Sophie was off to a barbecue at university today but the weather has been terrible which put a bit of a dampener on things.
She was very worried about going and not knowing anyone at all, but I reassured her that there would be helpers from the uni there to make sure everyone felt welcome. We dropped her off at almost 1pm and the weather, if possible, became worse on the drive there.
I felt so sorry for her as she walked away on her own but there was nothing I could do except keep my phone handy in case she wanted to be collected early. Keith and I had barely made it to the end of the road before she was on the phone and asking to be picked up.
When we got to her she said it had been terrible as there were loads of people crammed into a room because of the weather and that everyone was already in groups. There hadn't been anyone dressed as a helper so she had panicked and turned around.
I must admit I would have found it extremely difficult to approach a group of people on my own so I could sympathise. I felt so disappointed that she'd had a bad experience but said that for the rest of the week she would be in more structured sessions so it would be easier.
Keith and I abandoned our plans to go to Jones's so we called into Morisson's to get some garlic bread for the evening (and a bottle of wine for Sophie and I to enjoy later) and then we decided to pop into the Princess Alexandra for a quick drink as a treat. However, the pub was closed, as was The Artizan and there were no parking spaces at all near The Lamplighter so we decided to head for home and stop and get some chips on the way for lunch. Naughty!
The rain continued to pour all afternoon but it did brighten up a little in the evening, thank goodness. Not the best of days today and I just hope Sophie's first week at uni improves!
Monday, 21 September 2015
Sunday, 20 September 2015
Day of rest?
Today I've been very busy doing housework, changing beds and doing some gardening. I didn't really start until lunchtime but managed to cram a lot into the afternoon so felt very pleased with myself. Mike wanted to be dropped off into town at 1pm and of course, Sophie was at work all day so there was a fair bit of driving about to do before I could start.
I had to ask Keith to come and help me with the barrel as I couldn't get one of the plants out at all...it was well and truly bedded in! I managed to rescue all the daffodil bulbs that were buried in the soil and I transplanted them and the little fuchsia into the new clay pot. We transported all the soil into one of our beds and the robin made an appearance, obviously hoping for a crop of worms to appear!
I had to ask Keith to come and help me with the barrel as I couldn't get one of the plants out at all...it was well and truly bedded in! I managed to rescue all the daffodil bulbs that were buried in the soil and I transplanted them and the little fuchsia into the new clay pot. We transported all the soil into one of our beds and the robin made an appearance, obviously hoping for a crop of worms to appear!
Saturday, 19 September 2015
Enrolment!
After a very lazy morning (I didn't wake up until 9.30am) Sophie and I set off for the garden centre where I bought a large pot to replace our wooden barrel that has collapsed. The metal ring around the centre of the barrel rusted away and then fell off so the wooden slats, already rotten, have now started to fall off as well and the whole barrel is in danger of degenerating into a heap of earth and plants!
We found a lovely clay pot and I bought some pansies, using the voucher that I received when I left work. We then popped into the nearby Waitrose to get some more Tassimo coffee before heading to the university so that Sophie could enrol.
The place wasn't as busy as I imagined it would be and we were able to park easily in the large car park in front of the buildings. There were a lot of students arriving with anxious parents and boxes of bedding and luggage. I'm so glad Sophie isn't going into the halls of residence!
We made our way to the building where she had to enrol and I left her with one of the helpers. Parents weren't allowed in with them due to limited space but we were directed to a nearby cafe where we could meet. It didn't take long for Sophie to complete all the paperwork as she'd already pre-enrolled online. She came out feeling a lot less nervous and we had a quick walk around the campus and found the building where she will be based a lot of the time.
We saw a few mums crying as they left their sons and daughters and I felt so glad that Sophie's staying at home and hopefully getting the best of both worlds. My daughter seemed a lot more relaxed and happy which was great. The whole experience is a huge change for her (and for me too, if I'm honest!).
From the university we drove down to Riverside, visited Boots and then had a quick drink in Costa Coffee before heading home. When Keith returned from his football match we went to the pub in the village for a quick drink and I treated myself to a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. I only had one but it was delicious and we spent a very enjoyable hour chatting about how Sophie got on at uni today. Our daughter is growing up!
We found a lovely clay pot and I bought some pansies, using the voucher that I received when I left work. We then popped into the nearby Waitrose to get some more Tassimo coffee before heading to the university so that Sophie could enrol.
The place wasn't as busy as I imagined it would be and we were able to park easily in the large car park in front of the buildings. There were a lot of students arriving with anxious parents and boxes of bedding and luggage. I'm so glad Sophie isn't going into the halls of residence!
We made our way to the building where she had to enrol and I left her with one of the helpers. Parents weren't allowed in with them due to limited space but we were directed to a nearby cafe where we could meet. It didn't take long for Sophie to complete all the paperwork as she'd already pre-enrolled online. She came out feeling a lot less nervous and we had a quick walk around the campus and found the building where she will be based a lot of the time.
We saw a few mums crying as they left their sons and daughters and I felt so glad that Sophie's staying at home and hopefully getting the best of both worlds. My daughter seemed a lot more relaxed and happy which was great. The whole experience is a huge change for her (and for me too, if I'm honest!).
From the university we drove down to Riverside, visited Boots and then had a quick drink in Costa Coffee before heading home. When Keith returned from his football match we went to the pub in the village for a quick drink and I treated myself to a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. I only had one but it was delicious and we spent a very enjoyable hour chatting about how Sophie got on at uni today. Our daughter is growing up!
Friday, 18 September 2015
Getting the needle!
After dropping Mike off at work this morning Keith and I walked up to Mum's house to feed the fish. It was a damp morning and Keith swore he could smell seaweed as we walked down our drive! It must have been all the wet vegetation though, as we are nowhere near the sea! We had a good walk up and back and it was great to get out and have some exercise.
At lunchtime, I took Sophie to the doctor's to get her meningitis jab. The nurse said she might feel a bit poorly over the next day or two but apart from a bruise where the needle was inserted she was fine. I'm just so glad she's had the injection now and is ready for her start at university!
In the evening my lovely daughter did my hair and make-up as I was going out to see my friends Lynda, Fiona and Andrea. I was looking forward to seeing Fiona in particular as she'd been made redundant from her job in the summer, after working at Levi's for almost 30 years. I was keen to see how she was getting on being a "lady of leisure"!
Lynda very kindly offered to drive tonight which was an unexpected bonus as it meant Keith didn't have to try and juggle cooking dinner with taxi duties. We were off to Andrea's house for a meal to catch up and sort out dates for the forthcoming "Come Dine With Me" events...another year of getting dressed up in weird and wacky outfits!
We had a lovely evening and Andrea prepared a delicious meal of breaded mushrooms to start followed by a very spicy chilli and rice to follow, finishing off with raspberry roulade for dessert. We all had a good natter and three of us already have themes for our CDWM evenings. Lynda is doing a 60s theme, Andrea is having a Bollywood night and I'm going back to the austerity of the 1940s! Fiona hasn't made her mind up yet so we decided she could host the last meal of the event, just before Christmas...arggh!
We left at around midnight and I was delighted to find both my children still up to greet me when I arrived home. Sophie made me a mug of camomile tea and then it was off to bed as by now it was way past my bedtime!
At lunchtime, I took Sophie to the doctor's to get her meningitis jab. The nurse said she might feel a bit poorly over the next day or two but apart from a bruise where the needle was inserted she was fine. I'm just so glad she's had the injection now and is ready for her start at university!
In the evening my lovely daughter did my hair and make-up as I was going out to see my friends Lynda, Fiona and Andrea. I was looking forward to seeing Fiona in particular as she'd been made redundant from her job in the summer, after working at Levi's for almost 30 years. I was keen to see how she was getting on being a "lady of leisure"!
Lynda very kindly offered to drive tonight which was an unexpected bonus as it meant Keith didn't have to try and juggle cooking dinner with taxi duties. We were off to Andrea's house for a meal to catch up and sort out dates for the forthcoming "Come Dine With Me" events...another year of getting dressed up in weird and wacky outfits!
We had a lovely evening and Andrea prepared a delicious meal of breaded mushrooms to start followed by a very spicy chilli and rice to follow, finishing off with raspberry roulade for dessert. We all had a good natter and three of us already have themes for our CDWM evenings. Lynda is doing a 60s theme, Andrea is having a Bollywood night and I'm going back to the austerity of the 1940s! Fiona hasn't made her mind up yet so we decided she could host the last meal of the event, just before Christmas...arggh!
We left at around midnight and I was delighted to find both my children still up to greet me when I arrived home. Sophie made me a mug of camomile tea and then it was off to bed as by now it was way past my bedtime!
Thursday, 17 September 2015
Nature's bounty
This morning, after dropping Mike off at school and popping into work to pick up any post, we all drove to the doctor's surgery at Guilsborough as Sophie had an appointment for a blood test. As we neared the village of Hollowell we saw signs saying that the road was closed so we had to embark on a long diversion to get back to Guilsborough. I was not pleased! However we ended up being only five minutes late which was a relief!
When we eventually returned home Keith and I set off with two bowls to go blackberry picking in the fields near our house. It was an absolutely glorious morning and the sky looked like it had been given a good wash by all the rain from last night. Everything was dripping so we both got pretty wet as we tramped over the fields. We managed to find lots of blackberries and I saw loads of sloes as well, so I'm tempted to make Sloe Gin this year as I've done previously. We met a woman walking her dog who didn't know what the sloes were, so we had a chat about making the delicious drink, which is really easy, although I did advise her to wait until after the first frosts.
We walked for about an hour and returned home with wet jeans and purple stained hands! We're going to make a blackberry and apple crumble as we've had a few apples from the tree growing in our garden.
It was that time of the week to make our meal list so we sat and did that before briefly sitting in an absent neighbour's garden and soaking up the sun. Our friends are away this week so we called around to check up on things and sat and enjoyed the views over the fields. A huge flock of birds kept wheeling about and landing in the trees before all flying off again and then settling in the fields...strange behaviour!
As the afternoon wore on the sky became a bit cloudier so it was off to Tesco (again!) to do our big weekly shop when it was nice and quiet. When we returned home the children descended on our purchases like they'd never been fed before!
Keith and I went to the pub in the village in the evening and sat in the window watching the world go by. We can't believe how busy the village is and how many cars speed past!
When we eventually returned home Keith and I set off with two bowls to go blackberry picking in the fields near our house. It was an absolutely glorious morning and the sky looked like it had been given a good wash by all the rain from last night. Everything was dripping so we both got pretty wet as we tramped over the fields. We managed to find lots of blackberries and I saw loads of sloes as well, so I'm tempted to make Sloe Gin this year as I've done previously. We met a woman walking her dog who didn't know what the sloes were, so we had a chat about making the delicious drink, which is really easy, although I did advise her to wait until after the first frosts.
We walked for about an hour and returned home with wet jeans and purple stained hands! We're going to make a blackberry and apple crumble as we've had a few apples from the tree growing in our garden.
It was that time of the week to make our meal list so we sat and did that before briefly sitting in an absent neighbour's garden and soaking up the sun. Our friends are away this week so we called around to check up on things and sat and enjoyed the views over the fields. A huge flock of birds kept wheeling about and landing in the trees before all flying off again and then settling in the fields...strange behaviour!
As the afternoon wore on the sky became a bit cloudier so it was off to Tesco (again!) to do our big weekly shop when it was nice and quiet. When we returned home the children descended on our purchases like they'd never been fed before!
Keith and I went to the pub in the village in the evening and sat in the window watching the world go by. We can't believe how busy the village is and how many cars speed past!
Wednesday, 16 September 2015
Tropical Storm Henri
I made a start on the bathroom today as it was badly in need of a deep clean! While I was up to my eyes in cleaning cloths and bleach I heard Mum and Dad arrive so they gave me a welcome break from my chores!
I made them coffee and Sophie helped them check in for their flight to the US. We sat in the sunny conservatory and chatted before they left to go and do some urgent jobs before their holiday.
Keith returned from his walk and I gave Sophie's room a good clean, taking down her curtains to wash and dismantling her light shade which was covered in dust. Everything looked so much better when we put it all back and it was lovely and clean!
In the afternoon we went over to Tesco to pick up her new laptop and buy some essential ingredients for dinner. The promised rain had never materialised but by the evening, when we sat in the conservatory to play cards, the weather changed dramatically and the rain lashed down all evening. It was really cosy sitting at our table and listening to the rain pound on the roof. The evenings are really drawing in now and it's dark by about 7.30pm.
We enjoyed a really fruity curry for dinner...delicious!
I made them coffee and Sophie helped them check in for their flight to the US. We sat in the sunny conservatory and chatted before they left to go and do some urgent jobs before their holiday.
Keith returned from his walk and I gave Sophie's room a good clean, taking down her curtains to wash and dismantling her light shade which was covered in dust. Everything looked so much better when we put it all back and it was lovely and clean!
In the afternoon we went over to Tesco to pick up her new laptop and buy some essential ingredients for dinner. The promised rain had never materialised but by the evening, when we sat in the conservatory to play cards, the weather changed dramatically and the rain lashed down all evening. It was really cosy sitting at our table and listening to the rain pound on the roof. The evenings are really drawing in now and it's dark by about 7.30pm.
We enjoyed a really fruity curry for dinner...delicious!
Tuesday, 15 September 2015
Getting our business done!
Today has been a really good day and between us, Sophie and I managed to get a lot of things sorted out for university.
After the usual trip to take Mike to school, Sophie and I sat down at my computer to have a good look at what my daughter needs to do before she starts University. Next week is Welcome week and there's a whole host of activities for her to take part in before she starts properly on the 28th.
Sophie tried to access her timetable but became very frustrated as she just couldn't log into the website. In an effort to calm her down I suggested we email the university's helpdesk, which we did. We then looked at laptops on Amazon before deciding to drive back down to Riverside to see what they had on offer at PC World.
While Sophie was showering I looked at Tesco Direct and was delighted to find an Acer Aspire laptop for £209. As soon as Sophie came out of the shower I showed her and she said it looked perfect for what she wanted. They had Microsoft Office for £99 but it was out of stock, so I ordered the computer and some anti-virus software to be collected the next day from Kettering.
Just after I did this she received an email back from uni to say that she could access her time-table from the main web page and all she had to do was enter her student ID number. Within minutes she was into her timetable which at first looked really confusing!
She also received an email with all the information about starting which was great news. Even better was the information that she could take her laptop into university and get Microsoft Office completely free! We were over the moon as this would mean she would save £100! We decided to go and enrol this weekend and hopefully have a proper look around the campus while we're there. This means that she'll be all ready for her welcome week's activities.
We had another look at her timetable and worked out she could look at it individually. She'll be there Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and has Wednesday off which is a bonus. I was particularly pleased as we can drop Mike off at school and then take Sophie as her start time is 9am for three days of the week.
Today has been another glorious day and it's been lovely sitting in the sunny conservatory getting everything sorted out. Sophie now feels much better about everything and is really looking forward to starting her course.
Keith and Mike were both out in the evening - Mike to his usual army cadet evening and Keith to a local football match. I cooked a pizza for Sophie and me with some chicken bits to accompany it and then we settled down to watch the Hairy Bikers in Russia. They looked like they were having a great time and had a vodka tasting which I was very envious about!
When Keith and Mike returned home I cooked them the other pizza we'd bought and we watched an amazing programme about the first eight weeks of life. Miraculous!
After the usual trip to take Mike to school, Sophie and I sat down at my computer to have a good look at what my daughter needs to do before she starts University. Next week is Welcome week and there's a whole host of activities for her to take part in before she starts properly on the 28th.
Sophie tried to access her timetable but became very frustrated as she just couldn't log into the website. In an effort to calm her down I suggested we email the university's helpdesk, which we did. We then looked at laptops on Amazon before deciding to drive back down to Riverside to see what they had on offer at PC World.
While Sophie was showering I looked at Tesco Direct and was delighted to find an Acer Aspire laptop for £209. As soon as Sophie came out of the shower I showed her and she said it looked perfect for what she wanted. They had Microsoft Office for £99 but it was out of stock, so I ordered the computer and some anti-virus software to be collected the next day from Kettering.
Just after I did this she received an email back from uni to say that she could access her time-table from the main web page and all she had to do was enter her student ID number. Within minutes she was into her timetable which at first looked really confusing!
She also received an email with all the information about starting which was great news. Even better was the information that she could take her laptop into university and get Microsoft Office completely free! We were over the moon as this would mean she would save £100! We decided to go and enrol this weekend and hopefully have a proper look around the campus while we're there. This means that she'll be all ready for her welcome week's activities.
We had another look at her timetable and worked out she could look at it individually. She'll be there Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and has Wednesday off which is a bonus. I was particularly pleased as we can drop Mike off at school and then take Sophie as her start time is 9am for three days of the week.
Today has been another glorious day and it's been lovely sitting in the sunny conservatory getting everything sorted out. Sophie now feels much better about everything and is really looking forward to starting her course.
Keith and Mike were both out in the evening - Mike to his usual army cadet evening and Keith to a local football match. I cooked a pizza for Sophie and me with some chicken bits to accompany it and then we settled down to watch the Hairy Bikers in Russia. They looked like they were having a great time and had a vodka tasting which I was very envious about!
When Keith and Mike returned home I cooked them the other pizza we'd bought and we watched an amazing programme about the first eight weeks of life. Miraculous!
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