophie was very excited about today; we were going to Bletchley Park to see two episodes of the podcast, "The Rest is Classified", being recorded, with hosts David McCloskey and Gordon Corera. She wanted to get there early to get front-row seats, so we left home at 8:00am.

We took Olive and drove to Bletchley via the A508 and the A5. It was a gorgeous day, and the forecast was for a little cooler than of late. We arrived at 8:45am and spoke to the helpful man who was on duty at the entrance. After parking, we walked to the auditorium and discovered that they weren't ready quite yet. We were very early! The woman we spoke to then said there would be no refreshments available "all day", which we found slightly alarming! Not even any water? She said the nearest café was at the station, a five-minute walk away.

After a bit of hesitation, we decided to walk to the station. Sophie checked the email she'd been sent and discovered that registration was between 9:30am and 10:00am, so we would be back in plenty of time. It was a pleasant walk to the station, and as we neared our destination, we were delighted to see David McCloskey emerge from the building, obviously having just disembarked from the London train! Sophie stared at him open-mouthed, but I smiled, and he said hello! What a lovely man!

When Sophie eventually came around (!), we bought coffees, a sandwich, a couple of flapjacks and a pastry. We ate them in the station, and I had to hold Sophie back from running after her idol as he made his way to Bletchley Park (only kidding, Sophie!).

We sauntered back, registered and said hello to one of the producers. Everyone (except the little Hitler we'd spoken to first thing, who worked for Bletchley Park) was lovely. We were given green wristbands and told that we'd have a tour of the grounds at 12:30pm.

We weren't able to go in straightaway, so we sat on benches outside the auditorium and waited. To our annoyance, little Hitler was telling people that there was water available in a nearby breakout room, and that there was a café just around the corner... She had clearly lied to us this morning!

More and more people started arriving, but when the doors opened, we were able to get seats right in the front row. Two chairs had been placed in front of the seats, with a table containing a bottle and glasses of water. Behind the chairs was a large screen with a great photo of the house itself.

We had to sit through the inevitable health and safety notice, and then David McCloskey and Gordon Corera took their seats, holding microphones, and the podcast started.

The Rest is Classified

It was fascinating to see the behind-the-scenes input for the podcast. Behind the two men sat Becki, another producer, and two cameras were trained on them as well. 

The two podcasts were all about Bletchley Park and the intelligence relationship between the UK and the US during the Second World War. It was very interesting, and I particularly liked the easy, comfortable conversation between the two hosts. They had a script, but it was obvious they were ad libbing as well.

We had a couple of breaks during the first recording, and Becki asked them to say a couple of lines again. At about 11:30am, we broke for lunch, and the first group went on their tour. Little Hitler took us over to the café (obviously we weren't capable of going by ourselves), where we ordered lunch. Sophie and I both had sandwiches, accompanied by a small bucket of delicious chips.

Bletchley Park was busy, and there were people of all ages visiting. Sitting behind us in the café was David McCloskey's family, who seemed to be having a whale of a time! We strolled back to the auditorium and waited to be escorted to a hut where we would start our tour.

Looking back, I think I would have preferred to have gone off and explored by ourselves. The tour was very interesting, and the volunteer leading it was extremely knowledgeable, but we didn't go into any of the buildings, and it would have been great to show Sophie the huts, the inside of the house itself and the machines. Luckily, we had been given annual passes, so we will come back again, bring a picnic and spend the day exploring.

The afternoon session followed the same format as this morning, and then we had questions and answers, which members had submitted beforehand. The members were known as "Secret Squirrels", and I couldn't get over how friendly everyone was. Sophie had submitted a question, mentioning her meeting with David in January and the cocktail she had asked him about. She now wanted to know what Gordon's favourite cocktail was! Her question was asked last, and both men thought it was very funny! David admitted to not remembering he'd been asked the question, and Gordon replied he preferred a neat whisky!

Afterwards, the two men stood in the lobby and did a meet-and-greet with people. Sophie was going to go, but I persuaded her to stay, and she confronted David about not remembering! He took it very well, apologised and asked her name, saying he wouldn't forget again! He also shook hands with us, which was lovely. It had been a fantastic day!

We returned to the car and decided to go to Woburn for something to eat. It wasn't far away, and we managed to park easily. We had a couple of drinks first in The Nook: delicious Aperol Spritzes accompanied by a packet of crisps as we felt a bit peckish. It was great to sit and relax and chat about the day!

Sophie had discovered there was a Thai restaurant in Woburn, so as soon as they opened at 5:30pm, we made our way there, somehow ending up in an Indian restaurant first and making a swift exit! We were given a table by the window, and had two hours for our meal, which was perfect.

We chose a set menu, with assorted appetisers to start, followed by a Thai green curry, a beef dish, stir-fried vegetables and sticky rice. Sophie had a large glass of rosé while I stuck to a small one. The food was delicious, and definitely on a par with the restaurant in Market Harborough. The only gripe was a badly-behaved little girl who was eating with her parents and wouldn't sit still or eat any of her food. She constantly whined about wanting pasta and then to go back to the park - we think they were staying at a nearby Center Parcs.

We paid the bill, strolled back to the car and made our way home, driving through the parkland and seeing herds of deer before joining the M1. Keith was pleased to see us, and we chatted about our day. He had been to see Sileby play, a pre-season friendly that he enjoyed, so we'd all had an enjoyable Saturday!

A quiet day

Fridays tend to be quiet at work, and today was no exception! Not one member of our senior management team was in, and even Nicola had taken today off work. Sara left in the afternoon, so that meant it was just Kathy and I working, and one other woman in the finance office. It was bliss!

The shift passed quickly, and it was great to escape at 4:00pm and look forward to the weekend. When Sophie arrived home, we opened a bottle of rosé and watched Ever After, filmed at the Château de Hautefort. It was wonderful to see the gorgeous house on the screen and to relive memories of spending time there!

Keith had made a curry, so we didn't need to do anything for dinner, just cook some Basmati rice and the naan bread.

After we'd eaten, we watched the end of the film, and then caught up with an episode of Amanda and Alan in Italy. Amanda had wanted a golden floor in her bathroom, which I thought would look horrible, but it worked!

A sobering afternoon

I am quite enjoying having an extra day off a week, so I'm going to make the most of it! Keith went shopping while I did some chores, and I helped him put the shopping away when he returned.

It was lovely to pootle about for the rest of the morning, and I went to see my Mum in the afternoon. As soon as I walked into her room, I knew she wasn't feeling well, and I had a miserable visit, with her in tears several times. The sad thing is that today would have been Mum and Dad's 60th wedding anniversary, and she welled up when I told her. One of the carers came in and said she hadn't had a good couple of days, so I said I'd see someone about a urine sample as she may have an infection.

I went home feeling a bit miserable and started the dinner which we should have had last night. Sophie was delighted when she arrived home and saw that it was all done! All we needed to do was cook the rice, and that was it!

I carried on watching the Tour de France after dinner; the route ended in Chalon-sur-Saône, where we'd stayed a couple of years ago, and I wanted to see if the route passed through the Burgundy vineyards. It made a very pleasant end to the day!

The parched earth...

Things were a little tense between Sophie and me this morning! She was working from home, so she stationed herself in the kitchen until Keith and I pulled out the fridge to clean behind it. Before we pulled it out, I took everything out and cleaned all the shelves. This disturbed Sophie, so she moved into the conservatory, and I don't think she was very happy about it!

We had to do this job this morning, though, as Keith was going shopping tomorrow, and I wanted the fridge to be clean and tidy. When we pulled the fridge out, I gasped with horror; there was a sticky black stain on the floor, loads of broken bits of glass and pottery, and the cats' toy balls. Keith poured some very hot water and detergent into a bucket while I hoovered and got rid of the cobwebs. It badly needed doing!

When I'd culled all the old jars and Keith had washed them out, we were all done, and it looked so much better! I also swept and mopped our little laundry cupboard, so I felt like I'd made a difference this morning!

At lunchtime, Sophie went for a walk with the cats and took some photographs. Both cats seemed to love posing!

Gomez

Mooney

Mooney

Gomes of the Gomezes

Moonbums

Things between us had thawed out a bit, and when she showed me the photos, I couldn't believe how dry and parched the grass was. We now have a hosepipe ban in place (since the 11th of July), and there is still no sign of rain in the forecast for the foreseeable future. I am avidly watching the Tour de France, and the fields there are the same. We all need a few days of sustained rainfall to bring the grass back to life.

I had an appointment with Gabriel in the afternoon, my penultimate session of shockwave therapy, and he really hurt me today. I said that my foot was feeling better, especially after walking for a little while, so it must be doing some good! He had another physio with him, and they both thought it was highly funny when I groaned my way through the treatment!

Back home, Sophie had suggested we go to the pub for a drink, and this turned out to be an impromptu evening meal as well. Keith hadn't fancied our dinner for tonight - chicken stroganoff - so we indulged in pie and chips (Sophie and me) and fish and chips (Keith). I drank, and enjoyed very much, a couple of Guinness zero alcohol beers, so I might buy myself a couple in the shopping to enjoy during the week.

The food was good, and the pub gradually grew busier as people arrived to watch the England-Argentina game. Sophie and I enjoyed a dessert each (mousse and crème brûlée), and we paid the bill. Keith wanted to be home to watch the game, and Sophie and I went upstairs and decided to catch up with a couple of episodes of Simon Reeves in Scandinavia. We thoroughly enjoyed the two programmes we watched and learnt a lot about Norway, Finland and Iceland! While we watched, we indulged in a tiny glass of Berliner Luft... delicious!

A morning drama!

Our weekly fire alarm test happens every Tuesday morning, and it went off as usual. However, five minutes later, it went off again, so Sara and I went downstairs to find out if it was genuine. Unfortunately, we learnt that a man had collapsed in the pool and one of the staff had to dive in to rescue him. He was then given CPR before paramedics arrived. Luckily, he was revived and went off in the air ambulance, but we all said if you're going to have a heart attack, have it at a gym, and preferably one next to a hospital! He should make a full recovery, thank goodness. So that was a bit of drama to start the day!

I finished the moan report today and put most of the holiday activities on, as I wasn't on the phone. It really irks me that I now only have one day of admin, but not for much longer!

The temperature climbed again this afternoon, and I left the thermometer with Nicola so she could check tomorrow and Thursday. I rejoined Keith in the car, and we went home to pootle about. Sophie came home and wasn't pleased that we hadn't prepared any vegetables for dinner, and unfortunately, we had a bit of an argument this evening. We don't argue often, but when we do, we can get a bit shouty! As all of our doors and windows were open, I'm sure the neighbours witnessed our bickering! 

Catastrophe!

This morning has been cloudy, and the temperatures have been more comfortable, especially in the office. I took my new thermometer in so we could keep an eye on how warm it became. It reached 28c just before we left as the sun made an appearance in the afternoon.

After work, I drove to my old place of work to provide documents to Dan and Sheila for my new job. When I left and drove home, I realised I was on autopilot and went home the way I used to! Sometimes, I now drive to Overstone and cross the A43 instead, and I was surprised at how quickly I slipped back to old habits!

As we were sitting in the kitchen chatting before dinner, we heard Vince reverse down the drive, and then there was an almighty crunching and scraping... Keith rushed out to find that his wheel had hit the central brick and wooden strut, and the downpipe for the gutter was hanging off and badly bent. Oh dear! Amazingly, his car wasn't damaged! He spoke to Keith about it, but we suspected he would do the repairs to put it right, as he is very handy. 

We enjoyed leftover Chinese for dinner, and Keith and I watched the last episode of Panda, which ended well. Will there be a third series, I wonder? I hope so!

Sinner's a winner!

I woke up to the stunning news that England beat Norway last night! They'll now play Argentina in the semi-finals on Wednesday. Can we really go all the way?

First thing this morning I started preparations for a strawberry and ricotta tart - a recipe that was in You magazine. We thought it would be perfect as a dessert with our buffet lunch today. Our big plan for this afternoon was to watch the Men's Finals at Wimbledon between Sinner and Zverev, but it wasn't starting until 4:00pm.

With the dessert, I mixed porridge oats, brown sugar, honey and butter to form the base and popped this into the oven for ten minutes. I would whip lemon zest into the ricotta before serving and topping with strawberries.

Sophie and I went to see Mum and called into Costa on the way to get a couple of matchas and a  cappuccino.  My Mum seemed a bit bemused by the coffee but enjoyed it, nonetheless! We sat and chatted and then popped to Tesco so Sophie could pick up her new glasses.

Back at home, we relaxed before making a start on lunch. We opened a bottle of fizz from Bergerac and had lunch at about 2:00pm. We were a little surprised by the late start of the tennis as normally is starts at 2:00pm. Starting later risked a long night if it went to five sets!

Like last year, we all made predictions: Sophie said it would go to five sets, with Sinner winning, Keith said three with Sinner the victor and I predicted a four set match with Sinner winning. The winner would be treated to a pint in the pub from the losers!

I have to say that I thought the match was a bit boring. Sinner broke Zverev's serve in the third set but the first two resulted in tiebreaks. In the fourth set, Sinner broke Zverev's serve again and went on to win in four sets, just as I had predicted!

We had eaten dessert later in the afternoon, and I was a little disappointed with it. I wish I had used double cream rather than ricotta as it gave the pud a slightly savoury taste!

There was a lovely breeze in the living room all afternoon and our new thermometer registered 26c before dropping away as the evening wore on. Perfect!

A relaxed Saturday!

Sophie was doing a 5k run in Daventry this morning and I waved her off before 8:00am. I pootled about, getting lots of washing done and tackling housework. It felt a lot cooler today with a heavenly breeze coming in from an easterly direction, so it was lovely. A perfect temperature! Why can't our summers be sunny but about 22-23c? We all hate it when it's too hot! And talking of which, I ordered a little thermometer from Amazon today to tell just how hot it is in our office at work. It will also come in useful at home.

Sophie arrived home as I was eating my lunch and she had two bags of clothes with her; she'd hit all the charity shops in Daventry and had bagged a good haul, as usual! In one shop, she and Becky had paid £7.50 each for a bag and they could fill it with as many clothes as they liked. Sophie had found three lovely dresses, so not bad for £2.50 each!

We had a good chat and then we both went upstairs so Sophie could try on her new clothes. To my delight, North by Northwest was showing so that gave me a perfect excuse to sit and watch it! I had a moment of wishing that Cary Grant was still alive and looking like he did in the film... so gorgeous and sophisticated. I don't know why he was never chosen to be James Bond. He would have been perfect!

Once North by Northwest had finished, Vertigo started, with another of my favourite actors, James Stewart. I had a long, cool shower and we went downstairs to watch Stage 8 of the Tour de France, from Périgueux to Bergerac. I watched it in its entirety and loved every minute. To our utter delight, they featured the Chateau de Hautfort, and it looked gorgeous as the camera panned over it. However, this was only one; there were loads of other chateaux featured. What a fabulous area! We are definitely thinking of going back next year.

While we were watching the race, we had a couple of Aperols with tonic and then opened a bottle of the Euphonie wine we'd bought at Chateau Monbazillac. It was on the sweet side and had to be really chilled, but it was delicious.

As a treat, we ordered a Chinese takeaway and bought enough to have leftovers on Monday night. The Tour de France finished just before 10pm, so it was time to put on the football to see England play Norway in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. As I haven't watched any games and they've won, I didn't stick around and went to bed. I didn't want to jinx it!

Feeling hot,hot, hot!

My office, even at 7:30am this morning, was already warm. I dreaded to think what it would be like later in the day! I came into 182 emails waiting for me, so I was busy throughout my shift. Kathy arrived at 9:00am and we were the only ones in the office as both Sara and Nicola were on annual leave.

Kathy went and fetched some cold water from our water cooler in the gym, and I managed to drink two bottles of water that I'd brought with me. We also made a point of getting up and moving about, but we had a very hot shift, and it was uncomfortable and sweaty.

When I got into my car, the temperature was registering 36c and it went down to about 32c on the way home. As soon as I arrived home, I had a long, cold shower and then sat in front of the fan to dry off. That was bliss!

Sophie and I watched the match between Sinner and Djokovic in the evening, and we were sad that Fery had lost to Zverev earlier in the afternoon. Both of us were in a bit of a despondent mood this evening, mainly due to the heat, which is now becoming uncomfortable. It's not in the same league as France, but there we had an air-conditioned house and a beautiful pool to jump into when it all became a bit much!

We witnessed Sinner win in three straight sets and then caught two episodes of Amanda and Alan in Italy. They looked hot as well! The highlight of the day for me was watching Gardener's World, which came from the RHS Badminton Flower Show. There were some gorgeous gardens!

Sexy stockings!

I had an appointment at the GP surgery this morning to see the nurse about my puffy feet and ankles. She wanted to try me with compression stockings... oh, how sexy! She also urged me to drink more water and make sure I get up and move about regularly during my eight-hour shift, which I have promised to do!

Keith went shopping, and I made a start on loads of jobs that I had to do. It's been hot again today, so in the afternoon, I resorted to wearing my swimsuit, and while updating my blog, I had the fan on and felt lovely and cool. I just wished I'd had a pool to jump into!

As it was so hot - about 30c - I called the care home to say I wouldn't be visiting my Mum this afternoon. I made the right decision, because the residents were being treated to a football party and entertainment, so I was very pleased Mum had gone to that rather than sit with me in her room!

For supper tonight, we had cheese and biscuits (no cooking required!) accompanied by grapes, celery and apples. Keith took advantage of the cooler night air and sat in the garden. He wanted to try to catch a glimpse of our bats wheeling about as dusk fell.

Mooney came in during the evening with one eye closed, and it looked like he'd got something caught in his eye. Sophie held him while I had a look, and I realised it was a blade of coarse grass. I gently pulled it out - boy! Did he struggle! - and then we bathed his eye with a piece of tissue soaked in water. He had obviously wanted us to help him, as he'd let out a long yowl when he came into the living room. How long it had been in his eye, we'll never know. We gave him two cat yoghurts, and he was fine!

This little episode had a happy ending, but I forgot to mention Sophie's rescue mission on Tuesday when she took an injured crow to the vets at Moulton. The poor bird had hit the window at work and had broken its wing. Sophie called the vets, who agreed to take it in, so she'd put it in a box, with help from her colleagues, and driven it to Moulton. They sadly told her that it wouldn't survive and was badly injured, but at least she hadn't left it to die in pain. We were all sad about it, especially as I love crows and loved feeding them when we had our soft play business.

Mooney was fine after all his fuss, and we let him back out so he could continue his roamings!

A Fery good day!

Sophie and I were very excited about our day at Wimbledon, and although we had been a little disappointed that Sinner wasn't playing (he was on Court 1 anyway on Tuesday), we were delighted that we'd be seeing the Fery-Cobolli match instead. Arthur Fery was a British wildcard and had done brilliantly at getting through to the quarter-finals. We were hoping for a fantastic match, and knew that there would be a huge amount of interest!

Sophie had frozen a bottle of German white wine (she thought we would be seeing Zverev) and chilled a bottle of Cava for tipples while we watched. Keith had spent yesterday morning making sausage rolls for us, and these were all packed into a cool bag. We took the two plastic Wimbledon glasses Sophie had acquired on her previous trip, and we were all set to go!

Keith dropped us off at Northampton station, and we bought drinks and pastries to eat before we boarded the train. It was already warm, and we were hoping we wouldn't be too hot later in the day. We had dressed in loose trousers and tops, and I took the hat I bought in France with me.

We grabbed seats on the train and chatted. As we drew near Euston, the train became more crowded, and a young woman standing next to me sank to the floor to try to sit down. I offered her my seat, but she wouldn't take it, even though I offered it twice. The sun was shining relentlessly out of a clear blue sky outside, and the glare from the cars and glass on the buildings was intense.

At Euston, we had a few minutes of difficulty locating our pre-booked Addison Lee car. We found him in the taxi rank with one of the station staff talking to him. We jumped in, and he set off straightaway, thank goodness, but the air conditioning certainly wasn't very strong, and I nearly had to ask him to cool down the car as I was so warm!

It took us over an hour to get to the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (a.k.a. Wimbledon) through a maze of London streets teeming with cars, cyclists, pedestrians and scooters. The driver dropped us off a short walk from the entrance, and we joined a throng of other people heading into the grounds. We had to show photographic ID and then our tickets on our phones, which Sophie had sorted out for me. 

Once into the hallowed grounds (it was so good to see the familiar ivy-covered Centre Court), we made our way past The Hill (formerly Henman Hill) to get a glass of Pimms.

The grounds were very busy, and there were long queues for drinks and food. I managed to grab a seat in the shade while Sophie bought the drinks - £13.45 for a glass! While we sipped our drinks, we munched on Keith's sausage rolls, watching other people eating expensive sandwiches and salads!

Our next-door neighbours, Vince and Sue, had kindly lent us their hand-held fans, and they came in very useful today! One of the things that I noticed was the lack of shaded areas to sit at Wimbledon and the lack of seating itself. Seats under an umbrella were hugely coveted!

We finished our drinks, put the plastic glasses into a bin for recycling (we could have had a £1 back, but you can donate to charity) and decided to have a look around. It was very crowded and hot, and the idea of going to look at the outer courts didn't appeal. There were matches taking place on these, but I hadn't heard of any of the players. I was so pleased we had managed to get Centre Court tickets; you can get a Grounds ticket, but that definitely didn't appeal!

A wheelchair match was taking place here

As it was getting close to the 1:30pm start time, we made our way into the underneath area of Centre Court. Here, there were big display screens with all the previous winners, some going right back to the late 1800s!

We found the correct entrance and walked up a flight of steps, where we had to show our tickets again. We then turned right, went up to Level S and along to our seats. We had a fantastic view!

Gradually, the seats filled, and we had a row of people in front of us who had Hospitality lanyards around their necks. I could tell that they were wealthy just by looking at them, but they didn't seem interested in the tennis at all when the Ladies' Quarterfinals started between Marta Kostyuk and Jasmine Paolini. They were solidly engrossed in their phones, checking emails and messages (I could see clearly from where I was sitting) and showed no emotion at all.

We watched avidly as the spectators in the Royal Box arrived, and I spotted Queen Camilla immediately. She had a lovely blue dress on! We also think we saw Roger Federer and his wife (I later found out that Jason Isaacs was there, as well as Dominic West!).

The Royal Box

Sophie and I thoroughly enjoyed the Women's Quarterfinals and predicted that the Ukrainian player, Kostyuk, would win. She did so in two sets. There was a short break before the Men's Quarterfinals started, and we finished off the sausage rolls and the Cava!

Luckily, our seats were in the shade the whole time we were there, and I did feel for the spectators opposite who were sitting in full sun. The people were using fans to cool down, but it must have been so hot.

Shaded seats, thank goodness!

We were looking forward to a great match between Cobolli and Fery, and I hoped it would have some drama and tension. Fery won the first set 6-4, and there was a tie-break in the second, with Fery winning. The crowd went wild whenever he won a point, and Sophie said she felt a bit sorry for Cobolli, as he was definitely the underdog. This is a huge thing for Great Britain, though, as we don't seem to produce winners at tennis (I sometimes forget that Andy Murray is British, as he seems so passionately Scottish first and foremost!) in any great number!

We both thought that Cobolli gave up in the third set as he lost without winning a game. I couldn't believe the great roar of noise when Fery won the last point, and everyone stood up to cheer and go wild! He will face Zverev in the Semifinals on Friday, and Sinner and Djokovic will play as well. Who will be in the Final on Sunday?

We stayed for the interview and then made our way out with thousands of other people. Sophie wanted to visit the shop to buy a towel (£40), and she also bought some hair scrunchies as well. We then went in search of the loos and stopped to buy a bottle of Evian water on the way. We had consumed two bottles of wine over the four hours and hadn't drunk any water at all, so we needed some desperately. We had no choice but to buy a bottle for £5 each; if we had bought them earlier, they would have been filled again for free.

After using the loos, we made our way out of the grounds, but left a different way. Sophie tried in vain to get either an Uber or an Addison Lee car, but a lot of the surrounding roads were closed, and hundreds of people all had the same idea...

I had to stop and take some tablets for a thumping headache (I only had myself to blame), and we started going up a long, steep hill. It was utterly horrible and still relentlessly hot! Sophie then said we were going the wrong way, so we turned around and went back towards the grounds. We spotted a taxi rank queue (horrendous) and one for the bus to take people to the train station.

Some people were being picked up by sleek, black Mercedes and cabs, but it was fruitless searching for an Uber, and we were quoted £120 for one to Marylebone. Sophie descended into a bad mood after the elation of the match, and I tried to cheer her up by saying we would sort something out, but we might have to forego a nice dinner!

In the end, we had no choice but to join the bus queue, which cost us £4 each! People were also queuing for the Park and Ride, and they looked fed up as well! It took us about an hour and a half from leaving the grounds to get to the station, and thankfully, the bus was air-conditioned, so we had a pleasant journey. On the High Street, we saw lots of lovely restaurants and every other person seemed to be carrying a Wimbledon bag!

We used our debit cards to buy tickets and took the District Line to Victoria, where we could change. At first, the train was quiet, but at Southfields Station, a huge swarm of people boarded, obviously all from Wimbledon, so there was a huge crush. I was glad the train was air-conditioned as well!

A lot of people disembarked at Earls Court, which gave us some room. At Victoria, we took the Victoria line and had three stops to go before Euston. We had given up on having anything to eat as we didn't want to be too late back to Northampton.

Unfortunately, the underground train we were on was hot and stuffy and at Oxford Circus, the train stopped, and there was an announcement that there would be a slight delay. I was already uncomfortable being on the Underground (I hate it), so we decided to go and get a taxi. Standing on a hot train was not my idea of fun, and we had no idea of how long the delay would last.

Up at ground level, we hailed a black cab that took us to Euston. We were able to board the 8:56pm train immediately, and made the mistake of sitting next to a very strange man who reached out to touch Sophie's Wimbledon bag. We rapidly found another couple of seats!

On the way to Northampton, we chatted to a woman in the opposite seat who was very interesting, and ever so slightly mad! She was three years older than Sophie and told us all about her job and how she gnawed at her fingers when she was anxious!

Keith was waiting to collect us and take us home. Driving back, it was still registering 27c! Phew! Sophie spent some time outside with the cats while I had a drink and made myself cheese on toast. We watched a few bits of the matches today, and then it was definitely time for bed!