The best days of 2017

Every year I look back on the best days of the year. Sometimes, a month will go by without anything happening that can be truly described as "great" so I cheat a little and substitute other days from different months. 2017 has not been the best of years and our health problems have dogged us throughout the year. I think I have cried more this year than any other year I can remember, what with job worries and health scares. I sincerely hope that 2018 will be a great year for us all and a let up in the niggly little anxieties we've all endured over the past twelve months. Our holiday in Florida was the highlight of the year - thank goodness for that!

Here are the winners from 2017:

January:

Sunday 15th January - my birthday and a rain-sodden trip down to London. The weather didn't spoil things, though, and a celebrity sighting in the pub later in the day was the icing on the cake!

February:

Thursday 2nd February - Keith and I had our belated "Christmas do" at the pub and returned later in the day for a meal with Mike.

March:

See August.

April:

Wednesday 5th April - Sophie's 21st birthday and another trip to London. A picnic in the park, a wander around the National Portrait Gallery and dinner at a pub in Chiswick. With gorgeous weather, it was a perfect day!

May:

Sunday 28th May - a beautiful day, a lovely walk and a visit to the alpacas, followed by a lazy afternoon in our sunny garden.


June:

Sunday 25th June - a day off for us all and Sophie and I enjoyed a lovely treat at Beckworth in the afternoon. Bliss!

July:

Wednesday 26th July - a really sociable, lovely day as we met Gill for coffee in town and then had a cocktail at the bar in Derngate afterwards. In the evening we shared a bottle of wine or two with Sue and Michelle. We had a great natter and it went on for far longer than any of us anticipated!


August:

Friday 11th August - we find Naples Pier, have a lovely coffee at Tony's Off Third and return in the evening for a delicious meal at The Old Naples Pub. With sunbathing and swimming, it was a lovely day!

Monday 21st August - we drive over to Sanibel and Captiva Islands, taking in beautiful Bonita Beach on the way. Lunch was at The Green Flash restaurant on Captiva and it was wonderful. With the solar eclipse taking place, and dinner in the evening at The Cheesecake Factory, it was one of the best days of the holiday!

September:

Sunday 17th September - A perfect Autumn day. We visited The Yards in Kettering and then had a lovely cup of tea at The Retro Union Bar. A really enjoyable day!

October:

Sunday 8th October - A beautiful day (warm and sunny) and a visit to Althorp for the Literary Festival. We see a magnificent Bald Eagle and enjoy an ice-cream sundae afterwards!


November:

Sunday 12th November - A cold and sunny trip to Woburn for afternoon tea to celebrate Mum's birthday. We had a lovely mooch around the shops and a great time enjoying cakes and sandwiches!


 December:

Sunday 17th December - A day trip to France, the Christmas market at Arras and then wine buying at Carrefour in Cite Europe. The highlight was beer and pommes frites at a cafe before we returned home!

Cheers!

The end of another year!

This morning dawned grey and rainy but it has been very mild lately. The snow has definitely all gone!

We popped to see Mum and Dad this morning as they are out at a New Year's party this evening and are dressing up in a 20s style. My Mum had bought a wig and a sparkly hair band and wanted our opinion. We all thought she looked great!

We had a coffee and then headed home where I hoovered out Jim as we were taking him to the Hyundai dealership in Milton Keynes to see if we could part exchange him for a lovely little black i10 that Sophie had seen. We took Mike to work, put Jim through the carwash and headed out on the A508. The dealership is situated on the A5 roundabout so it was very easy to find.

The little back i10 was already waiting for us and the salesman suggested a test drive but we wanted to find out about finance first and how much we could get for the Honda. It was a long drawn out process but in the end we now have a new addition to the family! We are hoping that all the finance will be in Sophie's name but if not, Keith will act as guarantor. She was very pleased and we went out for a short drive and I was impressed. It drives very well and felt very solid which I liked. We have to wait a little while to pick it up but very soon, Sophie will have the car she really wanted in the colour she wanted, so she's very happy.

From the dealership we drove to Milton Keynes and parked in the multi storey. We were all hungry and dying for a cup of tea so we went to M&S and Sophie and I enjoyed a celebratory toasted sandwich while Keith had a scone. We then popped to River Island and Sophie bought a lovely jacket with all of her Christmas money.

We decided to head home and on the A5 roundabout I made a mistake and we ended up on the A5 towards Towcester. As I've used this road numerous times I can't understand why I did it! However, I was glad I did as, after we'd been home a short while, I saw a post on Facebook about a serious accident on the A508 near Roade...and we would have been in the area at the time in happened...someone is obviously looking after us!

We are now at home relaxing and looking forward to paella for dinner and a visit to Sue and Paul's later in the evening to see in the New Year. I'd like to wish all my readers a wonderful 2018 and I hope you stay with me for another year!

A lunchtime mooch!

As both Sophie and Mike were at work today, Keith and I decided to go for a lunchtime mooch to a couple of pubs.

We dropped Mike off and drove to The Fox and Hounds in Kingsthorpe. The last time we were here we weren't that impressed, but the pub has been modernised and freshened up (although I could still detect an odour of stale urine) and shortly after we arrived a group of ramblers came in, which livened up the atmosphere a bit.

Keith had one pint and we moved onto The Queen Adelaide in Kingsthorpe village. I delivered wine here in the summer and it's supposed to be very good for real ales, but the pint of Adnams Broadside that Keith ordered wasn't as good as his previous one in The Fox and Hounds. We sat at a tall table by the window and chatted but it didn't feel that friendly and I doubt whether we'll ever venture back.

Our next choice was The Griffin at Pitsford and I understand this has changed hands recently as the last time we went it appeared to be on its last legs and they weren't doing any food. I now get regular updates from them on Facebook and we were impressed with the beer and the chattiness of the man behind the bar. There was a smell of disinfectant when we came in but I think I prefer that to the whiff of pee!

Our last stop was our regular, The Royal Oak, and we chatted to several locals including Keith's drinking mate, Dave. Keith popped behind the bar and reserved a table for tonight as a treat - I can't remember the last time we ate here, it must be a few years ago!

Back home we relaxed before going to get Mike from work. We dropped him off at home and then went to fetch Sophie and as she wasn't quite ready, we went in and chatted to Maureen and Polly. Sophie wasn't that happy about going out, which was disappointing. However, she had over an hour to get ready and at 8pm we were all sitting around a table by the fire and perusing the menu. Keith went for his favourite, fish and chips, I had scampi and both Soph and Mike chose beefburgers. The food was lovely and very tasty but we didn't have room for dessert (and we had a trifle at home anyway). With drinks the bill came to a reasonable £80 and after paying we headed home to don our pyjamas and relax in front of the television!

Phew! It's Friday!

I really didn't want to get up this morning and go out into the horrible, rainy morning! However, it was my last day until next Thursday so I couldn't complain!

Keith dropped me off again and the hours passed quickly enough. We had a fire alarm go off at around midday which meant we all had to stand outside in the cold for about ten minutes. The children who were in the holiday playscheme were wrapped up in foil to keep them warm!

Keith came to pick me up at 2pm and we headed home where I had a couple of hours to relax. I prepared our dinner of Beef Tacos as I knew that when Sophie finished work at 6.30pm she wouldn't fancy coming home and cooking as we'd planned. She'd been called into work today as they were short-staffed so after I dropped Keith off at the pub I went to get her. We had just enough time at home to do some more preparation and then go and get Keith.

Dinner was lovely and after we'd eaten we watched the last episode of The Miniaturist. It was OK but a little sad at the end and we did wonder what role the Miniaturist had in the whole drama!

Back to work...

I was back at work this morning and overnight all the slush had frozen hard making the roads treacherous. Keith took me into work and we went another way as the traffic was much lighter than normal. I wish it was like this every day!

Work passed pleasantly enough - there was only three of us in the office so it was very quiet. At the end of the day I found I was 80p down which annoyed me! I must have made the wrong calculation somewhere along the line!

Sophie and Keith picked me up and we went to do our shopping in Kettering. Today has been lovely and sunny but cold - just how I like the winter to be! We were home by 4pm and the sunset was beautiful this evening. I wished I'd had my camera with me to capture the bare trees against the indigo sky.

Mike was in Brixworth so we went to collect him at 6pm and the roads were still slushy and icy. More snow is forecast for tomorrow but I'm not sure we'll get any. By the time it gets to us it will have turned to rain.

We had a delicious curry for dinner and afterwards Sophie and I watched the first of a two part series called The Miniaturist, set in 17th century Amsterdam. It was good, if a little spooky!

More snow!

Last night it started to rain heavily and the forecast said it could well turn to snow in the early hours of the morning. When I got up at 7am we did indeed have a covering of the white stuff!

It was a good job I didn't have to go into work today but Mike was doing an afternoon shift and we really didn't know whether he would be needed or not. It was our bin day and the task of putting out our recycling boxes (full to the brim) was made much harder by the snow and the cold wind. It was not very pleasant! I did wonder whether the refuse collection would take place but the roads were more slushy than anything and the snow was very wet.

I put out some more food for our hungry birds and decided to hoover downstairs until Mike went to work. He didn't hear anything so we took him in at midday and then went off to Tesco as we needed quite a few things, and especially dinner for tonight. The roads were wet and slushy but certainly passable with care.

We had no turkey left over (well, not enough to make a curry anyway) so we bought some chicken breasts and some fish for tonight. I've had enough of very rich food for the time being! The store wasn't as busy as I thought it would be - perhaps the snow had put people off going out!

In the afternoon the snow and sleet cleared and the sun came out, accompanied by blue skies. I carried on with some housework while Sophie worked hard on an assignment in the conservatory.

We returned to pick Mike up at 5pm and the temperatures had dropped to about 1c. The slush had turned to ice and the road was very dicey indeed!

Boxing Day relaxation!

We've had a very lazy day today with plenty of lounging about and doing not much at all! Mike was working today so we dropped him off at midday and went home to have a late breakfast of scrambled eggs on toast.

I'm quite pleased that we haven't thrown that much food away this Christmas. All of the vegetables from yesterday's meal will be turned into bubble and squeak tonight and we've saved the leftover chipolata sausages and Yorkshire puddings. All I threw away (or put into our food caddy) was scrapings off the plates of uneaten veggies. The uneaten scrapings of potatoes, stuffing and parsnips went into the garden for the birds who certainly appreciated the feast!

At about 3.30pm Sophie and I went for a walk with Monty to see the horses, only they were nowhere in sight, so it was a good job we didn't take any carrots for them! We met a neighbour with his dog and had a chat before walking around the estate to see what was going on...not a lot to be honest!

Mike was ready to be picked up at about 5pm so it was home to relax with a drink and my Kindle while Sophie watched Jurassic World. Dinner tonight was cold turkey and bubble and squeak accompanied by the warmed-through sausages and puddings. Delicious!