Reindeer that move!

Had a lovely evening around my friend’s last night. Both daughters were there, Laura was home from University for a bit – no lectures until mid next week (gosh it was never like that in my College days). Husband Mick has erected the first of the garden Christmas lights, some super reindeer silhouettes, which are illuminated in white lights, and with moving heads! Fab, just like Santa’s grotto.

Wendy had baked a delicious lasagne and her brother, who is staying with her at the moment, bought home a huge gateaux from Tesco (where he works) which they were about to throw out as it was 1 day over the sell by date. It was perfectly ok and it makes we cross that the supermarkets are so wasteful – what about all the homeless charities they could give stuff to.

Wendy is coming up to her busiest time of year at work as she is a head cook and has to cook Christmas dinner for over 300 factory workers. Not something I would relish (it reminds me why I got out of catering many years ago).

Got home after a rainy drive back at about 9.pm and watched Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Lead Balloon and I’m a Celebrity.

At the rain came down...........

Very busy day today at work. One of the other PA's is currently off sick so I've been doing her bosses work too. It was interesting doing audio tapes for him as everyone has their difficult styles - Mike's is quite humorous and he likes lots of smily faces etc put in the text and why not - life's too short to be too dryly academic.

Work has also been quite noisy as the Arboriculture course students were extensively trimming (with chain saws) the huge trees that border our staff car park.

Spoke to our roofer this evening and Monday is 'the day' when he is coming back yet again to try and do the works to meet Building Control's criteria. Third time lucky I really do hope.

When I got home I was rather annoyed to find that the wonderful Royal Mail (see also yesterday's rant) had left a parcel slap bang in the middle of our door mat for the whole world to see. It so easily could have been tucked behind our bin or a plant pot to make it more secure but oh no that's too much trouble..........

On a rather happier note, I wrote two letters of complaint recently (yes, I know I'm rather good at it!) to Sainsburys and Odeon Cinemas. Sainsburys have coughed up a shopping voucher and today Odeon have sent two free cinema tickets - result !!! Now just have to choose what film we want to go and see for free :-)

The weather outside is torrential rain and Peter has gone out - I do worry that extra bit when he's out in the car when the weather is so foul.

This evening I'm going to be writing Christmas food lists for our big Sainsers delivery the week before Christmas - I'm looking forward to ordering some Christmas booze - the stuff I only ever drink at Christmas like Baileys.......yummm

Royal Mail - Pah !

Called into the Royal Mail sorting office this morning to collect a Special Delivery letter for Peter. After waiting some minutes for anyone to attend to my 'buzz' a woman appeared and spent 10 minutes searching for the letter, only to state 'sorry, I can't find it'. Great! Left my name and number and drove to work. Arrived at work and the boss said Royal Mail have just phoned to say they have found the letter and 'do I want it delivered?' eh, no - that's the whole reason of me going to collect it. Arranged to go again on way home and upon getting there the letter was found after some hunting about.I was dreading them saying they couldn't find it again.

Work was busy and the boss flung lots of last minute things at me all throughout the day, most of them items for meetings that were just about to start - nothing like a bit of pressure to keep one on ones toes!

Worked out that I only have 13 more work days until I finish for my much longed for Christmas break - hoorah. I have a diary note to book our Christmas Sainsburys delivery tomorrow - you have to get your order in dead early approaching Christmas and tomorrow is the first day that the week before Christmas delivery times become available so I will be straight on line reserving a slot. I cannot extol the virtues of getting Christmas groceries delivered enough - instead of fighting for a space in the car park, wrestling with crowds and queues and sseing people lose their tempers, you just calmly unpack the things that the wonderful delivery guy has just lugged to your door - totally worth the £2.50 weekday delivery charge.

Quiet day today - on my own all morning at work so caught up with everything. Seemed to get dark extra early this afternoon as the weather had been so drizzly today. Actually had nice post on the mat when I got home, 'She' for me and 'Bird Watching' for Peter which I'll take a peak at later.

Don't laugh, but I considered joining the WI today. I have a yearning to join some sort of group at the moment, possibly with an art/craft element and the WI do a fair bit of that. Still mulling the idea over at the moment.

Ordered a few more Christmas pressies on line today - oh it's so scarily easy to spend money on Amazon. I should have shares in them alright!

Our roofer rang this evening and he appears to be 'playing ball' again after my firm phone call the other night. Please god let the end of the hassle be in sight.

This evening, I'm just chilling and watching the box. We also thoroughly enjoyed Cranford which we'd taped from last night - we have a theory that each episode is going to have a funny animal element. Last week was the lace swallowing cat and this week it was a cow in pyjamas.

Cup of Tea and a Quiet Day

What a nice day today has been. Woke up and looked out of the window to see frost covering the garden which made it look very pretty and peaceful.

Had a cup of tea (made by Peter) in front of Breakfast News and then pottered about a bit. Peter felt well enough to go to footie but took the car instead of the train today to cut down on his travelling time (plus he has promised to bring home yummy take-a-way).

My original plan was to go to London today to see the Terracotta Warriors but my friends' husband no longer works for the company who were organising the coach trip, so that fell through. I really didn't mind as I've been quite content to be holed up for the day. Mum and Dad rang and dropped subtle hints about calling in but I suggested they come next weekend instead for lunch so my quiet day was saved.

Pal Wendy rang during the day and I have arranged to see her one night this week which will be nice.

Have spent the afternoon tidying, putting my winter clothes into my main wardrobe and dumping the summer stuff into the spare room, wrapping a few Christmas presents and watching a couple of films. A day of creating calm out of the chaos of clutter.

Rooms and Romanse

Work dragged today, had a pretty severe headache for most of the afternoon but after medication it lifted not long before I went home. Emailed my brother during the day, inviting myself to Bristol near Christmas when I have some time off; Travelodge are doing some cheap room £19 rates again so I might stay overnight if he replies to me soon enough to take advantage of the offer (my brother's not known for his quick replies so not sure if he'll let me know in time to bag a room deal but we'll see).

I texted Peter during the morning to see how he'd got on at the dentist with his extractions but didn't hear back so I was a bit concerned that either he was in too much pain to reply or that the dentist had declined to do the work as he still had an infection. However, when I got home Peter was up and about and feeling mightily relieved his first lot of treatment was over and he filled me in with the gory details. He had also bought me some flowers on his way home which was a nice surprise :-).

I went to my bed dead early this evening and watched 'I'm a Celeb' etc and a bit of QI from under the duvet - bliss!

Books & Teeth

Managed to sell 3 books today at work which will help to deplete our book pile in the front room - hoorah!

Peter's teeth starting playing up again, badly, this evening - I knew it must be really bad when he went up to bed and didn't want to watch 'Never Mind the Buzzcocks' or 'Red Balloon' - two of his favourite shows. He is seeing the dentist again tomorrow so hopefully things will start to improve from then.

Very short blog today as not a lot happened really.

Shopping & Weasel Roofers

Pretty non eventual day at work so nothing to comment on there really.

On the way home I called into Matalan and managed to get a cardigan and two jumpers for me, a t-shirt for my friend's husband, a present for Peter, 3 rolls of 18m gift wrap, 2 packs of Christmas cards, a mirror compact set for a friend - all for just under £60 and I got a £5 gift voucher back - not bad ! When I came out of Matalan it was tipping down again and I got decidedly soggy going back to the car - yuk.

When I got home we had the dreaded letter from the building inspector on the mat. Rang our roofer to tell him the bad news that the work still wasn't up to spec. and he would have to come back to rectify and the weasel starting trying to slide out of it by saying 'it was costing him lots of money' and 'I would have preferred you got another roofer in to do the extra work'. At this point my voice was getting squeaky -as it always does when I get really angry - but I managed to remain calm and firmly put him in his place and said WE are the client and WE want the job done properly by HIM not some other third party. He accepted what I said and I hope he doesn't renege on his agreement to contact the structural engineer to meet at the house and get it sorted. Our ace card is that we are holding on to a lot of his money so I guess he dare not walk off the job - if we had paid him in full I have no doubt that he would and I no longer trust him.

Watching Diet Doctors and I'm a Celebrity tonight to take my mind off things.

Late & 28th

First shock of the day was that I walked into the office (unusually late for once) and the two bosses were still there when they should have been on a train to Birmingham. Typical, I am hardly ever late and on the morning I am they are both their to witness it - drat! After driving like a maniac to get into work I was looking forward to looking at my emails in a calm environment with a cup of coffee but that was scuppered. My colleague and I agreed that we don't like it when our bosses go 'off plan' and decide their own itinerary, that's our job. Anyway, they departed an hour later allowing Sue and I a much needed catch up day and I even got some filing done - hoorah!

I have a big conference on the horizon on the 28 Nov which is taking up a lot of my time, the hotel venue is all organised now but the transport is proving a nightmare. No-one is answering emails to say if they will be using their own cars or want to take a ride on the mini buses so I can see it going to the eleventh hour and no buses or drivers being available - arrhhhhh. Plus someone has helpfully tacked their meeting on to the end of mine so I have some delegates who need to come away at lunch time, some joining at lunch time and some staying for the whole day - a logistical nightmare. The 28th is proving to being one of our diary nightmare days where everyone wants to book other meetings on the same day - we get these days quite regularly. Roll on Christmas and time off!

This evening Peter was at football so I started wrapping some Christmas presents. Mainly Peter's so if he finds them by mistake he won't know what's in them - tee hee. I don't know why Christmas present wrapping is exhausting but it is - maybe it's all the running up and down stairs to get them and then playing hunt the scissors etc.

Cranford

What a rainy and murky day today was - winter is really setting in. As Peter was working from home today I adjusted my scrooge heating plan and had the heating on all day - normally it clicks off as soon as we walk out of the door!

Work was busy but manageable and there were a few laughs to make the day go along nicely. On the way home I called into Lidls and bought a few Christmas presents (they were having a tool sale this week). I am almost finished now, just need to get something for my brother's wife, something else for dad and some stocking fillers (yes, we still have them!)

This evening we watched 'Cranford' which we'd been too tired to watch on Sunday night and what a delight it was! I absolutely loved it and it was so funny - the bit with the cat and the lace was brilliant. Can't wait for the next episode - although we will probably annoy ourselves again by saying "I've seen her in something, what's here name?" all the way through. So if anyone knows the name of the actress that plays the maid to the two sisters (who keeps introducing callers incorrectly) and was also in the House of Elliott (I think), please let me know.

Heavens Above!

Well, a couple of things fell out of the sky today - lots and lots of rain - it hasn't let up all day and a heron in our garden. I first spotted the heron flying out of our garden just as I was about to go out this morning and, whilst I was out, Peter saw it land in our fir tree (no doubt a viewing platform for next door's pond which has fish in it). Anyway, a joy for us if not so for our neighbour.

I went out in the rain to Sainsburys and Marks and Spencers at the out of town sheds. Although Marks and Spencers do some lovely stuff, they really could lay it out better. They don't seem to believe in straight isles, everything is dotted around everywhere. So if you want a jumper you could look in the Per Una section or perhaps the Autograph section or perhaps the Classic section or what about the Plus collection, none of which are clearly marked anyway so you wander from one to the other and only know you have moved section when you read a label on the clothes. The gifts that I had come in for used to be conveniently placed downstairs (3 for 2's and all that) but they have been put upstairs so it means putting your trolley in the lift.

Anyway, I emerged about an hour and half later into the rain and must shamefully admit that I abandoned my trolly in the car park as the rain was so heavy I got drenched just getting to the car (I'm not normally that lazy or inconciderate honest!).

We've been catching up on watching taped programmes this afternoon and we'll be watching Cranford tonight. It was filmed in Lacock which is a village owned almost entirely by the National Trust which we visited about a year ago. It will be interesting to see if we recognise anything after the film companies make over........

Friends & Books

Peter wasn't well enough to come out this morning so I went over to Andover on my own and picked up my friend Wendy and went to the book sale. We bought a stack of books each and I earned Fiancee points by picking up a book on exploring churches for Peter. It was warm enough to sit outside the book sale hall and have a coffee and a bit of cake. After the book sale we had a mooch around a local charity shop before returning to Wendy's place for lunch. Made plans with Wendy to go and see Fiddler on the Roof at the Bournemouth International Centre next year (June no less) so that's something to look forward to.

I headed home around 2 O'clock and found Peter relaxing in front of the horse racing in his PJ's. He doesn't get much chance to watch sport with me around so I don't blame him.

This afternoon, it was tipping down with rain, so we settled down to watch a film - The Number 23, with Jim Carey. It was a bit weird but it passed a wet afternoon.

Teddy Bears & Deers

Sort of a mixed day at work today, lots of conference organising. Also had a near miss re. falling out with someone - instead a sort of tense silence fell between us for about an hour whilst we both wrestled with the temptation to have the last word I suspect - in the end neither of us said anything which I guess is for the best....

My day was brightened up with the various children in need things going on. I registered mine and Peter's bears into the Teddy Bear sleep over for the day (they received a pot of honey each as a reward); bought some yummy millionaire shortbread, a Pudsey biscuit and some Pudsey chocolates - yum. Also had a go at Cluedo that Registry were running and have yet to find out if I've won anything in that yet ........ various people were also wandering around the place in their pyjamas (I was quite jealous as they looked so comfortable).

Back at the ranch I picked up the phone to speak to dad about the roof - my thinking being that if I got the saga out in the open before we visit tomorrow that hopefully the subject will be dropped when we actually met up. Well, blow me down with a feather but my dad was quite chill about it and didn't criticise how we were handling it at all - plus they are currently tied up with something tomorrow so we won't be visiting them tomorrow anyway!

Not sure what's happening tomorrow yet, I'm definitely going to my favourite book sale and picking up my pal Wendy up at 9 O'clock who wants to come too but Peter is suffering with his teeth so he may decide to stay at home in the warm.

Tonight we are watching some taped stuff including the last Autumn Watch episode - those 2 weeks sure went too quick - roll on Springwatch. Although I do think the Scottish deer are getting a bit too much exposure - I think I've seen enough of their large pink willies for a while !!!!

!*£!*^%*!

Couldn't think of an expletive title strong enough for this blog...

Yes, you guessed it, the Building Inspector came today (or rather his side kick did) and won't issue our certificate because our roofer has put a slightly narrower bit of wood in one of the sections of the roof than specified on the drawing and built a V shaped structure over our water tank instead of just going above it (as per drawing). When Peter rang to tell me at work I immediately entered foul mood territory which turned to exasperation and the urge to phone up our Roofer the Building Inspector and Structural Engineer and say 'for gods sake get our bloody roof sorted, we've put up with this since the end of August and it's bloody November'. It is stressing me out and I know we'll get my dad's two penneth worth when we visit at the weekend too which is something to look forward too - not! Now we have to wait for a letter from the Building Inspector advising what needs to be done, then to call the Structural Engineer out again and then get the Roofer back, then get the Building Inspector out again to request our certificate AGAIN!

Well, I feel a bit better after my rant. I wish I was more like Peter who just seems to be able to shrug and say, oh well, we'll get it sorted. I know we will but I just can't see past the frustration of it. The older I get the more control freeky I get - there must be a class out there I could go to to find a cure............

Rubbish Day - Rubbish Rubbish Collection!

Bit of a rubbish day today really - work was non stop.

Also, when I rang the Building Inspector about getting our roof signed off he said he wasn't available but would send a colleague tomorrow. I really wanted the original guy to come as he assured me that his second visit would be a rubber stamp job but now he's sending a 'colleague' I just hope he keeps to the original guys word. If he doesn't I shall be literally screaming from the roof tops tomorrow.

For the second week running our bin men appear to be on strike. Our black bin should have been emptied on Monday on it's fortnightly collection but it's still there today un-emptied so that's 2.5 weeks of rotting rubbish - I have a good mind to dump it on the Councils door step - grhhhhh

I've been writing my Christmas list tonight as Peter is dropping so many hints about his - one has to keep up you know!

Going off to bed shortly as I seem to be having one of my horrible monthly episodes (sorry, too much information I know). Hot water bottle here I come!

Birdhouse in your soul

One of the guys at work is a bit of handyman on the quiet and is selling bird boxes for £4.00 - what a bargain! Needless to say I bought one and jolly nice it is too - I hope the birdies appreciate it come springtime!

Reminded me of some lyrics from a song I like:-

"Not to put too fine a point on it
Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet
Make a little birdhouse in your soul"

Got home at my usual time and was very surprised and pleased to see that our roofer had finished the structural works in one day instead of 2. I had a peep in the roof and I kid you not - there are enough heavy duty beams and supports in there to support the empire estate building so if it doesn't pass building inspection now I don't know what will!

Peter got home a bit after me, having been to the dentist, and he has some antibiotics to clear his toothache up and is having to go back for some extractions -not good news but what needs to be done needs to be done.

Peter cooked tea tonight, we were both starving so has Egg, chips and onion rings - not exactly healthy but it hit the spot for sure.

This evening we'll be catching up with Autumn Watch (which we both forgot was on last night) and then I'm a Celebrity which is a bitch fest already !

Peter is dropping some heavy 'what I want for Christmas/Birthday' hints so I'm going to start my request list tonight - I shall be browsing Amazon at length - do you know that they even sell shoes now? Word domination awaits I think..

Good Things Today
The end in sight for our roof problems I hope!
Having a laugh with Peter
Buying a bird box
Cool evening telly

Monday - Back at Work

Work went in a flash today as inevitably, after a few days off, there is a lot to catch up on - not least the dreaded emails.

On the way home I called into our 'new' dentist as Peter had been trying to call them all day without success. We feared that, having only just registered, that they might have shut down. Thankfully they hadn't, and were still open, and I managed to get Peter an appointment for tomorrow afternoon. He was suffering badly with toothache last night and desperately needs some relief.

Watched a recording of 'My Son Jack' from Sunday night about Rudyard Kippling and his son. What a weepy that was - hankies out in force.

Roofer successfully measured up for the roof works today and starts work tomorrow. Please god let the end be in site on this one!

I'm starting to make arrangements for Christmas re. social stuff which is nice - I like to see the diary filling up with people that I/we are going to be seeing over the festive period.

Beautiful Church

On the way home today we stopped off at St Mary’s and St Nicholas church in Wilton, Wiltshire. It’s architect loved Italian design and it is truly stunning both inside and out. Pictures to follow.

As we walked in, to have a look around, we heard music and found that there was a small group of musicians and a singer rehearsing a Bach concert. We sat in a pew and listened for about half an hour – it was beautiful and it made we feel very calm and tranquil. If I thought that visiting a church could make me feel that every time I think I could get religion but I somehow think it’s not all just about the entertainment!

Bridgwater Carnival

Wow what a fabulous weekend away we had - on Friday we wended our way gently to Taunton and checked into our Travelodge. Just after 4 O'clock we travelled a few miles down the road to Bridgwater for the carnival (pictures to follow). The procession didn't start until 7.00pm so we wandered around the town and then went into the church for a cup of tea and a slice of cake before finding our seats in one of the pre-bookable stands. As I booked back in June we had front row seats - the carnival more than lived up to expectations - it was wonderful and I would recommend everyone to go and see it.

The carnival finished at around 10.00pm and we could have stayed on later to see the 'squibbing' - that's men carrying poles around the streets with lit fireworks on the end (yes really! health and safety don't seem to have ruined it yet!) but we decided to go back to the car - that was the only down side to the evening, as the roads are not opened into the procession has finished its circuit we sat goind no-where for about 45 mins; but then when the traffic did start to move everyone got road rage and two cars, who were not even in the queue and still in a parking space, tried to ram our car as we wouldn't let them in - Peter quickly switched lanes before we got a dent but it was scary stuff!

Fireworks and a Girly Day Out

After work yesterday I picked Peter up from Winchester station and we drove back to the College to see the free fireworks that the student association put on each year. We arrived 45 minutes early so I took Peter up to the staff room for a coffee and to raid the snack machine as we were starving! It didn't help that a group of lecturers from the Horticulture Department came and sat near us eating bags of chips (they smelt wonderful!)

AT 6.30pm we walked up to the very dark field behind the student hostels and watched the 'responsible' lecturers light the bonfire with the aid of cans of petrol - hmmmm. Half an hour later it was blast off time and the display (which was fab) lasted for about 20 minutes - short but high on quality. Afterwards we headed back home in time to pick up a KFC and to catch Springwatch - perfect!

Today I had the day off - hoorah!

Spent the morning hoovering and tidying and my friend Carol came round at about 11.00am and we sat gossiping in the conservatory for about an hour. Then we headed off to a local very posh garden centre and had a good browse around their shop which had all the Christmas decorations in (lots of very beautiful shinny things). Then we went to their cafe for a long lunch, after which we were joined by another friend, Bridget, who has had a very hard time over the last few months. Things are slowly turning a corner for her and her hubbie I think which was good to hear. We didn't leave the cafe until about 4pm and were amazed to find it almost dark outside - we'd had no idea we had been chatting for so long!!! Departed friends, promising to meet up again before Christmas.

As I got home the heavens opened and it was nice to change into my 'slobby' clothes and relax with a magazine in front of the fire whilst I waited for Peter to get home.

It has been a lovely lovely day - somehow going out with friends on a day that you would normally be working feels so much more special somehow.

Tights, Tchibo and Tiredness

Busy day at work today - only just managed to get everything I needed to get done by the skin of my teeth. It's always the way when you have a few days leaving coming up - difficult jobs that you weren't expecting to receive soddenly appear and take up hours of time - oh well......

Had to call into town on my way home to buy some tights - yes winter must be approaching if I'm conceding to wearing the blessed garment again. I hate the constrictiveness of tights but the alternative of baring my fading 'brown' legs to the world doesn't bear thinking about so I'm stuck with them. Managed to park in the high street and parallel park in quite a tight space - I looked around for applause when I got out of the car but none came - shame!

Also popped into Tchibo to use a voucher - now Peter doesn't 'get this' but I think it makes perfect sense. I had a voucher to get a free jar of coffee (worth £2.85) if I spent £5.00 in the store. So I went in and spent exactly £5 on part of a Christmas present for a friend and got my free jar. Now I think that is a bargain but Peter thinks I should just have gone and bought a jar of coffee from Sainsburys - me thinks men's and women's brains work differently.

Did a bit of much needed housework tonight as a friend is coming round on Thursday, prior to going out to lunch, and I want it to look nice as her house is immaculate (I wish I could be a 'take me or leave me merchant' but I would feel so embarrassed to have it looking untidy).

This evening had to pick Peter up from the train at 11.08pm and actually went to bed for a bit and had a kip before waking again as there is no way I can stay awake otherwise .........sign of getting old

Christmas Lunches, Bin Men and Orange Hair

I was largely on my own at work today which meant I could really crack on with things. I managed to finally get the Secretaries/PA's Christmas lunch sorted out which has been a challenge to say the least - there are 24 of us and to maintain cover I split everyone into two groups to go out on different days; some staff work part time, some wanted to be on the same day as their friends, some couldn't make certain days because of meetings etc but somehow it all came together and I phoned our wonderful local public house to confirm (I think if the Landlord had said he was fully booked on the days I had chosen I would have stabbed him but luckily he didn't)phew! and I really do still LOVE Christmas honest!!

It's semi dark when I get home in the evenings now but I still had a little time to dig and weed our front rose bed which has been looking rather sad of late. Our local bin men are on strike so neither our green recycling bin or our glass recycling box got emptied which is a pain. Apparently they are on strike for pretty much the same reason as the Postman were ie. once they have finished their round they can go home even if they are paid up to hours later - hmmm so maybe that's why our bins and bags are thrown willy nilly over our driveway! Anyway the Council, quite rightly in my view, want them to work up to the end of their shift (for which they are paid for) and if they finish their round early to help other crews who haven't. I can just imagine how the College would cope if everyone said "right I've done my pile of paperwork for today and I'm going home 2 hours early, so don't bother giving me any more work" - yeah right!

The wonderful Autumn Watch was back on tonight but as I was so tired I snoozed through most of it - except when Peter dug me in the ribs to tell me they had some hedgehogs on. I do remember seeing that Bill had half of his hair dyed orange on one side and wondering if it was for real or our TV set needed adjusting - nobody seemed to mention it on the show so maybe I imagined it after all!

Gardening and Giving

We set about the garden this morning - we mowed and strimmed the lawn area, swept up leaves, weeded some beds, swept paths and packed up the garden furniture for the winter.

As we'd both been busy in the garden all morning, I cooked up some pork steaks in sauce accompanied by stuffing and mash - we don't normally have 'proper meals' at lunch time but I thought we'd burnt off enough energy to deserve it!

During the afternoon a family that had contacted us through Freecyle knocked on the door and we got rid of our two huge floor cushions to them. It was good to get offload something we no longer need and to see someone else so happy to get something they needed for free :-) Win win really.

This afternoon I've sorted out a huge pile of paperwork that had been festering in the kitchen - it is now in some sort of order thank goodness.

My next project is to sort out our second spare room, as we so rarely have overnight guests it doesn't make sense having a huge double bed in it taking up the whole room. Instead we are going to get a fold out single one and use the room the rest of the time as a sort of Library as we have so many books.

This evening we'll be watching Top Gear and The Long Way Round with Charlie Bowman and Ewan McGregor - very inspiring those two guys........

Lovely Day

Made it to Lidls as it opened and got the couple of bits for the car I had wanted plus an advent calendar each (we are such kids!)

Then it was down to Ringwood to have a wander around. I bought some more Christmas presents and we had lunch at a pavement cafe (yes in November it really was warm enough to sit outside!)

Then we went to a nature reserve at Blashford and jolly nice it was there too - a visitors centre, lovely woodland walks, some hides and lakes - the weather was perfect too. I will let Peter comment on the birds we saw as he has the full list and may have seen a rarity - he has to check his photographic evidence first.

Then we went in hunt of a church Peter wanted to see but after much hunting we couldn't find it - we have since found out that it is the grounds of a rather grand house so that was why.

Finally we took a country route back through the New Forest which was bathed in a wonderful golden light as the sun went down - hi-lighting the wonderful colour of autumn leaves.

When we got home we sat in front of the fire with a lovely cheese and biscuit selection with grapes - bliss or what!

Friday

Busy day at work today, I got through my first pile around lunch time and was planning my afternoon sorting stuff out and filing but things never work like that do they/ My boss called me into his office and I came out with a huge basket full of new stuff - managed to crack it by the end of the day though so all is not lost......

Started drawing up my Christmas list today - listing everyone I need to buy for, things I have bought already and things I need to get. I would say I'm about 25% there which I suppose is ok as we've only just hit November!

Finally had some 'goodish' news on the roof situation. Our roofer as spoken to the structural engineer and now understands his drawings - hoorah. He hopes to come and do the work in about a week and a halfs time and it should only take a day - fingers crossed. I've told Peter that we are going to crack open the bottle of bubbly that we have in the fridge when it has been done and it has passed the Building Inspector - it has been such a long drawn out affair I think it will be deserved by then.

Should be a good weekend this weekend as we are just doing stuff we enjoy and the only visitors we will have is a couple who are coming to collect two large cushions we have which we offered on Freecycle.

It was good telly tonight - Have I got news for you, Armstrong and Miller and QI - just the sort of uplift you need at the end of the week.........

Food, Films and Flousies

After work I picked Peter up from the railway station at Brockenhurst, it was a lovely drive through the Forest on the way and as it was semi light, Lyndhurst looked beautiful with the lights in the shop windows sparkling with their Christmas lights (yes I know it was still October yesterday!)

Anyway, collected Peter and then went to the Sir John Barleycorn for a meal which was lovely, if a little pricey. We savoured our meal until 7.30pm and then went on to the cinema to see Run, Fatboy Run which we enjoyed although our seats (which were the expensive ones) were hideously uncomfortable.

On our way and in, and out, of the cinema we had to push past hoards of teenagers waiting to go into a disco. To say that the girls were scantily clad would be an under statement (Peter said he hadn’t noticed – hmmmmm).

Anyway, our Trick or Treat, avoidance plan worked and we didn’t encounter any and any coming to our home would have been sadly disappointed. Sorry, but I’ve gone very bah humbug about Halloween – a straw poll at my office resulted in about 70% of people saying they either stayed in with the lights off and curtains drawn so as to appear out or actually went out (me thinks that restaurants and cinemas must make lots of money that night!)