Getting things done!

Day 120

The other day I downloaded an app onto my phone that scans old photographs and lets you upload them to Google photos, where I store all my online pics. I started off with these as an experiment:

Keith and I just after getting engaged on a cross-channel ferry! 

My mum looking very glamorous!

The app was OK and it was great to be able to transfer the photos onto the computer, but the quality wasn't brilliant. I have thousands of old photos that are stuffed into albums and my parents have about the same quantity at their home as well that will need sorting out when they sell the house, so it's worth persevering with.

Talking of selling the house, Keith and I had a meeting with my parents at the care home this morning. My Mum looked a little wobbly on her feet after the fall she had recently but they were both in good spirits and at least they walked into the lounge, albeit with the help of zimmer frames.

Alison and the care home manager were also at the meeting and we all said how we needed my parents to sign the form so we could proceed with the sale of the house. There really is no other option at the moment as the care home fees will need to be paid. We did discuss the option of buying a small bungalow at a later date if my parents improve, so with that in mind they signed the form, which was a huge relief.

We then sat and chatted and had a coffee with them which was lovely and I could see my Dad brightening up even more. It's such a shame that care homes are still locked down at the moment as I would love to have taken them out for lunch or to my Dad's flying field so he could meet his old friends.

Keith and I returned home and I sent all the forms off to the solicitors before having cheese on toast with Sophie for lunch again. The afternoon was spent catching up with other jobs and after Sophie had finished work we decided to go for a walk again. This time we strolled down to Walgrave and stopped to see the horses on the way. This afternoon they were a bit feisty and as we didn't have any carrots or apples with us they soon lost interest and wandered off!

In the village we met John, one of Keith's mates from his Friday night pub sessions, and we had a good chat. There is a road closed in Walgrave at the moment so the narrow street we were on was like the M25 at rush hour as people used it to get through the village!

Back home Sophie and I prepared dinner and tonight there were five of us sitting down to eat because Abbie was over visiting Mike. We'd made a chicken and sausage tray bake served with roasted new potatoes, couscous and asparagus and it was delicious!

Cocktails in the garden!

Day 119

So begins my last week of being at home on furlough and I heard today that my manager wants us to go in on Friday to get ourselves up to date with what we used to do and do a little bit of training. It was good news to me!

Today the weather has been gorgeous and Keith and I went to Beckworth to get some food for the rest of the week. We have been threatening to get our meat from there and today was the day! We bought turkey, ham and leek pies for tonight, chicken and sausages for tomorrow when we're going to have a traybake, and some barbecue meats for Wednesday. We also picked out some cheese and garlic bread for lunch and, as a treat, three sausage rolls!

The place was very quiet and there was a sign saying they're going to re-open the restaurant on the 3rd August. This is very good news and we can't wait to go back!

We dropped the food off at home and then popped to Aldi where we bought vegetables, salad and some items for the food bank collection tomorrow. The weeks certainly roll around quickly!

Sophie had mentioned wanting an Aperol Spritz so as a treat I bought a bottle of Prosecco in Aldi and a bottle of Aperol in Asda. It was £17 but the alcohol content is only 11%... how does that work? Anyway, it was something to look forward to at the end of the day and we had decided to go for a walk after work, so it was great to think about sitting in the garden afterwards and enjoying the cocktail!

We enjoyed cheese on the garlicky bread for lunch, even though Keith stated that the bread tasted like soil! Hmmm! I will have to think about lunches for work again soon and spotted my little insulated food bag the other day in the corner of the study. It felt like I hadn't used it for an age!

Sophie and I went for a great walk after she finished work and it brought back memories of the early days of lockdown when we went out regularly. We walked up to the sheep field and pushed our way through loads of nettles to get to the right path.

When we got to the sheep field we couldn't see any of them at all but then we found out they were near to the farm and were being given hay by the farmer. We walked into the village, up to the "triangle" of grass and then walked home. It had been lovely and I took some cloud pics on the way:

Just before getting home we met Paul and the doggies and had a good chat. Things are so much more relaxed now, thank goodness and we spoke about all getting together on Friday evening for a drink and some nibbles.

Back home Sophie and I made the Aperol Spritz cocktails and sat in the garden, which was really lovely. The bees were buzzing about in the lavender, which smelt wonderful and reminded me of the south of France, where Keith and I once stayed in an Auberge surrounded by fields of lavender. Heavenly!

Keith was watching Newcastle play this evening so Sophie and I finished the preparations for dinner. I didn't think the pies were very good, to be honest. They were certainly deep filled but I preferred the ones we normally buy from Aldi!

A hive of activity!

Day 118

To make up for the sloth of yesterday, this morning was a hive of activity in our household! I stripped our bed and washed everything while Keith cleaned the oven. I then cleaned the house, did several loads of washing and Keith ironed it all. He also prepared all the vegetables for dinner so I think we made up for yesterday!

Sophie called me to say she was having brunch and then getting the train at about 1.30pm. She'd had a fabulous time and her and her boyfriend (I'm now allowed to call him that!) had had dinner at The Shard last night. I was very envious!

Mike also called to ask for a lift home but the timing wasn't brilliant so we asked if he wanted to stay at Abbie's or come with us to Milton Keynes where we were picking Sophie up. There were works to the railway line taking place between Milton Keynes and Northampton so we said we'd collect her from there rather than her get the bus. He wisely said he'd stay and we could pick him up on the way back so we set off and made good time, arriving just before Sophie's train arrived.

She was full of what she'd been doing over the weekend (a lot of food and drink was mentioned) but looked tired and as she'd had a cocktail at lunchtime, a little sleepy! We drove back to Northampton avoiding the M1 as the slip road at junction 14 was closed.

Back home with both of our offspring it was time to relax for a while and read the Sunday newspapers in our sunny conservatory. Sophie had a nap and in the early evening Keith cooked us all a delicious roast beef dinner. As it had been a while since we'd had a Sunday roast, it was a real treat!

An evening treat.

Day 117

Sophie was off to London this morning for the weekend so Keith and I dropped her off at the station at about 11am. This meant that we were childless until tomorrow afternoon and the house was very quiet indeed!

When we arrived back home I have to confess to doing very little and I watched the last two episodes of The Secrets She Keeps on my Kindle Fire, finished the book I was reading and generally lolled about relaxing. I am facing my final week of being off work and at some point next week I will have to go in and re-acquaint myself with all the systems I use and update my passwords, which have long since expired!

Keith had booked a table at the Royal Oak for 7.30pm and we drove down about an hour before to have a drink. For a Saturday night the pub was very quiet with only a handful of people sitting having a meal. We were shown to one of our favourite tables by the fireplace and had a good look at the menu. Do I need to say which dish Keith chose? No, I don't! I had a chicken breast accompanied by vegetables and sauteed potatoes in a lovely mushroom sauce. We had starters of soup and pate and the food was delicious.

The people who have just taken over the pub were working on their own this evening and seemed a little nervous, which is only to be expected, I suppose. I think they were terrified of getting too close, but we certainly weren't worried and there were no other diners near us at all so we both felt very safe.

We were too full to have dessert so we left at 8.30pm to go home... not really a wild night then, being child-free! Back home we lolled about on the sofa and Keith fell asleep while we watched the last episode of The Rise of the Nazis, which was certainly eye-opening!

Toiling away!

Day 116

Unbelievably, the schools here in Northamptonshire broke up for the long summer holidays today, although I expect most children were still at home. I had to look up the term dates on the County Council website to make sure, and if I'd been at work we would have been very busy with booking playscheme places throughout the holidays.

Sophie had a run around the estate and then went to work as usual. Keith and I drove over to Mum and Dad's and spent two hours gardening. The grass on the back lawn was really long and while Keith mowed, I weeded the borders and then went out to the front garden to get rid of all the weeds in the gravel.

It was hot at the front and the sun was full on me, so it wasn't too pleasant. I managed to clear all the weeds and then I worked my way along the front, digging over the soil and pulling out more huge dandelions. Keith strimmed a patch of long grass and when we finished it looked so much better.

We sat for a little while in the garden and I thought how sad it was that my parents weren't here to enjoy the house. However, there's no point in dwelling on things and I still believe they're in the right place.

We went home, had a shower and lunch and I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing. It had grown hotter by the hour and going to collect Mike from work I noticed it was hovering around 27-28c. Mike was thankful to be finished work for the week and as soon as he arrived home he cooked himself a pizza, had a shower and then got ready to go to Abbie's for the weekend.

I tried to persuade Mike to wait until Sophie came home but he was raring to go so we left at about 5pm and passed Sophie on the way. I dropped him off and noticed how busy Abington Park was... there were cars parked all along the road and the area was packed with people out enjoying the early evening sunshine.

I sped back home and enjoyed a glass of Prosecco with Sophie and Married At First Sight Australia. Dinner tonight was a delicious curry - Keith had started cooking it and we finished it!

Muted celebrations...

Day 115

Keith and I went to the care home today to deliver flowers, cards and gifts to my parents. I managed to call them and stop outside so I could see my Mum through the window. I'm sure it wasn't the kind of day they were hoping for but the staff did make it a little special for them with a lovely lunch and nice table settings.

In the afternoon we popped to Jones's which was now allowing two people in to shop. We urgently needed a bulb for the cooker hood and some glue, but we didn't buy much else! It wasn't too different in there and the place was very quiet. I said to Keith that I wouldn't have been surprised if they had any Christmas displays but there was still a lot of summer gardening things going on. Give it a month, though!

We drove home and mooched about until it was time to collect Mike from work. Both him and Keith are really tired at the moment because they've both been up early for 11 days in a row. Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday and the last day they have to be up at 6am!

Getting ready.

Day 114

Keith and I had planned on going to Mum's today to tidy up the garden but the weather soon put paid to that! It's been a really horrible day today with drizzly rain and heavy grey skies. What has happened to our summer?

Keith needed a haircut badly so I dropped him off at The Men's Room in Kettering and I popped to Tesco to buy some cards and gifts for my Mum and Dad's wedding anniversary tomorrow. My Mum called while I was shopping and didn't sound very good at all and I think the UTI is affecting her quite badly. It's so sad that they are both in a care home when they should be looking forward to going out and celebrating 54 years together.

Keith was waiting for me and looked very smart with his new haircut! He definitely needed it after so long! We returned home and had a late breakfast and I completed two online courses in preparation for my return to work on the 25 July. I had to do two courses - an infection control course and a return to work after Covid-19. Thankfully, I passed both of them!

The rest of the day was spent mooching about and doing very little so I feel like I've wasted the day a bit. The rain carried on all day, off and on, and the skies remained heavy and overcast. It was also on the cool side as well, so quite unpleasant!

Keith was glued to the television in the evening as Newcastle were playing at 6pm but he still managed to cook chilli for dinner in between watching them get beat...oh dear! After dinner he disappeared upstairs to watch yet more football while Sophie and I caught up on Married At First Sight Australia. The sky looked very stormy at one point and I thought we were going to have a downpour but the black clouds just stayed there looking ominous. Hopefully the weather will improve soon but it is St Swithin's Day so we could have this for another forty days!