The remains of the week...

Sophie woke me at just before 6am this morning so I had an hour to enjoy a cup of coffee and watch Escape to the Country before I got ready for work. 

Kathy was off again today, as her Aunt had died on Tuesday, and she was sorting out the funeral. Sara had asked Tracie to come in and cover so it was lovely to see her again as she normally only works on a Saturday.

My shift was busy and I had plenty of work to keep me occupied! We learnt that Nicola's daughter had tested positive so Nicola worked from home today, and was going to take a PCR test to see if she also had covid. It is spreading so quickly!

It was lovely to leave at 4pm and I am sure the evenings are getting subtly lighter every day. It was so nice to drive home and still see blue skies! Spring is on its way and I noticed the other day that the bulbs I planted in the Autumn are being to push through the soil in the pots!

Keith went to the pub tonight to see John and Sophie and I had a glass of wine and watched The Remains of the Day starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. I had never seen the film before but we both thought it was quite sad, and beautifully done.

Dinner was another easy meal - baked potatoes and salad. Perfect for a Friday evening!

Out and about...

As it was a cold morning, we put the heating on and unfortunately, one of the small pipes in the boiler in the kitchen started dripping... we are both heartily fed up with this now and thought that all of our central heating problems were over and done with! We texted Sophie to ask her if she could contact the obnoxious little plumber again, as she had his details on her phone, and ask that he come out yet again.

At about 8am Keith and I took my Dad's car for its MOT, to the garage in Moulton. It was another gorgeous morning with frost and winter sunshine, and the roads were busy with school traffic.

From the garage, we drove straight to Kettering to do our shopping and then it was home for a late breakfast of toasted brown sourdough bread, which was delicious. Just after we'd finished eating, the garage rang to say the car was ready for collection. We decided to go and pick it up but visit Wilko's first, though, as I had run out of bird food, and with the colder temperatures at the moment, our little feathered friends needed some sustenance!

At the garage, Dad's car had had its MOT and a full service and was all set to go. My car has been making some clattering noises when it's stationary, and the mechanic said it was the flywheel. He estimated it would be about £800 to put right, but I could leave it for a while yet, so not to worry! That'll be something we'll definitely have to sort out at some time in the future but we were relieved we could leave it a while!

We returned home and I received an email from the care home to say that my Mum had left the heated curlers I'd bought her for Christmas in reception, as she didn't want them. As they'd cost me about £40 we went to get them straight away and I'll give them to Sophie to use. She loves curling her hair so the heated curlers will be a useful addition to her range of beauty products!

I spent the rest of the afternoon preparing Mulligatawny soup for dinner and then doing some much-needed housework, hoovering downstairs, giving the kitchen a good clean and mopping the floor. By the time I'd finished the house looked lovely and I lit some candles to make everything cosy!

Over the past few days, Keith and I have been sitting at the kitchen island in the evening after we've watched the news headlines, and have been playing cards, which is lovely. Sophie joins us to chat and we put the heating on in there, so it's warm. This evening's dinner was very easy - the soup just needed to be blended and then a bag of rice added before heating up. With some naan bread, it was a delicious meal!

A sneaky breakfast!

I had a lie-in this morning, which was lovely, but my good fortune was Sophie's pain as she had a headache and had decided not to go to the gym, poor thing. She left at about 8am in frosty, but beautifully sunny conditions.

I went and picked my Mum up at 9am to take her for a hospital appointment, a yearly consultation with the Parkinson's Disease consultant. We were very lucky to find a space, and even luckier that a kind woman gave us her parking ticket, valid for another two hours! 

We were both quizzed about coming into contact with anyone with Covid (me) but thankfully, I was allowed to go into the meeting with Mum. The consultant mentioned that it had been ten years since her diagnosis and she was doing very well. with hardly any sign of the disease at all, apart from a slowing down of her movements.

We were in the meeting for barely ten minutes, and as we had both missed breakfast, decided to go to Beckworth to have something to eat there. It was only 10.30am so the breakfast service was still on. I had a "light" breakfast (the usual suspects) while Mum had scrambled eggs on toast. We both had very good hot coffee, but I noticed the prices have crept up again, with a large filter coffee priced at £3.40!

After we'd eaten we had a good look around the shop and I picked out a beautiful cushion as a present from Mum for my birthday. I had seen the cushion before Christmas and wanted it, but now it was the ideal gift!

Before taking Mum back we called to my house so I could pick up the clothes I'd washed for her, and then we returned to the care home. We'd made the most of being out, as they have now closed the care home for visits out until the threat of Omicron passes, which is a real shame.

I had suggested to Keith that we pop over to Market Harborough in the afternoon as I wanted to get my engagement and wedding rings resized. I managed to get them off my finger last night using vaseline and I didn't want to wait too long to get them sorted. As soon as I got back from seeing Mum we drove over and headed straight for a jeweller's in the middle of the town. 

We waited a little while as the woman in the shop was busy with another customer, and when it was our turn I explained what I wanted. The woman, wisely, said for me to wait up to eight weeks to get the rings resized as my finger looked a little swollen from where I'd removed the wedding bands. If she resized my finger now, it might be too big!

We left the shop and went in search of a turkey at Hobb's, the fishmonger and poulterer. I fancied having turkey for a Sunday roast but it's very difficult to find one after Christmas! When we enquired, they said they had a frozen one in their freezer from Christmas, but the woman serving said that a local Spar had some leftover turkey crowns in their ice-box compartment! 

We walked to the shop, which was a fair distance away, and managed to bag one for £11! We carried it all the way back to the car and then went to get some petrol from the Tesco on the outskirts of Market Harborough. There was a long queue because of roadworks so we took a different route home, following signs for Braybrooke, and ending up on very muddy narrow lanes in the countryside. I'm glad I didn't get my car washed like I'd planned to!

Misty morning

The weather was truly awful this morning with a constant drizzle that made driving difficult. It was so dark and horrible I felt really fed up. Surely there must be more to life than this!

At work, I spent my two admin hours putting on the playscheme places for the February half-term, making sure the prices were correct and then testing them before I let them go live. We had an enquiry yesterday about booking, so at least parents can get organised now!

It was extremely noisy in the office all day as four of us were on the phones, and there were other staff members in as well. Nicola has returned from a long Christmas break, and took great delight in catching up with all our news yesterday and today!

It was heaven to escape at 4pm and have a peaceful drive home. Was I mistaken or was it a little bit lighter this evening? Let's hope so!

Sophie had had a stressful day as someone in her office had sent out an email, that was intended for just one person, to five thousand... Oh, dear! The phones hadn't stopped ringing with people calling to ask if it was a mistake... erm, yes! As well as that, there was a traffic jam on her way home, that forced her to take another route so she was in a right foulie when she arrived home. We made her a stiff drink!

The Monday groan...

It literally felt like the middle of the night when Sophie woke me at about 6am this morning. Groan! I could have easily slept another couple of hours! She went off to the gym and I made myself a coffee and watched the news until 7am.

Before I left for work I took a test, just in case as you never know! Work was busy, and we learned that some more staff had gone down with Covid since last week, probably spread by Monica! I helped Sara with a lot of customer service emails as we seem to be getting quite a few membership cancellations at the moment, with people worried about the new variant, or just cutting down on expenses every month. It always makes me laugh when people call up and want to join as I'm sure most of them fall by the wayside after a couple of months!

When I got home I pottered about and did very little, I have to confess. I can't wait for the lighter nights and an end to going to work, and returning, in darkness!

The Chilly Willy...

As predicted, Sophie's test this morning was a clear negative so she was free to end her self-isolation. We celebrated by booking a table at Teapots in Olney for 12.30pm.

It was fantastic to see the sun today, and the blue skies brought out loads of people, including a whole herd of cyclists we met on the way to Olney! After that, we came upon a long, long line of bikers who were out for a charity ride. I have never seen so many motorcyclists gathered together in one constant stream! They held us up for a while so we arrived with minutes to spare, and managed to park in the middle of the town. It was a good job we'd booked as Teapots was very busy, and they were turning people away!

We chose a baked potato each - mine with Coronation Chicken, Sophie's with beans and cheese, and tucked in! We managed to find some room for a slice of cake, a coffee and walnut creation, although Sophie said her portion tasted a bit bitter. While we were eating the bikers came past and everyone was out cheering and waving. Apparently, the charity event is called the Chilly Willy motorcycle ride and about 600 bikes took part to raise money for the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance.

After we'd eaten, neither of us was keen to walk about as a lot of the shops were closed, so we drove over to Boots at Riverside, and then headed home. Sophie had a group chat organised at 3pm with Laura and Daisy over Zoom, so she sat in the kitchen chatting to her friends while Keith and I popped over to take Dad a DVD player I'd ordered for him, and to collect some clothes from Mum to wash. The skies were still clear and the sun was slowly setting when we drove home via the scenic route, for a change.

Back at home, I sat with Sophie in the kitchen as she chatted to Laura and Daisy, but she finished at 5pm so we could have a game of Scrabble. Keith was cooking dinner and, as it was taking a while, we managed to have two games! Dinner tonight was a lovely roast chicken and all the trimmings, and Keith cooked pigs in blankets as well! We were very spoilt!

Staying warm!

Sophie took a test this morning and it was negative. If it's the same tomorrow she'll be free! It's looking likely!

We had a very relaxed day and stayed inside as the weather was horrible, cold and rainy. We sat and watched Saturday Kitchen Live all the way through, which was very enjoyable, and enjoyed sausage sandwiches for breakfast.

Keith was supposed to have gone to see Sileby play this afternoon, but after checking the fixtures, the game was postponed. It could have been the awful weather or a lack of players, who knows? Covid seems to be everywhere at the moment, and it's spreading so easily.

It was bliss to stay at home and not have to go anywhere. I signed up for a year's subscription to Ancestry again as I'm determined to prove the Irish link in my family. They had a good deal on so I signed up for the year to try and make some more progress on the family tree.

Sophie and I enjoyed a face pack in the afternoon and while it was setting, we watched Castaway, starring Tom Hanks. It's one of our favourite films and it was a real treat to lie on the bed and watch it.

Of course, it was Scrabble night tonight and Sophie beat me! Keith cooked beef stroganoff and we sat in the kitchen while he pottered about. After our dinner, we watched the last two episodes of The Tourist (I'm hoping there'll be a second series) and then I had a yearning to watch Gorky Park, for some strange reason! It was on Amazon Prime so we started watching it at 9.30pm. I wish I could stay up late but by 10.30pm my eyelids were drooping and it was time for bed... we'll have to watch the rest tomorrow!