We have had a brilliant day. George and Sue came up and we spent the whole day nattering to our hearts’ content.
Sitting around the kitchen table, we kicked off with coffee and croissants this morning, where we were glued until mid-day because we were so busy talking. Eventually, I suggested we move into the lounge where there are comfier seats, and we carried on our chatting all afternoon.
The morning was enlivened with a visit from Paul and Freddie, so I got to play games too. Freddie, just aged six, outwitted me at both Ludo and Connect 4……….oh heck, what’s going to happen when I challenge him to a game of chess? It won’t be long before he’s outwitting me at that too, I guess!!
George and John spent a happy hour watching qualifying for the Grand Prix, mulling over the various merits of the drivers, the cars, the pit stops, the track and the officials. Oooh, they did enjoy themselves!
Sue and I, meanwhile, tucked into a rather nice bottle of Prosecco and then a rather nice bottle of Pino Grigio. I threw caution to the wind for the day and abandoned the diet I am supposed to be on…….I’ll start again tomorrow – maybe.
And that was us – nothing much else to report, other than I’ve signed up for a Yoga Challenge in June. I thought I’d join John in a fundraising venture – this time for Cancer Research. 30 minutes of yoga a day – I think I am going to enjoy that!
Today we tootled into the countryside, crossing several county borders – West Midlands, Worcestershire, Staffordshire and Shropshire. Our aim was to take the innards of John’s Lotus to a car trimmer in Ditton Priors. John had had a conversation with the chap, John Snell, a couple of weeks ago and, yes, no worries, it’s a job he can do. Wonderful.
“It takes an hour and a half to get there,” warned John this morning before I set off for yoga, “and we’ve to be there by 2 o’clock.” Righty-ho. I got back from yoga to find John getting ready for a shower, after having walked there and back to the doctor’s surgery this morning. He was jiggered and all hot and rather sweaty.
However, we made it. We set off just before 12.30 and had a lovely run. Admittedly, the motorway isn’t marvellous, but the countryside beyond it was, and we had a very pleasant journey. We arrived on time in the village, too. Except we couldn’t find the house. We had a bit of a magical mystery tour as we circled round and round until we finally gave car trimmer, John, a ring and asked, “Whereabouts is your house?” The poor man had to stand at the top of his road to wave us in.
He had a good look at all the pieces my John had brought and he nodded. Yes, no problem, he could do it all. Fingers crossed it looks good when it’s finished.
On the way back home we stopped off in Hagley for a cup of coffee and, as we hadn’t had any lunch, a bite to eat. We really enjoyed it. It was in a very nice little café called ‘The Fig and Favor’ which we will be visiting again in a day or two’s time as I left my coat there with my house keys in the pocket……
Home again and we just pottered about with one or two things – John went into the garage, of course, to do a little bit more on the car, while I did a spot of tidying round and feeding the washing machine and tumble dryer. Rain, you know – no good for drying the clothes.
And there we have it. Quite a pleasant day one way and another.
We weren’t up with the lark this morning – instead we lay in bed all luxurious-like until we were ready to get up. In my case, this was just after nine o’clock. In John’s case, it was just after one o’clock in the afternoon. Hehe.
The poor man is absolutely bushed and needed a good, long rest. However, his tooth is improving as the antibiotics kick in, so we are hopeful that by next week he’ll feel a bit better once again.
I have been mulling over what to do about John’s teeth, since there is a suggestion that the current crumbling is due to one of his tablets. As fortune would have it, he has had a letter from the Birmingham Dental Hospital today which reminded me that he hasn’t had an appointment there for ages. The whole of Lockdown in fact.
The letter is apologising for the lack of care, which is due to the staff having been deployed elsewhere during the COVID pandemic – and now there is a massive backlog. Well, I am about to add to it and phone them up tomorrow. John needs some specialist care, so I am going to make sure he jolly well gets some. Ha! Watch this space.
My purpose in getting up at a semi-reasonable time this morning was to go into town to buy a hat. We have a wedding to go to and a hat is a must. I also thought I’d see if I could get some nice trousers for John so that he’s not strung up like a sack of potatoes in a pair from his wardrobe that are ten sizes too small.
I was very lucky with the purchase of my hat – the first shop I went into had several just the right colour and type so I had the luxury of trying them all on and the attentiveness of the shop assistant. “When is the wedding?” she enquired. “A week on Saturday,” I replied. “And what’s your role?” she continued. “Well….” I started on a long convoluted explanation of Dawn being my dearest friend and Liz being my god-daughter and how we’d been in the shop recently to buy Dawn a hat and…….”Oh, I remember!!” she exclaimed and, with her eyes sparkling, she said, “I remember the beautiful colour of her outfit and the accessories she chose. Oh, I do hope you all have a wonderful time!” I mean, how nice is that, eh?
I wasn’t so lucky with trousers for John. Having long legs, it’s always a struggle to find a pair of trousers just right. There are rails and rails of ‘regular’ trousers but very, very few long ones. I have brought a couple of pairs home for him to try however, but I am expecting another ‘tootle into town’ to return them. More watch this space……
This afternoon we were delighted to sit and have a coffee with Paul who called in. Bliss. He is such good company and it was fabulous to have a relaxed chat together without anything pressing in on us.
After Paul left, John pottered into the garage and I sorted myself out to nip across to Kenilworth to drop William’s car seat back, having forgotten to take it out of the car yesterday; to pop into Waitrose to change an item I’d bought that was too small; and to go across to Paul’s to collect the hats we’d left there last weekend.
All errands were accomplished and, once home again, we settled into our armchairs to catch up on some programmes we’d recorded. More bliss.
We had promised to have William and Thomas for a sleepover on Tuesday night but, in the end, only William came. We had been over in the afternoon to the Kenilworth Newbies to help out, which turned out to be very lovely – tumbling out of their back gate and into the park behind their house for a play on the swings and things.
When it came to the sleepover, Michael and Danielle thought it was a big ask, but I didn’t want to disappoint William as we had promised. We know that William is a delight to look after so after a bit of discussion, we plumped for having one, rather than both, of the children.
William was a delight to look after – we had fun at bathtime and were very companiable chatting and reading bedtime stories afterwards.
A good night’s sleep was had by all except John, who never has a good night’s sleep, and at 5.45 this morning William came padding through to our bedroom. I made room for him in bed and suggested he get in. He did – for a nanosecond. “I’m hungry,” he declared, “and I’d like some breakfast.” Ah. Oh. Right. Best get up then. So we did and the day started early. Here’s the early bird choosing his breakfast cereal…..
We had a lovely morning filling up the bird feeders, playing with the cars and some old figures like He-Man, Power Rangers and Transformers, that had belonged to my boys when they were kids. I know we knock plastic, but the toys don’t half age well, don’t they?
Just before nine o’clock, William went and winkled Grandpa out of bed so that I could nip to the vets to collect some medication for the cat (who has hypothyroidism after all) and then collect Dawn from the hairdressers. William was reluctant to walk, having cut his heel the other day and found his shoe rubbed rather painfully.
Grandpa was good for entertaining William with Origami. He made a little Scotty-dog out of paper – I am not sure how impressed William was, but he enjoyed snipping his own pieces of paper with his scissors anyway.
Pete arrived to collect Dawn just as I was leaving to take William home, so they stayed for a bit of a chat with John before they, too, left. John spent the rest of the day working his socks off, cleaning round the house. I was delighted when I got home at tea-time to find that he’d vacuumed everywhere. Not only did he do some cleaning, but he set to work on his car, too.
This all sounds marvellous and John ‘must be feeling better’ but in fact, he’s not feeling great just at the moment. He has an abscess under his tooth so is on antibiotics. He visited the dentist yesterday, who gave him a rather bad report. It looks like a couple of teeth may have to come out and may be a side-effect of a drug he is taking. Hell’s bells – anything else?
This evening we had Quiz Night – a tough one but thoroughly enjoyable. Once again, we knew some of the answers…… in fact, John was on form in the James Bond round. Good fun.
Well, if Friday was a busy day faffing about with Shadow and a bit of a chore, Saturday and Sunday were delightful. Here’s three days’ worth, folks….
Friday…..Shadow
I took Shadow back to the vets on Friday morning, having been instructed to give him a ‘doping’ draught. He had other ideas and although I got most of the tablet into his mouth, it wasn’t before he had bitten me rather hard. Despite blood leaking from my finger, I wasn’t giving up and, with a bit of a struggle, I finally managed to get the tablet down his neck.
Regrettably, there wasn’t sufficient of the tablet inside him to have calmed him down and the vet was unable to extract even one single drop of blood from him. She came out of the surgery and said ruefully that we’d have to come back for another go. Luckily, she had a couple of appointments later on in the day, so she said she’d give him the tranquiliser at ten to four, and then try and get blood from him at ten to six. Two more trips…. In the meantime, she’d given him pain relief as she’d found a bit of blood in his mouth, suggesting something might be going on in there.
Of course, the visits to the vet scuppered any other plans I had for the day and, not only that, the vet suggested that if my finger swelled up or went red, to contact the doctor’s surgery for some antibiotics. Ha! Of course it went red and swelled up!
There’s another hour or so wasted……… first, phoning the surgery in the morning to see if I could get an appointment. Had two goes at that. Then, when I did get through (there are 5 other people waiting before you), the receptionist said all the ’emergency’ appointments for the morning had gone so could I phone back at 2 o’clock? I did, of course, with a similar repeat of the morning.
The receptionist wants to know why I need an appointment. I tell her. “Oh, do you need antibiotics for a cat bite?” Well, I don’t know – but I think so, that’s why I am phoning the doctor….. Anyway, “Can you send a photograph for the doctor to look at?” Yes, yes.
The doctor did phone me about half past three. He was the registrar and wasn’t quite sure of his ground but agreed with the vet that antibiotics were in order. “And how about your tetanus?” he said, “Is that up to date?” Funnily enough I was going to ask you that! “Ermm…. could you check my records, please?” It transpired that I’d had my last tetanus injection in 2002. But, he wasn’t sure whether I’d need another one. He’d check with a colleague and phone me back.
At 5 to 5, the doctor phoned to say ‘yes’ to the tetanus jab. But here fortune smiled on me. It was late on a Friday afternoon wasn’t it? “We normally send you to A&E for a tetanus jab….” my heart sank, “….but as it’s Friday and the weekend coming up, our Nurse Rosie will do it for you here at the surgery if you can get down here asap.”
I got there asap and had the jab before hot-footing it back up home just in time to collect Shadow and take him back to the vets. Fortune smiled again – the drug had worked and Shadow was dopey enough not to object too much to having blood drawn from him this time.
“I’ll phone you this evening,” said the vet “with the preliminary results that we can do in-house. We’ll have to wait until Tuesday morning to get the full lab result.” At 9 o’clock that night she phoned to say nothing untoward had shown in the preliminary results – but take him to he surgery again on Saturday morning for more pain relief. Lovely. I had been looking forward to a lie-in.
Saturday….at the Kenilworth Sleaths
Duty done at the vets on Saturday morning, we were just having a little potter about when Paul phoned to say did we fancy going over for a barbecue? Oh, and did we want to stay over? A nano-second to think about it and the answer was ‘yes’ and ‘yes’. How very delightful.
Michael and Danielle had been invited too so, as always, it was our pleasure to play with the grandchildren whilst keeping an eye on the FA Cup match. Paul is a Liverpool supporter so he was a happy bunny – but, I mean, how many shots at goal do you need during play? Each team had loads but neither could score – and I hate penalties. Couldn’t watch that bit.
The food was fabulous – Paul is ace when it comes to cooking barbecue food – and we had a few beers to wash it all down. After Michael and Danielle left, we had a little hot tub session accompanied by a little glass or two of prosecco. Lush, eh?
John declined the hot tub experience and had a snooze on the sofa instead until it was time for bed.
Sunday….
One of the loveliest things about staying over, or having the family stay over with us, is the warm little body that comes wriggling into bed with us early in the morning. Although, to be fair, Freddie had already been downstairs, had his breakfast and watched a bit of TV before he come snuggling in. That suited us rather better! We spent a blissful three-quarters of an hour chatting and being shown how to play a particular game on his tablet before we got a group phone call from Harriet to tell us that there was coffee brewing and ready on the patio.
That got us all up! We sat outside in the sunshine enjoying brioche and posh jam with our coffee. More lushness, eh?
Before long, we had to say our goodbyes though, as we needed to be back to check on Shadow and dole out more pain relief. He was actually looking much better this morning. I popped the pain relief into his food and hoped he’d eat it. I think he did – he was still looking better this evening when we got back from Michael’s where we’d been this afternoon.
John went over to Lichfield with Michael to look at a car while I stayed and looked after Danielle and the children. We had a very good afternoon and the children were very well-behaved and delightful company. I was, however, concentrating so hard on getting food sorted and tidying round that I totally forgot the time, thus failing to attend the Yin Yoga class I’d booked onto this afternoon. Ah well, maybe next time.
With plans to go out tomorrow on a visit, I changed my yoga session to today, so that’s where I was this morning – and I was relieved that I had changed class, because my joints are still arguing with me and a gentle class was exactly what I needed.
John, meanwhile, was ‘gallivanting’. He went out for breakfast with Bryan, who called for him in his shiny sports car and off they went.
John wasn’t back when I arrived home from yoga and I was just wondering whether I needed to take the car down the hill to find him when he unlocked the front door. After his breakfast, he had an appointment with the nurse, so he left Bryan and walked home. I was impressed – he walked up the hill. He said it had taken him nearly twenty-five minutes, but still, he made it.
Once home, he took a phone call from Richard, which was lovely because we have made arrangements for a get-together. I left John still chatting away as I set off for a coffee in Kenilworth with Michael, who was minding the baby. Danielle was having her hair done, aiming to join civilisation again after having had Oliver, and so would probably be some time…..
Michael and I met up at the Almanack for a coffee and sat chatting for a good while before we left there to find another café where they did nice, toasted sandwiches. I declined food, having eaten before I came out and because I am on a diet. Having bought a lovely new dress yesterday, I am determined to retain my current weight so that I can get into it for the special occasion. No extras for me. (Wonder how long that will last?)
Oliver was as good as gold and slept all the time we were out together and, I am hoping, until Danielle had finished in the hairdressers.
John spent the afternoon tinkering on the car, and had his head buried in wires and nuts and bolts when he heard the thrum-thrum-thrum of Paul’s car landing on the drive. How very, very delightful to have a visit from our eldest! I was thrilled, as you can imagine, when I arrived home to see his beautiful, smiling face when I walked in.
After a cup of tea and a fair bit of chat about this and that, we got to talking about the cats, who are currently a little scraggy. Rio needs grooming and…… well, Shadow is a shadow of his former self, having lost a lot of weight and is clearly unwell. Paul fussed the cats and was alarmed at the skinniness of Shadow. I immediately made an appointment at the vets.
“Hmmm…. well, he certainly has lost weight,” said the vet, “and it’s going to be one of three things: hypothyroidism, diabetes or kidney problems.” Ah… OK….. “Best do a blood test to check. Oh, you’ll want to know how much that is, won’t you?” I nodded, but knew that whatever it was I was going to pay it.
One symptom of hypothyroidism, apparently, is the cat being a bit skittish. Being a bit skittish, he wasn’t having any of it to have a blood test today. “We have trimmed his claws though,” grinned the veterinary nurse, as she came out of the consulting room. “Bring him back tomorrow, doped up, and we’ll have another go.”
It’s all very well telling me to bring him back tomorrow doped up, but I am not quite sure how I am going to get the pill down his neck. “Pop the tablet in a little treat a couple of hours before you come tomorrow,” advised the vet. Righty-ho! And I came away armed with some treat ‘putty’ that I could wrap around the tablet.
‘Try a treat without the tablet to start with’ stated the instructions, ‘then proceed with the tablet’. Hahahaha…… one sniff and Shadow turned tail. I had to run back to the vets to ask them to give me one those little pill-shooters instead, as I am positive that tomorrow morning he will be a Refusenik.
This evening, it was Zoom-time with ‘the girls’. There were just four of us tonight, with Sue P seeing some other friends, Sue D still out in Australia, and Janet arriving home too late from having had a long day out with the family.
It was lovely though. I don’t know what we find to talk about but talk we do. We were the same four as those who’d got together on Monday, so you wouldn’t think we’d have much to say, but we managed it somehow.
A lovely day (except for the sick cat, of course) which is much the same as we’ve had for the last few days. I am certainly not complaining, At this rate, my depression will have gone altogether. Fingers crossed anyway.
Take care everyone. God bless.
And, just for fun and because I haven’t shared one for ages – Susie Dent’s Word of the Day is ‘ipsedixitism’ (19th century): the insistence that something is ‘fact’ because someone else said so. I have no idea to what or to whom she is referring! Have you?
Being a Wednesday, it was a hospital day, so we were up reasonably early and setting off over to Heartlands Hospital for John’s haematology check-up. The last time we went, I had seen some disabled parking spaces outside the door of MIDRU – the Medical Innovation Development and Research Unit – and asked whether we could park there. The answer was ‘no’, but we could drop off.
As it was pouring with rain, we opted to drive that way round. Disappointingly, we couldn’t get into the car park as it was staff only, so John hopped out of the car and walked. I drove round to the normal car park and walked through as we usually do. When I got to the waiting room John was already there. He grinned at me and said, “It was no nearer – I still had to walk miles…..” Oh. Bother. Ah well, at least we know for the next time.
Anyway, the consultant we saw, Dr Ansari, was pleased with John’s blood results and she was about to start talking John through them and asked how he was, when in breezed Paneesha. He was delighted to see John and very happy with the outcome of all the treatments John has had, declaring him ‘cured’ of the leukaemia.
He commiserated with John over his lung condition and wondered whether a lung transplant was an option? We said no, that had been discussed a year or so ago and not on offer. Paneesha is nothing but ever hopeful that John’s ailments can be eased and is always coming up with something to try and help. We are grateful, of course, and we were glad to see him.
After we’d finished at the hospital, I suggested to John that we nip into John Lewis’s to see if there were any frocks for Lucy’s wedding. I know I have left it late to choose something, but I’d half thought I might wear one of the dresses I have in my wardrobe. However, in the end, I decided I’d choose something new.
We trailed round all the rails and picked up a few dresses to try on. I quite liked one of them, but John thought the top was a bit plain. He was right, it certainly didn’t quite have the ‘wow’ factor. I tried another on that we both liked, but I thought it wasn’t posh enough. “Hmmm,” said the fitting room assistant, “It’s a lovely day dress and does look nice on you. Have you got some time? Shall I see if I can find a stylist to help you?” Well, I don’t mind if I do!! “John? Have we got time?” He nodded. “Yes, please,” I replied.
And what a fortuitous thing it was. The girl came over – not a full stylist, but had experience enough to help – and she went to the rails, immediately pulling out three dresses that would be suitable. Our eyes alighted on the first one and that was it! I tried it on, it fitted, it looked nice, so we said we’d have it. The girl brought shoes and a jacket to seal the deal and so we came home happy. Oh, and that day dress? “Have them both,” said John. So I did.
Once home, John disappeared into the garage and I sat in the lounge for a rest. Had a chat to Michael on a video call: ” Do you want me to come over?” I asked. “I’ve got a couple of hours this afternoon, if you need things doing. But if not, I’ll stay here.” I think he may have liked me to go over, but he said ‘no, they were managing OK’.
I sat a bit longer on the sofa. My eyes were heavy. I dozed off. I woke up an hour later feeling woozy, so I toddled up the stairs and slumped into bed. Another couple of hours later……… crikey, I must have been tired. Well, I knew I was because I couldn’t sleep last night, so no wonder. Or was it the excitement of buying a new outfit? Either way, I woke and felt refreshed in time for Quiz Night.
Had fun, as always, with the Quiz Night. Everyone was on top form, despite all the hard work people are having to do with various family members and building work, and it was lovely to see them. Thoroughly enjoyed the quiz, to which I knew some of the answers! Chuffed whenever that happens.
Take care everyone. God bless.
Oh…. and that item that John went to collect from Sue and Chris yesterday? He’s only gone and bought me a Bentwood RockingChair! I am delighted to say the least….. I do love a chair – and this is special – reminds me of rocking the children when they were babies. Lush, eh?
So, yesterday was a good day. John, once again, was tinkering on the car while I ‘gallivanted’.
I spent the morning pottering in the garden, where it felt very balmy, even though the sun was hiding behind the clouds. I thoroughly enjoyed myself potting up a hanging basket and tucking alpines into nooks and crannies in the rockery. Bliss.
Then it was time to get ready. I and a couple of my college mates were planning a surprise visit up to Lizzie’s (another college mate) in Nottingham, because she was celebrating her 70th birthday. Lizzie had originally planned a bit of a big birthday bash that we’d all have been at, but cancelled because she’s been through the mill a bit from having spent several weeks looking after her Mum, who hasn’t been well.
We were still keen to celebrate with her so we agreed, in greatest secrecy with Ray, that we’d turn up as a surprise. Linda and I met at Anita’s in Ashby and set off from there. Liz was pleased to see us, although it took her a minute or two to absorb the surprise, I think! She said she was discombobulated to start with…… hehe.
We had a lovely couple of hours sitting her garden chatting and greeting other well-wishers who dropped in. Fabulous. Here we are, us ‘girls’ – a little windswept but with our cheesy grins saying it all…. Happy Birthday, Lizzie!
After we left Lizzie’s we went and had a bite to eat at a restaurant nearby, which was very nice – not too busy and quite a large, airy place – but I still wore my mask…..
We had another good day today. I helped out with the Kenilworth Newbies while John ‘gallivanted’.
This morning I went to yoga before having a bite to eat and setting off to Kenilworth this afternoon. John got himself ready to travel down the motorway to Upton House to meet Sue and Chris P (more college mates). Apparently, John had ordered ‘something’ a couple of years ago of which Sue and Chris were in possession. It’s a mystery to me, but I am told that I will notice the item somewhere around the house….. better start searching!
Anyway, Sue and Chris had a business appointment just outside Oxford, so they arranged with John to meet up. John was absolutely delighted to see them, even though they only spent half an hour or so in each others’ company. I think they were pleased to see John, too.
I had a lovely afternoon and early evening over in Kenilworth – I took gardening equipment in the hope that I might dig up a few weeds and dead head a few plants when I wasn’t looking after the children. No chance of that though – the ground was far too hard to get my little trowel into! Maybe tomorrow? Rain is forecast….
John, meanwhile, back at the ranch, had had a battling afternoon. A large parcel containing bits for the Lotus arrived – except the bit he actually really wanted! He spent ages and ages on the phone, firstly to the original supplier, who said, “Sorry, mate, out of stock and don’t know when/if we’ll get another one.” So John then spent a good couple of hours phoning other suppliers…. he thinks he may have found one but that particular Lotus parts business has just been taken over by another company – and it’ll be a few weeks before they’ve sorted out the stock…. hmmmm, fingers crossed.
Yesterday we went over to the Kenilworth Newbies to offer a bit of moral and practical support while Danielle is still in recovery from her op and Michael is still in recovery from Covid. We had a lovely day – although Michael didn’t take the rest that we hoped he would.
Instead, we went across to Crackley Woods for a walk among the bluebells…… it brought back some lovely memories of when we were children, although the bluebells weren’t as vibrant as I remembered when I was twelve…….or maybe the photo doesn’t do them justice.
We had a great time clambering over fallen longs, venturing along ‘secret paths’ and racing through the glades. I think we all acted our shoe size and not our age and it was wonderful.
When we got back to Michael’s we were thrilled that Paul had texted to say that he and Freddie were coming over. Harriet was getting ready to go out to her hockey club dinner (at which her team won an award) so couldn’t come.
The boys were thrilled to see each other and we set off over to the park. Paul took charge of the boys and the dogs. Hilariously, as it turned out! He tied the two dog- leads together and basically, the dogs walked themselves…..or, rather, Mac walked Chester. I am not sure that Chester was best pleased….
Once we were back home, the children played like mad things on their scooters and bikes in the garden for a while and then calmed down in the house, fascinated by a new toy that William had been given – some magnetic shapes. Even Thomas was joining in. And there’s a baby in the crib that Grandpa is gently rocking. Bliss.
We stayed on after Paul and Freddie had gone home and helped to put the children bed and read a bedtime story. Afterwards, we had a take-away and relaxed in front of the TV for a while before coming home. It was a tiring, but wonderful day.
I must have been tired after a busy day yesterday because I overslept this morning. My plan was to get up early, get showered and all ready for this afternoon’s ‘Hen Do’ for Lucy, before following our church service online. Ha! The alarm went off but I must have snoozed it. It was half past nine before I woke up! I was running late before I’d even started.
Anyway, I was ready on time for when Pete and Dawn arrived to collect me. John was also ready and waiting for Pete to collect him on the way back. Dawn and I were going out for an exciting ‘hen do’, while John and Pete were having a Sunday Roast round at Pete’s.
The ‘hen do’ was brilliant. Lizzie had worked hard to put a few games and puzzles together. We were all terrible at guessing how old Lucy was in the various photos Liz had produced. Even Lucy only got 4 out of ten….. but we were better at choosing what she would prefer – a city break or a beach break? an Indian takeaway or a Chinese? a cat or a dog? To be fair, some of the answers were ‘either’ or ‘both’, but several people scored full marks and clearly know Lucy very well.
Here’s the gorgeous girl herself – the ‘Bride-to-Be’, looking just stunning. Honestly, she could be a model, she looks so lovely.
John had a good time at Pete’s and spent a happy half-hour rootling through metal bits and pieces that Pete had got in his treasure trove. John found a spring that he thought might do the trick and double as a bush for his bush-less stay for the Lotus car door. And he was right. It works a treat. He’s delighted.
I popped over to the Kenilworth Newbies this evening to help with the bedtime routine again and enjoyed a good couple of hours with the family. Although it is very clear that, although Danielle is getting more or less the rest she needs, Michael is not. He is absolutely exhausted but battling on. If only Thomas would sleep beyond six o’clock…. ah well, maybe tomorrow?
We’re not ‘packing it all in’ as in giving up – don’t get the wrong idea – but we’re packing a lot of life in and haven’t half packed a lot in today.
John was up and about quite early this morning, raring to go and get in the garage. He was just finishing his coffee in the kitchen when I got back from yoga just before eleven o’clock. “How was yoga?” he asked. “Agony!” I replied. In the last year or so, I’ve found that all my joints, all my muscles and all my tendons are as dry as dry and creak like Billy-o the minute I do any movement. You can even hear the blooming things graunching……
Anyway, I discovered that daily collagen tablets have eased the symptoms amazingly well, so generally, I can leap about and bend and stretch, and so on, with little difficulty. But….. for the last couple of weeks I have been intermittent in the taking of the tablets, having got a little bit out of routine. Hence the graunching of everything at yoga today. I managed to keep up mostly, but whenever Jaime suggested we might like to bend just a bit further, raise the leg a bit higher, hold the pose a little longer, or ‘chaturanga’ into an ‘up-dog‘, I baulked at the invitation. Maybe next week? Must keep taking the tablets.
Meanwhile, John took himself off into the garage and I nipped across to our marvellous village seamstress, Donna, to collect some trousers that she had turned up for Mum. Stayed and had a little chat and then moseyed up to the pharmacy to collect my prescription before making my way home to continue with some washing and a few more of the chores I’d started yesterday.
We were both beavering away at our little jobs, contented as can be, when John came into the kitchen and said, “See that?” I nodded. It was a stay for the Lotus car door. “See? The bolt to attach it to the car itself rattles around in the hole. There should be a metal bush……. but it’s missing.” Ah….. a rummage among all the spare parts he’s got in trays and boxes everywhere proved fruitless. No appropriate bush. And there we are – another day when hours will be spent on the internet trying to find the right thing, sending away for it, waiting for it to arrive and keeping fingers crossed that it’s the right one when it does!!!
We went over to Pete and Dawn’s this afternoon for a cup of tea and a piece of cake. That was lovely. Relaxing and stimulating at the same time. Marvellous to be with friends who know us so well that the conversation just flows. John told the tale of the bush-less stay. Pete said he’d got lots of spare parts in his garage, too. They agreed that, on Sunday when John goes there for lunch, he’ll spend a happy hour rummaging through Pete’s trays and boxes. Fingers crossed he finds something suitable – it would save hours of research.
We left Pete and Dawn’s just before tea-time, having promised to pop over to the Kenilworth Newbies to hear all about their week with Danielle’s parents and to help out as best we could. They continue to be exhausted. Three boys….. gosh, I know what that’s like. There is nothing like that particular fatigue of caring for children and holding down a decent job, is there?
We cooked tea and stayed until it was time to put the boys to bed. I had the pleasure of reading William a couple of bedtime stories before he settled down. “Pat me?” he said, hopefully. “Yes, I’ll pat you,” I replied. “And sing a lullaby…..?” he continued. So we went through my repertoire of lullabies and nursery rhymes and then, when those were exhausted, William offered more suggestions of his own. Oh, bliss.
Meanwhile, over in the other Kenilworth Sleath household, I believe that the Tooth Fairy may be called upon again, very soon. Harriet sent us a photo of Freddie this afternoon, his upper tooth having migrated into the gap left by the falling out of his other tooth yesterday. He is impersonating Worzel Gummidge, by Paul’s account…….I agree and it made me chuckle. Bless him – he’s definitely thrilled with his wobbly teeth!. What do you think? Remind you of Worzel Gummidge with the central tooth, the rosy cheeks and the dishevelled hair? Tee-hee! Gorgeous.
When we got home after our visit to Kenilworth, I ran out into the garden to collect in the washing. The once-dry washing was now rather wet as a result of the shower in progress. Booooo…….I spent a little while sorting it out onto the clothes horse and then remembered, with a sinking feeling, that I’d taken the sheets off the bed earlier in the day and had yet to put clean ones on…… Well, there was little job I didn’t particularly want to do at the end of the day. Another Booooo…… ah, well…. but I do like to get into bed with nice, clean (ironed) sheets, don’t you?
