"Tossed aside, like an old sock..."

I think our love affair with The Hare at Loddington came to an end tonight. I phoned Keith up from work and suggested we go out for a drink this evening as he is a lot better after his operation and it's been a month since we managed to escape out for a drink.

I've been winding him up a bit by saying that now his mate Dave is much improved, he's tossed me aside like an old sock, no longer wanted as a drinks partner! Keith knows I'm joking but I do miss going out a couple of times of week and visiting different pubs, much like we used to do before the children arrived.

I suggested a pub in the village of Orlingbury where we used to go but Keith wanted to return to The Hare and what a mistake that was! We took a long and winding route to the pub because I needed diesel and Keith needed money so we called into Tesco's at Kettering first and then headed off along an extremely busy A14 to Loddington.

We didn't have a great deal of time and when we arrived the pub was busy. We stood and waited and when it was our turn the barmaid apologised and said she had to go and serve some food. As the pub has a "Happy Hour" on between 6 and 7pm you'd think they'd have more staff available! Keith was not best pleased that his favourite draught beer, Abbot, was not on, so he chose a local ale instead but when she went to pull the pint it hadn't yet been pulled through! This was the last straw for us as there was nowhere for us to sit (most tables had a Reserved sign on them) so we left. It's very rare for us to walk out of a pub but the vibes were certainly not right tonight!

We went instead to our local and of course, the man who had forbidden me entry to the village on Monday night was sitting at the bar. We know each other fairly well, but I studiously ignored him and he did the same so it was a tiny bit awkward at first, especially as the pub was very quiet indeed!

We had a couple of drinks and then it was home to a very hot curry that Keith had prepared. He ate a chilli whole and had steam coming out of his ears for the rest of the meal! That'll teach him!!!

The madness continues...

It was back down to earth with a bump this morning when the alarm clock went off at 7am and I staggered into the shower to get ready for work. The rest of the house were still asleep when I left to go and do the cleaning, not the most attractive of prospects!

As we were very busy on Sunday, the place was in a complete mess and it took the three of us two hours each to put it back to normal before the public descended on us again at 10am. I think we're going to have to review this practice of us doing the cleaning in future!

I picked Sophie up from home and brought her back to work with me for the rest of the day. Our industrial estate is eerily quiet at the moment and when we left to go home in the late afternoon it was like a ghost town. Back to normal tomorrow!

Keith is almost back to his old self now and has discarded his crutches as his leg feels great. When I arrived home he'd done all the ironing which was wonderful! I cooked Moroccan chicken for dinner which didn't prove to be a hit with the children. Too many vegetables they said! Well, you can't please everyone - I enjoyed it!

Retail therapy

So another Bank Holiday has arrived (the first of two this week) and the weather brightened up! I spent the morning cleaning the conservatory windowsills (I know how to enjoy myself) as they were full of dead leaves and bits of bush. I love our conservatory but I really do not like all the cleaning that has to be done in order to keep it looking good!

In the afternoon, Mum, Soph and I went off to Milton Keynes, the trip we should have done yesterday. I foolishly imagined that the place would be quiet as the weather was dry and a bit sunny but no, the car parks were heaving and there were queues of vehicles waiting to pounce on any empty spaces. I normally park in the multi-storey but the queue was horrendous so I found a space opposite the main car parks where there were plenty of places to park. I discovered the reason why the place was so packed when I went to pay and saw that for today and tomorrow, because of the Jubilee, it was free!!!

We had a lunch stop first at Caffe Italia (delicious mushroom omelettes and sandwiches) and then we headed to Schuh to look for Prom shoes for Sophie. She found a beautiful pair of glittery silver heels that were perfect to go with her dress. Her doting Nan paid for them as a treat which was just fine with me!

The rest of the shopping trip revolved around my daughter as she tried on clothes in New Look, experimented with underwear in M&S and spotted a perfect bag in River Island. I bought Keith some clothes for the upcoming Father's Day and chose some tee shirts and shorts for Mikey who is in dire need of new clothes.

When I staggered out of the food hall in M&S with yet more shopping I decided to take all our purchases back to the car and moved it nearer to John Lewis. I was wearing a new pair of sandals, always a mistake, and my feet were beginning to hurt! In John Lewis Sophie wanted a crepe so Mum and I had a cup of tea and rested our weary feet before going to the schoolwear department and buying Mikey a new blazer. John Lewis is undergoing a lot of refurbishment at the moment and I noticed a new spa being planned...hmmm! I might have to go there with mum and Sophie for a treat!

After buying the blazer we headed home and this is where a little trouble started... Our village was having a big celebration for the Jubilee and had arranged for the main road to be closed. Unfortunately I needed to use this road to get Mum home but I was refused entry by a couple of men who had clearly been indulging a little too much in the beer tent. They wouldn't let me through despite a reassurance in our local newsletter saying that residents would have access. I was forced to use one of the narrow single lane roads that is full of deep potholes and I was not happy! As soon as I eventually reached home I sent an angry missive to the local Parish councillor venting my annoyance!

I shall be bloomin' glad when this Jubilee is all over!

Sodden June...

Here are three photos I took this evening - it's been raining non-stop now since yesterday evening...

This time last week the umbrella (above) was open to shield us from the sun...

Jubilee washout

So, the day has arrived and as per usual the weather has been atrocious. I don't mean just bad, I mean absolutely terrible with a constant rain all day and misty, grey skies more reminiscent of November than June. We actually put our heating on this afternoon as the outside temperature was just 10 degrees centigrade. This time last week it was 27 degrees and too hot to sit out in the garden at noon.

I feel so sorry for all the people who have arranged street parties and who have gone down to London to see the flotilla make its way down the Thames. My family are blaming me for the weather as last week I kept banging on about how I just knew this weekend would be a washout and for them to think I'm powerful enough to control the weather is a compliment indeed!

Sophie had to work most of the day as we'd put a couple of staff members off due to the fact we only had two parties and we were expecting a lot of people to be going to their own street celebrations. I picked her up at 5.30pm and she told me it was like a wet day in the February half-term...hmmm! I wish I'd taken full note of the forecast which had predicted just this sort of weather today!

The unrelenting grey...

Today has been awful with horrible grey weather that turned to heavy rain by the evening. I had no energy, didn't want to do anything, and although Sophie dragged me out in the afternoon, I saw nothing I wanted to buy in either BHS or Home Sense, which is very unusual indeed.

I'm in a no-win situation, really. When the weather is warm and sunny I worry that we'll have no customers at work and when the weather's horrible I worry that we're too busy. This weekend I have to come to realise that I really do yearn for sunshine and blue skies even though they are no good for business at all!

So, today has been what I call a "non-day" - one of the days you forget about completely because nothing happened at all. We had dinner and then Keith and I settled down to watch the last of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and that was depressing as well!!

Flaming June?

Today has been cloudy and cool and the weather forecast for the weekend is much of the same. I knew it! Last week Saturday and Sunday were absolutely glorious, a perfect weekend, and as it's the Jubilee coming up I suspected that the weather would turn.

Work was pleasantly busy and it was great to get home and relax, knowing I hadn't got anywhere to go in the evening, unlike the last two Fridays! Keith went to the pub for a drink and came home with his autobiograhy of the jockey A.P. McCoy, signed by the man himself. He'd lent it to a friend who had been to the races and asked A.P. McCoy to sign it so that was a lovely gesture and much appreciated by Keith!

I had plans to stay up late and watch a film but by 11pm I was ready for my bed! Let the weekend begin!