Confusion!

Day 86

We've enjoyed another beautiful day but the forecast is for much colder weather to arrive at the end of the week, and over the Easter weekend.

I went out into the front garden this morning and mowed our verge which was looking very healthy. All plans to put down grass seed have been postponed, as next Monday the temperatures are set to plunge to -2! Keith came out to help and we had a very sociable session, chatting to Michelle, and then our postman who is always very friendly and helpful. He had a parcel for Sophie which she was expecting from her old manager, as well as poll cards for May. I have no idea who we'll be voting for, so I'd better do some research!

Keith and I turned over the soil, did a fair bit of weeding, and swept up all the debris, and the front garden looked a lot better - in my opinion anyway. Keith said he wanted to gravel over the area and put down pots of plants. I said that the birds loved our cherry tree, and it would be sad to tear up the bushes, so we've put any plans on hold for the time being. I just think we need to add some new shrubs and a lot more colour!

We migrated around to the back garden and managed to get the rest of the old Virginia Creeper into the bin. There's still a lot to do around there, but it'll have to wait! I dug over the corner border, and we've decided to grass it for the time being. The robin was out with us a lot of the time and was eying up the dug-over soil with interest! I saw a lot of worms in there! Every now and then we sat down and enjoyed the sunshine which was a bit hazier today. We could certainly see the improvements we've made over the last few weeks. 

Before we went to get Mike from work, we both had a shower as we felt grubby from being in the garden. When we drove over to the golf club, the temperature was registering 27c in the car, hotter than it really was, no doubt, but apparently, this week has been the hottest March since 1968!

Which brings me to the news... while I was getting dressed after showering, there was footage from a park in Nottingham where - I hate to say it - hordes of young people had been gathering, drinking, fighting, vandalising trees, and leaving acres of litter behind. I was shocked at the scenes of huge numbers of people gathered together and ignoring the social distancing rules. What is wrong with some people in our country? We see a bit of sun and a lot of us go mad! Driving to get Mike there were some people who were barely dressed! Next week, it'll be different!

When Sophie arrived home this evening she eagerly opened her parcel, but looked at the contents in confusion! She had thought it was from her old manager, but it was a moon ornament that lit up, with her name etched onto it. On the packaging, it said something like "Let me take you on a romantic trip to the moon", hardly something her manager would have said!

Then the penny dropped. The moon ornament was from her boyfriend for a birthday present, and her manager's gift had been delivered to the house across the road by mistake! She went to retrieve it and found it had been left outside their house, and they were oblivious to it being there! Back home she opened it to find four bottles of Le Chouffe beer and a glass. Next Monday we should have been in Wimereux drinking it at a seaside bar! Ho hum!

Recycling matters!

Day 85

I had agreed to help Ruth this morning with the recycling sort, the first we've been able to do all together since last year. As per the current restrictions, we were only able to have six of us attend, and we had eight bags to get through!

When I arrived at 11am, a couple of people were already there so I dived in and started on a big bag. Ruth had already set out boxes for the different recycling we collect, and most of it was crisps, closely followed by biscuit and cake wrappers! 

It was warm in the sunshine and I wished that Ruth had set up a table as it was quite hard on the back due to the bags being on the ground. At the bottom, we always find "crud" - lots of little bits of paper or plastic and this is the worst!

It took us all two hours to get through the bags, and I had pet food pouches and Tassimo pods to take home, but I asked Ruth if I could pick them up later as there were several bags' worth!

I was very glad to get home, have a cup of tea and sit down for half an hour! 

Unfortunately, at the moment, we have some seriously nasty smells surrounding us. I thought it was muck-spreading on the fields, but when we returned from getting Mike, we saw two "Recycling" tankers parked up at the back of the estate. I later found out that they were spreading food waste on the fields behind us... well, it smelt to me like the stuff had come out of a cow's bottom! It was horrible, and so badly timed with the beautiful weather we've been having! It means if we open our windows or doors, the noxious fumes drift in. Not nice!

I made a red pepper and tomato soup in the afternoon, so Sophie could enjoy it for her lunch tomorrow. I roasted three red peppers, an onion and some garlic in the oven, and sauteed a couple of sticks of celery in a pan with butter. When the veggies were roasted I made up vegetable stock, added tomato puree, chilli flakes and a couple of spoonfuls of sun-dried toms and added everything to the celery. After letting it simmer for a while and then cool down, all I had to do was blend it and hey presto! Lunch for Sophie!

Keith cooked tonight and made a delicious cottage pie with loads of vegetables. If nothing else, we're eating healthily at the moment!

Catching up!

Day 84

Today has been a busy one! Keith and I went shopping at Aldi and Tesco first thing in the morning and didn't get home until 11.30am... where did the time go? I have never known the hours speed by so fast as they have lately!

After a quick lunch and a tidy-up, Keith drove me to Abington Park in the middle of Northampton to meet my work colleagues, Kathy, Jo and Denise. The timing was a bit mad, as it's the first day of the half-term holidays, the weather was beautiful, and some of the lockdown restrictions have been lifted today, meaning that up to 6 people can meet outside in the park or a private garden. I was wise to ask Keith to give me a lift as the roads around the park were rammed with cars. He dropped me off not far from the cafe, and I asked him to come back at 4.30pm.

I had taken a fold-away chair with me, but the three other women had forgotten, bless them! It worked out well, though, as they sat on a bench while I used the chair. We were all in agreement that we weren't keen on going back to work as we were anticipating more problems with memberships, and our memories of last time were still vivid! Kathy had actually contracted Covid and said she still didn't feel fully recovered. She had suffered extreme tiredness and feared at one point she would die, which came as a real shock.

We picked a bench in the shade, so not quite the warm and sunny spot I had imagined! However, it was great to catch up with everyone's news and find out how they were over lockdown. The last time I had seen Kathy and Denise was probably early December!

We said goodbye at just after 4pm and I walked slowly back to where I'd arranged to meet Keith. Luckily, he was nice and early so we were soon heading home. Over a cup of tea in the conservatory, we discussed the kitchen again. This morning I'd had an email from Anthony, who works for Highfields Property Services, and he'd asked about the plans. We emailed back and said we were disappointed, so he was straight on the phone to arrange a meeting at the Benchmarx showroom on Thursday.

Sophie arrived home from work and went straight into preparing dinner. I helped out and we sat down to eat at about 7.30pm. As always, the food was delicious!

Badger, be gone!

Day 83

Today has been another grey and dreary day with no hint of sunshine at all. Mike was at work again but only for an hour, so Keith took him and stayed, rather than drive back home. The clocks went forward today so it was a bit of an early start for them both!

Sophie helped me put a colour on my hair, which made me feel a little better! The grey was really showing through at my temples and roots! Yikes! In the early afternoon, we ventured down to Riverside and visited Boots. Before heading home we treated ourselves to a coffee and a crispy chocolate cake from Costa and enjoyed them in the car, along with lots of other people (who were in their own cars!).

Back home we did all of the preparations for dinner this evening - a Hairy Bikers' recipe of stuffed chicken wrapped in parma ham served with asparagus, new potatoes and tender stem broccoli. Once it was all done, we were able to relax for a while and then play Scrabble with a cocktail. Sophie made me a Martini this evening, and we had a very enjoyable time sitting in the conservatory. With the extra daylight today it was a real shame the sky outside was so cloudy!

The dinner was lovely, and as we had some sausagemeat left over, we decided to do Sophie's favourite pasta tomorrow night. As usual, for a Sunday, I can hardly believe the weekend is over! I have just over a week left before I go back to work so I'm determined to make the most of the next few days!

Decisions, decisions!

Day 82

Today, according to the forecast, was supposed to be sunny and dry and I did have plans to get back out into the garden. However, it was cold and mid-morning it clouded over, so not very pleasant at all!

Mike was working a full shift today, which felt very strange for a Saturday! After breakfast, which Keith brought back from Aldi, we discussed the kitchen with Sophie. I printed off the designs and we compared them with the ones we'd received from Magnet, Howdens and Harborough Kitchens. We said they were the worst out of all four, and that no thought had gone into the process at all. We were all disappointed and felt like we were back at the beginning again! We spent almost the whole morning talking about the kitchen, measuring up and discovering that the island Benchmarx had designed was tiny! It made me feel very dispirited, to be honest, as I was hoping for great things from the kitchen company. 

In the afternoon Sophie and I applied a strawberry and yarrow facemask and relaxed by watching Come Dine With Me, which was coming from Northampton! I used to be a huge fan of the show (we even had the production company film at our business some years ago!), and I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed watching it! Outside, the weather hadn't improved at all. It was still grey. windy and cold. We had to put the heating on!

Keith and I went to pick Mike up from work at 3.30pm. Next week, his hours change to 6am until 2.30pm, which is a very early start, but at least we'll avoid the school run (but they'll be on holiday anyway!).

Back home, I had a shower and then watched the rest of the Northampton shows while lying on the bed with Sophie. At 5pm we went downstairs for cocktails and Scrabble, and we both achieved the same score for our first game! However, Sophie thrashed me in the second! She was brilliant!

As a treat, we enjoyed a Chinese takeaway this evening and afterwards, we watched Skyfall. Sophie wants to watch Spectre next Sunday, and that will be it! Bring on the next James Bond film!

Feeling a bit flat...

Day 81

I was so glad we'd tackled the garden yesterday as it rained all morning and was, at times, really heavy! Plus, it was cold, so not a good day to venture out!

I have spent most of today doing housework, and mounds and mounds of washing. Hopefully, the house will stay clean over the weekend, although Mike is working both Saturday and Sunday, in readiness for golf clubs to re-open on Monday. 

I did find time in the afternoon to make a chicken noodle soup for dinner. I found a BBC Good Food recipe, but in hindsight, I would have done things a little differently. As Friday nights are supposed to be for relaxing, drinking wine and watching a good film, I wanted to do as much as possible in the afternoon, but the soup thickened until it almost resembled a chow mein dish! In future, I will get the soup to the very liquid stage with the chicken and vegetables, and then add the noodles as I re-heat it!

Late in the afternoon, we received an email from the kitchen designer. He apologised for how late it was and said he'd had a bad day, and we think this was reflected in the design, which we were seriously underwhelmed with. We all looked at the designs and went, "Oh..." There certainly wasn't a wow factor so we were all very disappointed.

Looking at the designs carefully, we realised that we had hardly gained any storage! I think it's back to the drawing board!

Sophie and I enjoyed a glass of wine before dinner, and we watched Pillow Talk starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson. It was a lovely film, and very funny! It was interesting to see how things had changed since the late 50s, though. There was one scene where Doris Day was almost being attacked in a car by an amorous young man. It was supposed to have been funny, but we didn't think it was!

Before we re-heated the "soup" I added some more chicken stock, and we made garlic bread. I was a little disappointed with it, but the rest of the family seemed to enjoy it and Mike's taking a potful for his lunch tomorrow, so it can't have been that bad!

A bit of a shock...

Day 80

The weather forecast for today was set to be dry and sunny, and I was determined to get out into the garden and cut the grass. Tomorrow is supposed to be cold and rainy, so I seized the chance!

It didn't take long to cut the lawn, and then I made a start on the border behind the garage. This corner gets neglected a bit so I cut out a new border and hoed the soil. Keith came out to help and went to investigate what we think are rat runs on the opposite side of the garden. There was a hole by the fence, and a load of soil had been displaced, so we put that on the border I had just created because the soil was quite stony there.

We have an old wheelbarrow behind the garage that we rarely use so I asked Keith to drill holes in the bottom. I could then fill it with compost and use it as a container for summer bedding plants! However, Keith was in a grump as he couldn't find his metal drill bits, and said that they were somewhere behind all the stuff we'd inherited from Mum and Dad's house...

It was lovely to potter about in the garden, and I raked over some bare patches in the lawn in preparation for putting down grass seed next week (when the temperatures rise a bit) and adding new compost to a couple of established plants in pots. The far corner of the garden is a problem as it has never looked good, and I thought of putting down some gravel and standing the wheelbarrow on it when it's full of flowers. However, this is a sensitive spot as it's where our beloved furry bear, Archie, is buried.

Although we'd managed to do a lot, we were glad when it started pouring with rain and we had to go back indoors! We prepared the veg for dinner and had lunch, and just after I'd eaten I took a call from my manager, Sara, about our return to work.

I had expected to be back in the office from the 12th of April when gyms re-open, so I was slightly shocked when she said we would be back in from the 6th of April! In a different universe, we would have been in France on that day! She said I would be doing three days a week, 10am until 4pm but that until she managed to train up two new members of staff, we would have to take it in turns to do a Saturday. Not brilliant news, to be honest.

In the first lockdown I couldn't wait to get back to work, but this time I am more wary. We faced huge problems last time with endless calls about freezing memberships, online bookings and swimming lesson queries, so I have to confess I am dreading it. I really can't complain though as I will have been off thirteen weeks, and sooner or later I would have had to face the return to work.

Sophie was not happy as she had booked her birthday week off, and was hoping we'd be able to go somewhere like Oxford for a day out. Subsequently, she cancelled her leave, which was a shame. I will be working Monday, Tuesday and Friday so at least I will have two full days off, but this could change.

I arranged to see my three work colleagues next week for a coffee in Abington Park so we could have a good natter before we go back. I have a feeling we'll have a lot to catch up on, especially as one of them had Covid!

Dinner tonight was much better - Keith cooked sausages with lots of vegetables and giant Yorkshire puddings. Delicious!