Still busy!

We were all hoping that this week things would be quieter at work, but it was not to be. Even though we had Denise working it was still horribly busy and the calls were non-stop. We are now getting far more complaints that we used to, with people annoyed about swimming lessons (and the lack of communication) and memberships in general.

I worked until 2pm as I needed to get home and sort out the paperwork for the solicitor. I called the office and went through the points I could answer but had to leave some of the questions I couldn't. Keith and I then went to the post office to send everything back and popped to Mum and Dad's house to try and change an appointment for the following day. A new smart meter was being installed but when I called the company to say nobody would be at the house, they couldn't cancel as I wasn't named on the account. I told the woman on the phone that the engineer would make a wasted journey then! How silly!

Feeling annoyed because we'd wasted our time going to the house we headed home and Keith prepared the dinner which was the roast beef we should have had yesterday. Sophie and I sipped a glass of red wine while he cooked and I thought of how lovely it would be if we had the new kitchen and we could sit with him while he worked.

Dinner was delicious and we made sure there was enough left over for bubble and squeak tomorrow. Mike was at Abbie's as it was her birthday today and they returned at 9pm. It was great to have a chat with them before they headed upstairs and Abbie had had a lovely day.

Today hasn't been particularly pleasant so I'm hoping that tomorrow will be better!

A busy Sunday!

I'd had a thought on Friday that this weekend would be a lazy one, but how wrong can I be! Today was very busy and, apart from first thing in the morning, I didn't have a spare minute!

Mike called us at about 9.30am to go and pick him up and when we got home I'd had a message from our neighbour and friend, Paul, who has agreed to keep my Dad's car on his driveway for me. He wanted to pop over at 10.30am, so I hurriedly made breakfast for Keith and I of leftover potatoes, and we gobbled that down before he arrived.

He came around for a chat and after we'd talked about the car we asked him who he bought his kitchen from a few years ago. They'd chosen Howdens as well, so it will be interesting to see what they come up with later this week. He nearly fell over when we told him what we'd been quoted by Magnet yesterday!

Once Paul had gone I sorted all the recycling out in the garage. I'd been left two big bags of pet food pouches the other day and as we were picking up Sophie from Milton Keynes station, we thought it was a good opportunity to take it over. I didn't have as much as last time but it still filled the boot of my car!

When that was finished we took Mike into town and then as soon as we returned home I put a colour on my hair and showered. I had an appointment to see Mum and Dad at 2pm and I needed them to sign some documents for the house, but they also had to be witnessed by an impartial person. Luckily, one of the carers agreed to sign, so that was a huge relief.

I popped to the Co-op before seeing my parents and bought my Mum some chocolates and magazines. However, because we were in the stupid garden room and separated by a thick sheet of plastic, I had to leave the goodies with the receptionist.

My parents arrived and we got the signing out of the way. Luckily I was able to pass the papers under the sheeting! We sat and had a chat but it was obvious my parents aren't happy at all, which made me feel very sad. My Mum had, for some reason, thought that all of us were coming to see them so she was a bit upset. What made it worse was that I thought I could take them both out so I'm confused about the rules in place at the moment?

We chatted for an hour but I'd be wrong if I said I enjoyed meeting them. When it was time to go my Mum started crying, which set me off. Horrible.

I drove to their house to try and find a CD from the builders that the estate agent had mentioned, but after searching in their drawers and cupboards, I couldn't find it. Being in the house made me feel even worse and I will be glad when I don't have to go around there any more.

As soon as I arrived home we were back out again and driving over to Milton Keynes. The traffic on the M1 was busy but we weren't held up and after dropping all the recycling off we made our way to the station. Sophie appeared a few minutes later and it was only then that she told me about a man who had stabbed several people in Birmingham, very close to where they were, last night. They were going to go out for late night cocktails in the area he was in, but thankfully went back to the hotel instead. I had been so busy today I hadn't even seen the news!

We drove to Olney for a drink and went back to the pub we visited on New Year's Day. At the entrance we were instructed to turn around and go to the back of the pub, which was very annoying! Why they couldn't have put the sign further up the road so we'd seen it before getting to the entrance, I'll never know!

We walked into the pub (eventually) and we were told off by a local standing at the bar, because we had walked past them. We had no idea that there was a queue to get drinks and it was the last straw. I said loudly, "Let's find somewhere else!" and we walked out. There's no shortage of choices in the small town!

We tried the Bull Hotel instead but we had to order our drinks on an app and pay for them at the same time. I'm so glad Sophie was with us! Crazy! We sat and chatted and discussed dinner as there was no way Keith was going to cook a roast when we got home! We decided to have a Papa John's pizza so Sophie ordered and we drove over at 7pm to collect it.

The previously lovely day had turned grey and rainy and after eating it was lovely to curl up on the sofa and get cosy. What a busy day!

Choices, choices!

This morning we should have been on our way to France but of course, we've postponed the trip until next April. I am truly hopeful we will go, a year later than planned! It would have been lovely to get away for a few days but I think we're all resigned to the fact that this year will be a year of non-travel.

So, instead of being away on a break, we were at home and Mike was working... and started at 5am! My poor husband took him to work and then came home and went back to bed. I was up at about 6.30am and I hoped that Mike wouldn't be too late this morning as we had an appointment at Magnet at 10am.

Luckily, everything worked out perfectly and Mike called just before 9am to ask us to pick him up. I'd suggested Keith shower before me so he was already dressed and went off to get him. When he arrived back, it was time for us to leave and today I decided on a different route. However, we came across roadworks by Becket's Park but we did arrive on time today, thank goodness!

Sophie came with us as she was catching a train at 11.15am to Birmingham to meet her boyfriend. In Magnet we looked at applicances such as the oven, dishwasher, washing machine and extractor fan. When it came to deciding on the hob we have decided on an induction option which Sophie wasn't sure about. However, when we had a demonstration, Sophie was definitely won over! We could touch the hob itself without being burned!

Once all that was done and added to the kitchen the designer printed off the actual layout for us on A3 paper, so it was great to see what it would look like! Sophie was a bit worried about the time so I took her to the station and arrived back just before we learnt how much it was all going to cost. Keith was hoping for less than £10,000 but I had a feeling that it would be more... the result? £16800! We were both shocked!

This price does not include flooring, tiles, installation or the building works we need such as taking the wall down between the old dining room and the kitchen and putting in a new window. Hmmm! Time to have a re-think and then see what Howdens come up with on Friday!

We left Magnet and popped to Jones's where we bought some boring bits like batteries. As expected, their Christmas range had started to appear so I grabbed two boxes of the Peter Pauper cards that I love.

I think this design is very apt for this year! Also, I bought a new 2021 diary and a calendar - honestly, I cannot wait until this horrible year is over!

Mike called to ask us to pick him up some chicken and pasta for his lunch so we called into Asda on the way home and bought what he needed plus a bottle of Gin for Abbie's birthday on Monday. Then it was lunch in the conservatory and a read of the newspaper.

As I was working quite a bit last week, the house had been neglected so I spent the afternoon giving the downstairs a good clean and catching up with paperwork. I looked at the solicitor forms again and did what I could but I'll have to call him on Monday and clarify a few points that I just don't understand.

Keith, amazingly, went to see Sileby play for the first time in months and met his old chums for a good chinwag. In the evening we had a barbecue and I noticed how dark it's getting now at about 7.30pm. Autumn is definitely here!

Our film choice for this evening was the next James Bond film, Octopussy, which Keith and I though was just silly! Roll on the next one!

Irritating niggles

I let Keith have a lie-in this morning and drove myself to work. Yesterday was the first day since March that I'd started at 8am and the children were at school, so I was interested to see how the new dual carriageway on the A43 would be at that time of the morning. Luckily, it has been fine even though one lane of the new stretch is closed at the moment. They built the new road and then immediately had to dig a long stretch of it up again to put some kind of pipe in! Crazy!

I don't have my safety valve road available to me because there's some kind of work going on with that as well so I am mightily glad that either a) the new road is coping or b) not everybody is back at work yet!

Work this morning was a lot quieter so for that we were very thankful! We had long gaps between calls and both Kathy and I were able to get some much-needed work done. I sped home at 2pm and collected Keith before heading off to Kettering to get some diesel for my car. On the way, the estate agent called about the papers that need signing and several queries that the buyer has. Apparently, he is a very strange individual and I told Jess that I had been extremely busy over the last week so hadn't had a chance to do anything with the sale but that I was seeing my parents on Sunday. I lamented to Keith that why couldn't we have had a reasonable person buying the house? He keeps going on about the flipping boiler and wants to know if we are prepared to have it serviced before he moves in! Short answer...NO!

We picked up Mike from work and drove home and this was my first experience of the area around the golf club being at the mercy of the school run... the witching hour I call it, when parents are in a desperate bid to collect their little darlings from school and drive too fast as they're late! What a difference it was to how we were used to and there must be at least two schools churning out pupils at the time we are driving home!

When we arrived home I had a good look at the papers the solicitor had sent and there was some nonsense about paying the vicar of Cransley an amount of money every year which dated back decades! I felt too morose to do anything about it this evening so I will take the papers to sign on Sunday and then concentrate on them on Monday. Sophie's boyfriend is a trainee solicitor and has just done a stint on conveyancing so I might get some tips from him!

Sophie and I had a glass of wine this evening but we sat and chatted about work and my parents until 7pm. I then watched half an hour of Top of the Pops from 1977 and it was great! I was nine years old at the time and seeing Michael Jackson so young and fresh-faced gave me a bit of a pang!

Almost Friday!

I was back in at work at 8am this morning and it felt like I'd barely left! Sara had asked another staff member to work today to cover my morning shift so I could concentrate on the emails, and we had 199 in the inbox first thing!

It was great to be off the phones and after a slow start it became very busy again. Sara and I dealt with the emails and when I left to go home at 4pm they were down to 124, even though more had been coming in during the day. I am hoping that one day this will all be a distant memory!

After a morning of rain (and the roads were flooded again) we had a sunny afternoon and a lovely evening. I gave Sophie a lift to the beauty salon in town and spent a very pleasant half hour reading the paper in my car and looking at the beautiful sky.

Back home while Sophie cooked a truly delicious paella, Keith and I played cards in the conservatory! After we'd eaten we indulged in another episode of The Bridge... Kim Bodnia is scrumptious!

A long day...

I had a long (for me anyway) day at work and decided to go in a bit earlier to catch up with some invoices that I hadn't been able to process yesterday. I then discovered that two of them were for the Forum cinema in Northallerton so I emailed them back to the film distribution company! Bonus!

As usual we were extremely busy with calls and this is definitely the pattern for the week. A lot of our queries were about swimming lessons and all of us agreed that if we'd just activated a blanket freeze of all of our memberships back in March when lockdown started, it would have saved us an awful lot of trouble now!

Sophie was due to pick me up on her way home from work but she finished at 4.30pm so Keith came to get me instead. It was pouring with rain! This morning I'd had a brief moment of bliss when I ate my breakfast in the sunny garden so the change in the weather was a shock!

Abbie was over for dinner and Keith made a delicious chicken pie. It carried on raining all evening so at least I didn't have to go out and water the garden! After we'd eaten Keith and I watched the new series of All Creatures Great and Small. I am a huge fan of the James Herriot books and read them all when I was younger. The second series is looking good but I do miss Robert Hardy as Siegfried. No doubt I will get used to the new characters and it looks like very pleasant viewing!

Autumn beckons

I was in at work at 8am today and we were hoping for a quieter day, but it was not to be. Sara had asked if I could do some extra hours this week and we agreed that I would tag two hours on to my working day Tuesday to Thursday and an extra hour on Friday. I really do like to finish a bit early at the end of the week!

The phones were even busier than yesterday with the longest interval between calls barely a minute. I had my fair share of moany people, so that wasn't pleasant! Over the weekend and yesterday we'd had work done on our computer system and it was playing up today so I abandoned the box office returns. I am only thankful we are putting just one film on a day otherwise I would have been in trouble!

It felt like we were all drowning in work today as we had 200 emails in the inbox, well over 200 calls when I left at 4pm (plus over 70 abandoned ones) and it had been a really stressful day. And no doubt, we'll have more of the same tomorrow!

Keith picked me up at 4pm and it looked like it had been a gorgeous Autumnal day. Sophie and I went for a walk when she finished work and we walked through the fields to Old and back along the road. We went to see the horses, but they weren't interested so we did a lap of the estate and then home.

Dinner tonight was beef stroganoff (originally planned for Sunday) and I helped Keith in the kitchen. It was delicious, as ever. Afterwards Sophie and I watched a film called Submission starring Stanley Tucci about a college professor having an affair with a student. It was an hour and a half of my life that I will never get back!