Indulging in some treats!

I finished work at 2pm today, and I'd asked Keith to pick up Mike so I went straight home. We had some books to be picked up by a courier on Friday, and we needed a box to put them in, and bubble wrap, so I suggested to Keith that we go to Jones's.

It's been a lovely day today with sunshine and blue skies but there was a real Autumnal feel to the air. The trees are starting to turn now, and it's lovely to see all the beautiful colours as we drive about the countryside.

At Jones's, I bought a roll of bubble-wrap, and we found a box that they leave out for customers to pack their stuff into which was the perfect size. On the way home, I fancied a cup of tea so I suggested to a reluctant Keith that we pop into Waitrose. He agreed in the end, but when we drove into the car park we could see that the cafe was closed. Why?

I wanted to go in anyway and I bought some treats - two bottles of wine, some luxury biscuits (so we could enjoy them with a cup of tea at home), some crisps for Wine Night on Friday, and a couple of salads to have at work for my lunch as I am heartily fed up with sandwiches!

Back at home, I made tea and we sat in the conservatory with Sophie who had been having a bad day again. I honestly feel that she would be better off going back into work full time now, and she herself says she works better in the office!

Dinner tonight was a delicious cottage pie, and Mike was in a tearing hurry to go out, to see a friend who is going back to university. With more restrictions on the horizon, I do wonder how long he'll be able to go out and see his mates. I feel that at the moment, we are at the same stage as we were back in March, and customers at work have started cancelling their memberships again, "just in case".

I have stopped watching the news now and just try and catch the headlines. It's too gloomy!

A noisy one!

Today has been fairly uneventful. I felt like I was hanging around for ages before Keith took me to work! We had a busy shift, but it was also a very noisy one. At points during the day, the noise levels were too much, especially when all five of us were talking on the phone. I seemed to attract people that wanted to sign up to be members, which was great, but it's very time consuming and it's probably far easier and quicker for them to do it on their own PC or laptop!

When I left at 4pm, it was pouring with rain and we've had spells of sunshine and showers all day. We sloshed our way home, and I called the hospital who said that my Dad had been discharged. Both my parents also received their flu jabs today, so that was one thing out of the way!

Sophie had been in at work, and she rushed home to get straight into the shower. She was off out with Daisy and Laura this evening to an Indian restaurant in town. After dinner, Keith and I watched an episode about the Blitz in London and it was very moving hearing about what happened, and how the bombardment went on, night after night.

Sophie returned home at about 10.30pm. They were chucked out at 10pm as is the rule these days! She wasn't impressed with the food at all, saying our local in Mawsley is far better!  

The start of the working week.

 I really didn't want to go to work this morning - I felt lethargic and still weary from the weekend. Sophie went to the gym, and when she got back I said I would love to just curl up on the sofa and watch television all day... Of course, this is something we rarely do (Boxing Day, maybe) but the thought was heavenly!

I took Sophie's car to work and parked easily so this problem has proved to be non-existent. Sara was back today, and I think she was a bit stunned by the noise level in the office, especially when all five of us were talking on the phone.

Today seemed to drag, and it was a relief to get out at 4pm and call to get some petrol for Sophie on the way home. The weather has been rainy again but not as bad as the weekend, thank goodness. The roads around Holcot now seem to flood whenever we get any rain, and I should think the fields are waterlogged.

As soon as we were home I called the care home to see if my Dad had returned but he hadn't, so I called the hospital again. They said he was still on an intravenous drip for antibiotics but would be seen by the consultant again tomorrow.

Keith and I dashed over to the post office at Brixworth and posted some clothes back to Asos for Sophie. She'd been having a bad day but didn't have a drink this evening, even though I think she had earned one!

We watched the film Runaway Bride, that we'd recorded last night, and Keith cooked beef pie and veggies for dinner. The evenings are certainly colder now and it's so lovely to put the heating on and get cosy!

More sorting!

We were woken at 11.30pm last night by the care home letting me know that my Dad has gone into hospital again - this time because he hadn't eaten or drunk much throughout the day, and was "not himself". This means that, just as his period of self-isolation is up, he will have to do it all again.

Mike was working again this morning, and we went to get him at about 9am. When we returned home, Keith was insistent on clearing the conservatory today and managed, by himself, to get the larger of our two leather sofas out of the room, and into the garden! Sophie and I were trying to make breakfast but he ploughed on, regardless!

When we'd finished eating I gave the floor a hoover and a clean, and we moved the new sofa into place. The rest of the morning was spent trying to sort out more stuff but sometimes I felt we were just moving it from one place to another!

The weather was still bad today with endless drizzly rain and grey skies. Sophie and I went out in the early afternoon and took some old sheets and pillowcases to a textiles bin, and the charity shop at Weston Favell. We had been planning on going to Beckworth this afternoon but we couldn't be bothered with all the faff so we snuck to McDonald's drive-thru, and enjoyed a chicken salad wrap for lunch instead!

We then headed to the tip and managed to get rid of some of our old lamps and other small electrical items. We are slowly making room for things, and we had a cull of our books and DVDs. We found a website that buys books, CDs and DVDs, and managed to get about £10 for some stuff we didn't want any more. We just need to parcel it all up and a courier will collect it next week!

By about 4pm we'd had enough, and Sophie made us a little fake Negroni cocktail. I sorted through the drawers in the study and threw out old insurance policies from four years ago, and other stuff that had just been gathering dust.

Mike called us to ask us to pick him up at about 5pm - Abbie had stayed over last night but they'd been out for lunch - so Keith and I went to get him, and I was delighted to see that the rain had stopped and the sky was a lovely mix of blues and greys with some interesting clouds.

Back home, it was definitely time to relax, and we enjoyed a gorgeous bottle of wine with some cheesy nibbles. It was, undoubtedly, the highlight of the weekend! We sat and watched The First Wives Club film while Keith finished off our dinner of a spicy Chilli con Carne. Mike didn't eat with us - he'd pigged out at lunchtime and was still full!

Rain, rain, rain...

 Well, the weather has certainly been bad today with constant rain and heavy grey skies. Mike was working this weekend and at 9am I went to get him while Keith grappled with the television in our room. It's one of Mum and Dad's and has Netflix and Amazon Prime installed so I thought it would be good to have in our room. Just as we were trying to get the old one off the wall, Mike called!

He was wet and dirty again but in a better mood than yesterday, thank goodness! I had barely ten minutes at home before it was time to take Sophie to the station so she could catch a train to London to see Zain, her boyfriend.

On the way home I called into the garage at Moulton and bought some pastries and the newspaper. I was determined to go home, have a coffee and some breakfast! When I arrived, Abbie's car was parked outside and she and her mum were sitting in the living room, which was a bit of a surprise. Mike explained that they were all going to see Abbie's grandfather, something I wasn't aware of. That meant that Mike couldn't help Keith with sorting the conservatory out... oh well!

Keith and I grappled with the TV some more, and then I insisted on having some breakfast. It was while we were eating that we remembered we had to prepare the coq au vin for dinner tonight! We both did the preparations and while I washed up and cleared away everything, Keith had a shower. We needed to go to Tesco to get an antenna lead for the TV, which was a nuisance, but we did need some things in there anyway.

The rain hadn't let up at all, and the roads were flooded in places. Tesco was busy and we found what we needed quickly. I then treated Sophie to a bottle of Vodka and bought myself some Brandy. We splashed our way home and sorted out the TV so at least Keith can watch Sky in the bedroom if he is banished there by us girls sometimes!

The rest of the day was spent doing housework and trying to clear some space in the conservatory. Keith went to see Sileby play (very surprising the game was on, considering the weather) and Mike and Abbie returned. 

By 4.30pm I'd had enough of housework and I settled down in front of the television to watch a couple of very weird programmes. I downloaded a new series called Brave New World but quickly gave up with that after about ten minutes! I then turned on a programme on Sky Arts that had been showing since 9.30am this morning and was surreal! The bit I watched was set out at sea with two masts poking out of the water with a figure of a man on top of one of them... was he real or a sculpture? With the spooky music and the grey and miserable weather outside, I decided it wasn't for me at all and went and had a bath!

Sophie called to say she was having trouble with the train journey home - due to the awful weather a lot of trains to Northampton and beyond had been cancelled... She said she was going to try and get the 6.45pm train which would arrive in Northampton at about 7.30pm, perfect as she could then have dinner with us.

However, she called back again to say that all the trains to Northampton and Birmingham had been cancelled, and could I pick her up from Milton Keynes at 7.15pm? I dashed out into the gloom and drove down the M1 to collect her but when I arrived she kept saying the train had been delayed because the driver could only travel at 50mph instead of the usual 125mph! She eventually got in at about 7.45pm so it was a mad dash home to eat at 8.30pm! Phew! I certainly needed a drink when I got in!

Near miss!

 I took myself off to work today to give Keith a rest from all the driving about he does at the moment. As forecast, the weather was horrible, dark and rainy. When Sophie left for the gym this morning it was properly dark, with no hint of the sunrise at all.

Work was OK but we dealt with quite a few moany customers this morning. I tried to clear some emails for when Sara is back next week. At 2pm I sped off to get Mike and was astonished at the bad driving I witnessed, especially as the weather was so foul and the conditions horrible. 

It started at the roundabout by the new development of houses on the A43, where the dual carriageway reverts back to one lane. A black souped-up Fiesta overtook me and dodged in between me and the car in front. Behind me, a dark grey BMW tried the same thing, and then realised he wasn't going to make it, so managed to get in behind me.

All the way up the A43 the black Ford in front was driving far too close to the car in front of him, which then turned off at Hannington. As we approached the Walgrave turn he had to brake because of a line of traffic, and as we neared the roundabout by Broughton something happened as all of a sudden, the two cars in front of the Fiesta swerved left and right, the Ford braked hard, forcing me to slow down drastically as well. I thought the BMW behind me wasn't going to be able to stop, so I braced myself for him hitting me and tried to go left a bit to give him more room.

By some sort of miracle, we were all OK and nobody hit anyone. How that happened I'll never know, and I still have no clue what caused the two cars to swerve, unless someone braked hard and they panicked? It really shook me up, I can tell you, and just says how important it is to leave a good gap between you and the car in front!

I carried on to get Mike, and he got into the car filthy dirty and soaking wet. He was in a foul mood and we had a few words on the way home - not what I needed after my fright!

Back home, Keith was sitting in the kitchen, the shredding machines balanced on his work-mate and surrounded by bits of paper. It was chaos! I rushed around getting things ready to take into the care home for Mum and Dad, and all too soon it was time for me to leave.

The weather was still terrible, and I struggled across the car park with some pictures and a couple of bags. My Mum was brought down to the garden room, and we chatted for almost an hour. She looked smart and her hair was nicely done so I was pleased about that.

I left at about 5pm and went home to relax for a bit. We are recording every episode of Pointless now as I'm sure the two episodes we saw back in January will be shown soon! Keith didn't go to the pub this evening and cooked a delicious dinner of beefburgers and homemade fries. They were scrummy!

Stormy weather on the horizon!

 Today, apparently, is the calm before the storm - we're due to be battered by the tail end of Storm Alex (a storm from France) over the next few days, with weather warnings out for the weekend. Keith and I both want to get the conservatory tidied up and the other leather sofa moved out, so we can spend time there relaxing. There's nothing nicer than being cosy and warm while the weather rages outside!

Keith went off early to do the weekly shop, and when Sophie returned from the gym we ate breakfast together in the conservatory which was a lovely start to my day. All too soon it was time to go and I arrived at work to discover that Sheila wanted me to spend time putting the playscheme places on for the October half-term. I was delighted with the news but did feel a pang of sadness because the last time I did this work was back in February/early March when life was normal.

The office was very busy and noisy this morning, as we had two extra people in and there were five of us manning the phones. It wasn't too busy but it was good to start receiving enquiries about the playscheme in the afternoon! Get 'em booked in!

At 4pm I returned home and put the hoover around the downstairs rooms. Outside the weather was horrible but it has turned a bit milder so we didn't need to put the heating on like we did the other day!

After dinner of a hearty toad-in-the-hole, Keith and I caught up with All Creatures Great and Small and then I went to bed at 9pm as I felt a wee bit weary! I am so glad that tomorrow is Friday!