Happy Days

Phil has told me that I must do a blog today because he’s sick of looking at the photo of himself in his apron showing his bum in the mirror. So here I am, although I’m not sure I have anything of interest to relay. It’s been a grey old week in more ways than one. The forecast said it was going to be in the 70’s with lots of sunny skies. They got that wrong (again); we have had so little sun this week that even my solar garden lights have stopped working. It’s true; when I get up at 3am and come down stairs to make tea, which I drink in front of my computer screen, I like to lift up the kitchen blind to admire my solar lights glowing in the dark. And this week they’ve not lit up once. A sure sign me thinks, that signals the end of a summer that just never got off the ground.

August is notoriously bad for selling houses but this August has been a really bad one. Everybody knows about the credit crunch because you can’t escape it but me and Phil are realising its worse that we had originally thought. We’ve had no interest in the TMA flat which is up for sale; we’re going to get another agent to do some aggressive marketing and perhaps drop the price but if this doesn’t work we shall have no choice but to rent it out again. We’d got Adam from Morgans round to our house on Wednesday to give us a rental valuation. Adam was telling us that they have sold only one house in the whole of August and have stopped advertising sales altogether. They are lucky as an agent because they have a strong rental portfolio which is now sustaining their business.

Adam really liked our house and said although it was only a 3 bed, because of its uniqueness he thought we could rent it out for anywhere between a £1,000 - £12,00 per month. This is about what we thought but to attract a quick rent we’ll try it at £995 pcm. I think the calibre of tenant is more important to us than the income. I am hoping that we get a corporate client, preferably an MD that doesn’t smoke, doesn’t have pets, goes home at the weekends and who doesn’t mind the barking dogs next door or the late night poker parties across the way. It’s highly unlikely I know but one can but hope. Our original plan was to do this house up and put it up for sale at a profit but we have no chance in the current market.

So the plan is we get tenants in the cul-de-sac and we move into the CCF which has been vacant since the last tenants moved out because of the floods. We have to move quickly before the introduction of ECP certificates which every rental property must have as of the 1st October. Hey Ho. Do I really want to move out of my lovely newly decorated house with automated garage doors into a ground floor flat in a block which has been infested with mice, is prone to leaks from the upstairs flat and still smells of Indian cooking? No not really but Phil tells me we must do this to reduce our tax bill. Did I mention that the flat sits between the kebab shop and the barbers shop? There is also a Halal takeaway nearby too, aren’t I lucky?

Needless to say that Harriet isn’t happy about the imminent move and is currently not talking to me. I did suggest she move in with her dad as he has a spare room which will give her more room and also is right next to the OU. This apparently is out of the question even though Chris would love to have her and she now thinks I don’t want her to live with us which is not the case. KIDS!!!!!!!

I am trying but struggling to stay positive. On a happier note, we are off to Spain on holiday next Wednesday. Phil has booked cheap EasyJet flights and we are staying with Mads & Steve in Mads sisters apartment. I am really looking forward to it; who knows I may not just come back.

Happy days.

Never trust a thin Chef!

Nor a naked one for that matter!!!! Oh this photo has to be my scoop of the year! It was Phil’s birthday on Sunday and I couldn’t believe my luck when he quite happily agreed to put on his birthday present apron on the prefix to see if it fitted. I had the fore sense to take out my camera when I took up his cards, presents, cup of tea and chocolate biscuit. Actually in his defence I have to say it was very early, he was barely awake and was suffering with a hangover from a very late night the night before. I hadn’t thought I was taking anything cheeky; it was only when I downloaded my images onto my PC that I remembered the full length mirror wardrobes behind. Great bum though, don’t you agree??!!

Steve Pem phoned me up earlier in the week to ask me if I had made any plans to celebrate Phil’s birthday. As you know I haven’t been much in the mood for partying of late and I told as much to Steve, but nonetheless, we arranged to go out to the Thai restaurant in Newport Pagnell on Saturday night. Steve, bless him picked us up from our house and we arrived at the restaurant bang on the dot of 7. Phil and I had only been to this restaurant for lunch and that was on the day before we left for our mega trip in India. We only ended up at this restaurant because Robinsons were fully booked and couldn’t fit us in. I seem to remember that the food was good but the service slow and our waiter couldn’t understand us.

I am pleased to say that the food was very good on Saturday and so was the service. My only regret was opting for the spring rolls and not having my usual favourite, the Tom Khai soup, for a starter. I always think I am going to try something different when we opt for Thai food but 9 times out of 10 its always Tom Khai soup and green chicken curry. We all had a good time and it was nice to catch up with Mads and Steve. Shame Steve had to drive especially as after we finished the meal we ended up back at our house for a few more drinks, well for me and Mads and it was quite late by the time we all got to bed.

Unfortunately we had a viewing at the CCF flat at 10am so after tea and chocolate biscuits we had to jump in the shower quick and scoot over to meet our potential tenants. Mr and Mrs Singh and baby boy turned up on time for our appointment and quite liked the flat. Mrs Singh is a surgeon at MK hospital; she’s only been there for 2 weeks so they don’t know Milton Keynes very well. They are only looking for a short term rent because currently they live in London and their dishwasher caught fire and burnt down their kitchen. They need somewhere close to her work while their kitchen is rebuilt; he works in Hemel but I’m not sure what his job is. We shall know today for sure whether they want the flat for certain. Fingers crossed we’ve got a deal.

Phil spent his birthday at home, reading the Sunday papers, eating and drinking and watching the telly. He was excited as it was the first grand prix in Valencia and he had been really looking forward to watching it. I cooked a roast dinner and we slobbed out all day. There was some mention of a walk along the canal but it just never happened. We didn’t do much yesterday either, a few flat jobs and some paperwork. We’ve got to up the anti today however; my ‘jobs to do' list is as long as your arm and in a minute I’ve got to clean the house from top to bottom before the estate agent arrives. He is coming to give us a rental evaluation but I’ll tell you more about that plan tomorrow. For now, I must get up and get my arse in gear.

Ex husbands and barking dogs

I know I have said before that this blogging business is addictive but trust me, it really is. I have about 5 blogs that I follow and every morning when I come down to switch the kettle on for my tea, the second thing I do is switch on my laptop to check for blog updates. It gives me a real buzz when one of my bloggers has posted a new entry and I feel deeply disappointed when they haven’t been in. At the moment I am following Steve in Japan, Frank & Joan who are living in Northern Cyprus, Julie, Tim & Emma and their New Zealand adventures and lastly but by no means least, I am following the young Fords on their soggy month’s trip across eastern Europe. There are 1 or 2 other blog sites that I check out but these are more information sites rather than personal. Once a blogger always a blogger I guess.

Phil has surprised me a couple of times this week by posting 2 really silly entries. Although I hated the silly funny face picture of me, I was grateful for his light hearted banter because I have had a really heavy heart this last week. The sad news that I mentioned was news that my friend’s husband has just been diagnosed with stomach cancer. I can’t say too much because he’s awaiting results from his CAT scans, but god only knows what they must be going through.

Not so devastating but still not good news was a phone call from another friend to tell me that her nasty good-for-nothing next-door neighbours put bricks through her lounge and kitchen windows. If that wasn’t bad enough the following night they lugged a brick through her car windscreen and front passenger seat window. She can’t prove anything because she didn’t have security cameras installed to catch them in the act. The police were called but I don’t think they will get the culprits convicted. I feel sorry for my friend because she is alone with 2 kids and has been staying up all night ever since to keep a vigil. The only positive thing is that an investor is buying her house and wants to complete in 28 days so at least she will have a chance to get away from the situation.

After hearing both sad & bad news, it wasn’t really surprising to say that we had yet another grey miserable week with all the usual flat crap stuff. Phil, under sufferance, did a couple of viewings at the Cranfield flat and we were pleased when he found a nice gentleman who wanted to take the flat straight away. After typing up the tenancy paperwork and putting it through his letterbox, we then had a phone call the following day to say he’d changed his mind. Phil was furious especially as he turned away another chap that was desperate to take the flat. All was not lost however, as Phil did a late viewing yesterday afternoon and Mr Algaffari, an Arabian MSc student at Cranfield University will be moving in on the 10th September. This is the first time we have let to an Arab so I will reserve any kind of judgement until after the tenancy.

On Thursday Chris (husband no 1) turned up wanting me to type up his CV which was about 20 years out of date. This isn’t the first time he’s asked me to do typing and copying and probably not the last. Chris has no IT skills whatsoever and I ended up creating him a hotmail account so he could put an email address on his CV. This turned out to be a bad idea because he’s phoned up-teen times ever since asking us to check his inbox for mail! He’s talking about getting broadband and a PC and if this happens I can see me & Phil being his help desk support. Chris doesn’t change and I know he is the father of my child, but I tell you, every time I seem him I thank my lucky stars that we’re divorced!

We were awake at a very early hour this morning which didn’t bode well with Phil who has been kept awake for the last 2 nights by Neil’s barking dogs next door. Chris had told Phil about an advert he’d seen for a mega-sonic cat scarer which scares dogs as well, so as soon as the shops opened we drove over to Dobbies in Bletchley to get one. Unfortunately they didn’t have any but we came away instead with a house number plate, a Cordyline Australis plant and yet another bloody barbeque cookery book.

What with drunken poker partiers across the way and barking dogs this cul-de-sac is a mad place to live. Just as well really that, in 2 months time we will moving out. But this master plan of Phil's is yet another blog in itself, which if you don’t mind I will save for another day.

Funny Face!

There is a lady sweet and kind
Never girl so pleased my mind
Busy bee from night to day
My funny face, I here to stay

Bananas R US.

When I used to work the most depressing day of the week would be a Monday but since I have finished I now love it. There is not as much traffic on the roads or people in the shops. Also for the last three weeks Richard Dawkins has made a mini series as a tribute to Charles Darwin which I have enjoyed but cant help feeling that he could have made a more convincing program. I read his first book, “The Selfish Gene” in the early 1970’s and immediately felt that it was the best explanation yet of how evolution works and even better than Darwin’s own. I read each of his books as they came out but each time more of the book was devoted to arguing with other people and explaining himself where he had been criticized rather than explaining what he does best. The program seemed to be both defensive and attacking of his critics rather than simply explaining the facts. He should have started by showing and pointing out simply that evolution isn’t a theory but a fact. Few thinking people could argue with the overwhelming evidence even before dna was discovered. Evolution is a fact; the only theory is its mechanism to which Darwin put the best one forward, “evolution by natural selection”. Undoubtedly natural selection happens but I suspect it is not the only driving force in place.

The fossil record is more than enough evidence to prove evolution but since we have had the added advantage of dna I am at a complete loss as to how anyone could ever question it. As in a court of law it can be proved beyond doubt who a child’s parents are and in just the same way it can be used to show more distant relatives beyond question. We can even tell where people have lived from their dna. This has been extended further to show the relationships and distance between species and very largely it completely agrees with our previous knowledge from the fossil records. There have been a few surprises where dna has shown unexpected relationships but these have been exciting as it improves our understanding of nature. In this way it can be shown that we share about 99% of our genes with chimpanzees and Bonobo’s and we even share 60% of our genes with a banana.

Shit happens

The weekend just gone wasn't one of my best and certainly not one to write home about. But I am here now so I'm may as well make a record for the journal. On Saturday morning we left home to go to the flat in Cranfield just before 10 o'clock so that we could move Robert out and take collection of keys. It was no surprise really when we arrived there, to find that he'd already vacated. Unfortunately the spare key that I'd brought wasn't the right one for the front door, so for a start we couldn't get in. We went round to the back of the bungalow via Betty the neighbours back yard and saw that Robert had left the top bedroom window slightly ajar. Betty lent us a step-ladder and a wrench and Phil got the window open enough for me to climb in and open the front door. This wasn't a great start and things didn't get any better when Phil went to unload the car only to find that the lid had came off the emulsion during the journey over and the back of his car was covered in white paint. It was my fault of course and I can tell you he was not a happy chappy.

Once we had gained entry it was obvious that Robert had never bothered to clean up and the place was a total shit heap. Okay not the worst we have seen in our time but nonetheless still disgusting. It took me 3 hours just to clean the fridge/freezer and the ceramic hob. The whole place smelt of smoke which was also embedded in the carpets, upholstery and bedding. Phil and I scrubbed and scrubbed for most of the day and got home around teatime feeling absolutely knackered. Saturday night was spent in front of the telly with cheese and wine watching the first episode of the autumn serious of X-Factor. How sad are we?

Phil took Sunday off; he picked up Georgina and they went to see Wild Child at the cinema and then went to the Red Hot restaurant for a buffet lunch. I went to the shops for milk and the Sunday papers and then took myself to the Cranfield flat to carry on with the cleaning. After buying the bargain IKEA mini kitchen last week we were going to replace the kitchen at the Cranfield flat but we have decided to put this project on hold until next year. The plan for now is to clean up the flat as best we can for one more let and then totally revamp the kitchen and bathroom and totally redecorate the whole place before moving in and eventually selling.

After leaving Cranfield I drove to the CCF to check we hadn't had any more leaks. Fortunately all was okay so I left the city centre and drove to the TMA flat. Phil had done a viewing and noticed that the rubbish hadn't been collected. My boot was full of crap but I managed to load in 7 or 8 bags of rubbish and off loaded them at the Bleak Hall tip. Flat stuff done for the day, I decided to go to David Lloyd for a workout and a shower but I was so tired when I got there I decided to just head for the cafe for a late lunch and a glass of wine, which I thought was well deserved.

Yesterday morning Phil went to hire a Rug Doctor machine from the dry cleaners in Giffard Park and we went back to Cranfield. I got straight into cleaning the cooker which was full of disgusting fat while Phil got stuck into cleaning the carpets and the upholstery. He has really got the knack with this machine and the carpets almost looked like new when he'd finished. We worked all morning and came home for lunch just before 1pm. As we pulled up outside our house and started unloading the tools I heard someone call my name. I looked up to see Sandy hanging outside her bedroom window and she gestured for me to go to her front door. I think in a previous blog that I said that I thought Sandy had left home (home, Alan and the kids). Well once inside her house Sandy told me the whole sad story. Turns out that my nosey intuition was spot on. I won't go into details because that wouldn't be fair; all I will say is that her situation is far worse than even I could have imagined. We swapped mobile numbers and I told her to call if me and Phil could help in any way. It's a real shame she's gone, she was my best neighbour in the whole of the cul-de-sac. I hope I am wrong but I have a feeling that things are going to get ugly across the road.

I had typed up this rather depressing blog before dipping into my Outlook to check for new emails. Amongst the usual junk mail there was a message from a friend with some very sad news. I haven't had time to digest the news yet and so unable to share. What I will say, is that it makes all my rants and raves pale into insignificance. A quick read of this entry and I think I really do need to change my perspective on life and be more like Phil and think of the glass has been half full instead of half empty.

Everything bar the kitchen sink

It’s been a week where I feel we haven’t achieved very much. Once again the weather has been pants which has made me feel even more down in the dumps. Unfortunately my mardy mood has transferred to Phil; all he’s wanted to do is sit and watch the Olympics. Every time I nag him to get up off his backside and do something he reminds me that the games are only on every 4 years and so he should be allowed to watch them. He has a point I suppose but nonetheless it’s frustrating when I am so stressed about all the stuff we’ve got to do.

Due to the credit crunch, rise of inflation and finances in general we’ve had to rethink our plans. As we’ve only had one viewing on the TMA flat we’ve decided to rent it out. So this week we’ve had to go out and source white goods. Luckily we had a brand new washing machine in the garage. This is the machine that Phil brought for our house when his plan was to put the washing machine in the airing cupboard. After searching online and going into quite a few new and second hand shops, we eventually found a compact dryer from a shop in Buckingham. We tried to get a ceramic hob so Phil could fit it into the worktop but we just couldn’t find one small enough so we’ve brought a table top mini oven with a grill which also has two hot plates from John Lewis. Plus we’ve brought a convector microwave so this should be enough to fulfil any cooking needs.

After eating for England last week I am pleased to say that I’ve lost 5 pounds. The same can’t be said for Phil however, his diet has gone out the window and he is eating more than ever. This week he’s eaten cream cakes, custard creams, shortbread and has even wolfed down half a packet of my chocolate digestives. As I write this he is tucking into sausages, fried potatoes, baked beans, tomatoes, egg and bread. I really believe there is really no hope for him.

Yesterday we were a little bit naughty and took ourselves off to the Red Hot Restaurant in the theatre district for a buffet lunch. This is the restaurant that used to be Elements which I believe was shut down after a food poisoning scare. The lunch time buffet costs £7.95 per head which I thought was good value for money. The restaurant itself has been totally refurbished and no longer resembles a school canteen. The choice of dishes was very good but we found some of the dishes a little on the bland side. I guess they cater for the masses and not for the few chili loving oddities like me and Phil.

While we were in IKEA looking for a fridge/freezer we stumbled across a mini kitchen in the bargain bucket section. It was reduced from £545 to £200 so of course it was such a bargain we just had to buy it. Unfortunately when we got it down in the lift we realised it wouldn’t fit into the Land Rover so we had to phone Jon, the man with the van, and wait in the car until he arrived. However the mini kitchen is great - it’s a whole sink unit complete with mixer taps, 2 electric hot plates and an integrated mini fridge/freezer. Fantastic!

Phil wants to install this in his log cabin that he wants to build at the bottom of the garden but I think we’ve decided to re vamp the kitchen in the Cranfield flat which we take possession of tomorrow morning. Luckily I realised that Robert’s (the tenant) tenancy was up on the 16th August so we sent a letter to say that we wouldn’t be renewing his tenancy. This isn’t really breaking the law but it isn’t strictly legal but hopefully he will be a good boy and handover the keys when we meet up tomorrow morning. Not sure what state the flat will be in, hopefully not as bad as the CCF but either way, if we go ahead and rip out the kitchen we are going to have our hands full for the next couple of weeks. Hey ho, after a week of not doing much and with the pouring rain, I think we’re ready for a new project.

Celebrity Chef & Naughty Neighbours

Despite the horrible downpours of the weekend, we still managed to have a good one. It didn’t get off to a great start mind you. On Friday night Sandy’s son across the way decided to have an all night party which kept Phil up most of the night. As usual I’d fallen asleep early, missing the Big Brother eviction but Phil was kept up by a gang of teenagers peeing up the cars and yelling and screaming at the back of us by the canal. They did eventually wake me up about 3.45am and then of course I was straight away into wide awake club. Still we had a leisurely lie-in watching the Olympics in bed. Phil brought me up some fruit and yogurt and a cheese and beetroot with loads of salad cream sandwich which was lovely. Of course I managed to drip the beetroot juice onto the bed covers despite Phil’s warnings. Never mind it will all come out in the wash as they say.

As we got into the car to go finish off at the CCF, Emma & Jason who was just going out in their car, came over to moan about Dave’s party. Apparently Jason went over and knocked on the door to complain at 12.30pm, threatening to hit someone if they didn’t calm down. Unfortunately their bedroom faces on to the front as does one of their kids rooms, who were also kept woke up with all the noise. It’s not so bad for us because we face onto the back of the canal, so all we have to put up with mostly is the sound of passing barges and Neil’s barking dogs.

Anyway we spent a couple of hours at the CCF doing jobs and then came home to watch some more of the Olympics. I did manage to get to David Lloyd for a shower and a Jacuzzi but that was about it. Jan and Steve B had invited us to a B-B-Q so Harriet bless her dropped us over at Westcroft just after 5.30pm. Steve was doing a special BBQ meal on his recently acquired Tandoori and it was a real shame that the heavens opened with vengeance just as he started putting his skewers in the tandoori. I have to say though this didn’t deter from his cooking or the evening and he served up probably the best barbecue food we’ve ever tasted. Nibbles were poppadoms with yogurt, ginger and garlic dips which me and Phil just couldn’t resist. For a starter, Steve served up a fish mouse served with toasted bread with a salad garnish. I particularly enjoyed this but the serving was so big it would have done me as a main. Delicious though and makes my mouth water again just thinking about. That said it’s before 6 am whilst I am typing this and I am hungry for my breakfast. For the main course we had marinaded lamb and chicken which tasted even better that we had in India. Wonderfully cooked and tender and I don’t know what he put in the marinade but it was spot on. If that wasn’t enough we had rice, naan breads and a courgette dish. To finish us off Steve then served up his usual cheffy desert mousse which made Phil dribble and we finished the night with cheese and Steve’s special vintage port. It was a slight shame that we couldn’t sit in the garden and watch the sun go down but what the heck, this is England and we had our first and best ever BBQ tandoori banquet. Thanks guys!

We got a taxi home from Jan’s and Steve’s only to find that Alan across the way (Dave’s dad) was having a big poker night. The taxi struggled to get anywhere near our house and when he did he had trouble reversing out. After the party the night before I wasn’t happy and told the gangster like characters hanging outside our house exactly where they could go. Phil wasn’t best pleased with me and probably not the best idea for neighbour relations but I don’t care. They have poker nights every Wednesday & Saturday and parties now to seem to be every couple of weeks. After I went to bed Phil turned off the lights and watched them from the spare bedroom window. He said it was all very peculiar and he wonders whether there is some kind of drug ring going on. They would be crazy if this was the case because they have 2 coppers living the other side of them. Something though is not right across the way; Sandy and her BMW have not been there all week although it and she did turn up for a short while yesterday. I wonder whether she has left Alan and had just come back to get some things? I was going to say hello like normal but she didn’t turn towards our house and didn’t seem to want any communication. Mind you I suppose this may have been because I upset some of their poker gangster friends on Saturday night? It’s all very queer and I worry if she really has flown her nest whether there will be parties every night from now on?

If that isn’t enough and not sure if I’ve mentioned before but Neil next door is back living in his house. It appears that his tenant has left and he and the dogs are not back in situ full-time. As before, the dogs bark all day and night when he isn’t there. He has at least cut the front garden down but it’s not as tidy as I would like it to be. I tell you, living in a cul-de-sac is not all its cracked up to be. Perhaps Phil’s idea of living on the canal is not after all.

The Dark Night

And so another week passes by and here we still are. It’s been a mixed bag really but once again the weather has got me down. On the plus side at least, unlike the young Fords, I am not having to sleep in a tent! I really hope the weather improves for the rest of their trip. Seriously, where is the summer, it feels so like autumn. Somehow Phil persuaded me on Tuesday afternoon to go and see the batman film (The Dark Knight) at the cinema. I couldn’t believe the queues which were almost down the escalator. The film wasn’t my cup of tea and I thought it was really quite violent in places, definitely a boys film. It was tipping it down with rain when we came out and we got soaked just walking to the car.

After the cinema, Phil dropped me off at home and went to the city centre to meet Mr Dutta at the CCF to collect the keys. Mr Dutta moved out before the end of his tenancy because of the leaks from the upstairs flat and was expecting Phil to refund all of his monies. Phil said that we would do a full inspection and only then would he hand over his money. We’ve learnt our lesson time and time over with checkouts and know, that whilst all may look reasonable on the surface, there is always some muck or dilapidation that you only find once you’ve given back the deposit. And then of course then it’s too late.

Anyway sure enough when we got to check the flat out on Wednesday morning the place was a real shit heap. Okay not the worst, but when you think that the tenants have only lived there for 2 months it really is not acceptable. I had to bring all of the bedding and towels home to wash and dry. We spent most of Wednesday just cleaning. It upsets me greatly when I get a flat back and Phil knows its best to just leave me alone to scrub and curse aloud to myself.

Phil went out to The Giffard with the Wednesday night crew and after he’d gone, I decided to have a walk and join him for a quick drink. Wednesday night is the quiz night and our boys very often come close to winning, I think they have won a couple of times. Here is George and Alfy concentrating, which must have been quite difficult because the pub was packed and everyone was talking at once. Everyone had a meal and I shared Phil’s fish and chips. Although I praise the cheap food at The Giffard, I do think the standard has gone down hill recently. You don’t really have a choice to deviate from the usual menu and I think you definitely pay for what you pay for. I got chatting to a group of residents from the old folks home in New Bradwell. They were very bright and fed me quite a few of their answers. What started out with the intention of just a couple of quick drinks turned out to be several and I stayed until the very end with Jim dropping me and Phil back at home. Thanks Jim!

Unfortunately we were both a bit the worse for wear the following morning which was not good as we had loads to do in the flat. We got to the flat just after 9 and I started painting the main bedroom because the dried curry on the walls wouldn’t shift, despite using every cleaning product I had in my cupboard. It makes me half crazy to think that this room was only decorated at the end of May. Phil has started a chain of correspondence with the council to try and claim back the losses we have incurred from the botched plumbing from the flat above, which I am sure will turn into legal proceedings very shortly. However in the meantime, Phil decided to get David our posh plumber round to get the electrics sorted. Luckily David was somewhere nearby and come out almost immediately to sort us out. Good old David.

We came back home for lunch and afterwards we hired a Rug Doctor machine from the dry cleaners in Giffard Park so we could clean the bedroom carpets at the CCF. Phil did a brilliant job and they looked like new when he’d finished. We downed tools mid afternoon and went to David Lloyd to get clean. Phil really wanted a work-out but I had no energy left. Last night was a quiet night in front of the telling and a very early night.

This morning we’ve had our usual Friday morning trip to Sainsbury’s and the market for some fruit and vedgtables. As I type, Phil is up the attic finishing off floor-boarding the loft. Because we’ve got the Rug Doctor machine on hire until 12pm today we’re going to give our hall carpet a clean before taking the machine back. Then we’re back to the CCF to hopefully finish off all the jobs. We are hoping, if we get stuck in, we can get all the work finished by the end of play today. This will be a good result to finish the week off and if achieved we can then get stuck into the weekend!

Summertime Blues

As a general rule of thumb I tend to avoid blogging when I’m angry, sad, p*****d or generally fed up and if I was following these rules, I certainly shouldn’t be posting today because I’m feeling really FED UP. Don’t suppose it helps that I’m tired because I was downstairs sitting at my laptop with a cup of tea sometime before 4am. I tell you, if it’s not Phil waking up for a pee in the early hours, then it’s me. I did go back to bed around five’ish, managing to wake up Phil. We had a brief exchange of words but then I fell back into a deeply unsettled sleep only to wake up a couple of hours later feeling very groggy and grumpy. I bit Harriet’s head off because she brought down an empty cereal bowl and then promptly got another clean one out of the dishwasher. Poor girl, she shot out of the door and must have been at work very early morning.

The weather isn’t helping me much either; despite wishing for rain to replace the sunny & humid spells last week I am not liking the grey lifeless skies and relentless down pours. The forecast said we were going to have sprinkles but heavy showers would have been more accurate.

This credit crunch is not helping my mood either. I know its affecting everyone but you just can’t escape the doom and gloom, it’s the hot topic for daytime TV. And today on GMTV they were counting down the number of days before Christmas! I don’t know if I mentioned it on the blog but we had an electric bill for the Jan to April quarter for over 800 quid. I am convinced it is wrong but despite spending hours on the phone to our supplier, they are saying it is correct. Phil has been monitoring the meter and all seems to be in order. The bill for the second quarter of the year came in at £400 which I think, it still a lot of money. We have been trying to cutback and because we are on Economy 7 I am trying to put on the washing, drying and dishwasher before 5.30am. I remembered to put on the dishwasher this morning but mostly I have overslept and missed the deadline. I am trying to cut back on the number of washing and Phil is helping by wearing his shirt, for what seems, the whole week. However this is counteracted by Harriet who throws clothes in the wash even though she’s had only had them on for half an hour.

Phil has been out and replaced all our bulbs with energy saving bulbs and we are trying to remember to turn off lights when we’re not in the room. Phil takes this to extreme and I am practically sitting here typing in the dark! The gas bill was low compared to the electric and this may have been because in the first quarter we ran the under-floor heating 24/7 and all the heating has been off for the second quarter. I’ve even taken to showering at David Lloyd to save our electric and hot water. We’ve downsized our membership at the gym to bronze which means that we can now only go from 10am to 4pm week days and anytime after 2pm at the weekends. This has inconvenienced me more that I thought it would but I am sure I will adjust when I get into the routine. Anything is better than going back to work but if needs must, then so be it.

The other thing that is worrying me is the property market. We have only had one viewing on the TMA studio flat. Everyone knows that it is a buyers market at the moment and I think that perspective purchasers any hanging on for the market to really hit rock bottom. You can’t blame them but it is certainly not helping our situation. We have a tenant at the Cranfield flat that hasn’t paid his rent for months. He originally wrote to say that somebody had got hold of his bank details and emptied his account. Phil was very sympathetic but 3 months down the line his patience is wearing thin. I put in a call to Betty the next-door nosey neighbour who tells me our tenant has had a lady visiting him several times a week. Betty thinks that she is a prostitute and it certainly would explain the lack of payment. Unless we have payment by tomorrow, we will re-possess our flat at the weekend and I can tell you, we won’t be following the legal process.

If that wasn’t annoying enough, we had several voice messages on Sunday morning from the tenant at the CCF (city centre flat) to say that water was pouring through the light fittings and had fused all the electrics. This is the fifth leak we’ve had from the upstairs flat and 3 of these have been in the last 2 months. I won’t go into all the nitty gritty details because they are boring even to me, but not surprisingly, the tenant who cannot use the bathroom and has no electrics because they have deemed unsafe, has decided to end his contract prematurely and is moving out tonight. Phil will have to pay him back the August rent and we are then left with a leaking flat with no electrics that we can’t let out. All part of the joys of being a landlord I guess.

It hasn’t been all bad. On Friday lunch I picked up Jan B from the OU and we went to lunch at The Old Swan, in Woughton. The service was really, really slow as there was only one barmaid serving which is crazy for Friday lunchtime in a busy pub. But the grub was good and we had a good old natter. I can’t remember what became of Saturday, it came and went and obviously wasn’t that exciting. Steve Pem came over midday on Sunday and him and Phil settled themselves in front of the plasma to watch the grand prix in Hungary. As hostess with the mostest or so I’d like to think, I provided scuby snacks and topped up their glasses and they seemed happy enough despite Hamilton not getting on the podium. Afterwards Phil cooked chickens on the spittle on the bbq which we had with new spuds and salad, washed down with wine of course! We finished up opening the bottle of port which seemed like a good idea at the time. Most of yesterday was spent at the council satelight office in Netherfield trying to work out what caused the leak at the CCF and trying to ascertain whether the cause of the leak to our flat had been fixed. And so it goes on. Let’s just hope the sun comes out tomorrow otherwise it may as well rain until September.

Faraway Friends & Chocolate Digestives

And so another week comes to an end. Number of pounds lost in weight? Zero. Number of alcohol free nights? Zero. Not good on both counts and I really must do better next week. I managed 2 fairly energetic workouts in the gym this week but as a reward for managing to do a 20 minute run on the treadmill without stopping yesterday, I copped off to the shop on the way home to buy myself a packet of chocolate biscuits. Is there any hope for me I wonder?

My thoughts lately have been turned into friends in far away places for a variety of reasons. I suppose seeing Steve and hearing his experiences in Japan. It’s unbelievable that he is only back for one week and I wonder how long it will be before we see him again. We’ve also been thinking about Jim, Shirley & Dan who are in North Korea this week visiting Tom who is teaching local children to speak English. I have heard many stories from Steve & Phil about Korea but I’d be interested to hear the Robb’s take on the country. Last week I’ve been back in touch with The Sopers in Larnaca. Poor Christine’s mum died suddenly recently and she’s had a lot on her plate. Still it was still good up with all her news and despite life’s trials and tribulations; Christine’s emails always make me laugh out loud. This morning I picked up an email from Vanessa Ford giving me a link to The Fords journal which they will be writing while travelling through Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and then back to Germany to catch the ferry home. I am sure the young Ford family won’t mind me sharing the link http://thefordfamilyjournal.blogspot.com/ I am certainly looking forward to following their journey.

Despite almost wishing for rain I was dismayed to hear sprinkles of rain on the conservatory roof when I came downstairs yesterday morning and saw the grey skies. Phil was suffering because he’d finished off the lightening white cider when the sangria had run out after I’d gun to bed. He’d also been in the fridge for scuby snacks and eaten 3 of Harriet’s Traker bars which didn’t impress her (or me) much. We had planned that Phil would floorboard the attic but he didn’t really feel much like it which pleased me because I was worried in his hungover state, he might hurt himself. Phil redeemed himself slightly by making me a green Thai curry for lunch which was delicious and reminded me of our time in Bangkok.

As the morning was a write off work-wise we decided we may as well write the day off in style so we walked to the city centre and watched Mama Mia in Cineworld. What a fab feel good film; so cheesy but boy it made me laugh and cry. Sad thing was I knew all the words to the Abba songs! At first I wasn’t sure, we both hate musicals and Phil was cringing in his seat for the first 5 minutes. But he settled down after a bit and even admitted he enjoyed it when we came out. Just a shame it was raining and we got soaked on the walk back home.

All in all not a bad week I guess and we’ve been lucky with the weather. Tomorrow we will be watching the qualifying of the grand prix in Hungary and the race itself on Sunday. Phil is very excited because this is the first weekend that he has been able to watch live, or so he says. Steve Pem may come over on Sunday to watch the race on the big screen. No doubt we will eat lots of snacks and drink lots of beer. I think Phil has all but given up on his diet but I intend to start all over again on Monday when all the chocolate biscuits have been eaten!