Getting annoyed!

 My work pal, Sue, brought in a big bag of recycling for me this morning - she'd been collecting it since we stopped working back in March, which was very kind of her! She had collected crisp, snack and confectionery wrappers, as well as some dog treat packaging, so that's one big bag that won't go into landfill!

Work was fine and my shorter shift today passed very quickly. At 2pm I drove home and sat with Sophie in the conservatory for a while. She had been invited to book an appointment for cervical screening and I was insistent that she do it, as I feel it's very important. She told me she'd called the GP surgery to book, but was put on a waiting list of 65 women! I was angry because this is yet another case of using Covid as an excuse not to carry out vital screening! The screening starts at 25 years of age so if she isn't called before then I'm going to look into having it done privately.

After getting changed, I spent an hour in the garage sorting out all the recycling to take to our local bins. I had been hoping that Sophie would go for a walk with me to take it all, but she was held up at work until past 6pm, poor thing. 

Keith and I did the shopping list for tomorrow, and we decided to treat Sophie and book a table at The Lamplighter for Thursday night. After her long shift at work, Sophie cooked beef tacos for dinner and was mollified by the plan to eat out tomorrow! She has certainly done her fair share of cooking this week!

A quiet Tuesday

Sophie was back at the gym this morning and woke me up at about 6.30am. I had been in the middle of a dream so I felt groggy and disorientated!

Keith took me to work and went to do some shopping for the next couple of nights. Work was quiet and has slowed down a lot - I'm not really sure if there is enough for the four of us to do, but we are trying hard to enrol new members to make up for those who have fallen by the wayside.

The news is full of the pandemic ramping up again, and as we go into the winter, it's not good news. I have stopped listening to the figures every day as I find it depressing. I cannot believe how this year has turned out, and I dread another lockdown and not going to work.

At just before 4pm, the phones went down for some unknown reason, which was a bonus! We all had to log off and they never came back on again before we left, so we were all out on time for once!

Sophie had been at work all day but she came home and started making a lovely Paella for dinner. I find it real comfort food, and I thoroughly enjoyed the meal despite Sophie saying she thought it was tasteless. There was enough left over to take for my lunch tomorrow in the food flask, which will be a welcome change from sandwiches!

We watched another couple of episodes of The Movies after dinner, and enjoyed seeing films from the 90s - there were some great ones, including Titanic!

I am the winner!

I turned my phone off overnight, and this morning it seemed fine. I was able to text Sophie, and it was cool to the touch so I kept my fingers crossed! However, when I got to work the temperature had shot up again, and it had lost battery... how strange was that?

I kept it on my desk throughout my shift, and it was fine so I was mystified! Work was very busy - I had several jobs to do as well as answering the phone, and the time flew by. Sophie had returned to Northampton, and Keith had driven down to pick her up from the station. I sped home in horrible weather at 4pm - it was raining, misty and very grey.

I caught up with Sophie's news of her weekend away, and we sat and played cards in the conservatory. I think both Keith and Sophie were a bit fed up with me as I won all three games! We ate dinner early this evening and enjoyed leftover cold roast beef with bubble and squeak. Delicious, as always!

My phone seemed fine all evening but I left it alone and didn't use it. If this problem persists I'll have no choice but to get it fixed, as I do rely on it so much, especially when travelling.

After dinner, we watched two episodes of The Movies, all about films from the 1980s, which was great as both Sophie and I are fans of this era. Keith and I then decided to watch another episode of The Fall in bed, which is the only place we can see this drama!

Phone woes...

I slept fitfully last night - the dessert was definitely a mistake! At 8am I went downstairs in search of coffee, and I was delighted to see that the rain from last night had cleared, and we had blue skies and sunshine.

Keith and I took my Dad's car to the garage this morning, and put some petrol in just in case I have to use it one day. It's not so full of stuff now, as Keith took out a lot of boxes the other day, and stored them in the garage up on the eaves. Thank goodness we have this space!

My phone has been playing up over the weekend. Yesterday, it was in my pocket when we drove down to the station, and after waving Sophie off, I took it out but it had an alarming message on the screen saying it was overheating... I turned it off but noticed that the battery had gone down to about 30%, something that never happens unless I use it a lot to navigate somewhere with the maps. I kept an eye on it but this morning it was playing up again, so it was a bit worrying.

After a breakfast of coffee and pastries, I made a start on the housework and managed to clean upstairs and then work my way down to the bottom floor. The rug we have in the hallway is always covered in bits, and I suspect it's down to Mike, so we'll see what it's like over the next few days with him away in London!

The house looked much better when I finished, and I had a shower before going to see my Mum at 1pm. She looked good - she wore make-up and her clothes were very smart so there's been a definite improvement. The last time I'd seen her she'd asked me to order her some new foundation and lipstick so I was able to pass these to her through the window! She was delighted!

My phone was playing up again so I turned it off as it was almost dead. I chatted to my Mum for an hour and then popped to Tesco to have a chat with the staff in the mobile shop. I was wearing a dratted mask so everything I said sounded muffled! I spoke to a young man who kept asking about upgrades and warranties. As I only took possession of the phone last October, I was not about to upgrade! Also, the phone should last longer than a year! It was not the most pleasant of experiences, and I left feeling very annoyed!

I bought some things that Mum had asked me to get for her, dropped them off, and then went home where I wasted a good few hours mucking about with my phone. At one point it wouldn't turn on without warning of a high temperature so I went online to talk to an Apple technical advisor. He advised me it was a safety issue and not to use it at all. 

After a lot of toing and froing with Apple and Tesco, the phone seemed to improve and I charged it up without any problems. The thought of being without my phone is a bleak one; I rely on it so much and most of the time I use it to keep in contact with Sophie and Mike.

Keith cooked a delicious roast beef for dinner and then we watched the end of Licence to Kill. That's another one off the list!

A quiet day...

Annoyingly, I was awake at 6am this morning, so it was downstairs for a coffee and a relaxing start to the weekend.

Sophie woke up and we cooked breakfast - veggie sausages, toast, and scrambled eggs for Keith and me. My daughter then disappeared to shower and get ready for her weekend away. We took her to the station and called to get a paper on the way home. I had no plans to do anything today - in fact, I fancied a bit of a rest from sorting boxes, so we pootled about for the rest of the day and did very little!

The weather has been a real mixed bag - frequent showers but spells of sun and blue skies. It feels much cooler than of late. I went and had a lovely hot bath at about 5pm and then managed to get Netflix working on the television in our bedroom. I started watching The Fall starring Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan, and over the hour it was on, became hooked! Keith also had a bath and then started watching it with me!

We went to the pub in Walgrave for a meal this evening and walked in find the place pleasantly busy. We picked a table near the bar, and Ian brought over free drinks for us - to wish Keith a belated happy birthday, and to apologise for the slow service we'd experienced last time.

We sat and studied the menu, and as I was hungry, I chose the mushrooms on ciabatta that I'd enjoyed last time, and a burger. Keith opted for whitebait and the monster cod. I had to go for something beefy because I was drinking a good Malbec!

The service was much better this evening (Ian was in charge), and the food as good as it always is. To my delight, one of the girls I used to look after when I worked at the after-school club came in with her family - Izzy and her brother Joseph. We said hello and when they got up to leave I asked how she was doing at secondary school. She looked so grown up, bless her, and Joseph is now in Year 6!

Keith and I braved a dessert, which on reflection, was probably a mistake as the portions were huge! I had bread and butter pudding while Keith enjoyed a treacle tart, both served with custard. We were so naughty!

At just after 9pm we waddled out into pouring rain... then it was home to collapse on the sofa and watch Licence to Kill starring Timothy Dalton. I had never seen the film before, which is unusual as I was (and probably still am) a fan of the actor. I have to say the hour we watched wasn't brilliant, though! No wonder he only did two Bond films!

What a relief! It's Friday!

This week seems to have gone over in the blink of an eye. I remember getting up on Monday morning and facing the week, but it's flown by!

I had a somewhat trying shift at work, with some bad-tempered calls. We are still getting people moaning about the same old problems, which I thought would have stopped by now! I was very glad to get out at 2pm and drive home! Keith had already picked up Mike from work which was a real bonus. No matter how hard I try I just cannot get out of work on time.

At home, Mike was showering in readiness for his trip down to London by train. We dropped him off at the station at about 3.30pm and by 5pm he was texting me to say he'd arrived at Abbie's flat, which I thought was very good going indeed. Keith was going to walk to the pub this evening but a huge black cloud moved over the sky and it started to rain, so we thought it best to give him a lift!

Sophie and I tried a new wine tonight - The Ned Sauvignon Blanc. It was a crisp, floral white without the overpowering cats' pee aroma you sometimes find with this grape variety. However, we both agreed that we still preferred the Pinot Gris. We munched on the delicious crisps I bought in Waitrose on Wednesday and baked some potatoes in the oven for dinner. An easy night!

Sophie and I had decided to watch Vertigo again this evening. I had downloaded three films to watch but in the end, we didn't really fancy any of them! Now that we're watching The Movies, we're learning about some of the classics, so I picked The Last Picture Show starring an extremely youthful Jeff Bridges, Easy Rider and Erin Brockovich. The Last Picture Show was filmed in black and white and after about ten minutes, we decided it wasn't for us, Sophie had already seen Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich, and neither of us really fancied Easy Rider so we enjoyed James Stewart and Kim Novak in Vertigo again. 

Dinner was delicious - we had brushed the potatoes with a little butter and the skins were all crispy. Yum!

A disturbed night!

We had a very disturbed night last night! Mike came blundering into our bedroom at about 1am and tried to get into bed with us, obviously mistaking our bed for his! Then, an hour later, Keith turned on the bedside light and said we'd had a power cut. He made a huge fuss about setting the clock and the alarm again!

Sophie woke me up at about 6.30am and I felt bleary and tired. She said that Mike had returned home at about 11.30pm, a bit worse for wear, which was foolish on a weekday night, but he was up as normal this morning, thank goodness!

Before I went to work I made use of the time I had and hoovered the house. Keith had gone to Tesco after dropping Mike at work so I helped him put everything away and sorted out the washing. I drove myself in and my shift passed very quickly and pleasantly. At three minutes to 4pm, we had three calls in the queue which was annoying! I managed to answer two of them (Denise was on another call) but that was it!

I sped home, deciding to go the country route to avoid the busy A43, and back home I phoned my Mum and made an appointment to go and see her on Sunday. Both Sophie and Mike are away this weekend, visiting their respective partners, so Keith and I will be childless. We are planning on going to the pub on Saturday night for a meal!

Keith made an utterly delicious chicken casserole this evening, and we popped some dumplings on top, which were all crispy on the outside and fluffy within. After dinner, we caught up with another episode of The Movies, which we are finding very enjoyable. There are still so many films I haven't seen, but which look good!