Rude people!

I received an email yesterday asking for help at the CAB on Tuesday morning as they were short-staffed and there was a new woman manning Reception, who although she had been an adviser, hadn't worked in the office before. I was more than happy to help out, but looking back I wish I hadn't bothered!

The weather has been horrible again today - misty, grey and damp with not the slightest hint of sunshine. I was early as usual and set about opening up the offices and setting up the laptops. One of the advisers came over and within a few minutes Christine had arrived as well. We also had two clients waiting and one of them said he'd been in before. I went to get him one of the normal data sheets we use and the adviser barked at me that I was using the wrong one and that I had to use a "Returning Client sheet". I felt really embarrassed and said that I was never told to use this form by Frank and that we always used the normal sheet, whether they were previous clients or not!

I dealt with the clients and helped Christine to set up her laptop and we had another young woman appear with a problem, so it was very chaotic! It turned out that we were only going to have one adviser today and as we were closing at 12pm, we would have to keep a close eye on the people waiting to be seen.

We were busy all morning but things went pretty smoothly and I showed Christine the ropes. As there was only one office being used, I shut the laptop down but kept it on the desk in case another adviser came over to help. All of a sudden, three quarters of the way through the session, a man appeared in our office doorway with our laptop and asked, in a really scathing tone, whose laptop it was. He then said I was pretty silly to leave it in the office! I was very shocked and humiliated as he shouldn't have been in the office without asking and I had left it there with the door closed as there was the possibility another adviser was coming over, and to have locked it back in the cabinet would have been silly. I was fuming and I really wished that I hadn't bothered today!

I had an appointment with the nurse at our surgery at 1pm so I had to re-arrange that as we didn't leave until 12.30pm. I sped home like a mad thing to eat a sandwich and freshen up before my visit and Keith came with me to keep me company (and so I could moan about my morning!). The weather, if anything, had become even worse and after filling my car up with diesel we drove home in the gloom, looking forward to a nice relaxed evening!

I missed Sophie very much tonight as Keith settled down to watch football after dinner and I retired to the conservatory with Monty who snored throughout the time I was in there!

A quiet start to the week...

Today the weather has been really horrible - never-ending grey skies and rain all day. I had a contact lens check at Boots in the morning and we needed to get a few bits and pieces from Tesco so Keith came with me.

We dropped Mike off in Brixworth first and Sophie messaged me from New York. It was very early in the morning for her! Just as she starts to acclimatise to the time difference, she'll be coming home! Keith drove so I could chat with her and she sounded like she was having a good time, lucky thing! I'll never get over how fantastic it is to be able to contact Sophie with such ease - from simple messages to exchanging photos and videos to even seeing her online.

My contact lens check was fine but I nearly ended up with an eye test as well! It was only done in September! Thankfully, when I told them that it wasn't necessary, they agreed so I didn't have to go all through that palava again! One good thing is they have changed the prescription in my left eye to -1.50 to help with reading, so I'm hoping it will work.

As I came out, Keith had finished shopping and we drove home through the gloom. The afternoon was spent catching up with my assignment (I sent it off) and reading up on the new franchise idea. We went to collect Mike earlier than we had anticipated so when we returned it was great to get all cosy and shut the terrible weather out!

In the evening we played cards in the conservatory and had a couple of drinks. Bliss!

2017 Bucket List

I mentioned at the start of the year that we have written a Bucket List for 2017. It gives us something to aim for and we enjoy doing whatever is on the list! Here it is:

Walk around both sides of Pitsford Reservoir, from home. (We're getting there!)

Ride the Mummy rollercoaster in Florida in August. (I will do it this year!)

Visit Broughton House.

See a film at the Errol Flynn cinema next to Derngate in Northampton. (Booked to go on 8 March to see La La Land)

Listen to live music at a restaurant or bar in Florida, preferably on the beach!

Eat caviar with Champagne

Visit a Latin bar and Salsa dance

Enjoy a night at a casino

Drive an Aston Martin (maybe an early 50th Birthday present?)

Walk the breadth of England


I'd like to think of a couple more to do!

Post-dinner chaos...

I woke up at 8am this morning feeling a little bleary, a feeling made worse when I got downstairs to find Monty had been sick (obviously Mike had missed this last night before he let him out) and the kitchen looked like a tornado had hit it...

For the next hour I washed up, stacked the dishwasher and cleared the table of about a million glasses. Keith came down, took one look at the mess and disappeared into the living room where he did a bit of groaning. I took him a cup of tea, made myself another coffee and finished what I was doing before I sank onto the sofa and watched a bit of the Australian Men's Final with Federer and Nadal...it was like old times!

Even though I felt a bit groggy and tired I decided to strip our bed and put fresh bedding on it, using my new quilt! It felt beautifully luxurious and much thicker than our old quilt. I have to say I can't wait to go to bed tonight!

Before taking Mike to Brixworth I made Keith and I an omelette as I had three egg whites left over from making the Key Lime Pie, a load of mushrooms and some grated cheese from last night. I enjoyed it but I think it tipped Keith over the edge of his hangover and when we got back from giving Mike a lift he retreated to the sofa where he stayed for most of the day. It was that mixing beer and wine that did it!! I stuck to the grape!

The weather deteriorated during the day and the sunshine of this morning gave way to grey skies and a steady downpour. Perfect for staying inside and doing very little!

Some photos of Sophie and friends in New York...

On the steps of the Natural History museum

A long day...and night!

Sophie woke me at 2.15am when she came into our room to get the hairdryer. I stayed in bed for a while and then dressed and joined Keith downstairs where he was having an early cup of tea. We hauled Sophie's case into the boot of the car and made sure she had weighed it - it was well under her 23kg allowance, which was amazing seeing as she had stuffed so much into it!

On the short journey to uni we saw lots of rabbits but thankfully nothing ran out into the road at us! When we arrived Sophie's friends George and Danni were already there, so after much hugging and kissing we said goodbye and headed home. We didn't see any rabbits this time, just a little Muntjac deer that jumped back into the hedge as we approached!

We went back to bed for a few hours and I woke up at almost 9am with a message from Sophie saying she was just about to board. I managed to exchange a few words with her and then she was off!

My day was spent preparing for our Wine evening - I gave the conservatory a good clean and set the table before cleaning the rest of the downstairs rooms and making a Key Lime Pie for dessert. I also popped out to the Co-op in Brixworth to buy some more nibbles before our main course of Chilli con Carne.

Keith went to see Sileby play and Mike went to Walgrave to see his mates, so I had a relaxed afternoon watching The Affair and putting the finishing touches to the preparations. Keith came home freezing cold so he jumped into the bath and Mike came home saying he was starving!

The evening went very well and we had a great selection of wines. I served Mimosas (Cava, Triple Sec and orange juice) to Sue, Michelle, Richard and myself while Paul and Keith stuck to beer. We then opened the Champagne and the first one, although lovely, lacked something. I had asked Keith to open the wine as I knew I would recognise the wording on the corks and when we tasted the second Champagne I had a feeling it was the more expensive of the two. I was right! The first was a Pol Aime priced at £13.95 while the second was the Taittinger at £35. It had much more depth and bubbles and tasted richer. Both were bought at Tesco (the Taittinger was on offer at £27).

While we enjoyed the wines we all had some nibbles and then we opened the two whites that Sue and Paul had brought. They were thickly swathed in foil and had already been opened, simply because both of them were screw-top bottles. We all liked the first wine and I said it reminded me of the Pinot Gris from Aldi that Sophie and I drink all the time. It was very easy-drinking and fruity. I hazarded a guess that it was a Chardonnay and Paul said I was right.

The second white wine was a bit drier and had what I called, more finesse and I guessed that the second was the more expensive. Both whites were Chablis, the first priced at £9 and the second at £14.

We had a break for the Chilli and I served everyone as there wasn't much room on the table for the big bowls. Michelle said she loved her veggie chilli and had second helpings, so that was a relief! Sue tried some as well and both of them said it was great.

Once we'd eaten we opened the red wine and Sue correctly guessed that it was a Rioja. The first was good but I preferred the second, which was the cheaper of the two at £5.50 and came from Aldi. The first Rioja was £11 and was bought at Waitrose.

My Key Lime Pie went down very well and Monty followed me about meowing incessantly as he thought I was going to give him some! He came with me into the conservatory and everyone made a huge fuss of him! Sophie had sent me a message so I sent her some photos of our messy kitchen!

"Any cream, Mum?"

It was a great evening and Mike returned from seeing friends in Walgrave at about half past midnight. Everyone went at about 1am and although I knew I should really have cleared away and washed up the dishes, Keith made me go to bed. It had been a long day!

A manic day!

After dropping Sophie and Mike off at college and uni, Keith and I went shopping. I'd made a list of things we needed for our Wine Evening tomorrow and we decided to just shop for the weekend rather than tackle a whole week's worth!

Paul and Sue will be coming on Saturday, as well as Richard and Michelle and each couple is bringing two wines. This time we're doing Champagne, which I bought on Tuesday. Michelle is vegetarian and I had already confirmed with her that she and Richard were OK with a chilli. I had found a recipe for a vegetarian chilli but was a bit nervous about cooking it as the recipe said to prepare it half an hour before serving it and I didn't fancy cooking something new so close to the dinner...what if it went wrong?!

We looked for a ready-made chilli but found nothing in Tesco so after we'd got home and had a late breakfast, we went to pick Sophie up and called into Beckworth on the way home. They do delicious ready made meals and although they did have a veggie chilli, it had soya which Michelle can't eat. I resigned myself to cooking a chilli non carne from scratch (how hard can it be?) but decided to prepare one this afternoon first so I could have a practise!

It went very well, to be honest and I left it out to cool before putting it in the fridge so I could re-heat it tomorrow. I will try out a small bowlful earlier in the day to taste it (there was a lot of vegetables in it!) so I felt a bit more relieved.

I also had good news on the job front as I'd applied for a position in the morning and received a call from a recruitment agency in the afternoon. We had a chat and the woman I spoke to said she would call back on Monday with the possibility of arranging an interview. I also took a call from a very pleasant man called Peter who runs a franchise I am very interested in. It's a pet sitting/dog walking business and I think it would be perfect for us all to do. The initial outlay isn't high and after a long chat on the phone he said he would send me a prospectus.

Sophie spent the evening doing the rest of her packing and after Keith had gone to the pub we opened a bottle of wine and caught up with some TV. Keith wasn't going to have a drink at the pub as we have a very early start in the morning but when he came home he had a beer to accompany our Macaroni Cheese supper.

We all went to bed very early tonight as we have a 2am wake up call tomorrow!

Birthday celebrations!

It's been a bitterly cold day today and the temperature never rose above freezing. It was Mike's 17th birthday and before he left with Keith to go to college he opened his presents and cards. Sophie had bought him some very hot chilli sauces and he was looking forward to trying them later in the day! It was a shame he had to go to college but at least we have a celebration dinner to look forward to this evening.

Sophie had a blood test booked at Guilsborough surgery this morning and I was very careful driving over there in case the rural roads were icy. I dropped her off at uni afterwards and drove home where I managed to do some more of my assignment - it's nearly finished!

Both Sophie and I had a hair appointment at 4.15pm and luckily my daughter was out before 4 o'clock. We sped off to salon and managed to park in the middle of Moulton which is a miracle these days as the village is very busy. Sophie went first and had her ends lopped off by a very knowledgeable guy who, when it was my turn, gave me lots of tips to keep my hair in good condition. Both of us leave having our hair trimmed for too long (I think it's been four months!) and the ends of my hair were quite dry. By the time he'd finished with both of us, we looked a whole lot better!

It was lovely to get home and jump into the bath before we got ready to go out. Mike tried one of his sauces and said his tongue had gone numb! They won't get me trying them! At 7pm we left to go to The Han in Market Harborough and when we arrived Mike queried where we were going...apparently he had wanted to go to The Oriental Paradise in Billing instead! Oh dear! Mum and Dad had already arrived and my Dad was freezing as they'd been waiting in the downstairs lounge which didn't have any heating.

This turned out to be the theme of the evening as the upstairs restaurant was cold as well. There were a few other tables occupied and there were lots of decorations up for the Chinese New Year which is on the 28 January.

We all chose the Han Banquet and Mike opened his presents from my parents - cash and some smellies. You really can't go wrong with those for a teenage boy! The meal we had was lovely and the food and wine very good, but we all felt the chill in the restaurant and I think it was made worse by the freezing temperatures outside. At the end of the meal we were the only ones left in the place and we asked the staff to box up the leftover food because there was an awful lot of it! Mum and Dad will enjoy it for their lunch tomorrow!

When we got home I made Sophie and Mike a chocolate sundae instead of a birthday cake and this went down very well with both of them! Sophie said it was one of the best things I'd ever done!