Making plans...

The wind was just as bad as yesterday this morning when Sophie went to the gym, and I urged her to be careful on the roads, in case there were fallen branches or twigs.

My shift was a lot quieter than last week, thank goodness, and we didn't have so many swimming bookings, which was an utter relief! I was so glad half-term was over, but it won't be long before the Easter holidays are here, and at least I'll be on holiday for the first week!

Talking of which, this evening before we had dinner, we booked our ferry to France. Sophie had a voucher for £90 from our first aborted booking so that went some way to the £175 it cost for a P&O ferry between Dover and Calais. It would be wonderful if they scrapped us having to take a lateral flow test before we enter France, but we can always hope! I just have to look up rules and regulations for taking the car, now we have left the EU!

After dinner, Keith and I watched a delightful film called Dream Horse, which took us nicely to bedtime!

Snoozy Sunday!

Today has been very quiet after the activities of yesterday! Thankfully neither of us had sore heads but it was lovely to spend the day at home and not go anywhere, except for a brief visit to the care home to drop off some washing for Mum.

The weather today has been extremely windy and wet, and far worse, in my opinion than on Friday when we had an Amber warning for wind! At times we had some very strong gusts of wind and I did wonder if any more trees had fallen!

In the afternoon Sophie and I enjoyed a face mask and a lie on the bed watching A Place in the Sun, something we haven't done for ages. After a brief nap, I had a long soak in the bath and listened to the torrential rain hammering on the windows!

Sophie was taking care of dinner today and had already completed an enormous amount of preparation for the meal, a Hairy Bikers recipe of Butter Chicken. The house was smelling delicious from all the spices she'd used, and we managed to get a game of Scrabble in before she finished off the meal. I didn't fancy a cocktail tonight so we sipped a glass of wine instead, which was more than enough after the indulgences of yesterday afternoon!

A raucous afternoon...

Keith and I were off to the rugby this afternoon, courtesy of Highfields (who did our kitchen), and we were both looking forward to going despite the horrible weather! The last time we were invited, we had to cancel because of Keith not feeling well and Sophie getting Covid, so we were delighted we'd been invited again.

Sophie very kindly gave us a lift into Northampton, and the rain was horrible. In fact, I even think it was sleeting at one point and the temperature was only 3c! Brrr! As usual, we were early, but we were shown up to the Warners Experience private box where we would be spending the afternoon.

We were mightily impressed! The room was quite small but had two wooden tables with benches lining one wall and barstools on the other side. Cushions and cosy blankets made the room feel very warm and inviting, and there was a large window looking out over the ground with outdoor seating so we could go out and watch the match if we wanted.

We were the first to arrive and our host, Lee, introduced himself. Throughout the afternoon he did a splendid job keeping us fed and very well watered!

We each had a small bottle of Raspberry Gin, chocolates, a scarf and a programme to take home with us at the end of the afternoon which delighted us even more!

Lee manned the bar which was stocked with several varieties of the Warners Gins - Sloe, Raspberry, Rhubarb and Ginger and the classic London Dry Gin. We were given a glass of Sloe Gin and Prosecco while we waited for everyone else to arrive. The men all seemed to stick to bottles of Peroni and pints of Guinness which had to come from another bar.

Anthony and Paul from Highfields arrived later than they wanted as Paul's car had had a flat battery, but by 1pm everyone was in residence. There were only 12 of us, so a much smaller group than I'd imagined! This suited us fine, to be honest.

We were given little dishes of tapas to eat, and there were breads and olives on the tables. The first dish was a chicken and leek terrine with "leek ash, red pepper puree and a sourdough croute".

I hadn't eaten much as I was looking forward to lunch and I hoped the food would be a bit more substantial given the amount we were expected to drink over the course of the afternoon! The second course was slightly bizarre:

This was described as "Yeasted cauliflower, raisins, capers and mint." Hmmm! 

I'd had a couple of Gin and tonics by now and was very glad that we had a main course of pan-fried chicken, smoked sweetcorn puree with a red wine jus served with fondant potato and baby vegetables. I could have done with some bread to mop up the juices (and the alcohol!).

Before the match started at 3pm, we enjoyed a lemon meringue tart which was lovely, if a little sweet. It was then time to venture outside and watch the match. Thankfully, the horrible driving rain had stopped and the sun was attempting to appear behind the clouds. This was my first time at a rugby match and although I enjoyed the experience, there was a lot of downtime, and every time the game was stopped a whole load of people wearing orange high-vis jackets rushed on.

Sale took the lead early on, but the Saints came back and went into the lead. I loved the atmosphere when they had the ball! At halftime, we had cheese, biscuits and grapes to enjoy and Keith and I stayed inside for the second half and chatted to Anthony and Paul who were well on their way to being very merry! They hadn't eaten anything at all!

Sadly, the Saints lost by one point 21-22, but it had been great watching the action. Keith and I hadn't realised that there was another game on after the Saints-Sale match - the womens' teams of Loughborough Lightning versus Exeter Chiefs, so we texted Sophie to ask her to pick us up later than we had intended.

By now, everyone was well-oiled and the noise level had risen to very loud! I think we would have been given anything if we asked for it... Paul switched to red wine with the cheese while Millie, a lovely girl who was getting married in April and was with her Dad Barry, asked for a glass of white wine. We got on extremely well with everyone and the atmosphere was lovely. The only problem was the heavy-handed security staff who kept coming in and telling us off for being behind the bar. Paul's company pays £6000 per game to use the Warners' box and he has it for every home match, as well as having other corporate boxes at the ground, spending over £100,000 every year. Paul isn't your typical smooth businessman and has worked hard to develop his company but he has a heart of gold, and the generosity he displayed and the whole ambience this afternoon was outstanding.

Just before halftime of the second match, we were given mini "piglet" pies, half of which were vegetarian. Mervyn, who was Paul's uncle (and honorary dad) described them as "something and something else" which was hilarious (I suppose you had to have been there to truly appreciate all the comments!).

By now I had lost count of the number of Gins I'd drank, and Keith was also on his umpteenth bottle of Peroni. I didn't feel drunk, thank goodness, but the room was by now very dishevelled:

Anthony and Mervyn behind the bar where they weren't supposed to go!

Lee, our excellent, totally unflappable, host

Anthony looking totally wrecked!

Sophie came to pick us up at 6.30pm at which time we were both ready to go home. The security people had been in again and things had got a bit heated, so we thought it was time to say our goodbyes. Sophie was waiting for us in the small car park and we showed her our booty, given to us by Paul:

Two bottles of Gin (worth £70) and a small bottle to enjoy.

It had been a fantastic afternoon and one that will stay with us for a long time. We just felt so pleased to be invited and we know that whenever we need work doing on the house (our windows need replacing and the en-suite) we wouldn't think about using any other company.

The evening was spent quietly and I sat with Sophie while she ate her dinner, bless her!

Storm Eunice

Sophie was starting work later today, so she left the house at the same time as me to go to the gym and I followed her on my way to work. The weather was horrendous with driving rain and wind, and it was so dark at 7.30am! There were several large puddles of water on the country roads, so driving was particularly hazardous. I was very glad when I arrived at work and Sophie texted me to say she was at the gym! I did ask her to go very careful later on in the morning when she went to work, as the winds were predicted to be about 70mph!

We had an Amber weather warning out for wind here in Northamptonshire, but further south there was a rare Red warning and I think the southwest and London definitely were the hardest hit, with planes having difficulty landing, widespread destruction, and sadly three deaths. Eunice was certainly a deadly storm.

We had several phone calls from people cancelling swim sessions, as they were reluctant to go out in the weather, and a lot of calls asking whether we were still open! All of the country parks in the area were closed, which was understandable, but why people thought we were closed when everything is indoors, was mystifying!

There were only three of us in the office, so it was quite a pleasant shift once the initial madness subsided! Although it's been windy today, I don't think it was as bad as it could have been, and certainly nowhere near as bad as Halloween last year when Sophie and I were forced to turn back from going to Kent because of the wind. Then, we didn't even have a warning!

Sophie arrived home much earlier this evening, so I was very relieved! We have so many trees lining our roads around here and it's always a worry about them coming down! I took Keith to the pub and returned home to watch the end of Bridget Jones' Diary and sip a glass of wine with Sophie. Dinner this evening was very simple - chilli with baked potatoes. Hooray! It's Friday!

The calm before the storm?

I was up early with Sophie this morning but didn't go back to bed. She called me minutes after she left to say there was a tree down on the road to Walgrave. It was covering half of the road, but was passable, thank goodness!

Keith left to go shopping at 8am, and I decided to have a walk for half an hour to go and have a look at the fallen tree. I'd already put a message on our local Facebook page to warn people venturing out to work.

It was a blustery morning with scudding clouds and sunshine, and I walked down to where the tree had fallen:

The road was busy with people going to work and they had to gingerly manoeuvre around it! At least it slowed them all down!

Back home after my refreshing walk, I had breakfast, showered and went to work for a 10am start. We weren't as busy today, which was a relief! After Monday and Tuesday, I wasn't really looking forward to going in today!

Unfortunately, poor Sophie was very late home this evening. There had been two accidents on the dual carriageway near where she works and this had caused blockages on all the surrounding roads. She had to take some post to a box on the other side of the industrial estate, which held her up even more. She eventually arrived home at almost 7pm!

Keith and I had done as much preparation for our evening meal as we could, a Gino D'Campo recipe of linguine with asparagus and pine nuts. It was OK, but I don't think we'll be repeating it again soon!

Storm Dudley

I have to confess to going back to bed this morning after I'd seen Sophie off! I woke up at about 8.30am and enjoyed a relaxed coffee with Keith before tackling some outstanding jobs.

The weather this morning was blustery but dry and very mild. We have Storm Dudley with us today and on Friday, Storm Eunice is going to make an appearance! It's quite unusual to have two storms so close together and I think, in this case, the female will be more deadly than the male!

It was great to be able to open the windows and get some fresh air into the house to blow the cobwebs away! I cleaned downstairs, and at 2pm went to collect Mum from the care home for a visit back at ours. 

After popping to the Co-op in Broughton for a cake to take back with us, I made us a cup of tea and we sat and chatted in the conservatory, Outside, the clear blue skies and sunshine of this morning had given way to ominous clouds and a very fresh breeze!

Keith and I both took Mum home and returned via the scenic route. Just after we got back, the heavens opened and we had some very heavy rain which, combined with the gusty winds, made for some interesting weather! I was very glad when Sophie arrived home!

Keith and I played cards and he beat me soundly! Sophie made a delicious dinner of chicken tacos and we chatted about the meals for the rest of the week... sometimes it can be such a bore choosing meals, but the thought of going shopping without a list would be a nightmare!

Another busy day!

I wasn't looking forward to today, as you can imagine, and it was a repeat of yesterday, although Denise did help in the first hour. After that, Jo and I were on our own! We didn't get a break at all, not even ten minutes to eat some lunch, so I felt thoroughly fed up! I'm just glad that this school holiday is only one week!

I sped home at 4pm and relaxed with Keith, which was lovely. Before dinner, we played cards and chatted with Sophie about her day. Keith had prepared Pan Haggerty, and it was delicious served with some crusty bread to mop up the lovely juices!

After we'd eaten, Sophie and I went upstairs and I watched the end of The Power of the Dog (never again!). I am looking forward to a day off tomorrow and the chance to see my Mum now that the care home has re-opened after the omicron outbreak!