Easing into the week!

I really hate Monday mornings! When Sophie wakes me up it's a real effort to swing my legs out of bed and get up! Never mind! Before I know it, Friday has arrived!

Work was much better than Friday and although we were busy with phone calls, I managed to help Sara with a lot of emails. It was lovely and light when I left at 4pm today so that was a real bonus. I do like driving home and seeing the sky!

Sophie was meeting up with her old manager Sharon this evening and they'd booked a table at the Harvester restaurant on Riverside. Keith and I had leftovers from the turkey yesterday, and when Sophie arrived home it was great to catch up with what Sharon had been doing. In a weird way, I miss those early trips to Thrapston when Sophie used to visit the prisons!

Staying at home...

We've had another day of sunshine and I was able to get out this morning and wash Sophie's filthy car. It looked so much better when I finished!

I also cut back the geranium in the garden, but as I was doing it I did wonder if it was a good idea... I remember reading something about tiny pollinators living in old vegetation over the winter, so I hope I haven't disturbed any minibeasts! I didn't see any, but I think next year I'll leave it until a bit later to cut the plant back.

Sophie was more than happy to stay at home today, and while she did a workout and enjoyed a face pack in the afternoon, I spent some time researching my family tree. As expected, it was frustrating but I'm going to persevere, no matter what! I hope I have the patience to do it and I'll try an adopt a very methodical way of looking at the information I already have!

We had the most gorgeous sunset this evening - the sky was a deep pink with beautiful clouds. I just wish now that Sophie and I had gone out for a walk and taken photographs!

Keith busied himself with cooking the turkey crown we'd bought a few weeks ago while Sophie and I played Scrabble in the kitchen. We had a cocktail each and then moved on to white wine to drink with the meal.

Keith had prepared loads of vegetables so they were earmarked for bubble and squeak tomorrow!

Catching up!

After the perfect lie-in (I woke at about 7.45am) Keith and I had a lazyish morning. Sophie contacted me to say she would be getting the train home at about 1pm, so Keith and I went out and managed to get my car washed. We had to queue but it was worth it to get rid of all the muck that was covering it!

We drove home, I titivated the outside and then went to collect Sophie from the station. She'd had a great time and had loved seeing Aries with Zain. He had enjoyed it as well and had been bopping along to the music. We chatted about what she'd been up to and she horrified me with tales of the prices they'd paid in London. Even she was fed up with paying £10 for a glass of mediocre wine (I'd pay £10 for a bottle if it was a special occasion!) and £80 for a Thai meal that they had to eat in twenty minutes, as the restaurant was closing.

I understand a lot of places will need to recoup some of the money they lost during the pandemic, but surely this is daylight robbery? A £10 price tag for wine must mean a huge mark-up for the restaurant. I simply wouldn't pay it, London or not!

We decided to have a quick Subway lunch and we both chose wraps with lots of added salad. We even had some delicious little chicken bites and a cookie! £12 for both of us!

Back home I prepared the vegetables and chicken for our Chow Mein this evening, and then we relaxed and chatted about a programme I'd watched called You Are What You Eat. I had to show Sophie what one of the women was putting away every day - between 5000 and 8000 calories! I didn't feel so guilty about the odd biscuit I eat, but I'm trying to cut them out!

Keith came home from the football looking half-frozen but the temperatures have been very mild today, about 15c. It was getting colder outside, though, so we put the heating on and Sophie and I played Scrabble and drank the Champagne that Keith and Sophie had bought for my birthday. It was a Blanc de Noirs from Aldi, and it was delicious and made entirely from red grapes, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

Sophie and I cooked dinner - I stir-fried onions, a pepper, asparagus, garlic and ginger, and then added the chicken. Once that was all cooked I added ham, frozen peas and noodles and poured over dry sherry, soy sauce and sesame oil. Meanwhile, Sophie used a ready-cooked packet of rice and added an egg to make a side dish of egg-fried rice. The meal was delicious!

After we'd eaten we were transported to the Caribbean to watch Death in Paradise. I wish I was there!

Two into one again!

Thursday

Unusually, I was at work today, covering for Sue who was off with Covid. It was a shorter shift so I was able to have a bit of a lie-in this morning (after Sophie went to the gym!).

Sophie arrived home very late from work and had had a bad day. Her workplace is also suffering from staff shortages due to Covid, and she's taking the strain, poor thing. One of her close colleagues tested positive on Wednesday, and Sophie has been asked to take tests every day, despite recently having it herself.  At least she is off tomorrow and going down to London to see Zain! 

Friday

I was up at 6.30am this morning and enjoying a delicious cup of coffee before work. I woke Sophie at 7am and she went to the gym at the same time as I went to work. Tonight she is seeing one of her favourite rappers, Aries, at the O2 in Kentish Town. Funnily enough, the last time she saw him was just before the pandemic struck in January 2020, along with Mike. It'll be great for her to go with Zain tonight.

Kathy and I were looking forward to a quiet Friday as we were the only ones in the office. Unfortunately, we had a horrible shift with non-stop phone calls for the whole six hours. There was no let-up, and at times I felt like crying with frustration as every time I tried to write an email the phone rang again. There seemed to always be a call waiting and both of us felt drained when we left!

I missed my wine buddy tonight as Keith went to the pub, and I sat and watched a recorded episode of The Good Karma Hotel. The storyline was about an infected village - eerily close to reality!

A busy day!

It was Mike's birthday today, but he sent me a rather unpleasant text first thing this morning accusing us of taking fleas down to their flat on Saturday... Monty is the cleanest cat I have ever known and has never had fleas. It was Archie who used to pick up worms and fleas, as he spent so much time out of doors. I was upset with the text, as I was going to send him lots of birthday messages and this certainly took the shine off his day. 

I consoled myself with a cup of delicious coffee from my new machine. It arrived yesterday but it was too late when I got home to have a coffee! I would have been up all night!

Sophie's car was booked in for its MOT and we dropped it off at Moulton at 8am. At least the weather has improved today, and it's been gorgeous with blue skies and plenty of winter sunshine. After dropping the car at the garage we had a coffee at Cafe 900 opposite where Sophie works, and I treated myself to a sausage bap for breakfast. The woman behind the counter was delighted to see us and remembered my choice of coffee, bless her! Sophie hasn't been in for a while so we all had a good chat. Sophie is so lucky to have a good cafe on her doorstep!

After we dropped our daughter off at work we drove home, and I had half an hour spare before I was due to pick up my Mum from the care home. She'd arranged a Chiropodist appointment at 12pm and I said I would take her. The care home is still closed for visitors so it was an ideal opportunity to get her out for a few hours!

At the appointment, she had her feet sorted out expertly by Mrs Kirwan, and we chatted about Mallorca. Mrs Kirwan owns an apartment in Puerto Pollensa and had been out in November when they'd had eleven days of rain. It just shows how lucky we were in December!

After the appointment, we went to Beckworth for lunch. It wasn't my ideal choice but it was better than the Weston Favell centre! The restaurant was busy and we lunched on a jacket potato with chilli (Mum) and tomato, red pepper and basil soup (me).

Keith called while we were eating to say Sophie's car was ready. It had needed new rear brake discs and pads so we had warned Sophie that the bill may be a bit higher than she'd expected, poor thing! I dropped Mum off and went to collect Keith, but before we went to get the car I called into the little hardware shop in Brixworth to buy a flea comb. We used to have several but in the upheaval of the kitchen renovation, they were lost.

I tried to get my absolutely filthy car washed on the way home but there were already three cars waiting so I gave up. It's really getting to the point where I can't stand it any longer, and as we haven't had any rain for a while, it really is disgusting!

Back home, I thoroughly combed Monty (he loved it) and spread out the bits of fur on a piece of white paper. There was not one flea at all. I texted Mike and sent him a photo but he ignored everything I said and went on to say that we personally had made Hugo bleed. Naturally, I was extremely upset by what he said. What a birthday!

I was able to quickly hoover downstairs, and then it was time to collect Sophie from work. Tonight, she was going out with Laura for a meal so we were given instructions to be early! I had to drive as fast as I could on the way home, and she left for her meal at about 6.30pm. 

Keith and I had a very quiet night after she left... what a day!

Two into one...

Monday

I walked into the office this morning to find the noise still there... wonderful! A man did arrive before 10am and changed the battery but it still continued! He said that it might be the power unit itself that needed changing. Everyone who came into the office couldn't believe that we had to put up with it! 

Sheila will be off all this week with Covid, and I said to Sara that I was amazed we hadn't picked it up from her on Friday. I had taken two tests over the weekend as I'd had a bit of a dry throat, but they were both negative thank goodness.

My shift wasn't too busy today and after work, I went to collect Sophie from her office on Brackmills. Before I went down there I called into a little shop near work to post off an unwanted order. I used to visit this little shop decades ago when I lived at home with Mum and Dad, and there were several shops on the little parade. Now, there's only one and it's completely different from the little newsagent and sweet shop I used to go to. I suppose time moves on, but I remember the owner of the shop being a lovely, friendly man.

I had half an hour to kill at Sophie's office, but I was able to read my Kindle. She had an appointment at the beauty salon so I drove her there and waited, which was bliss! It was lovely to sit and relax for a while after a busy day!

Tuesday

At work today I learnt that Georgie also has Covid... on Friday he very kindly fetched me a coffee, so that was two people we had contact with who have tested positive! Georgie is unvaccinated so I hope he'll be alright. This Omicron variant is rampant and it seems everybody is getting it!

As usual for a Tuesday, the shift was very noisy. One of my customers said that he could hear my colleague on the phone more clearly than me! Not a good thing!

There is not much to report today, so it's a two-for-one post!

End of a coffee era...

My old, faithful, coffee machine decided to stop working properly today - instead of the coffee flowing smoothly from the little spout, it erupted everywhere! I tried another coffee pod in case it was that, but had the same result. Even when I used the plastic Tassimo disc, the water went everywhere. I shouldn't really complain, though! Keith bought it for me in 2013 and it has never given me a problem over the years. It was time to invest in a new one, so I picked out the Tassimo "My Way" on Amazon where you can adjust how hot or strong you like your coffee. It has an inbuilt water filter which is great for where we live as the water is so hard. Hopefully, it will be delivered tomorrow!

It was lovely to have a quiet day today and do very little! Sophie drove to Woburn to meet Zain at lunchtime, and the only time Keith and I ventured out was to take some things to the care home for my Mum.

The weather has been grey and dismal, but cold at the same time. Not a nice combination! I managed to start doing some more research on my family tree as I'm determined to try and prove the Irish link. I have a feeling it might be very frustrating but I'm going to try my hardest! I'm going to look into my Dad's side of the family and this might involve some trips down to Kent. We haven't been to Dartford for years, and I sometimes do miss the journey down the M1 and M25!

Sophie returned at about 3pm and we were able to play a game of Scrabble in the evening with a drink. Dinner tonight was a very relaxed affair of pate and toast, plus some cheeses and hams. I can't believe the weekend has gone so quickly. I definitely had that Sunday night feeling tonight!