Friday 6 May - Out to Lunch!

I went into work early on Friday morning as I was under the impression that our cleaner was on holiday, so imagine my surprise when I saw her car in the car park and her hoovering away! The confusion was cleared up (she's actually off one day next week!) and I waited for mum and dad to come in before going home.

Keith and I went to look for a bed for Mikey in the morning as he's taken a dislike to his bunk bed and is sleeping on a makeshift sofa bed. We saw one in a store in Kettering in a sale but it was slightly scratched and I wanted his to be perfect so we decided to leave our search for another day. The plan was to drive to The Queen's Head in Sutton Bassett as we had just arranged to have lunch with Bruce and Hermione (I used to work with Bruce at Duncan's) there in June and it was our choice of pub!

We've been going to the pub in Sutton Bassett for years and have seen it go through different Landlords, but it's been a while since we visited. We weren't disappointed - it still had the same lovely friendly atmosphere and cosy ambiance that made it one of our favourite pubs. It was very quiet but the lady behind the bar was  friendly, Keith's beer was cold and wet and it was great to sit and chat and look out of the window at the beautiful Spring weather.

We stayed for lunch (sausage and onion baguettes with a delicious salad) and then took a slow drive home. Keith had a snooze while I watched a film on television. A very relaxing day!

Thursday 5 May - Polling Day

Keith and I went to vote very early, on the way to work. It would have been nice to have walked up to the village after work but as I was going to be there until 6pm, the morning was the best time.

As it was Polling Day, we were pleasantly busy at work which has helped enormously as we've been a wee bit quiet of late! Mum and I helped out, joined by Sophie after school as we had two parties. It was lovely to finally get home and enjoy a game of cards in the conservatory before Keith barbecued some chicken and pork steaks for dinner. The sky looked ominously stormy but the rain never came which was a shame as the garden could do with a good drink!

Drought warning?

The dry weather continues and I read today in the paper that if it continues there's a risk of drought. Our garden is like a dust bowl and I have no doubt that if it does rain, all the soil in our front garden will just wash away into the road. Why can't we have a few days of sunshine, a few days of rain, etc? Why do we have to have such an extreme period of drought, followed by a prolonged period of rain, which has happened in the past. Grrrr!

A word on books...

I've been doing a lot of reading lately - it's one of my favourite things to do on holiday. I managed to read four books in two weeks - a bit less than normal!

I ordered two books from Amazon before I went, both by Helen Dunmore. I'd read her books, The Siege and The Betrayal, set in Russia in the 1940s and 1950s and enjoyed them both. The Siege was set in Leningrad during the war when the Germans laid siege to the city, starving the occupants for three years, whilst The Betrayal followed the two main characters after the war and was set against the tyranny of Stalin. As I'd enjoyed them so much I chose Talking to the Dead and A Spell of Winter, both of which turned out to be a bit bleak - not really holiday reading!

I finished both of them really quickly and treated myself to a book in the supermarket, Norah Robert's The Search which was very difficult to put down! Fiona Bristow is a dog trainer who moved to the island of Orcas to escape the killer who tried to take her life and succeeded with that of her fiance. Although the murderer is in prison he's trained another man to carry on his evil deeds and Fiona is firmly in his sights.

As we were delayed, I bought myself another three books - Something Borrowed by Emily Griffin, soon to be released in cinemas, Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, a harrowing account of the round up of Jews in Paris in 1942, which I finished on the plane home, and Driftwood Cottage by Sherryl Woods (which I haven't read yet).

And yesterday The Moment by Douglas Kennedy arrived which I've just started!

Lazy start!

I woke up very late this morning (I'm not saying what time) - perhaps I'm still a bit jet-lagged!

The weather was still sunny and dry. The garden desperately needs some rain as the soil is like dust and the grass is starting to go brown. We had a lazy morning and then I went off to the garden centre with mum to buy some flowers to add colour. I also sought the advice of an expert because our apple tree is showing signs of some disease on the leaves and between us we came to the conclusion it was Spring mildew which can be quite serious. He recommended a spray so as soon as the wind has died down we'll spray the poor thing and try and get rid of it.

Back home, Keith put up two new brackets for some hanging baskets at the front of the house and then went off to the pub. It's Monday so nothing new there then!

Spring is bursting out all over!

After their late night last night, the children were up a bit later this morning and after we'd made their breakfast Keith and I went to get the Sunday papers and then called to see mum and dad for a coffee. I made plans with mum to go to the garden centre as I had lots of pots to fill and I wanted some new baskets for the front garden to add colour.

I tried to persuade the girls to come with me but they would have none of it and as I half expected, Sophie became bored by early afternoon and kept wheedling at me that she wanted something to do with Susie. Why they should both be bored, I have no idea, especially on a beautiful day like today. In the end, worn down by Sophie's wheedles, I said I would take them both to Milton Keynes and the garden centre would have to wait until tomorrow.

Mum was quite happy to go and we spent a happy hour and a half wandering around the shops and having coffee and cake in Caffe Italia. We took the long route home as Keith had phoned to say there'd be an accident on the M1 so we returned via Filgrave, Olney and Castle Ashby again. The Spring countryside looked gorgeous with all the may flower in bloom, cow parsley in the hedgerows and the horse chestnut tree blossom everywhere. Surely there's no lovelier time of year than this?

Back home we had our first barbecue in months which was delicious. Later this evening I'm taking the girls to watch Scream4 at the cinema...I think they're mad. It looks very scary to me!

Saturday 30 April - more celebrations.

After all the excitement of the Royal Wedding, Saturday was a quieter day but we did have more celebrations to go to in the evening. Our friends across the road had planned a party and were hoping to sit us in the garden, but despite the sunny warm weather the wind was very gusty so we ended up in their living room. I keep forgetting that it's still late April and not July! It was a great excuse to chat about the holiday as Sarah and Liam had been to Florida last August and we were able to compare notes about the parks and try and persuade our other friends that they should experience it as well!