Dark Days & Nights

The move out turned out to be a complete disaster. It started going pear-shaped when Shenley Domestics turned up on Friday lunchtime and after much huffing and puffing the mechanic announced that the dishwasher needed a new motor. Andy said that the new part would cost us over £100 and when I got hold of Phil finally after his team meeting, we decided that we would renew rather than pay out for a repair. So when Phil finished work, we went to Morgan’s to sign tenancy contracts and then drove to Curry’s to choose a new dishwasher.

Unfortunately the cheap machine that Phil had seen on the internet wasn’t in stock so we shelled out for another ‘Hotpoint’ and paid more for it than we really wanted. We decided to have another party night celebrating being home alone because it was our last night in the house. Phil was reluctant at first, to watch the ‘Sex in the City’ DVD but eventually settled down and he enjoyed it as much as me in the end!

On Saturday morning we started the move out, dealing first with the job of changing over the dishwasher. For some reason I knew this would be troublesome and I was right; the new free-standing dishwasher didn’t fit into the IKEA wall unit so we had no choice but to dismantle it. Not an easy task I can tell you and the whole job, taking in hand a trip took to Sid Telfers’s for a new hose and a trip to the Wolverton tip to dump the old machine, took us the best part of 3 hours. Not a good start, I can tell you!

Eventually after several trips to the kebab flat, we eventually laid down our hats with minutes to spare, just before 2pm, which ironically was just in time for the start of the Singapore live qualifying. While Phil viewed with his feet up on the pouffe with a beer, yours truly, unpacked. I didn’t mind because I don’t much care for the qualifying and wanted to unpack things myself. But this turned out to be a bad idea and I worked myself into a really dark black mood. When the qualifying finished, Phil, who really wanted a kebab, agreed to take me out for a meal at The Hub. This turned out to be a complete waste of money; I was in such a foul mood, that nothing was ever going to please me. We went to a dim sung place and Phil had a really bad ‘Singapore Noodles’; I had the Thai green curry which was nice but obviously not freshly cooked and micro-waved on such a high setting that it burnt my mouth.

I am ashamed to say that my bad mood continued into the night and in the end Phil retired to bed. I can’t say I blame him, so our first day in the kebab flat wasn’t good; it’s not an exaggeration when I say, I hate the flat. I knew I was going be sad at leaving our house but actually living in this flat is altogether a different experience and one that I would probably enjoy if I were 20 years younger. I’d drunk enough wine after my black mood to get to sleep but poor Phil, who had suffered enough of my strop, was kept awake by the couple above us who had not got in until after 1.30pm. They then fell out with each other and started fighting and Phil ‘bless him, was kept awake until nearly 4am. Ironically this was the time I woke up for a wee and seeing the dark prison-like walls, I decide to get dressed and headed back to GP.

It was so lovely being back home and after a cup of tea with stale milk, I finally laid my head down in the computer room, kipping for a few hours on Harriet’s old futon mattress which actually wasn't that comfortable. Still, I managed a couple of hours kip and was back at the kebab flat by 9am. Phil was already up and was cooking a lasagne for our lunch which he found difficult seeing as it is such a small kitchen. We then went back to the cul-de-sac to get a few bits, favourite knives, some wood for the shelves in the kebab airing cupboard and a few other bits and pieces. Then we went to Tesco’s for a few supplies (wine!) and dropped these at the kebab flat then went to David Lloyd for a quick shower and back ‘home’ to watch the Grand Prix.
And that just about covers moving in and the weekend. It’s not ‘our home’ yet; that will take some sorting. I should say at this point that Emma from the cul-de-sac sent me a text yesterday to ask if everything was okay as she had seen my red car back at the house in the early hours. She then sent me a text to say that she'd been kept awake all night by music blaring from Alan's house and Neils dogs who had been left alone and were barking. I relayed this to Phil who said, just goes to show it doesn't matter where you live! If I had the choice (and I don't) I think I'd rather live with poker parties and barking dogs rather than crackheads; but hey-ho, some you win and some you loose. At least Phil managed to chill out after the race. Me, I should stop moaning and count my blessings because things could be a whole lot worse.

Man with a Van

Harriet arrived safely and without any problems at the Oasis Papagayo apartment in Corrolejo, Fuertoventura. She sent me a text to say she and Shane had arrived at Luton airport without any problems. She then sent me a text to say that they had checked in their luggage; A bit later I had another text to say that they were in the departure lounge waiting to board their flight. The next text was from Fuertoventura to say that they had landed and were sitting in the coach just waiting on their transfer to Corrolejo.

The following morning I had a text from Harriet to say they’d found a bar when they got to their resort and had both got bladdered and she was feeing sick. Apparently Shane was in bed nursing a hangover and she was going to the welcome meeting by herself. Much later in the day I had another text to say that they’d walked for miles and that it had rained all day. It’s like she still here! Kids!!!

Phil realised that it would be the last chance to have a meal at The Giffard and invited Jim & Shirley to join us. We had a nice time and it was good to catch up with them both. Of course it won’t be the last time we go to The Giffard, it just won’t be as convenient as it is when we are living in this house.

Yesterday we hired at van from a company called 1car1 who are located in Stacey Bushes. I accused Phil of being a cheapskate as I wanted to use Jon our usual ‘man with a van’ who not only has a big van but he’s also very strong. The van cost us £39 to hire for the day which wasn’t bad but it wasn’t as big as a regular a transit van. We moved our own mattress to the flat and brought the mattress in the flat back here and put this on Harriet’s bed, swapping Harriet’s mattress to the main bedroom.

I have been wanting to get rid of the old garage door which has been sitting at the side of the house by the back gate for ages. Unfortunately it wouldn’t fit into the van that we’d hired so Phil had to spend ages sawing it on both sides. His theory was that if he sawed it on the sides and in the middle we could bend it in half. I was very doubtful it would work but it did and we were able to get the door in the van easy peasy. Wouldn’t you the know, the very person we should bump into at Wolverton tip was, Jon, our regular ‘man with the van’. I was most embarrassed that we’d hired our own van and not used Jon and his van and we tried to avoid him. But it was no good; he spotted us and stopped for a chat.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the council offices to try and get our parking permits. In the past this has proved really difficult and we have been treated by Vinci parking admin staff with most suspicion, so we went in armed with all the evidence we could muster, prepared for a fight. The parking is now allocated by the council and the girl that we saw couldn’t have been more helpful. We came out with a permit for each car plus a visitor permit and a handful of scratch card permits. Phil was ecstatic; He hasn’t been this excited since we boarded the QM2 in New York. I am just relieved the parking is finally sorted; it has been on my mind.

Most of our stuff is now in the kebab flat. The Indian curry smell is almost gone but even with all the air fresheners I’ve set up, the flat smells of BO. I have cleaned, scrubbed and painted with all my might but the odour is still foul, it’s like its eking out of the core of the building like something out of a Stephen King book. If you see me or Phil and we stink of kebabs and BO, please know it’s not a personal hygiene problem, it’s the building where we live.

I can’t quite believe that today is our last day and night in this house. The dishwasher and washing machine have gone wrong and this morning I have to wait for Shenley Domestics to turn up and hope that they can fix them and its cheap. It’s just our luck that the appliances should fail just on the eve of our departure but we know from experience that it’s best to sort them out and not ignore them. If you ignore them, they just show their ugly face and bite you on the bum at the most inconvenient time. Phil has to work today as he has been called in for a team meeting but that’s okay, it will give me a whole day to clean the house from top to bottom. Tonight we shall party; I have a stack of chardonnay in the fridge and a copy of ‘Sex in the City’ DVD ready to watch tonight. All we need is some scuby snacks and we’re away.

What more could a girl want??????????????

She's leaving home

I can’t be certain but I am sure that the title of today’s blog is also a title of a song by Paul McCartney. If I could be bothered I suppose I could look it up on the internet but our connection is so slow it makes you want to kill yourself, so if you don’t mind I won’t make the effort. Today is the today that Harriet is officially leaving home. It is also the day that she and Shane fly to Fuertaventura for a 2 week holiday. She is so excited and I am wondering whether she actually got any sleep last night?

While Harriet is excited about her holiday, she is certainly not excited to be leaving the cul-de-sac. It will be the house that she misses and certainly not me and Phil. I have literally had to force HH to pack because she has been most reluctant. Yesterday afternoon after waiting for her to get up and get ready, I helped her pack her clothes into cases and empty out all the sweet papers, rubbish etc from her drawers and then drove to her dads house.

Her dad has brought HH a new 3 door wardrobe which she isn’t keen on because it doesn’t have mirror front doors like her one at home. Together we unpacked all her stuff and also set up the new LCD HD ready white plasma TV with built in free-view which me and Phil had to buy. This wasn’t a present as such because I told her this was for her Christmas & birthday and also she has had to chip in £100 because I wouldn’t normally spend so much on her! She wasn’t a happy chappy with this deal but went along because there was no way I was negotiating, “take it or leave it HH” is what I told her. Chris isn’t obviously into TV as much as were are in this house and has to get in someone to put an aerial in Harriet’s bedroom. This hasn’t been done yet so I was unable to programme in the new telly for her but this isn’t such a big deal because she’s away for the 2 next weeks.

Harriet is nervous about living with Chris which I can understand; after all I did live with him for 10 years, all of which is a dim memory now I am pleased to say. Phil’s thinks it will be good for the pair of them. As for me, well, I think it will be interesting. It should work as long as HH doesn’t expect to get her own way all the time and is prepared to compromise. We shall just have to wait and see. I need to go wake up her soon. Once she’s showered and ready, I shall follow her in my car so she can drop off her car at her dad’s and then I will drive her to Shane’s house and his mum will then drive them both to Luton airport. And then it’s Bye Bye Harriet……………….

The Lion Hearts

Phil said that in my blog last week I didn’t say enough about our application to join the Lion Hearts Cruising Club. I thought I had, but just to appease Phil I shall offer further clarification. Phil came up with the idea of applying to the Lion Hearts club for a mooring as he thought it would be a good selling point when we came to selling our house. Since his application and our subsequent interview, we have since discovered that the moorings are not transferable and so therefore if we managed to get a mooring, we couldn’t simply transfer it to the new owner.

On discovering this, Phil wasn’t to be put off and is still keen to join the club and wait for a mooring. His plan now is that once we get a mooring we will buy ourselves a barge and live on it in the summer months. I am happy to try anything once but seeing as we have never even stayed one single night on a barge and bearing in mind our camper-van disaster holiday, I suggested to Phil that we should hire a boat for the weekend just to see how we get on. Preferably sooner rather than later, however with the onset of autumn we may have missed the boat this year but maybe we can find a small window of opportunity before the winter sets in. We are 5th in line on the waiting list for a mooring.

We won’t know whether we have been accepted as members of the Lion Hearts until the committee meets at the beginning of October. As a Lion Heart you are expected to attend meetings, participate in the annual Open Day, take your turn on the cleaning rotas and attend at least one working party. Moorings only become available when a member die’s, moves away or simply decides to give up boating and sell. There are only about 40 moorings and they don’t come up very often. I did say to Phil that it could be years before we could secure a mooring. That means years of taking our turn in cleaning the clubhouse toilets and generally doing our bit as members. I can’t say I relish this thought and Phil laughed his head when I made this realisation. Well he would wouldn’t he; it won’t be him that’s cleaning the loo’s week in, week out, it will be yours truly! Can my life get any better I wonder!????????

The Last Weekend

In spite of all the moving jobs on the ‘to do’ list, we managed to have a really pleasant weekend, our last in this house. Of course the sun helped our moods and for the first time in a long time, we actually ate our lunch on the patio. Phil wanted to use the electric chip fryer for one last time so on both Saturday & Sunday he cooked homemade chips and sausages, burgers, chicken and spare ribs on the barbeque. It was a weekend of ‘last time’s for me. I kept thinking this is the last BBQ we’ll have in this house for who knows how long and this morning I was thinking this will be my last ‘putting out the rubbish’ day. I certainly felt a little sentimental but Phil didn’t seem too upset as he cleaned out the BBQ and the chip fat fryer for the very last time, certainly the last time this summer. Quite fitting really considering today is the official beginning of autumn.

Phil hasn’t been sleeping very well and almost every night wakes up at 3am ‘ish. I have to say this isn’t because of Neil’s dogs who have been very quiet ever since we gave Neil the mega-sonic dog collar; no, he says he’s waking up because he has so much on his mind. So because he was feeling knackered I said we could have Sunday off and not doing any jobs, which is exactly what we did. On Sunday morning after reading the papers in bed, Phil announced that he would like go for a walk. I suggested a bike ride but Phil didn’t fancy getting the bikes down from the eaves. It’s funny but we haven’t used the bikes ever since we brought the bike pulley system because although it solves the storage problem, it’s a complicated and dangerous manoeuvre getting them back on the ground. A few months ago I saw an article in the times which cited The Secret Garden in Wolverton as one of the Top 10 things to see in Milton Keynes. I hadn’t even heard of it before and neither had Phil so we decided to set off along the canal to Wolverton. We walked along the canal until Great Linford then got onto the red path. The last part of the walk took us back on the canal by Wolverton train station and then under a tunnel and hey-ho we were smack bang in The Secret Garden. The Secret Garden was created by local volunteers and is maintained on a weekly basis. I suppose the garden was quite pretty but it wouldn’t be in my Top 10 for MK, but then again I’m not really into gardens. Still at the very least it has satisfied my curiosity.

The whole walk took us just under 2 and a half hours and we more than ready for lunch when we got home. Phil did the barbeque and after we’d cleared up we decided to go The Odeon to see the film Rocknrolla. We parked up at the CCF and dropped off some stuff at the same time. One good thing about living at the CCF is that we can go out our front door, straight through the middle of the city centre flat, past the fountain and out by McDonalds and we’re right at the cinema. Normally we go to Cineworld but the show time at The Odeon suited us better yesterday. I don’t really like films directed by Guy Ritchie as I find them violent and complicated but I have to say I really enjoyed RocknRolla and so did Phil. When we got home I tackled the ironing and we finished up watching a recording of Ricky Gervais doing his ‘Fame’ lecture. Altogether, we had a fairly chilled, lazy and mostly lovely weekend. Just wish they could all be like that..............

Birthdays, Barges & Good Friends

It’s been a funny old week, in spite of all the packing and moving, it’s been one of my better weeks. I have been busy with little time to blog and also there has been something seriously with our internet connection. BT have checked the router speed and the strength is excellent and I’ve run several serious virus checks but still cant find the route of the problem. Don’t suppose it matters much because it’s all being turned off a week on Monday.

Where did the week go and what have I done all week I wonder? It’s sad that to answer this I have to consult my ‘to do’ lists in my filo-fax; even sadder is the fact that it’s only going to get worse not better! I spent most of Monday compiling an inventory in readiness for the new tenant. It took me hours and it’s still not finished. I’ve sent it to Phil twice for checking and this morning we are printing it off and doing a walk around the house to double check. When you let a house fully furnished the inventory is very important because in the event of any damage, it has to stand up in court. We intend to take video evidence just to be on the safe side because you just never ever know.

On Monday teatime I popped round to Vanessa’s for a cup of tea and a glass of wine and a very much needed catch-up. Phil had gone to pick Georgina up from school and take her for some supper but unfortunately when he got to Northampton School for girls, his battery failed again and he couldn’t start the car. He was phoning me frantically on my mobile because he didn’t have the ‘Rescue My Car’ details but unfortunately my yellow bag was sat on Vanessa’s kitchen worktop so I didn’t pick up. I learnt later when I got home that Georgina and her friend Jennifer and Jennifer’s mum had to push Phil in the LandRover in the school car-park until he managed to get it going. Certainly not cool for a posh school and I’m sure it didn’t help G&J’s street cred. Needless to say that Phil wasn’t a happy chappy when I got home, and of course, it was all my fault!

According to my diary on Tuesday morning, I cooked a Thai curry, cleaned the kitchen cupboards, phoned Betty in Cranfield, cancelled the broadband and landline, phoned the locksmiths, picked up a change of address forms from the post office together with milk and teabags and went to meet Jan at the OU at lunchtime for a walk. When I worked at the OU we tried to walk around the campus at least 3 days a week and I really enjoyed it. Me and Jan put the world to rights and made a pledge to try and meet for a walk and a chat at least once a week. After our walk I met Funmi in the café for a coffee. She has sold her house and is waiting on the survey; it sounds a real nightmare which has dominated and spoilt pretty much all of her summer.

Wednesday daytime was nothing much to write home about but in the evening Phil and Harriet went out for dinner at The Barge with Jim, Shirley and Dan to celebrate Jimmy’s birthday. Happy Birthday Jimmy! Jim is the same age as Phil bar a month younger so they are both Virgos which perhaps explains why they get on so well.

I went to see Christine for some wine and nibbles at her house in Great Holm for a much needed girlie catch-up. Christine’s husband John was recently diagnosed with cancer and she has been, and is still going through, some really tough times. John had been suffering for a few months and was fobbed off countless times by his GP before going to A&E in MK in desperation for a diagnosis. He had tests which diagnosed stomach cancer and then a CAT scan which showed cancer of the adrenal gland and was told that it was inoperable and there was nothing they could do for him. Thankfully Christine’s daughter Amber spent all night researching on the internet and emailed 4 specialist adrenal consultants who all responded to her. It’s a long story but Christine met with one of the consultants at Kings Cross Hospital in London and he has turned out to be brilliant. He operated on John a week last Wednesday and the operation, I am pleased to say, was a success and he is, as I type, recovering slowly and is now out of intensive care.

It wasn’t all plain sailing though; when the consultant opened him up he found that John had a burst appendix which he would have died from if the surgeon hadn’t have been opening him up the very next day. The morphine had been masking the pain. Maybe there is a god after all? John has a way to go because he’s had really major surgery but I know he is going to make it. My point of sharing John’s story is this; always get a second opinion especially if you’re at Milton Keynes General and live each day like it’s your last because you just don’t know what shit is waiting for you around the corner.

I picked up Phil and Harriet from The Barge just in time to see Shirley and wish Jim, a happy birthday. Apparently Dan’s friends had arrived back in the UK after a 4 month trip touring Greece in a campervan and had turned up at The Barge to see Dan. They’d left with Dan to go the The Giffard before I arrived and Phil and Harriet wanted me to drive them to The Giffard so we could have a drink with them. I was tired but I agreed to go ‘for one’ because Harriet doesn’t get out much and it’s nice to see her enjoying herself. Dan’s other housemates turned up and we eventually left just before 11pm leaving the young ones to get on with it. Harriet went straight to bed when we got in but Phil and me stayed up talking into the early hours which wasn’t good because we had an appointment the following morning at 9am at the Lion Hearts Cruising Club.

Phil comes out with such crap that sometimes I just have to let it go in one ear and out the over and the Lion Hearts saga just went over my head. Phil has often said that he would like to live on a barge on the canal and I suppose on sunny days when I’ve been sat outside a pub with a glass of wine in my hand, I just may have agreed with him. Anyway, over the last few months, Phil has been pursuing the Lion Hearts CC and submitted an application for us to get a mooring. Our ‘informal’ interview yesterday with Dave the Club’s Commodore and Mike, the Harbourmaster was as a result of Phil’s application.

Phil was tired and hung-over and we really didn’t have a chance to prepare for ‘our interview’ so you can imagine we were like fish out of water. As I sat in the cold clubhouse shivering listening to cruising club bylaws, I thought what the f**k am I doing here???? We stumbled with a few of the questions and I had to ask myself whether I really wanted to commit to AGMS, cleaning clubhouse rotas and other fellow Lion Hearts members but Phil seems keen to go ahead, so I guess that I’m going to be a Lion Heart after all; that is of course, if we’ve passed the interview! Watch this space!!

Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Phil was right when he said in his last blog that things aren’t going very well, right now every which way we turn there seems to be one big massive object in our way. Okay, maybe I exaggerate slightly, but you get the picture. Phil jumped in his car on Friday to go and meet an estate agent and as he turned the key in the ignition it was obvious the battery had died. This is the 3rd time in the space of a few months that this has happened. It wasn’t too much of a big problem because he borrowed my little Ford KA which he hates driving with a passion but he had no choice. On Saturday morning he popped over to Costco to buy some kind of instant battery charger; they didn’t have the one he had seen on a previous visit but he managed to find something similar and brought that instead. When he got it home, he set it all up only to find that the damn thing didn’t work. He effed and blinded with all his might and then took it back to Costco for a refund. In the end we phoned the Rescue My Car people because we are covered for HomeStart and they sent out a man who charged the battery up in no time.

Most of the weekend has been dominated by the Grand Prix, qualifying on Saturday and the actual race itself on Sunday. We did however manage to get all of the boxes I’d previously packed up into the eaves of the attic. This was no mean feat because they were heavy. While Phil was lying horizontal on the sofa in front of the telly I did a few runs to the CCF and unloaded clothes into the wardrobe and put some tins in the cupboards. Once again I go from having 14 cupboards in the kitchen to just 4.

As I have been clearing out drawers I have chucked heaps of crap away and I have loads of bags of rubbish in the garage. Good job the bin men are coming today. We don’t have a rubbish day in the CCF; there is a big skip in a communal cupboard which you unlock with a key and the bin men come and check it on a daily basis. This works out okay I guess but the stench as you open the cupboard nearly knocks you over; in my opinion it needs a good hose done and a dousing with bleach and dettol. The council seem to make a tremendous effort to keep Silbury Boulevard clean, I guess because the flat is on the same boulevard as the library and the council offices. That said, I have a few complaints that I intend to take up with the council about the internal decoration and the rubbish in the communal gardens. I’m not sure I am strong enough today for a fight so may leave this until tomorrow; I wonder whether the council are ready for a tenant like me?

On Friday we went to have a green curry at the Royal Thai restaurant in Stony Stratford. http://www.royalthaimk.co.uk/ Very good, any lunchtime dish is £6.50.
The weather for a change was lovely and I thought it just my luck that the one nice weekend we have and I am sweating my guts out with packing and unpacking boxes. I am getting myself really stressed up with this move, on the one side I want everything to be perfect when I leave this house and I also want the same in the CCF before I move-in. I want to strip all the wall paper off in the second bedroom in the CCF and re-paper and paint this weekend as I know that when we get all our stuff in, there will be no room to swing a cat. Although I’m a good painter and decorator I always get paint everywhere. Phil is not happy and tells me to wait and decorate once we’re in but I don’t think I am going to be able too.

Harriet is off on holiday next week and is having to pack not only stuff to take away but also she has to pack all her stuff to take to her dad’s house. She was reluctant to do any packing at first but soon got going when I started packing and throwing stuff out for her! She is not a happy bunny but at least she has a nice, 2 week holiday in the sun to look forward too.

Phil has been having fun over the weekend with his mega sonic dog scarer, he even took it to bed with him on Friday night and when the dogs barked he was straight up lifting the blinds and hanging out the bedroom window zapping the dogs to stop them barking. On Saturday he was out in the back garden zapping the squirrels and pigeons. As luck would have it, I caught Neil on Saturday night as he was going in his front door and said to him that I wasn’t being a grumpy old woman but his dogs barking was driving us up the wall. I think I let slip I’d heard some of the neighbours talking about poisoning the dogs and gave him the mega sonic dog collar. To be fair he was apologetic and feigned surprise that the dogs barked when he wasn’t there. He promised to try out the collar and came round last night to see whether we had noticed a difference. I told him that they hadn’t barked but to be honest they bark when they are left alone all night and this weekend he’s only been away for a couple of hours. Still it’s a start in the right direction.

Steve Buckton praised our blog on his blogsite and said he thought we were quite prolific. I was impressed by this word and had to look up its meaning. I think if he had been in the blog of late, he would probably describe our site as depressing with a capital D. I can only apologise for this but I did say right from the very start that I would tell it as it really is and at this moment in time, it’s SHIT. The inspiration for my title today comes from an article in the Sunday Mail about a book called Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown: Life, Love and Talking it Through. It’s written by Lorna Martin and is about her experiences of alternative counselling to lift her depression when girlfriends, Prozac and wine had all failed. I thought I might buy a copy to see if I get some tips to stop me going crazy. But I’ve no time to sit down and read, so for now I think I’ll stick to girlfriends and wine. The nervous breakdown will just have to wait until after we move!

Vandals stuck in the bathroom barking “pips” me off!

Quite an eventful week this week, returning from Portugal on Tuesday, starting back to work at Rexam on Wednesday and having to move house by the end of the month.

Whilst we were away on holiday it wasn’t long before we had a text message from Harriet as she had locked herself in the bathroom making herself late for work. Luckily her screams for help out the bathroom window were eventually acknowledged from our immediate neighbor Jason, who climbed up his ladder bring suitable tools with him. He ended up breaking the door handle, lock and woodwork to get her free. Harriet was very embarrassed wearing only a towel. Why she should have locked the bathroom door when she was the only one in the house I don’t know.

Our return home was greeted by the other neighbor’s dogs barking all night long. This constant barking forces you to close the windows so you can get to sleep but it’s not long before you wake up too hot and open the windows again. This cycle seems to repeat itself all night/week. I have now had enough and bought a few possible solutions to stop dogs barking to try and save their lives. Online I managed to find a mega sonic dog scarer, a dog collar that emits high pitched screeches every time the dog barks and also a mobile dog scarer for when were are next in India with the wild dogs there. I’m just off to the shops to get batteries for them and will keep you in touch with their effectiveness.

First day back at work and nothing had changed, it was a matter of hours and it already felt that I had never been away. It was a matter of hours before I received my first call from a tenant complaining that he had his bedroom window smashed whilst he was at work. This is surprising, especially as his bedroom is on the 3rd floor and there was no evidence of entry and nothing was stolen. I can only assume it’s an act of vandalism. Looks like the culprit even had the cheek to write his initials on the window.

Also since our return there is an occasional piping noise coming from downstairs somewhere. The exact location we cannot agree, Claire thinks its coming from a draw in a kitchen cupboard, I think it’s coming from the boiler in the kitchen and Harriet thinks its coming from the hall. As I’m not working today I thought I would track it down before I have a breakdown. I took down the smoke alarm form the hallway, taking it into the conservatory to eliminate it. Whilst I was carrying it, it piped so I knew I had found the culprit in one. Upon my return to the kitchen to give Claire the good news she said the piping hadn’t stopped so the hunt continued. I found 2 likely suspects in a draw, one of those walking pedometers and Claries slender tone machine so I took those into quarantine in the conservatory. Again one of them piped when I had it there and again Claire said there was still a piping in the kitchen. Have you ever had the feeling that things aren’t going right for you? Searching the draws once again I eventually found another smoke alarm which I smashed with my bare hands. The piping has now stopped!

Always things TO DO

Although we’ve had a short week it seems to have taken forever to get to Friday. As I predicted, Phil has found it very hard going back to work; he’s already reverted to his usual grumpy sighing old self and he’s only done 2 days! He’s glad he’s got the day off today but little does he know that I have got a long list of jobs for him to do so he’s not going to be a happy chappy.

It took me a couple of days to get through the washing and ironing from holiday and Harriet, bless her, also left me of a stack of dirty laundry to sort when I got home. I dedicated all of yesterday to packing. I’ve have decided to put most of our stuff in the attic as most of it is worthless and only of value to me and Phil. Definitely not worth nicking anyway. Having done many moves (this will be our 6th move whilst we’ve been together) I’d thought I’d streamlined our stuff but we still seem to have loads of it. Mostly books which I have put in the chest for our new tenant to enjoy, rather than hump them up the stairs and into the loft.

Although I was at it all day, I only managed to sort the lounge and the conservatory. Today we are going through the wardrobes which will be interesting because we have less than half the space we have now in the CCF. I don’t have many clothes because I’ve had to chuck them out because I’ve got paint on them so it will be Phil that has the problem. Mind you he seems to wear the same 2 pairs of trousers day in and day out so if he has a problem deciding which to clothes to take, I’m sure I can do it for him. I’ve already packed his ‘slim boy’ clothes; these are clothes that he hasn’t been able to fit into for the last 6 years and yet we have lugged them from Emerson Valley to Wordsworth onto Martingale and lastly Giffard Park. Phil doesn’t like to throw anything out.

Nothing dramatic has happened on the neighbour front although I can feel things bubbling away under the surface. I have had to tell Emma & Jason that we are renting and will be moving out at the end of the month. I could tell that they weren’t too happy and Emma has already said she will be watching our house like a hawk. I’m not sure whether this is a good or a bad thing but I know she means well. We are still being kept awake by the barking dogs the other side of us and after a very disturbed night Phil has finally ordered the mega sonic dog collars off the internet. Once they arrive he will have to go round to Neil and somehow persuade him to get the dogs to wear them. I don’t think he will mind especially if Phil tells him that a neighbour (won’t mention names) is threatening to poison them.

Things have been fairly quiet across the way at Sandy’s house and there hasn’t been any poker party’s recently. Actually Sandy came round for coffee yesterday and tells me she is moving back in as soon as she has sorted out the spare bedroom. She is hoping that she and Alan can live under the same roof but as a separated couple. I hope for her sake that this will work because it is preferable to kipping on a friend’s floor but something tells me it’s not going to be plain sailing. Is anything these days?

Well as I said, today is going to be a doing day and hopefully I will be able to tick everything off my already typed up ‘TO DO’ list by the end of play today. I have been up since 5.30am so I am already ahead of the game. I’m letting Phil sleep until 8am but if he’s not away awake by then I’m going up and give him a poke. No firm plans for the weekend, just packing, packing and more packing.

Home sweet home

We arrived back at Luton airport after a fairly packed flight from Faro arround half past one yesterday afternoon, with only a slight delay. It was tipping it down with rain and I got wet waiting for our express coach to take us back to MK. Phil had remembered to pack his coat so he was alright. It was freezing on the coach and we were feeling very miserable when we got off at the coach station in Campbell Park, where we then had to wait for a taxi to take us home. I was relieved to get inside the front door and said to Phil“ahh home sweet home” but then I remembered it won’t be ‘home sweet home’ for much longer. I’ve been back less than 24 hours and already I’m depressed!

As Phil said, there wasn’t anywhere or anytime to blog in Ayamonte which is where we stayed with Mads and Steve so Phil only had time to do a small blog when we got to Faro. Steve kindly picked us up at Faro airport and took us back to the apartment in Ayamonte. The apartment was lovely, really comfortable with all the mod cons you could want. Especially great if you play golf because the course is right on your doorstop. For me and Phil who don’t play golf, it was a little far from the town itself and you definitely need a car to go anywhere. I was going to put up some more photos but I see that Phil has deleted them all from my camera card. I tell you, I will be pleased when he finally gets his camera fixed and doesn’t have to borrow mine all the time!

The hotel (Hotel Monaco) that we stayed in, just on the outskirts of Faro was surprisingly pleasant. It was cheap as chips so we weren’t expecting much but the room was adequately sized and the hotel even had a pool. Here is a picture of Ray and Linda who partied with us in the bar. This was the first time we’d been to Portugal but as we only stayed 2 nights and only had 1 full day, I can’t say I’ve seen enough to form an opinion. I liked the harbour area in Faro but the city itself was much like any other. The plus side of course, was that it was sunny, unlike the UK which I gather has had rain for the whole week that we’ve been away. All in all we had a good week doing not very much; to be honest it was just nice to get away and not think about all the usual strives and struggles at home.

Poor Phil is back at Rexam today and I don’t think he was really very prepared, either mentally or physically, to go back to work. But needs must and it gets him away from under my feet. Actually with Harriet at work, the house is eerily quiet and although it’s only been a morning, I have to say I am missing him (but don’t tell Phil that). We both jumped on the scales this morning and have put on a hideous amount of weight so we’ve decided to go on a very strict diet. But I think today we need some comfort food, so for lunch I am cooking us steak and ale pie with mustard mash. For afters I have brought Phil his favourite, sticky toffee pudding, which never fails to cheer him up. The diet will have start tomorrow.

Portugal

Steve dropped us off at our hotel in Portugal (Faro) on their way to the airport on Sunday after we had watched the Belgian GP. Good old Lewis, yahoo! Of course, lots of wine was had while we were watching it and then moor afterwards as we went to the golf club for lunch. Claire had bought a 5 litre box of wine to take with us into our hotel in Portugal for 7 Euros and it even tastes fine.

We had a couple more on the balcony before trying the bar out where we shared a pizza. We noticed some tired looking Canadians on the table next to us and it wasn’t long before we joined them to cheer them up. Wow what a night, neither of us could remember going to bed and as I couldn’t remember paying, I thought we must have sneaked off without. By the time we went to bed there were about 8 of us partying away. Even the barman opened us a bottle of vintage port. We got on great with Ted and Linda (the Canadians) and they are getting married later this year in Mexico and even invited us to the wedding. Maybe they had had as much as us.

In the morning we felt marvelous, had breakfast and just missed the bus into Faro so re we decided to walk. Ninety minutes later we finally arrived in Faro knackered. We had a walk around the marina and port and then ventured into the old walled part of town where we had lunch next to the church outside. It wasn’t until I had asked for the bill that I discovered that I had paid for our pizza and drinks last night because I only had 10 Euros left in my wallet. Shit and not an ATM to be seen. We got the bill and Claire found a 5 Euro note and tipped her purse out on our table where we had to build piles of coins so as to pay for our meal.

Unable to find a taxi we decided to walk back – big mistake, we got completely lost and ended up walking miles and miles out of our way. We only recovered by walking along the hard shoulder of the motorway and jumping over the barrier to get out.

Spain

Sorry we haven’t blogged all our holiday but we haven’t had an internet connection until we arrived back in Portugal in our hotel. Just a short one to let you know what is happening. Steve kindly picked us up last Wednesday from Faro airport and drove us back into Spain where they were staying in Mady’s sister Deb’s place. Very nice too, 2 beds with 2 baths a kitchen and utility with large lounge and massive terrace and garden where we all seemed to spend most of out time, sunbathing and reading in the daytime and bbqing and partying at night.

We have had a lovely time relaxing, shopping, eating in and out and even had a day at the beach. It’s a really nice place where we stayed with its own golf course if you like that sort of thing.

Thanx Mads and Steve for a great time. Claire will write up more when we get home on Wednesday as I am back to Rexam again then.