Life Goes On

And so life goes on. Yesterday morning Emma came round to the kebab flat with little-man, aka Kai, for coffee. It gave her a chance to see what progress we had made in the flat but more importantly, it gave her a chance to fill me in with the gossip in the cul-de-sac. I was sorry to hear that Emma was having problems with her part time job at the pre-school nursery. I always think Emma as being a strong person and more than able to stand up for herself, but just goes to show that we all have our very own insecurities and vulnerabilities. While we busy nattering Kai occupied himself with one of Phil’s IKEA pencils which he used to dig out the wax in all of our candles. There wasn’t much else to amuse him at the flat and didn’t take me long to clear up after they left.

Phil came home for lunch and we finished off the last of the lasagne. In the afternoon I went to Saks on the top floor of David Lloyd to get my hair done. I tell you, it was like a sauna in the salon and the sweat was pouring off me. Rachel got my colour right but she cut far more off than I wanted. It was my fault for taking my eye off the ball. Linzi offered me a half price manicure which she did while Rachel hacked at me and I concentrated on my nails rather than my hair. It was a waste of time having them painted though, I had already smudged 3 of my nails before I got to my car.

On Wednesday evening Harriet picked us up and we went to The Barge to meet up with the Wednesday night crew. It was the last chance to get together as George and Joan are off on Friday to spend 2 months in their apartment in Menorca. Lucky them. Everyone exchanged Christmas cards which seemed unreal and way too early. Jim, Shirley and Dan were there, along with Alfie, me Phil and Harriet, Chris and David Moth. George took charge of the food and drinks for most of the evening. I had the chicken ceaser salad and I think everyone was pleased with what they’d ordered. Phil was very good and didn’t eat as it really doesn’t agree with him, eating late at night but I guess the beer filled him up. Harriet left before 10.00pm to pick up Shane from work and Shirley & Jim ended up dropping us back at the kebab flat. One of these days we should really offer to do the driving. Maybe next year!

A late night and too much wine and song didn’t bode well on Thursday morning. Phil was grumpy and irritable as he headed off to work even though it was to be his last day. I cooked up a pan of lemon grass chilli chicken and noodles for lunch. I forgot to wash my hands after cutting up the red hot chillies and touched my eyes so they stung for ages afterwards. Christine called on the mobile and we met up in Starbucks across the way for a tall vanilla latte. She’s done well getting through the past 10 days and now has to sort out probate, wills and pension stuff. It doesn’t sound straightforward or easy with lots of paperwork and bureaucracy. I really feel for her. I heard last week that Jess, one of my ex-colleagues from the OU has just been diagnosed with cancer. Jess worked at the OU for over 30 years only retired this May. Her and her husband are having a house built in Portugal and the plan was to retire and spend their days playing golf. Jess is currently recovering from surgery and I had heard the outlook was good. However a subsequent email a couple of days ago from Julie says that the cancer is an aggressive one and they need to start the chemo next week. I do hope she will be okay.

After ticking off all my jobs on my ‘things to do’ list I hopped off to see Linzi at Saks for a ginger and lime body exfoliation massage, lured by the 20% offer. At the end of the massage Linzi said she would give me either a mini facial or a head massage. I’ve had the head thingie before and I’m not a big fan but I asked if, instead of the facial, she could massage my stiff neck. She kindly obliged and it felt much much better afterwards. She commented that I was very tight and recommended a half back massage with £10 off. I think I will get this done next week. Phil will think me indulgent and extravagant, but last time I had a bad back, it cost hundreds of pounds to put right.

When Phil got back from his last day at Rexam we went to the medical centre to get our top-up typhoid injection which I wasn’t looking forward too. However the doctor said we didn’t need to have it if we were going away for less than an month so we went away very happy. We’re not sure where we’re going or if we’re going away at all. A lot depends on whether the passports come back in time and whether we can find bargain bucket flights.

We had a reasonable early night last night as we were knackered from being out late the night before. Old folks now and just can’t take the pace! Unfortunately we were in the wide awake by 4am so made tea and read the newspapers in bed. Phil made us fried potatoes with fried egg and beans, a hearty breakfast to start the day because we have a lot to do. We need to move all furniture out of the lounge, rip off all the skirting boards and start laying the laminate. We’ve got 3 whole days to get it all finished before the new sofas arrive on Monday. So some hard graft and not an exciting weekend by any means but hopefully it will all be worth it in The End.

Goodbye to John

It was John’s funeral today and time to say goodbye. It took place at the crematorium in Crown Hill. It was a bitter sweet cold day but the sunshine was brilliant and not a drop of rain in sight which pleased me. The chapel of rest was packed out with every seat taken; people had to sit along the sides of the chapel which just goes to show what a great bloke John was. It was a lovely order of service with beautiful readings and songs, which in my opinion, summed up the very essence and soul of John. He would have been pleased with the attendance. Christine told me that John had said he wanted wailing women and white horses at his wake! Well he certainly got the wailing women that’s for sure; but Christine didn’t go for the white horses because they would have cost the earth. She wouldn’t have minded about the cost but John was careful with his pennies and this extortionate cost would have made him turn in his coffin!

Afterwards friends and family went back to the house for the wake. These things are always difficult especially for those closest but the atmosphere all round was warm and loving and I was able to remember John as he was before he got sick. Apparently John liked to listen to Pavarotti and drink red wine when he was cooking spaghetti bolognaise. I remember once, John teasing me about my bad choice of wine that I had ordered for an advisory board BBQ which Christine was hosting at their house. I hope John, that wherever you are now, that you have good red wine on tap and are surrounded by sweet sounds.

Funerals certainly make you wonder what it’s all about. Why are we put on this planet and for what reason? Why do the good guys get taken early and the baddies get to live to a ripe old age? There is no rhyme nor reason and I really don’t think there can be a god. We are all born and we all die at some point in time. I suppose all that really matters, is what you do with the bit in-between.

Duvet Days & Super Noodles

Despite the stress and sadness all around, we’ve had a good few days. Phil got stuck into laying the laminate floor on Friday morning and had just about finished when Jane buzzed the intercom to pick me up for lunch. We left Phil sulking and walked through the centre and down to the hub. There was a chilly breeze in the air but I was okay because I had my coat and scarf. Brassiere Blanc was fairly packed but I had booked a table earlier in the week so there were no problems getting in.

We had the 2 course special lunch menu which was fairly unremarkable but okay. The portion size at BB is almost verging on the mean side and really I could have done with a dessert. Still Jane and I caught up with a years worth of news over 3 very nice glasses of vino and it was nearly 4pm by the time we ventured out. Jane wanted to have a quick look in Debenham’s and we eventually got back to the flat just before 5. Phil was panicking god bless him and it was only when I got in the door that I realised I had 6 missed calls (all from him) on my mobile. He’d spent all afternoon putting on the new skirting and the hallway is almost finished. Jane stopped for coffee and mince pies which gave Phil a chance to chat to her. She was surprised by the flat and thought it was great living so close to the centre.

On Saturday morning we went off to IKEA to get more oak laminate panels for the lounge floor. Lunch was an IKEA hotdog with chips and coffee and afterwards we went to World of Leather to order a couple of black leather sofas which Phil had spotted. Phil had phoned up about several second-hand sofas in the paper but they either weren’t suitable or they had already been sold. The red 2 seater sofa that we have in the flat is really uncomfortable and has given us really bad backs and stiff necks. The new sofas that we have ordered have buttons to recline the seats and bring out foot rests at the same time. They arrive next Monday and we both can’t wait. Sad really, I know, and a sure sign that we are getting really old.

On Saturday night I picked up Jan & Steve and we went to Wagamamas for some noodles. Jan had sent me a 2-4-1 voucher so we thought we may as well take advantage of the offer. We had to wait quite a while to get in but it was worth it. The noodles were fabulous but the service was a little on the slow side. Afterwards we walked back to the kebab flat for more wine and dessert. Phil had said he was going to do a homemade pudding but in the end he brought a cherry pie and lemon cheesecake from good old

M&S.

We finished off with cheese & biscuits and a whole bottle of port. Needless to say a good time was had by all!

We woke up late on Sunday morning with hangovers. We got up briefly for breakfast which for me was half a packet of mint chocolate wafers and for Phil, a bowl of cherry pie and custard and then went back to bed to read our books. I knew at that point that it was going to be a duvet day and that no work was going to get done.

Sometime well after midday we got up and Phil made us steak, new potatoes and salad for lunch and very nice it was too. In the afternoon we settled down and watched “X-Factor” and “I’m a Celebrity” which we recorded from the night before. We finished the day with more TV and eating the entire contents of the fridge before retiring for an early night. A very selfish Sunday and without a doubt we shall spend of the rest of the week catching up. But hey ho it was worth it!

Thank God it's Friday

It hasn’t been the best week of my life by any means but there have been a few highlights. I shall start with the positive. Yesterday lunchtime I met with Jan and we did our usual walk around the OU campus. It was nice to chew over the shit and the weather was very mild and the sun was shining which made a nice change from grey skies. I left Jan and made my way over to Willen to see Funmi at her new house in Willen Park. After a summer of stress and worry she finally completed her on her house and this is her going into her front door for the very first time as the owner. I don’t think she believed this moment would come and I think I was more excited than she was. The house is a 3 bed semi and has a lovely open plan kitchen with an island and an open plan dining room to the side. All of the bedrooms are double and she even has an en-suite. Sure, the house needs a bit of TLC but it’s not in bad nick really. But Funmi is fastidious and already she has arranged for a man to come in 4 days next week and paint the whole house from top to bottom. I look forward to seeing it finished. Well done Funmi, and I hope you will be very happy in your new home.

My eye is looking much better and I am only left with a little bit of bruising. It’s still difficult to cover with make up but I have some extra heavy duty jollop so I may try this out today. I hadn’t heard anything from the medical test about my blood tests so I summoned up the courage and phoned up to double check. Good news is that everything is okay and I don’t need to go back. This is good but I still find it hard to believe that a few plucks could have caused so much swelling and bruising. Strange but from now on I'm going get them waxed, no more plucking for me!

I had to pay £322 to get my car out of the garage on Monday which wasn’t good news especially after having to pay the best of 800 quid for Phil’s landrover last week. It should have only been £49.99 for the service but I also needed new brake pads and cylinder and other crucial things. Whenever I go to a garage for the first time I always think I’m being ripped off because I’m a girlie but Phil looked at the bill and said actually it was very reasonable.

I’ve already blogged that poor John lost his battle against cancer this week. And yesterday an ex colleague got in touch to say that another colleague we worked with is suffering from cancer and is due to start chemo very soon. This disease just doesn’t let up. It’s all made much worse with Christmas just around the corner.

Wednesday was a very much a mid week day. I cooked a big pot of chilli con carne which has lasted us the whole week. Christine invited me over on Wednesday evening so we could catch up before the funeral next week. It was a bitter sweet evening discussing coffins & order of the service but we did have a few chuckles sharing memories of John.

Yesterday was all rush rush rush. I went to David Lloyd but I was so late I didn’t have time for even a swim because Phil wanted to be at IKEA when the doors opened at the dot of 10am. We made it and were able to pick up some oak laminate flooring for the hallway. While we there we also looked at sofas but they were all so terribly expensive so we’ve decided that we going to look in The Citizen and see if we can pick up a second-hand one. When we got home we discovered that the postman had delivered our India Visa applications and marked them ‘return to sender’. On opening the envelopes we discovered that the High Commission of India is no more and the whole visa process has changed. Very annoying and you would have thought that someone would have shut down the old website or at least put on a message directing you to the new visa application centres. Anyway this meant that we had to do new application forms and spend half an hour in the post office, cashing in the postal orders and buying new ones and paying £33 more for the privilege. I will be interested to see how long it takes for our passports to be returned. They make the postal applications so difficult because really they prefer you to apply in person which also means they can charge a higher fee.

After the post office saga I had a phone call from Harriet saying asking me to pick her up and take her to work because she had locked her keys in the house. Even though I was limited for time I rushed off to Walton Park and slung her out at the OU. She begged me to go to the shop and buy her some fags; I said I would try and get back to the OU later on. Meanwhile I had to get to meet Funmi at her new house. I think because Funmi didn’t really think she was going to complete she hadn’t taken any of her stuff out of the storage unit. She had all of her stuff from the TMA flat which she’d cleared out yesterday morning but that was it. She had a man turning up to quote her for redecoration works and as he walked up the drive I said to her that I would drive to the OU and drop 10 Lambert & Butler off to Harriet and then would meet her at the Big Yellow storage unit in Winterhill.

Unfortunately the man giving the quote took longer than we both had anticipated and I spent what seemed like an eternity in the Big Yellow car park waiting for Funmi to turn up. It was, as I was sitting in the car that I suddenly realised that I had completely forgotten about an appointment that I had made for me and Phil at the medical centre to have our typhoid injection top-up. I quickly phoned Phil and asked him to phone up and make our apologies and re-arrange. Sometimes I wonder whether I have any brain cells left. I must ensure that I take my filo-fax with me at all times from now on in.

Finally Funmi turned up and we loaded all the essentials into the boots of our cars and made our way back to her house. It was getting dark by this time and it was gone 5pm by the time we offloaded. There weren't any curtains in any of the windows so we hung a couple of sheets up at the windows at the front of the house. I have to say I did feel a little bit guilty leaving Funmi for her first night. It would have been better if she had got the keys at lunchtime which would have given her a little more daylight time so she could throw some bleach around and get her things put away. I’m amazed she hasn’t taken any time off work but she says she has important meetings and can’t have time out. Still, she is fairly organised and I know by next week the place will be like a show house.

Today Phil is going to start on laying the laminate floor. He’s very reluctant because he hasn’t got the right tools and also his tennis elbow is hurting him like crazy. Yesterday he ripped off all the skirting which he tells me wasn't an easy job. I suppose when you think that it's been there for nearly 30 years and also the fact that it has been screwed into concrete, its really not surprising. Unfortunately when the skirting came off, with it came lots of nasty buggy things. Phil is also a little but put out because I’m meeting up with my friend Jane today and we are going for lunch at Brassiere Blanc in The Hub. Although BB is not Phil's favourite restaurant, I think he feels he’s missing out plus this will be the third day in a row that he will be eating chilli con carne and rice. But I haven’t invited him for the simple reason that Jane and I only get to meet up once a year and sometimes it’s just nice to do girlie gossip. Sorry Phil!

John Smith

John passed away in Willen Hospice on Tuesday morning. It was a peacefull passing and Christine was by his side, holding his hand. So sad but I am glad that all of his suffering has finally come to an end.

But that said, I still can't believe that he's gone. John's funeral is being held next Tuesday.

Le Weekend

I meant to do a blog yesterday but just ran out of time. We both thought that the second viewing on the kebab flat went well but we’ve since had feedback that the girlfriend didn’t like the outside of the block and wasn’t impressed by the internal décor of the communal areas. I have to say that I agree with her but I would also say that appearances can be deceptive. We’ve never lived anywhere so quiet and the convenience for shopping in the centre it great and despite living amongst so many different cultures, most people are friendly.

Talking of appearances, I’ve noticed that since living with a black eye and aside from the looks of sympathy and pity, I’ve been experiencing a great level of customer service whenever I’ve taken off the shades. That said, I’d rather not have had the bruising; it’s much better now but there’s a tiny bruise left under my right eye that I can’t even hide with make up yet.

We had a rather pleasant weekend tinged with a little sadness with news of John. I mentioned in my last blog that John had moved to Willen Hospice, well I had a text from Christine late Saturday afternoon to say that he only had a few days. It wasn’t a surprise to hear but still sad and so very final.

With the saga of my eye trauma last week, I forget to mention that the BT fusion box arrived on Thursday and after several hours of trying to set it up and lots of phone calls to BT, Phil finally got it up and running. I wasn’t impressed at first, all of the films seemed very old and the first film we recorded overran and we didn’t get to see the ending. But I’m liking it more now, especially as Phil is recording the whole of ‘Celebrity Get me out of Here’ for me. I enjoyed watching the playback last night of the first show, it was really funny. The other thing I forget to mention is that Phil has been made redundant again and finishes at Rexam a week tomorrow. It wasn’t unexpected and in light of the credit crunch, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner.

Phil didn’t feel like doing much on Saturday and spent most of the day lying on the sofa reading his book. I didn’t really mind letting him have the day off, it doesn’t happen very often. I decided to take myself off and start the Christmas shopping. Anyone that knows me well knows that I hate Christmas with a passion. I get more bar humbug as the years go by and this year my festive dread is worse than ever. Phil is the same and now that he’s being laid off, he’s talking of running away and spending next month in Goa. I worry about no income and paying school feels and mortgages but I am tempted to piss off too. One life and all that and you just don’t know what is waiting for you around the corner. I’ve said this before but it so prevalent and true.

On Saturday night we went to Mads & Steve’s in Olney for supper at the cottage. We had a great fish starter and Mads cooked a goulash which was perfect for a cold dark winter night. It was a pleasant evening only spoilt by the fact that Phil spent all night on the loo when we got home. I’m not certain he has recovered fully from the Costa Brava food poisoning. Either that or eating late at night just doesn’t agree with him.

On Sunday we drove to Melton Mowbray to have lunch with Phil’s mum and dad. Phil’s mum cooked a us a great plateful of roast beef with roast potatoes, new potatoes, spouts, carrots, cauliflower & leeks in cheese sauce and yorkshire pudding. Fabulous, and after lunch we chilled on their big squashy sofas and watched the repeat of X-Factor. A perfect way to spend a Sunday. The drive home in the dark and rain wasn’t so nice but otherwise a good weekend.

Yesterday William the carpenter turned up to refit the bathroom door. We wanted to have the door hung so that it opened outwards but William said this would take a long time and wouldn’t look very good because it would leave a gap. I said okay, just hang it back as it was. He had to plain the bottom because of the new tiles, but he got the door back on and was out of flat within an hour.

Just after midday and just as I served up Phil his roast chicken pie, mash, sprouts and carrots, the carpet fitter turned up to fit the carpet in the second bedroom. It didn’t take him long and as soon as he left I took Phil back to work so I could use his car. My Ford KA was in the garage yesterday having a winter service. I spent the afternoon wrapping presents and moving all of the furniture back into the bedroom. It looks so much better although I do have a few reservations about the pink wallpaper!

I want to rip off the skirting board and take up the carpet in the hallway and lounge and replace with a laminate floor. Phil is reluctant to do this especially as the carpets are only a few months old and also because of his tennis elbow, but he has agreed to do the hallway first and see how he gets on with the cutting. If he gets on okay he has agreed to do the lounge. Only with that is done, will my work be finished at the kebab flat. Just as well really because if it all goes to plan I will be back at work full time at the beginning of January.

What's up Doc?

Vanessa and Harriet convinced me to go to the walk in centre at the hospital to get my eye checked out. So on Thursday morning, I got myself ready and made my way to the clinic. I had about a 25 minute wait before I was seen by a nurse who took one look at my eye and said that it wasn’t a stye. She said it was more likely to be a viral infection and perhaps something to do with my blood clotting. She told me to go straight to my GP and get a blood test. But I couldn’t be bothered and I wasn’t feeling brilliant and certainly not in the mood to give blood. Besides that, there wasn’t time, I had to pick up Phil and bring him home for lunch.

After collecting Phil from work and bringing him home for noodles, salad and chocolate yogurt, I took him back to work and made my way to Funmi’s house in Fullers Slade. She was due to exchange and complete on her house sale and I’d promised to help her take some stuff to the tip. She was pretty much organised when I arrived and just wanted help taking her old appliances to New Bradwell. We managed to get her washing machine into the back of my Ford KA and her old fridge into the back of her car and drove to the tip. It was a really miserable day, pouring with rain and very black skies. Me and Funmi really struggled to get the washing machine out of my car so I went to seek out a man to help. I found one eventually with a mug of freshly made tea in his hand and he seemed reluctant to help me. However, as soon as I whipped off my glasses to reveal my black eye, he was straight on the case and got out the fridge and washing machine almost single handed.

After leaving the tip we drove back to Fullers Slade and loaded the rest of Funmi’s cases into my car and drove over to the TMA flat with Funmi following close behind. It didn’t take long to get the stuff unloaded and Funmi went back to work while I went to pick Phil up from work. We drove over to collect the Freelander from Cowley & Son in Whaddon as it was finally fixed. A replacement cylinder head gasket and a water pump together with labour cost us just under £800. Not good news but we can’t sell it on so had no choice bar to get it fixed. At least my taxi driver days are finally over.

On Friday morning I went to Newport Medical Centre for a 9.50 am appointment to get my eye checked out. The swelling has gone done considerably but I thought I should try and find out why I had the bruising. The doctor was both alarmed and baffled and had to get in 2 other doctors for a 2nd and 3rd opinion but they were baffled too. In the end she put some dye drops in both my eyes which made them turn yellow, to see if I had a viral infection. She said there wasn’t any infection and that she would get the nurse to take some blood to check my liver and blood clotting. I know I’m not very brave but I hate having blood taken. My veins are very small and every time they struggle to get the needle in. Many times they have a go at both my arms. This time the nurse only had to prick the one vein but when she eventually got the needle in, my blood didn’t want to come out so it took 10 minutes to fill up 3 vials of the red stuff. They said they would ring with the results last night but I had no call so I assume that everything is good to go??

I feel very vein and a bit of a fraud going on about my black eye when there are so many other people suffering with real pain. Christine sent me a text yesterday to say that John had been taken to Willen Hospice. He’d only been back at home for 2 nights so I guess his care team think that he needs 24/7 care and its better for him to be at Willen. It breaks my heart.

On a lighter note, David came back yesterday to finish off the bathroom. I am pleased to report that he was able to fit the new aluminium towel rail without too many problems. We also now have a bath panel, the sink has been refitted and the tap is fixed firmly. The carpenter is coming to refit the door and that will be the bathroom finished.

We have a second viewing here at the kebab flat in less than half an hour and here I am penning a blog still in my dressing gown and without my tooth in. Not good and now I really must press the publish button and get going!

A sight for sore eyes

Yesterday was a mixture of good and bad but mostly good. I woke up and my eye stye was even worse than the day before. In fact it got progressively worse as the day went on; I look like I’ve been beaten up. Phil was most alarmed that I wasn’t wearing my dark glasses when I picked him up from work especially as 3 of colleagues were hanging about outside their office building. The reason I wasn’t wearing them was because the light was already fading and with my eye practically puffed shut I wouldn’t have been able to drive.

I looked such a sight for sore eyes that I didn’t dare go to the health-club. To be honest I wasn’t feeling 100% so I hung around the kebab flat. I did manage to empty the wash basket, change the bed and catch up with the ironing. Lunch was an M&S moussaka which I can honestly say was disgusting. Even Phil who loves every type of food on this earth didn’t like it. I must do more home cooking. After picking up Phil for lunch and dropping him back at work I drove to meet Jan so that we could have a walk around the OU campus. It really was a glorious day and apart from seeing her briefly at David Lloyd early one morning, it was nice to catch up with all of her news. We had a very pleasant walk, a definite highlight to my day. After lunch I went to Lidl’s to get cleaning materials and toilet rolls and kitchen rolls. More joy.

After Lidl I dumped the shopping off at the kebab flat, cleaned my teeth and then made my way to the dentist in Two Mile Ash. Unfortunately in my hazy fuddled state I got the appointment wrong and was ten minutes late. My hygienist is a horrible mean cow that for some reason hates me with a passion; she doesn’t take kindly to lateness but she took one look at my swollen bruises face and for the first time ever, was quite gentle with me. After seeing Tina I made my way downstairs to see Andrew my dentist for my 6 monthly check up. He is the best dentist ever who truly understands my fear of dental work and he is the sole reason I go to the practice. Thankfully my gum disease is in remission and I don’t need any extractions which is always a relief to hear.

When I left the dentist my head was throbbing and I really wasn’t feeling that great. I drove over to the doctors in Newport but no surprises they couldn’t get me into see a doctor. They did say I could wait for an hour and a half to see if someone didn’t turn up but no could do because I had to pick Phil up @ 4pm and then he needed the car to go to Northampton to do the private girls school run. I went home and cooked up some lemongrass chilli chicken and pasta and then sat down and watched Golden Balls and No Deal with Phil when he got back.

Phil got picked up at the flat by Jimmy and they went to meet the rest of the Wednesday night crew at The Barge in Woolstone whilst I took myself off to see Vanessa’s with a bottle of wine. It was lovely to sit in the Fords lounge lit with lovely scented candles and chat to Vanessa over a glass of wine. I could only have a couple of glasses because I was driving, but still I always feel loads better when I offload my troubles to V and came home feeling much lighter. I’ve woken up this morning feeling better than I did yesterday and although the right side of my face isn’t so swollen my eye is even blacker. I think I shall have to seek some medical advice today as this whole face thing doesn’t look like its going away anytime soon.

Eye Stye

It can only happen to me. I woke up yesterday morning to find that I had grown a stye overnight which was so swollen it almost closed my right eye and puffed up the whole side of my face. At first, before I self diagnosed on the Internet, I wondered whether Phil had accidentally punched me in his sleep because I did look like I’d been in a fight. Phil of course, thought it was incredibly funny and kept taking pictures of my eye throughout the day as it became more purple and bruised like as the hours went by. He had taken the day off so that he could be here when the council contractors from Weldon’s came to replace the blower radiator in the lounge for a proper radiator with its own thermostat.

We had an easy start to the day, Phil’s car is still in garage awaiting to be fixed so I had wait for him to get back from B&Q before I could go out. When he then got back from B&Q I had to then wait whilst Phil went to M&S to buy some sausages because he fancied making himself a hot dog. When he eventually got back I was finally able to go to the health-club. I decided to go on the treadmill rather than the cross trainer so I wouldn’t have to look in the glass mirrors. I got a few funny looks and decided to forget my swim and go straight home after my workout. When I got in the door Phil mentioned that we had a viewing in 10 minutes so I had to race round and tidy up whilst Phil took himself off to the library. With only half a bathroom and a second bedroom as a workshop we are not really in a position for viewings. But the guy that viewed was very nice and amazingly the agent phoned back to say that he is interested and wants to come back for a second viewing with his girlfriend on Saturday morning at 10am. Thankfully we have David coming back on Friday to finish off and correct the things that he should have done whilst we are on holiday, so that should help things.

We had steak and kidney pie with some mash, carrots and broccoli all from M&S for lunch and no sooner had I plonked the plates on the table, the contractor from Weldon’s arrived. Sods law and just our luck. I gobbled down my pie and mash and left Phil with the grumpy contractor whilst I shot out to meet Funmi at the TMA flat. Funmi completes (fingers crossed) on her house sale tomorrow but doesn’t get complete on her new house for another week so she’s homeless for 7 days. Well she’s not because I’ve given her the keys to the TMA flat so she has somewhere to lay her head. It’s not ideal because it’s only a studio but everything is new so it’s all unused and very clean.

Weldon’s fitted the new radiator and Phil also got them to take off the radiator in the bathroom and cap off the water so when David comes on Friday he can fit the new heated towel rail that we got from BathroomsBits4U. This should be straightforward but I say this with hesitation because sometimes David can complicate even the simplest of jobs, bless him.

Last night we went to The Odeon to see Hope and Glory. It was quite good although Phil kept whispering to me that he didn’t understand the plot and couldn’t figure out the good cops from the bad cops. Still it’s good to get out of the kebab flat and sad gits that we are, we still get a buzz walking through the centre.

I had some very sad news yesterday. Christine emailed to say that they had the results of John’s MRI scan (his 3rd) which showed that the cancer has returned and is back in his stomach, pancreas and where they removed his kidney. Poor John has been through so much with the surgery and C-Diff, he just doesn’t deserve this. Christine says that he just wants to go home and I can’t say that I blame him. I just hope that she can get him home and get him the right drugs so that he isn’t in any pain. Or failing that, I pray for a miracle. I just can’t stop thinking about them both and it makes all my troubles seem small and so very insignificant.

Burgers, Chips & Oxford

I am pleased to say that we had a fairly normal weekend with very few jobs to do. That’s not saying there wasn’t stuff to do because we’ve still got things to do in the kebab flat but we are waiting until the bathroom is sorted before starting the next project.

Harriet came round on Saturday and whilst we ate lunch she went shopping in the centre. An hour later and £100 lighter she came back laden with bags. This girl has a serious shopping addiction; I try and tell her that you don’t need to spend all of your salary and that it’s good to leave some money in your account but she won’t listen. It’s easy for me to preach but I seem to remember I was much the same at her age.

Harriet wanted to go and have a look in the new Sainsbury’s so Phil and I put on our coats and decided to walk with her and show her the hub at the same time. Me and Phil couldn’t believe that Harriet hadn’t been to have a look at the hub before. We brought a few supplies in Sainsbury’s and then went to get Harriet something to eat. We were going to go to All-Bar-One because they have some cheap deals but Phil persuaded Harriet to try out the gourmet burger kitchen in the hub because he’s been dying to try it for ages. We just had a drink and watched Harriet tuck into a plain hamburger and a bowl of chucky chips. Harriet (because she thought she was buying her own lunch) wasn’t impressed that the price of the burger in a bun (£7.50) didn’t include the chips which were extra. We agreed with her especially as the chips were frozen and she left more than half of them. She did say however, that her hamburger was very good but I don’t think we will be dining there in the very near future. Saturday night was boring and a quiet one spent in front of the telly watching X-factor.

Phil popped out to get the newspapers on Sunday morning and after reading these in bed, we decided to drive and spend the day in Oxford. Phil had taken Georgina on a day trip a few years back but I’d actually never been to Oxford, so this was a first for me. We left the car on the outskirts of town and caught the park and ride bus to the centre. It was chillier than I thought and as soon as I got off the bus I wished I had put on my big puffer quilt coat instead of my fake leather bomber jacket. I was freezing! Phil wanted to get on the open top tourist bus but when he found out that it was £11.50 per adult ticket, he changed his mind! We had a walk up and down the main street before going into the Old Tom pub for some lunch. And what a charming little pub it was too. We both choose the Thai green curry which was very good and freshly cooked.

After lunch we had a walk through some gardens towards the direction of the river but it was getting colder and we decided to head back to the bus which was a good decision because just as we reached the park and ride stop it began to rain quite hard. We hit a little bit of traffic near Bicester Shopping Village but other than that it was an easy ride home. It was a nice day out and it made a change to do something different. Sorry this is blog is boring and a bit on the short side but it was a rather calm and boring weekend. And in the words of Shakespeare’s William the third play, “its better to be brief than tedious”.

Happy days

It’s been an age since I’ve been in so I thought I’d better sign in and post a quick blog. I must say its going be a quickie because I’m not in the mood and I have got loads to do today. The good news is that the food poisoning has finally walked out the door and whilst the weight loss has been fabulous, it will be good to eat again.

As you can tell from Phil’s blogs from Pineda De Mar, our week’s stay in the Costa Brava wasn’t a pleasant one; I’ll go as far to say, that actually, it rates as being one of my top 5 five worst holidays. The food was disgusting, the weather was crap, the wine was almost undrinkable and Pineda de Mar was a dump. Pineda Palace (what a joke this name is) was at first presentable but at closer inspection the only redeemable feature was that it was clean and we had hot water 6 days out of 7. All in all, a f***king nightmare and it goes without saying I will never, ever, return to the Costa Brava. The girls (G&J) were fairly uncomplaining and I did feel sorry for them because there was nothing whatsoever for them to do. Phil was the only one amongst our gang that took any joy from the entertainment, but that’s Phil; believe me it was so dire; self harming would have been more fun.

Even the journey home wasn’t without incident. Girona airport was dull, made even duller with no alcohol due to sickness and sod all to do for three very long hours. Our RyanAir flight was delayed (no surprises there) but amazingly the pilot made up the time in flight and somehow we arrived at our scheduled time. Unfortunately a lady was honking up the whole flight (boy I knew how she felt and that would have been me, had it not been for the orange pills) but anyway, we couldn’t get off the plane until the paramedics had taken her off the plane and only then were the rest of us of us civilians allowed to disembark.

Mercifully, thanks be to god, Phil had paid 20 quid for the Freelander Rover to be delivered to the taxi rank outside departures because it was gone past 10.30 pm by this time. It was bliss for about 10 minutes but we weren’t long driving on the M1 when it was obvious we had a problem with the car. The heating wasn’t kicking in, there was a bad smell and the temperature gage told us the engine was overheating. We limped along the M1 and eventually made it back to the kebab flat sometime after 11pm. Phil dumped me and our bags off and then transferred the ‘girls’ and their luggage into my Ford KA and drove them back to their respective homes in Northampton. It was after 1pm when he got home and even the journey back wasn’t without incident. He got stopped on the slipway in Campbell Park by the police. I thought it was a test for drink driving but he hadn’t touched a drop and apparently they searched the under carriage of the car just like they did when looking for bombs when I lived in Germany. My guess is they were looking for clues relating to the guy that was murdered and dumped in the canal in Campbell Park. Either way, Phil was innocent and with a bad case of ‘deli belly’ he certainly wasn’t in the mood to be stopped! It was very late when we finally hit the sack.

Sunday was a day for me of unpacking, washing and ironing. Phil opened post and laid on the sofa reading the papers. To be honest we both felt unwell and didn’t eat a thing all day. The highlight of the day was watching the grand prix and watching Lewis Hamilton winning the championship; Great race and a case of ‘the boy done good’. He is a true star.

With a heavy heart (and stomach) Phil went back to work on Monday. He wasn’t a happy chappy but needs must and all that. I had to stay in the whole day to wait for the BT router to connect us to the internet and a replacement toilet seat from B&Q. Both arrived before 9am and I am proud to say I had us online before10am. Unfortunately I had to wait in on Weldons, the council contractor to come in and change the lounge radiator. Guess what, the engineer came at 2.30pm and didn’t know how to isolate the water. He huffed and puffed and sighed as most men of a certain age do as and he left with a sigh and hunched shoulders saying “this is an all day job, which must start in the early hours”. Typical council contractors, USELESS. Phil chased them yesterday and we are booked in again for next Tuesday.

I don’t know where this week has gone; washing, ironing, cleaning, cooking, paperwork, replying to email etc etc. Generally just catching up on domestics and applying for jobs. We took the Landrover over to Cowleys in Whaddon and it turns out that the head gasket has gone. More money but it’s gotta be fixed and hopefully we should be able to go and pick it up today. We went to see the James Bond movie on Tuesday night and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. I am not a big Bond fan but it was great and I think Daniel Craig is the best James Bond ever. You must go and see it if you have a chance.

Although I have recovered from the holiday and the food poisoning, Phil is still suffering. I told him to swallow the orange pills or otherwise go to the doctors but of course he won't do neither. He has been in a foul mood all week. Not helped that David (our posh plumber) made a bit of a hash of the bathroom whilst we were away and it now looks worse than it did before he started the work. I have to say I feel disappointed especially as he left us to the very last minute which meant he didn’t finish what he was meant to which means that Phil now has to do all the jobs that David didn’t fancy. It seems as if we will never get this flat finished. I'm sure we’ll get there in the end, we always do; I just wish some days, that it would all go to plan.

The wounded return

Thursday was a washout both for us and the weather. It rained all day and we nursed our wounds watching TV all day and evening having a food free day. The only time I went out was to move the car to one of the side streets behind the hotel. As the hotel has no car park we had managed to park out the front all week but the market was scheduled for the Friday and if you haven’t moved your car from the front by 2am on Friday you would be towed away. The market was all along the sea front, quite a big one but they only seemed to be selling ladies clothes. A few jewelry stores and the odd means clothes but it was noticeably different to our markets where every other store sells snacks. Only one snack store was in the entire market right at the very end. There was a small spur that sold fruit and veg and saucepans but the rest was clothes.
As we hadn’t eaten we took the girls over to the shopping centre for a pizza and a game of 10 pin bowls. As I had won some tokens on a pinball machine the last time we were there, we all tried to win more tokens so we could pay for the bowls with the tokens rather than money. Sounded like it might be expensive to me because you could average about 15 tokens a Euro and a game of bowls was 120 token per person. Then I found a touch screen maze machine and it seemed possible to get about 45 token per Euro. Georgina had a go and was a natural consistently winning between 150 and 200 token per Euro and before we knew it we could pay for 4 tickets shoe hire and a couple of cokes.
Again it was raining and the girls got out their hats (plastic bags) so as to keep dry. Home just in time to get ready for our final meal and we decided upon a nice restaurant we had seen along the front. I still wasn’t hungry but stuck to a pizza so as not to upset my stomach, Jenny and Georgina had salads while Claire went for the steak. Off home for a sleep and an early morning check out of 10am so we were off to Gerona so I could visit the Dali museum.
Poor Claire, it had finally caught up with her. She now had the dreaded food poisoning and was up sick all night. When I woke the kids at 8.30 I got the sickness medicine that we had bought for Jenny and Claire took a couple of spoons of it but couldn’t hold it down. However this was the last time she was sick as it turned to the other end. Bang goes my Dali museum again. I asked if we could keep our room for a bit longer as there was no way Claire could leave the hotel as she was but was forced to pay an extra 30 Euros to keep one room. Unbelievable especially as it was their food that had caused most of our troubles. We also knew that the hotel was shutting down on this Saturday and even people with days still to go were moved to other hotels. Must have been a problem with the food or something.
By about 1.30pm it looked pretty safe to head off to the airport and we still had time to stop off and have a quick look around Tossa del Mar which seemed to have fascinated Clare from the start. We parked up at the side of some very narrow side streets and had a stroll around. Tossa seemed to be a lovely seaside town. Probably the best we had seen on this holiday, there were narrow old fashioned streets with shops along them, a nice beach and a castle. Shame we didn’t come here earlier. On our way out there was a huge crowd of French tourists that didn’t want to get out of our way and we had to push past them. It was pleasing to see a car force them to move just after we were through.We set off again but were still hours too early for the plane so decided to have a drive through Gerona which also turned out to be a lovely place. They had a market in the centre of town and a funfair but we neither could find a parking space nor had that much time left anyway. We set of for the airport but took a turn to early off the roundabout and had to pay a toll fee to travel 10km along the motorway before we could get off and then pay again to come back the 10km to the same roundabout we started from. It wasn't even my fault but I got the blame because I'm always doing that sort of thing.

No such thing as a free lunch

Firstly let me apologize for not publishing more frequently. Always when we go away one of our first tasks is to suss out where all the local internet cafes with usb ports available are. This time we thought we may be able to use our mobile internet but no reception in hotel. We found one on the high street that opened between 10am and 1.30pm then from 5.30 until 9pm which I published my first entry on. When I turned up on the Wednesday to post my next one at 10am it was shut. I had a walk to the supermarket and got some fruit and stuff returning at 10.20 and it was still shut. There was a small notice on the door that I didn’t understand so left it until the next day to post 2 entries. Still shut, but this time there was a huge pneumatic drill on the floor, time to seek out another one. Georgina and Jenny had been in another but it was not obvious as it was advertised as a mobile phone shop, only when you entered could you see they also had internet stuff so that was where I posted my next 2 entries.

Wednesday we were to have lunch in the last of our H Top Hotel hotels the Royal Sun which was supposed to be the best of the group. I originally tried to get to this one earlier but it was always fully booked. As you could only book 2 days in advance I was at our reception at 8am Monday morning to ensure our place for lunch and even the coach trip there and back as well. We thought we would get the coach there and the train back as the return coaches never seem to come back until about 6pm so you have to hang around the hotel all afternoon. Especially as the weather had changed and rain was scheduled for the rest of our stay except for Thursday.

There seemed a lot more for kids to do at this hotel with a pool table and one of those sliding puck table games. The hotel has a nice pool and is situated directly on the beach so in a real great position. This doesn’t seem to matter much when the weather is bad and also the food was dreadful being worse than ours if that was possible. The food at our hotel started poor and got quickly worse but somehow they still managed to top it. The girls played a few games and then we decided to try and find the train station in the rain. Out came the shower cap again and whichever way we chose to walk we couldn’t find the station so decided to walk towards our hotel along the beach so as at least to be going in the right direction. Somehow we still didn’t find it and ended up walking the whole way home in the rain.

For once I wasn’t the only one that looked odd in my bare feet and sandals, we had Claire with her plastic bag, ninja Jenny and twinkle toes. Between us we had some strange looks walking along the beach road in the rain but it was still fun. Georgina’s feet were freezing by the time we got back but at least she didn’t ruin her new shoes.

We had a quick game of pool at the hotel next door before returning for dinner at our hotel for dinner, a little entertainment and an early night as we intended to drive to Barcelona in the morning as it was supposed to be a dry day. Unfortunately I had suffered really bad in the night with stomach problems but gave the girls a knock at 8.30 as arranged only to find that Jenny had been up sick all night. Looks like I would have to wait for our Gerona trip on Saturday before I could visit the Dali art museum.