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.