Rushing about!

Sophie texted me at 1am to say that she was back in her hotel room and as sober as a judge. Her hangover last week had made her wary of having too much to drink so she'd only indulged in a glass of Prosecco while helping with the dinner. A couple of years ago, she'd hit the bottle and had felt awful the next day while on the company's stand at the exhibition!

Keith took me to work and I met Sara in the car park. I hadn't seen her for over two weeks so it was great to catch up as we walked in. I spent the shift dealing with emails and Keith came to collect me at 2pm. I dropped him off at home and sped over to Kettering to pick up Mum for her nail appointment. Luckily, she was waiting for me in reception!

Natalia's daughter did Mum's nails first and she was lovely and chatty, a huge difference to her Mum who never says anything to us! She chatted about what she was planning to do and was really sweet! Natalia took over and silence descended!

On the way home, I popped into Waitrose to get Mum some toiletries and chocolate, and I won't be doing that again as the items were so expensive! I just didn't have the heart to go into Aldi! I dropped her off and returned home to do the usual evening jobs, before relaxing with a drink on the now-dry sofa with a drink and Michel Roux in Provence. He seems a nice enough chap but I wish he was a bit better looking!

Sophie arrived home at about 6.30pm and was shattered, bless her. She'd had to call into her office to drop off her colleague and unload all the equipment from the Gala Dinner, so her arms ached and she was longing for a glass of wine. We sat at the kitchen island and had a good chat with her, deciding against dinner this evening which was to have been scampi and home-made chips. It was too late to fiddle about with heating up the oil and cooking the chips twice!

Tripping the lights, not fantastic!

Sophie left home at the slightly later time of 7am this morning because she was attending her company's annual conference at the NEC in Birmingham for two days and helping with the Gala Dinner this evening. Instead of taking the train, as usual, she was driving Olive and taking a colleague with her.

Keith and I made a start on our list of jobs, and when we moved the doors from the conservatory, we were both dismayed to find that some of the white paint had peeled away... it set the tone for a frustrating day! We re-hung the doors and Keith touched up the areas that needed re-painting. I cleared away all the newspapers and tidied up, making it look much cleaner and neater again!

I vacuumed the living room floor and studied the instructions for our new Vax carpet shampoo machine. The first hassle was getting the clean water tank back on after we'd filled it. We both had to try and manoeuvre it into place and then I turned it on and made a start. I'd moved the furniture out of the way and tackled the worst area first, the patch of carpet in front of the sofa. 

We shampooed most of the carpet and I decided to empty the dirty water tank. By mistake, I undid the clips and the tank fell forward and emptied its contents all over the freshly shampooed carpet... I could have screamed! We had to try and suck it all up again, but by now, I was not happy!

I filled the clean tank again and stripped the cushions off the sofa. It was great to hoover underneath and know it was all clean! We tried to manipulate the cushions so the seams were at the side, but they were made of foam and wouldn't budge easily! Another frustration! I was going to take them out of the cushion covers but the thought of not getting them back in again, made me zip them up quickly! We used the special nozzle to clean the sofa and it was all going well, until a) the little lever didn't work, which meant that I was spraying water everywhere when I was supposed to be sucking it back into the machine, and b) using the machine tripped the electrics... Not once, but multiple times!

Keith was annoyed it was happening as he said there was obviously a fault with the machine. We turned it off for half an hour and had a cup of tea, but as soon as we turned it on again, it tripped the electrics again. I went onto the Amazon site and requested a return, which was quickly arranged, with a replacement machine due to be delivered later in the month. We then had to get it back into the box, which we had kept in the garage, thankfully!

We spent the rest of the day trying to avoid the damp carpet in the living room and we couldn't sit on the sofa as that was damp too. It was horrible! We'd decided to eat out this evening and I'd booked a table at the pub in our village.

We arrived a little earlier for our table to find the pub packed with people, so sat in the snug and studied the menu. Keith opted for the pork belly while I chose the fish and chips, and we enjoyed bread and olives before our main courses. 

The table behind us was occupied by a couple of our neighbours and a friend, and they were so close that I heard every word of their conversation! Keith was facing the public areas and was constantly people-watching, much to my annoyance because all I could see was him and the wall behind!

We were all done by about 8pm and back home by 8.30pm! I sat on the sofa and put a throw underneath me and I wasn't convinced that we'd done a great job with the carpet! I was hoping it would look better when it was fully dry!

Sweating it out!

After another busy and noisy day at work - the children being back at school has made no difference whatsoever! - I sped home and relaxed until Sophie returned. Keith was going to see Sileby play this evening so Sophie and I were having jerk chicken pasta for dinner. We'd frozen marinated chicken breasts that we were supposed to have had in May when Sophie was ill, and I'd taken them out of the freezer on Sunday night.

Before doing the preparations, we poured ourselves a glass of Viognier and watched an episode of Come Dine With Me, which featured Zimbabwean worms... yuk! I had a funny feeling in my ears this evening, and it had started during the day at work. They felt like I'd got water into them and I did wonder whether it was the sheer amount of noise in our office. There were times when I found it difficult to concentrate on writing the emails as I kept tuning into my colleagues' telephone calls. 

Keith bundled himself up to watch the football as this evening was wet and chilly. Even I felt a little cold so the temperatures must have fallen!

Sophie and I prepared dinner and it was hot and spicy. The meal warmed us up and I think Sophie had beads of sweat on her face! We carried on watching Come Dine With Me and tried to get the cats to come back in and keep us company. They'd run in earlier when it had been pouring and were both soaking wet, but they love being outdoors and we hadn't the heart to say no when they cried at the door! I forget that Monty and Archie were probably the same at their age (cat teenagers) and want to be out as much as they can!

A noisy office!

It was back to grey skies and noticeably cooler temperatures this morning on the first day of the week. We're now having to put the outside light on at 6am when Sophie leaves... horrible!

I tackled the customer service emails today and had a particularly difficult one to write, which required a great deal of concentration, and our office was noisy. Jo was back to sitting in front of me and has a loud voice which I seem to tune into. At times, it makes it hard to concentrate! 

My phone had decided to play up today, so when it came time to cover the lunch period, I had to move desks. Not really convenient! Luckily, when I logged in on the other computer, all the work I'd been doing came over with me so I could just carry on!

In the evening, we played cards while Keith's chilli con carne bubbled away in the slow cooker. Amazon delivered our headlight converters, and a map of Provence, which I eagerly looked at after dinner. I picked out the village we're staying in and it's close to both Gigondas and Vacqueyras, so we had better have some room in the boot to bring wine home! I am busily making space on our wine rack! 

We're on television!

I was up before anyone else this morning and started watching the television footage from the Tour of Britain yesterday, aiming to get to our little patch and see if we had been filmed! Seeing the riders set off from a dismal Northampton as the crowds cheered them on was great. Once out into the countryside, the lead car pulled away and the race was on!

I could fast forward until about 1.45pm of the race, and by that time Keith and Sophie had joined me and we were watching avidly as the cyclists flashed past Harrington and turned left towards Scaldwell. The footage kept switching from the Peloton to the leading three riders, and we would have been so disappointed if they'd just concentrated on the mass of cyclists, but they didn't! They followed the three riders down the hill and then we saw ourselves on TV, waving and clapping! It was brilliant! Last year's Tour of Britain is still available to watch so we can go back and see it again whenever we want!

Sophie and I spent the morning putting some unwanted clothes on eBay and pootling about. I re-painted the two living room doors, which Keith had taken down to make it easier for us to paint them. We'd put them on the table in the conservatory, which was a huge mess! There were paint pots and paint brushes lined up on the windowsill and the clothes we were selling hanging from the cross beams. In less than two weeks we have friends over for dinner, so it needs a major overhaul!

In the early afternoon, Sophie and I drove to Northampton and put Olive through the carwash. While we waited we munched on some lunch we'd bought in the M&S outlet. Today has been a much better day than yesterday, with sunshine and blue skies. Why couldn't it have been like this yesterday!

Back home, we titivated Olive (the carwash hadn't done a very good job), and Sophie plugged her in to charge. I had a long nap upstairs (I only wanted to snooze for half an hour and I was out for double that) and Sophie prepared the dinner. We used the leftover sauce from the sausage casserole and added chicken breasts to make a new meal! With vegetables and roast potatoes, it was a lovely meal!

Cycling excitement!

We awoke to grey skies and fog today, so very Autumnal, but not ideal for the Tour of Britain cycle event due to take place in Northamptonshire today!

I was looking forward to watching the cyclists flash past but had no idea whether the route near us would be busy or not! I found live coverage on ITVx and saw that only a few people were watching in the rural spots, but it was a lot busier in the villages.

We watched the Tour speed through the southern villages and then make its way nearer to us. Before we went, I prepared tonight's dinner of sausage casserole and accompanying vegetables, and sympathised with Sophie, who felt a little hungover after the cocktails and wine from last night!

We left the house at 1pm and drove towards Scaldwell. The Tour was due to flash past Harrington, skim the outskirts of Lamport and then travel down towards us, taking a particularly sharp bend to Scaldwell. As we approached the bend, we could see cars parked on the verges and a huddle of people gathered on the bend, some sitting on picnic chairs! We were a little dismayed, so we drove on and soon found a field entrance where we parked the car, halfway down a long winding hill. We were delighted to find this was the 25km to go sign!

We had about an hour to kill until the Tour sped past us, so Sophie and I went for a little walk into the fields and followed a by-way up to the top of a hill to look at the views. It was still misty and grey but humid.

Keith sat in the car reading the paper until it got nearer the time for the Tour to go past and then he joined us. Within half an hour of our arrival, the first security out-riders began to go past on motorbikes, and we waved at them. They were delighted to wave back! As well as the security motorbikes, we saw many, many police bikes, most of whom waved to us or sounded their sirens! I suppose these were going past to make sure there were no obstacles in the road. In the villages, nobody was allowed to park cars on the road to ensure the Tour had a smooth journey.

More and more vehicles drove past and one slowed down past the sign and we could hear a man commentating, which was exciting! The atmosphere was fantastic and nobody had joined us in our little spot so we had it all to ourselves! As the time grew near, we saw one of the support cars drive past laden with spare cycles and then, a little while later, the three leading riders zoomed past accompanied by a motorbike carrying a camera.

There was a short hiatus and then the peloton sped past, followed by a huge array of support vehicles, police cars, motorbikes and ambulances. It was a tremendous, and truly fantastic experience to see how well-organised everything was!

The Peloton in pursuit of the leading three!

I was so glad we'd decided to watch. To have the Tour of Britain pass so close to where we live was brilliant and I believe the turnout across the county was outstanding! It was so good to wave and cheer and to have all the drivers wave back, some sounding the sirens and adding to the atmosphere!

Once they had all streamed past, we were able to return home and we made our way slowly back to the village. A lot more people had arrived to watch the race, so the spot on the bend was obviously popular!

Back home we realised, to our delight, that the Tour De France starts in Lille next year, on the 5th of July, the day we will be travelling back to Calais. To watch this race would be amazing so we are planning on trying to catch it while we can!

The rest of the afternoon was spent quietly, and there was a bit of snoozing involved! We played cards in the evening and enjoyed the rich sausage casserole I'd prepared in the morning. Our viewing pleasure this evening was The Pink Panther, the original 1963 film starring Peter Sellers. We were a little disappointed, to be honest... it wasn't that funny and the ending seemed a little rushed!

A night of music!

We awoke to another gloomy day, but it was forecast to be sunnier later, and humid. I took myself off to work and had a busy shift, answering all the emails and catching up with admin. I had some difficult emails to write today, going back to people with queries about their memberships. I know I've said this before but why do people take out a gym membership for twelve months, then decide they can't afford it? We are very reasonably priced, and we offer fantastic value for money, but some people still get into a mess and then expect us to mop it up for them!

At 4pm, I sped home and sat with Keith in the kitchen. He had managed to slice his leg open by dropping a drill on it while he was fixing the new door handles into place... I dressed it again for him and told him to keep an eye on it. The door handles look great, but I'd rather he had waited for the weekend to do the job!

Sophie and I decided to watch a new drama series on Netflix called The Perfect Couple, and we settled down with a new Pinot Grigio and some nibbles to watch it. Ten minutes in, we turned it off as we were both overwhelmed with all the characters and what was going on! We put on Come Dine With Me instead!

Sophie didn't fancy tonight's dinner so she had cheese on toast, I had scrambled eggs on toast and Keith had a sandwich. After we'd eaten I happened to turn on BBC 4 and we were delighted to find The Proms on, with music from Henry Mancini and Bert Baccarach. What a treat! The very first piece of music was the theme tune to the wonderful film, Charade, starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. Sophie jumped up and asked if I wanted a Martini as the music reminded us of sitting in a lovely bar overlooking the sea in a Mediterranean resort!

She made us both a vodka Martini and we had a fantastic evening watching The Proms (I was fascinated by the orchestra) and listening to truly beautiful music. It was hosted by Mel Giedroyc who was funny and came on initially with a Martini! How weird was that!

We indulged in another Martini (hmmm!) and stayed up until midnight watching two more programmes featuring themes from the movies. At one point Sophie was dancing around the living room with the cats, who were NOT amused!