Lazy Hazy Daze

I never thought I would say this, but these hot, humid, hazy days are not good for me, they are making me very lazy. All I want to do of late, is eat, sleep, sit, sunbathe and drink jugs of sangria. Certainly not good for the body or the soul! Phil has come up of an ingenious way of getting red of the cheap red wine that we brought back from France by making sangria. This is good but his latest home made concoction blows your head off the next day – literally. I know I should refuse a glass but it tastes so delicious with all the ice and fruit and before you’re know it, its too late and you’re blown away. It’s a jolly good job we don’t have to get up for work in the mornings!

One of the things on Phil’s ‘things to do before you die’ list is to walk the length of the canal from Milton Keynes to Birmingham and to London. Over the last few years we’ve made it as far from MK to Weedon but haven’t managed to do many walks other than around where we live. I wasn’t keen, but on Monday Phil dragged me into the car and we set off on the M1 towards Weedon. We parked up at The New Inn in Long Buckby and walked towards Weedon and the bridge that we had got up to on our last walk a couple of years ago. It was hot and sunny but we had a pleasant walk with many locks and big houses backing on to the canal. When we reached our bridge number (can’t remember which one) we turned around and made our way back to The New Inn for lunch. Although it was meant to be Day 1 of the diet, I ended up with scampi and chips and of course, a glass of white wine. I had been telling myself that I would just have a chicken Caesar salad but they had no such food on the menu. What can a girl do? Phil had steak pie; both meals were frozen and not brilliant nor cheap but edible.

After lunch Phil dragged me away from the pub and we walked towards Birmingham, this time our target being Watling Street Bridge. This part of the walk wasn’t so pretty, the path was narrow and sodden in places and we met a really big vicious dog with a muzzle. The stupid young chav like couple had him off the lead and just about managed to get the beast back on before we passed. As the path was so narrow they had to practically climb back up the bank because even though it was on a lead and muzzled, it was still trying to attack us. I do like dogs but I am wary these days after getting chased by a pack of wild dogs in Sri Lanka. Phil was happy when we reached Watling Street and so we turned around and made our way back to the car to head home.

As it was hot and sunny and we were exhausted and sweaty after our walk, Phil made a jug of sangria to sate our thirsts. Sometime into the second jug Steve Pem arrived to pick up Ed’s sat nav, which unbeknown to me, he’d left in the glove compartment of my car. I rarely lock my car so he was lucky it hadn’t been nicked. We both had sore heads on Tuesday morning so we just pottered about, Phil poured over his stocks and shares while I half heartedly did some much needed domestics. The skies clouded over and we had a few light showers in the afternoon so we decided to go to the cinema as it was half price day. I wanted to see Mama Mia but it was Phil’s turn to pick and we went to see Hancock. I wasn’t particularly keen but although the film was a bit silly in places, I enjoyed it.

On the way back to the car which we parked at Campbell Park we popped into the George Wimpey sales centre as we’d seen a sign advertising one bed apartments from £75K. Turns out that this is a government partnership with George Wimpey specifically for first time buyers. Me and Phil were impressed with the standard of finish of the show apartment and from what we can tell from the literature that we took away, it’s an excellent deal for people trying to get on the property ladder. http://www.georgewimpey.co.uk/. We had Harriet in mind when we viewed but she wants to buy somewhere that she can take her dog.

Steve Buckton arrived at ours sometime after 7pm on Tuesday night. Steve is back from Japan for the week for his mum’s 80th birthday party. If the weather had been nice, Phil would have done a bbq but it was cloudy and getting on a bit so Harriet dropped us off at The Giffard where we all had a curry. So much for the diet! We were home just in time to watch Big Brother; I went to bed just after and I think the boys stayed up until midnight. Phil did a cooked breakfast for Steve on the barbeque. I wasn’t going to have any but ended up with a plateful. It’s impossible to eat fruit and yogurt when those all around you are tucking into a full monty.

Steve left after breakfast and me and Phil went to David Lloyd for a Jacuzzi and a shower. We should have done a workout or at the very least had a swim but we were too knackered. After the usual barbeque for lunch we loaded the car with tools and went to the TMA flat to cut the communal grass areas, trim back the trees, pick up the litter and generally tidy up. It was hot and luckily for me Phil did most of the work. At least it got us up off our backsides and when we got home Phil touched up with the garage door with special paint sent from the supplier while I cleaned the windows. The sun was still in full force when we finished and Phil thought we deserved a jug of sangria on the patio. Needless to say we went on to have another and the rest as they say, is history. I know they say you should make hay while the sun shines but why the bloody hell does it always make me feel so darn guilty??????????