Trying times.

Annoyingly, I was awake at about 6.30am this morning and couldn't get back to sleep! I went downstairs to make myself a coffee and watched the news - things were looking worse.

We are now a little worried about our trip to France in April and it's a time of uncertainty with everything. Today, we heard that all of the English football games have been suspended until April 3rd, the Marathon has been postponed until October, the Australian Grand Prix has been cancelled, rugby fixtures are off and upcoming sporting events might be in doubt.

In the news they said that our Government may well ban all mass gatherings until this crisis is over. It's mind boggling what's happening - I have never experienced anything like it.

Sophie was reluctant to spend the day cooped up in the house so I suggested we take all of the recycling to Milton Keynes (I had bags and bags of pet food pouches in the garage) and then have a walk around Willen Lake. Neither of us fancied mixing with lots of people in the shopping centre!

I let my fellow members of ROAR! know that we were going and Lynn popped around with some more recycling. We had a chat and as she used to be a nurse, she said that it was good people were starting to think about hygiene more!

Sophie and I left at about 1pm and drove to the house in Milton Keynes where we drop off the recycling. There was now a separate crate just for Tassimo pods - there were thousands of them! We left our contribution and drove the short distance to nearby Willen Lake. Opposite was Gulliver's Land, where we had spent many happy days years ago, when the children were small.

Our first thoughts were about lunch as we were hungry by now, but both of us were a bit disappointed with the small and dingy cafe. It probably looks better on a warm and sunny day, so we decided to come back another time and drive to Olney to have a bite to eat there.

We took the route through Newport Pagnell and Tyringham, and I managed to find the slowest driver for miles around who rigidly stuck to 25mph all the way through the village and out onto the main road!

Olney was packed with people, with no car park spaces anywhere. So much for people staying at home! We abandoned that idea and went instead to Castle Ashby where we managed to bag one of the last tables in The Buttery. By now it was past 3pm and we were very hungry indeed!

We did have a lovely late lunch, though. Cheesy toasties served with salad and coleslaw and a bowl of chips that we shared. Afterwards we had a quick look around the food shop and bought some treats for dinner later.

Back home we relaxed and didn't have dinner until 8pm. Now all flights to mainland Spain, the Balearic Islands and the Canaries have been cancelled and the country looks to be going the same way as Italy. We have now also heard that the US is not letting flights in from the UK and Ireland so we are mightily glad we are not off to San Francisco this year. Imagine!

An evening of relaxation.

I was hoping that today wouldn't be an unlucky Friday 13th as there is enough bad news about at the moment! Having said that, we had another film postponed - Mulan - and the phones did go down briefly!

At 2pm I went straight to see Mum and Dad and had a cup of tea with them. To be honest, they are in the best place at the moment as the coronavirus is becoming worse and worse by the day. I managed to add to Mum's Tesco delivery tomorrow and ensured it would be delivered for them!

Back home I cleaned the downstairs of the house and set the table in readiness for this evening. I was highly aware of hygiene so I mopped all the floors, scrubbed the cloakroom and washed all the crockery and cutlery!

Sophie came home from work, showered and then made me a lovely salad. We had about half an hour's relaxation before we had to prepare the food so we did manage one glass of wine! Mike went to Birmingham this evening to spend the weekend with Abbie and some friends. I wasn't entirely happy about him going as we all really need to try and stay away from large groups of people at the moment.

Sue and Michelle arrived at 7.45pm and we had a lovely evening catching up and eating some delicious food. We went through two bottles of Prosecco and a bottle of the New Zealand Pinot Gris so we were all very merry! Obviously, the main topic of conversation was the current situation with the coronavirus pandemic but we all managed to retain our sense of humour. Maybe one of the good things about the situation will be communities coming together to help each other out?

Sue and Michelle left at about 11pm so after washing up and clearing away, it was off to bed!

The saga of the loo paper!

Unusually for a Thursday, I took myself to work as Keith refused to go shopping this morning and then come and pick me up at 3pm - peak time for the Cheltenham races!

I discovered that the box office returns hadn't been completed on Monday as I'd assumed, so I stopped everything to do them - I just wish that the woman doing them had let me know! I was back on the phones at 1pm and issues about the coronavirus are starting to trickle through to us now. I happened to mention that we hadn't seen any loo paper in Tesco again yesterday and everyone said the same was true of their local supermarkets.

A bit later I went to the loo, and when I came out, Sheila was brandishing her phone at me saying that Nicola was in Tesco and had managed to grab two packs, the maximum she was allowed, and did I want them? Yes, I did! It caused great hilarity in the office when she returned so at least our sense of humour is not diminished!

At 3pm I hared off home and Keith met me at the door, all ready to go shopping. I had thought I'd have time to change but we went immediately as the time was getting on! We decided to go to Aldi first even though the shop was in the middle of Kettering and not really on the way! I will be so glad when the new one has been built opposite Tesco! We were lucky to find packs of loo paper available in the store so we now have enough to last us a couple of weeks. However, there was no pasta to be had anywhere!

We did half of our shopping and then drove the fair distance to Tesco where there was no loo paper, no flour, no pasta and definitely no hand sanitiser. I picked out some food for tomorrow night when Sue and Michelle are coming over for drinks and something to eat.

Coming out of Tesco we hit the rush hour traffic and it took us half an hour to drive a distance that would normally take less than a minute. The road going out of the car park was gridlocked! Before going home we called to see Mum and Dad and help them with a computer problem and then it was back to unpack and treat ourselves to a well-earned drink! It was almost 6.30pm!

The first cut...

I had a lovely slow start to the day but by 9am Keith and I were both in the garden. He attacked the trees in the back border and managed to cut them down to a more manageable size while I mowed the lawn. Although the grass was fairly dry, the ground itself was still wet so it was a hard slog! At one point all the grass clumped up underneath the blades and we had to dig it all out!

Keith had left the tree branches scattered all over the garden so I gathered them up and decided to cut them down and then leave them in a pile for the insects to use as a home. When we were finished the garden looked so much better - the first cut is always the hardest!

We popped to Tesco very quickly, as we needed some milk, and I treated myself to a tray of yellow pansies and some lavender plants. As soon as we were home I planted them in the garden using compost from our own heap! It looked great and Keith managed to turn over the top layers so it filtered down. The compost heap has slowed down over the winter but I'm hoping that with Spring here and warmer weather ahead, it will start decomposing a bit quicker.

After lunch in the sunny conservatory, I spent the afternoon hoovering out my car and then the rugs in the garage which were covered in leaves and mud from this morning. I then made a batch of flapjacks, so I have been very busy today!

Sophie and I enjoyed a non-alcoholic sparkling wine this evening and relaxed while Keith cooked roast chicken and all the trimmings. It was his choice to have a mid-week roast so we let him get on with it!

We do need a bit of colour!

Film woes!

I took myself to work this morning because today is the first day of Cheltenham, a sacred event in our house!

I was off the phones today and I concentrated on admin work before turning my attention to putting the next batch of films onto the system. I had just finished when our Marketing Manager appeared and said that Peter Rabbit 2 was the latest film to be postponed for a few months... arrgghh! We all decided to halt putting the films on for a while in case anyone else followed suit!

At 2pm I sped home and discovered that Keith hadn't had a brilliant day. The repair man came out to fix the oven but was totally useless and charged us almost £50 for doing absolutely nothing. He said the part we needed was obsolete, but Keith managed to find it on eSpares and promptly ordered it. He and Mike will fit it but the hinges still need fixing, so I was very annoyed indeed.

Keith had also had some money on a 12-1 horse that was doing well until another horse brought it down. Oh well! Mum had also phoned saying they had a problem with their freezer, but by the late afternoon it seemed to have resolved.

I busied myself with sorting out some payments and caught up with another couple of jobs. I am so looking forward to a day off tomorrow and tackling the garden! The weather still looks set to be dry and sunny, so fingers crossed!

Pasta woes!

Keith was feeling much better this morning so he took me to work and then returned my blood pressure monitor to the GP surgery. We had a busy morning but at least three of us were answering the phones so it wasn't too bad.

At 2pm Keith collected me and we drove to see Mum and Dad. Mum had been having problems with her Tesco order but she'd sorted it out before we'd arrived. She still needed to get some bits so we took her to Kettering as we had to get our dinner for Tuesday and Wednesday. I was amazed to see the pasta aisle even more bare than Saturday, if that was possible! Even the expensive pasta had all gone!

Cheltenham is on this week so after today Keith will be glued to the television and has "booked" a week off! I am very glad it's going ahead and hasn't been cancelled because of the dreaded coronavirus, a word I am getting sick of!

Back home I hoovered upstairs and looked forward to a night of abstinence! Sophie and I sipped on sparkling water with our chilli con carne and we did feel very virtuous! Outside we had terrible weather - heavy rain and winds - but the forecast for the next few days is set to be drier and sunny. I am itching to get out into the garden and cut the lawn! I'm hoping Wednesday will be the day to do it!

Rude people!

We had been planning to go to Stratford upon Avon today as we all felt we needed a break and we hadn't really celebrated our "anniversary" on Friday, but Keith came back to bed this morning feeling unwell. I was in the middle of a dream about flying to New Zealand so it was a bit of a rude awakening! He said he had stomach cramps so I left him in bed while I went downstairs to have a coffee.

It was clear that Keith was going nowhere today (far from a loo, anyway!) so we decided to stay put. Sophie wanted to go to Boots and we decided to have a quick breakfast, get ready and head out. I called Mike to say we could pick him up earlier than we had originally told him so at least we could relax this afternoon!

We went to Jones's first where I avoided buying rolls and rolls of loo paper (some people are stockpiling it!) and Sophie and I just bought a few bits that we needed. From Jones's we drove to Boots on Riverside and then called Mike to say we were on our way to pick him up.

Back home we enjoyed a duplicate lunch of yesterday and at about 3pm Sophie and I decided to go for a walk. Keith was feeling a little better and was wrapped up on the sofa with our thick bedspread.

Sophie and I walked up to the village and called to see the lambs on the way. They were so sweet! Today has been breezy and we've had a mix of sunny spells and cloud but at least it's stayed dry!
From the village we walked out onto the single track road and admired the views across the fields. We walked along the road for about twenty minutes and then turned back home.

In the distance we could see rain clouds and I predicted that it would rain very soon! As we neared our estate we passed a couple who we didn't recognise and both of us stepped off the path and into the road to make room for them. They passed us by without a word of thanks or even a nod or hello, which shocked us! Do they not know of the countryside code? Earlier we had stopped to chat with a man and his dog, and said hello to a woman from the village. It doesn't matter if you don't know someone when you pass them in the country, you always say hello!

We carried on and I said I hoped that the heavens would open and they would get drenched, as well as stepping into something nasty, a cowpat perhaps. I hoped very much that they weren't the new people who had just moved onto our estate!

My predictions proved correct when it started to rain hard just as we got home! Phew! The rest of the afternoon were spent relaxing and then I helped Sophie make a delicious Gino D'Acampo recipe - his sausage pasta with broccoli. We added some wine and a dollop of cream and it was gorgeous. Keith just ate some garlic bread as he still felt a bit wobbly and he certainly missed out!