Rushing about!

Keith and Sophie went for a three hour walk today which I thought was a bit too much - surely an hour's walk, three times a week is enough?

Mike was on a trip to the Sky Studios in London today and Keith had taken him into Northampton at the unearthly hour of 6am. I'm glad he volunteered! After Keith and Sophie set off I settled myself into the conservatory to catch up with all the jobs I needed to do and enjoyed the sunshine shining through the windows. After yesterday's rainy morning it was a beautiful day.

They were home just after 11am and I made breakfast. Sophie and I went out in the afternoon down to the St James Retail Park as I wanted to go to Homesense to buy some nick nacks for the ensuite bathroom. The walls are looking a little bare!

We popped into Starbucks first and Sophie treated me to a coffee and a cake before we walked over to Homesense, passing the now empty ex-BHS store. I said to Sophie that before Christmas it would probably be given over to a discount store...watch this space!

Unbelievably Homesense had Christmas decorations for sale! I couldn't resist a little "gonk" with a white hat and beard. He looked remarkably like "Herr Hair" that we bought in Berlin last December. It seems incredible that we are back now in a situation where the shops are pushing the festive season on us already!

We were happily looking around when Mike messaged me to say he was fifteen minutes away from college and could we go and pick him up? We duly obliged but it meant he had to come to Jones's with us (more Christmas decorations...and lots of them!) and then a visit to Waitrose where I had to buy some chicken for tomorrow night's curry. We had forgotten to buy it yesterday!

In Jones's I bought a load of bird food as it is certainly getting chillier now and our feathered friends will need all the help they can get. We have had so many birds visit our garden this year and the robin is well and truly back along with sparrows (loads of them!), blue and great tits, starlings, collared doves and the odd magpie. I haven't seen any blackbirds for a while and Rooky hasn't been seen for weeks so I hope they'll all return as it gets colder. "Cheryl" still visits and is intent on hiding her nuts all over the garden!

Autumnal weather

This morning dawned wet and windy, such a change after yesterday's sunshine. Keith and I took Mike to college and then rushed home to make out a shopping list. We decided to shop just for the weekend as Sophie is back at uni on Monday for only a couple of hours so we can drop her off and then go to Aldi in Kingsthorpe to do the rest of the week.

Sophie came with us as she has been off work all this week. It's Freshers week and she thought she might have been out to some late-night events but she seemed content to stay at home instead, although she is going to an outdoor cinema event on Sunday.

We hurriedly did all our shopping in Aldi and then returned home to put it all away. Sue was picking me up at 12.30pm for a gardening stint and after we'd put the shopping away Sophie and Keith went into work so Sophie could input all her hours.

Sue and I went to Brixworth and we spent two hours weeding and tidying the garden. It was a glorious afternoon and it was very pleasant to be out in the sunshine. When we returned home I gave her back her dessert dishes and gave her a candle that I'd made on Tuesday as a thank you. We also admired her garden which is now nearly finished and looks very smart!

Back home we just had time for a well-earned cup of tea before it was off to collect Mike from College. He informed us on the way home that he has a trip to the Sky Studios tomorrow and the coach leaves at 6.30am! Gulp! That was a bit short notice!

We went home and had a very relaxing evening playing cards and drinking wine. Perfect!

Yet another frustrating day!

I should have known that today was going to be difficult when I became embroiled in traffic on my way to my Citizen's Advice session. I left home at the normal time of 8am but when I still wasn't anywhere near the town at 8.30am I knew there were problems on the road.

It turned out to be roadworks on the Kettering Road and I eventually got to the car park at 8.57am! I hurtled down The Drapery and almost ran into the Guildhall to find a new girl, Aimee, already setting up. Of course, my lateness gave her a bit of an advantage so she was in control, something I found quite difficult to cope with seeing as I had been on my own in the office for the last two weeks!

Aimee normally works on a Friday and said that it's very quiet - she saw only seven clients last week whereas we had over forty turning up. I let her get on with it at first and went out with the data sheets to find the clients who had turned up to see us. However, it all got a bit chaotic mid-morning and I could see that Aimee was finding it difficult to input the sheets and make appointments for the advisers. With Frank, he sits in front of the main computer while I go and collect the data sheets and input them so it works very well. He will book appointments and sort out food bank vouchers if need be. With Aimee, we didn't quite gel together very well and she had some odd ways of doing things that worried me a bit!

I escaped at lunchtime and went off to the post office to send the letter to the CEO of B&Q. I sent it "signed for" so there should be no excuse for it not to get to him. If we don't have any luck with this route then it really will be time for us to get some legal advice.

After lunch things really did go from bad to worse and we had a seating area full of people waiting at one point. The advisers were tearing their hair out and I just knew that we would still be in the office past 3pm. In the end we had to turn people away and give them leaflets so I felt a bit bad. It was bliss to finally get out and head home at 3.45pm.

The BT engineer had been and had fixed the internet problem, which was great news. He made three trips to the main box on the estate so we won't be charged the £130 call out fee, thank goodness! Mike had stayed at college so we went off to collect him at 5pm and hit the rush hour traffic...grrr!

Not the most pleasant of days!

Today hasn't been the most pleasant of days with the weather to match - a horrible day of grey clouds which didn't lift until the evening. We still have had no cheque from B&Q and it's causing us a lot of annoyance that we can be lied to like that.

The surgery called this morning and said that Keith's blood showed a higher than average concentration of uric acid. He has always suffered from gout but it looks like, with only now having one kidney, that he might be at greater risk of it being worse than normal. He made an appointment to see the doctor this afternoon and then the phone rang again and this time it was about Sophie - her thyroid levels were lower than usual. What a worry!

Rather than mooch about and be a bit worried about all this I set to and made a batch of muffins and then Sophie and I made four candles from the candle-making kit I'd ordered. It was quite a simple process and I was really pleased with how they turned out! I'd ordered Christmas Cranberry and the smells in the kitchen were gorgeous.

Keith and I went over to Guilsborough to the doctors and waited an age to be seen. He wasn't given any medication but he was told to keep an eye on his blood pressure, so that at least was good news.

After the doctors Keith and I wrote a four page account of all the problems we've been having with the installation of our en-suite bathroom. We then drafted a letter to the CEO of B&Q which I will send off tomorrow. Let's hope that produces more results!

The highlight of today was watching an episode of the Hairy Bikers in Morocco for their Chicken and Egg series. I absolutely love these two men and it was hilarious watching them muck about in a "Hamam"! It made my day!

Internet frustrations!

This morning dawned grey and overcast and we had terrible trouble with our Broadband. For the last six weeks we've been having difficulties but this morning the whole thing wouldn't work. It's been extremely frustrating! I spent most of the morning on the phone to BT and eventually we arranged for an engineer to come out on Wednesday to try and sort it out.

Sophie and Keith went walking while I mowed the lawn and hoovered downstairs. It began raining at lunchtime and stayed that way for most of the day. Mike had been out the night before with friends so he had missed our lovely Sunday roast of lamb and came home around midday.

In the afternoon Keith, Sophie and I went over to the Weston Favell Centre as Sophie wanted to go to the bank. From there we headed to Riverside and Keith bought a lovely pair of new boots in Blacks. We also had a quick peek in the Pets at Home store to see if we could get anything for Monty as he has been spraying again and is banned from the house. The only product we saw was a pheromone plug-in but it was very expensive at almost £40 and I just wasn't prepared to pay that much for something that might not even work.

I didn't feel too well today as I had a bit of a cold. All I really wanted to do was go home, have a long hot bath and curl up somewhere warm so we did just that and I had a lovely soak before watching Pointless on our bed. I couldn't stay there too long as it was pub night for Keith and I was cooking dinner - one of Sophie's favourites, Pasta Carbonara!

Out for afternoon tea

This morning we drove over to Mum's house so that Keith could open his Birthday card from my parents. He was delighted with his card and some cash...always the best option for Keith. He wants to use Mum and Dad's money and the money I gave him to buy himself a new pair of walking boots.

In the afternoon Mum, Sophie and I went over to Farndon Fields for a cup of tea. Sophie was salivating the whole way over about the chicken and bacon sandwich she was going to have and I just hoped it would still be on the menu!

It was a lot busier than we were used to but we still managed to get a table. Mum chose a toasted teacake with butter and jam while I went for an indulgent scone. Sophie couldn't wait to get her mitts on her sandwich which fulfilled all her expectations. I wanted to keep my appetite for tonight's roast leg of lamb which I was really looking forward to!

After we'd eaten we had a good look around the farm shop and Sophie and I found a new love heart for the conservatory. We were supposed to be only getting candle holders from now on but we couldn't resist a beautiful wooden heart. I also bought a Scotch egg for us to enjoy on Monday and some other goodies. The food in the shop is really lovely and it would be wonderful to be able to get all of our fresh vegetables and fruit there...a bit of a trek though!

August and September hearts

We drove Mum home to find my Dad had arrived back from his weekend in Llandudno. I don't think it was the most successful time as there had been no hot water in his room and it was also very windy, which made flying the planes difficult. He still looked very tanned so I think the windy conditions in Wales had added to the tan he acquired in Greece!

Birthday celebrations!

Before Sophie went off to work this morning, Keith opened his cards and presents and was thrilled with what he received. We took Soph to work and then came home for a cup of coffee and a read of the newspapers in the conservatory. It felt lovely not to have to rush off anywhere! Sue popped around with some beer and a card for Keith so he did very well!

I did go and get some more diesel (that's £90 I've put in my car this week!) and then called to see Mum on the way home. My Dad is in Llandudno this weekend on a model aeroplane flying trip so it's the first time Mum has been in her new home on her own.

She was in the garden weeding the border and was glad to stop and have a coffee and a chat with me. I recommended two TV programmes to keep her occupied in the evening - "One of Us", an excellent drama about a double murder, and "The Outlaws", a hilarious Belgian black comedy, also about a murder which we really enjoyed.

I returned home where I made a start on my own front garden and did far more that I intended. I strimmed the verge but then decided to cut back our Hypericum bush which is massively overgrown. I raked up all the cuttings and thousands of leaves which were lurking under the bush and I was out there for almost three hours. It was very sociable, though, as I chatted to a lady who lives nearby who was walking with her adorable little granddaughter, and Paul came past with the doggies. They are having a lot of work done in their garden at the moment and have a team of workmen laying some new turf.

I was also surprised and really pleased to see Gill, our ex-neighbour, who zoomed up in her sporty little Mini for a chat. She was on her way to pick up her daughter from a friend's house and we had a long chat, which was lovely. I do miss her as a neighbour! Just after Gill left Keith arrived home from watching Sileby play and I finished the garden to go and prepare the vegetables for dinner. Keith had made a beef casserole in the morning and I had switched on our slow cooker at 4pm to start cooking it. It smelt delicious!

No sooner had we finished preparing the veg, Sophie called to be picked up. I went off to collect her leaving Keith to watch the football. He had decided to record the Newcastle game and watch it later so was enjoying the Arsenal-Chelsea match instead!

When Sophie and I arrived home we opened the sparkling wine and I played cards with the kids until it was time to eat. I made some dumplings and the meal was delicious. I think Keith has had a great Birthday!