Bank Holiday working...

I just knew, when I chose to have the first May Day Bank holiday off, that today would be glorious. The last one was wet and horrible, but today was expected to be the hottest of the year so far. Typical!

I went into work and completed my shift with Kathy, which was a bonus. There were only the two of us in the office, so at least it was quiet! However, the phones were not, and for the first part of the shift, we had non-stop calls about... you guessed it... swimming! We also had problems with classes, and the swimming pool at one of the centres had to be taken out of action because of a problem! We were even getting calls up until we left at 4pm asking if people could go swimming, and most of our leisure centres had closed!

I sped home, where Keith and Sophie had been clearing out the garage and had made two trips to the tip. The garage was looking a lot better! We are taking part in a garage sale on the 12 June and I wanted to make sure we had enough items to sell. I think we have!

Unfortunately, our washing machine stopped working today, and the timing couldn't have been worse! We cleaned out the filter, and I ran some descaling solution through the machine, but after a while, the drum stopped turning, and that was that! We are now in a horrible position as the kitchen refurbishment is due to be started in August when we will have a brand new washing machine, but we need ours to be working, or if that's not possible (or economically viable) we will have to try and get a secondhand one to tide us over!

As Sophie and I hadn't played Scrabble over the weekend, we had a game this evening with a cocktail, sitting in the gloriously sunny conservatory! I tried to cram as much enjoyment in as I could, after my day at work!

Keith barbecued in the evening, but Mike appeared just as we were sitting down to dinner and said that he'd already eaten. Great!

Breakfast with the birds.

I was astonished and dismayed to wake up at 9.30am this morning! I'd had a bit of a disturbed night, but I hate waking up so late, especially as I had lots of things to do today!

I did manage to enjoy my breakfast sitting in the garden with Monty, though, and the birds, who didn't seem to mind my presence as they had their breakfast.

After I'd eaten I re-potted our Camellia into a large pot and gave it a good water. Keith and I then went over to Tesco in Kettering as I needed some more bird food, some grass seed, and we needed something for dinner this evening. We had planned on having a barbecue, but as there were only three of us, we decided to postpone it to the Bank Holiday Monday, when Mike was home.

We chose an easy supper of quiche, salad and new potatoes, and beat a hasty retreat as Tesco was rammed with people buying barbecue ingredients and garden essentials! It was so busy!

Back home I had an hour to put the hoover around, and tidy up, before going to collect Sophie from the station. The plan was then to collect my Mum from the care home and bring her back for a cup of tea and a slice of Red Velvet cake.

Unfortunately, my daughter fell out with me when I asked her to wear a mask in the car. She'd been in Birmingham since Friday and had been mixing with lots of people so I wanted her to be careful until she did a test at home. She was not amused by my request and we had a bad falling out! Not really what I'd had in mind for her return!

We collected Mum (I'd already done a test at home) and drove home where I made a big pot of tea. It was heavenly sitting in the conservatory with our cake and enjoying the sunshine. Sophie did her test, which was negative, and she gradually thawed out towards me over the afternoon!

After taking Mum back and getting home we decided to try the Chouffe beers that Sophie's ex-manager had bought her for her birthday. We started off with the Cherry beer, then the Sunshine one, followed by the Blonde and the IPA. All four were lovely, but I particularly enjoyed the Cherry beer!

A month's gardening... in one day!

My one aim for today was to get our garden, back and front, into order. I had taken part in "No Mow May" but decided that we had to cut the grass this morning as the weather was perfect, and it was very long indeed! I attempted to count the flowers in a one-metre square section of lawn and found we had abundant daisies and one cluster of forget-me-nots. I had been hoping for more, and when I reported my findings, the site came back and said that our garden was below the national average for flowers that feed bees and other pollinators. Oh well! This, of course, didn't take into account the other flowering plants we have - namely, our lavender plants and a lovely blue flower that suddenly appeared by the garage door, and which the bees go mad for - but I was a bit disappointed.

While I cut the lawn, Keith did some bush trimming and was quite restrained! He helped me trim the edges and I turned over the soil in the border by the fence to make it a lot neater.

Work in progress

A well-deserved treat!

As the morning wore on, the cloud burned off, to be replaced with sun and blue skies. It was heavenly and so great to see the garden transformed. I agreed with No Mow May but it was lovely to see the garden looking a lot neater, and the birds seemed to appreciate it as well!

We still need some colour in our borders!

After we'd finished in the back garden, we made our way to the front and tackled the grass verge and the overgrown bushes at the front. It was hotter here and hard work! Again, when we'd finished I was very pleased with our efforts!

I was very relieved that Keith and I were going out for a meal this evening, so all I had to do was have a long soak in the bath, and get ready. After my soak, I lay on the bed and watched the end of Manchester By The Sea, a disturbing, but thought-provoking film.

Before we drove over to The Saracen's Head in Little Brington, we called into our local for a drink. People were sitting outside enjoying the sunshine and inside the pub was quiet. It was very pleasant to sit and relax and chat with Ian. This was my first time in the pub since November - really quite hard to believe!

I had booked the table at The Saracen's Head for 7.30pm and we had a glorious drive over. The Northamptonshire countryside was looking its stunning best in the evening sunlight. Everything has bloomed in the last few weeks, with all the rain we've had this month. Sadly, one of our favourite pubs, The Althorp Coaching Inn was still closed, and we've learnt it's up for sale with a price tag of £1.7 million!

When we arrived I was informed, very curtly, that our table had been booked for 6.45pm... absolutely not! I would never book a meal so early! We were shown to our table, and I found the confirmation email saying it was 7.30pm. I made sure to tell a member of staff! 

Keith and I perused the menu and he chose sardines to start, while I opted for asparagus served with hollandaise sauce and a poached egg. Keith was pleased with his first course, but my asparagus was under-cooked (almost to the point of being raw) while my egg was over-cooked...

Our mains consisted of an expensive sirloin steak for Keith and a chicken burger for me. Keith's steak was a bit chewy and certainly not worth the £24 price tag, but I was happy with my burger. You can't really go wrong with that!

We skipped dessert, as we were both full, and emerged into the evening sunshine to drive home. It was only 9pm but we were both tired after our day's exertions!

The end of the week... ahh!

This morning, Sophie was off to Birmingham to spend the weekend with Zain, so Keith took her to the station where she caught a train. Zain was driving up as there were no services between Birmingham and Euston, as is so often the case on a Bank Holiday weekend.

I was working with Kathy and we were hoping for a quiet shift, but we were busy again, with endless calls about swimming. I was hoping to be able to put the films on but Sheila wanted me to monitor the emails, so that was that!

I sped home at 4pm to find Keith had taken Mike into town to see Abbie, so this means we are child-free this weekend! It will be a very quiet house! Keith returned, had a shower, and I gave him a lift to the pub so it was just like the old days! I haven't done that for a good while!

Dinner this evening was baked potatoes so not a lot of cooking to do! Unfortunately, Keith had turned the oven onto low so by the time we came to eat they weren't really cooked through! I like my potatoes firm, but even I didn't enjoy this evening's meal, so it was a bit of a disaster! As we're now moving into salad potato season, I think we may give this particular option a rest until the Autumn!

All clean!

I have spent almost all of today cleaning the house, from top to bottom, so I felt very pleased when it was all done!

Keith went shopping as usual, but he went slightly later than normal, so he didn't get home until nearly midday. I had cleaned upstairs (the bathroom particularly needed doing!) and was making my way down the stairs when he arrived home. 

Outside, I spotted the Demon Mower of our estate, Graham, making his way home with his lawnmower, and Dennis the dog. He had mowed the strip around the top green, leaving the middle bit long and it looked lovely, with lots of wildflowers. We have mainly daisies and dandelions in our garden, but I did spot some forget-me-not so that was good! I threw some wildflower seeds onto the garden on Saturday so we'll just have to see if they sprout anything!

After a quick lunch, I carried on cleaning, taking off the cushions on the sofa and hoovering down in the gaps, and I found Sophie's ankle bracelet that she'd lost! She was delighted!

When we collected Mike and brought him home, I warned him to keep the house clean! He manages to scatter bits of grass and leaves wherever he walks, and there's normally a trail up the stairs!

I had a long hot shower and then relaxed on the sofa with the telly. Keith had prepared dinner this evening - spaghetti bolognese, so it was great for him to take over!

Chop, chop, chop!

Sophie wanted me to make a chicken and coconut broth for dinner this evening, and we needed some ingredients for it, so Keith and I decided to visit Waitrose in Kingsthorpe this morning. Before we went, however, we drove to B&Q to look at tiles, but nothing at all inspired us. A lot of the displays said the tiles were out of stock as they were discontinuing the range, so why have them there in the first place? After a quick look, we went to Topps Tiles in Kings Heath, and we chose two kinds of tiles that we liked the look of, a glass mosaic, and a white subway tile. Both were in stock, thank goodness.

Used as a border to break up the white worktop and the white tiles?

From Topps Tiles, we drove to Waitrose, and we were surprised to find the whole store was in a bit of a mess! We had difficulty finding the ingredients we needed, one of which, galangal paste, I had never heard of before! Luckily, we found it!

I treated Sophie and me to a bottle of dry Riesling, which I hoped would go well with the soup. With lemongrass, mangetout, beansprouts, chicken and two bags of prawn crackers, we had what we needed! I was hoping to have a coffee there, but it looks like they've done away with their little cafe, which was a shame. 

We headed home to put everything away and had lunch. I'd bought some sourdough bread in Waitrose but it was stale (it had been reduced) so I made cheese on toast with it and sat in the conservatory to enjoy it. Outside, our grass has grown so long and I was itching to cut it, but it'll have to wait. I may do it at the weekend, but leave a patch of flowers for the pollinators to enjoy!

After picking Mike up from work I made the Thai red curry paste that was part of the ingredients. I could have bought it ready-made but I wanted to make my own. It involved chopping up garlic, lemongrass, ginger, red chillies and shallots and roasting cumin and coriander seeds, as well as the juice and pith of two limes. Next, I prepared the rest of the ingredients so all I had to do later was actually make the broth.

We used all of the red curry paste in the soup, along with chicken, beansprouts, spring onions, mangetout, chicken stock, and we threw some noodles in for good measure! Three of us enjoyed it, but Sophie hated the mangetout and said she could detect something bitter in the soup... Next time I may omit the mangetout!

California dreaming!

Sophie had an appointment at the beauty salon this evening, so she wanted me to take her to work, and then collect her in the evening so she could go straight into town.

We set off at about 8.15am and made good time down to Brackmills. I said goodbye and headed to the Weston Favell Centre where I visited Costa for a coffee and breakfast. As I was queuing up, a man walked past shouting loudly. I don't know whether he'd spotted someone he knew or what, but it was a bit unsettling, especially as he later came to sit opposite me! At first, I thought he had Tourettes, but he never made another sound, thank goodness! However, I ate my breakfast and drank my coffee quickly and fled to work!

Work was especially noisy today, and at times I felt like running out of the office to somewhere quiet! When all of us were on the phones, it was horrendous! Therefore, it was lovely to escape at 4pm and go to another Costa where I enjoyed a flat white while waiting for Sophie. I sat in the car in silence... bliss!

Sophie and I were early for her appointment, and it was a huge bonus that I found a space in the tiny car park! We had another session of sitting in the car and chatting about our days at work. She is extremely busy every day now so is normally tired when she gets home. Her early gym workout doesn't help, either!

Sophie wasn't long in the salon and by 6.30pm we were heading home. While Keith cooked dinner again we sat in the conservatory with Monty and talked about going to California again, late in 2022. It's a dream at the moment, but I very much hope it'll turn into a reality!