Tuesday, 18 March 2014

Coach Potato Girl gets out & about

I had a quiet one last week, with my partner in crime out of town, I kept a low profile. I ached like crazy after my leaf collecting and have decided that this is equivalent to 3 hours of deep squats, I ached everywhere.  It didn’t stop me from going to the gym on Monday but that was all I did.  I did order a few bits on the internet, a Kindle Paper light for Harriet’s birthday, a new Slendertone (early birthday present from Phil) and a navy fascinator from ebay which I need for ladies day at Ascot in June.  This will be the first time I have been and I am excited even though it is a few months away.


Tuesday was a more productive day; I popped into Newport and managed to get 2 500 piece jigsaw puzzles for mum, there were loads of 100 piece puzzles but not very many 500’s.   Still I was lucky to find two and they were only £1 each.  Bargain!  I also picked up a dress in one of the charity shops which is just perfect for a birthday party I’ve been invited to next Month.  The dress code is black and white so this fits the bill perfectly and it was only a tenner.  Another bargain.

I went to the gym, did some food shopping and was home in time to take delivery of my new Slendertone.  It’s not very dissimilar to my old one but that is knackered after years of abuse, the new machine is much stronger and I nearly passed out when I tried it for the first time. It was like having contractions, only much worse.  Still, if it produces results then it’s worth it, no pain, and no gain as they say.  Before Phil got home I got the hedge trimmer out and snipped all the branches and foliage poking in threw the fences in readiness for painting.

Phil had 2 bad nights on the trot and disturbed me; on Monday night he picked up a rather negative email from the Police which kept him awake all night and on Tuesday evening, he was up until all hours suffering with acid indigestion.  I eventually got up and stayed up around 4am and was on the M1 before quarter to seven on my way to Melton Mowbray.  I had a good run and arrived at mum’s bungalow at quarter past eight.  She was surprised to see me so early, the front door was still locked and she still had her curlers in.

I have been concerned about Phil’s mum and felt something was wrong and I was only halfway through my first cup of tea when I found out what the problem was.  Whilst we were in Budapest a gypsy knocked on the door and asked if she wanted her block paving cleaned and sprayed.  She said yes and 2 guys spent 4 hours supposedly cleaning.  For £400 they were meant to have sprayed weed killer and then sand blasted.  The drive does look cleaner but only in parts and there are sand pediments every where, they also made a right mess of the windows where they had sprayed.  Of course, mum didn’t get a receipt or a business card so we have no recall.  She had been well and truly conned and knew she had.  In the essence of life, £400 quid and a drive that looks worse than before is no biggie, the con could have been much worse and it is a lesson learned.  The real problem though that mum had made herself ill with the fear of telling me and Phil.  I made light of it and promised to sort the drive out if the rain didn’t sort it.  I hate people that take advantage of old people. 

My first job after learning about the drive was to fill out the Blue Badge form, this took me ages and hopefully our application will be successful.  It is a lifeline to mum being able to park in disabled spaces, without this badge, it will be difficult to take her shopping.  Before lunch I took mum to see the nurse to have her ring removed.   She had this fitted not only to help her prolapse but also to ease her back pain.  It hasn’t work so she decided to have it removed.  We weren’t in the surgery long and were back at the bungalow to have lunch bang on the dot of midday.  So in all, a successful trip and I was back at the flat before half four.

On Thursday I went to the gym early and then met up with Jan at the OU.  Unfortunately I had double booked myself but that was fine, it all worked out; Jan met me a quarter of an hour early and I had a bowl of soup and a roll with her and then met my friend Jane at the Ship Ashore at Willen.  I hadn’t seen Jane since last July so we had much to catch up on.  She looked fabulous as ever, they’ve moved into new premises and the business is going well.  I truly was a lady that lunched that day and felt more than a little guilty.

Phil spent all of Friday morning cooking up a big pot of his bean curry.  It seemed to take forever and he made mess everywhere but mission accomplished and it was ready for him to eat lunchtime.  I know it’s healthy for you but I am not so keen on it, I am more of a meat and 2 veg girlie.  On Saturday morning I went to the gym and Phil went to check on the caravans as this was the first day the site was open.  He saw Dennis next door and gave him the okay to get the vans up and running.  There was a bit of wind/rain damage to the skirt on one of the vans and weeds everywhere but otherwise all okay.

It was such a beautiful afternoon that I couldn’t bear to be inside so I set about painting the garden fences whilst Phil watched the qualifying.  It was lovely to be out in the sunshine and 4 hours of work got 6 panels painted, the garden shed and I also got a coat of black hammerite on the steps.  They look much better and I was pleased with the fruits of my labour.  It felt good to have achieved something for once in my life.

I went to the gym on Sunday morning and just had time to get ready for when Mike picked up at quarter past twelve.  We were going to have lunch with the girls at the Sheltered Housing but when we got there it was only Janice as Ann wasn’t well and Pat had her family visiting.  We went to Wolverton Mill for the carvery and very nice it was too.  A bit of a scrum to get a table and drinks but very good value for £7.20.  Again another nice day and we were able to sit outside with our drinks. Janice realised she had forgotten her purse and insisted we go back to New Bradwell and have another drink at the New Inn.  This was fine with me but Mike was driving and I’m sure he would have liked to have gone straight home.  Phil didn’t come out for lunch because he wanted to watch the Australian Grand Prix.

Sue got back from Southampton on Sunday afternoon so I went round to catch up with her and Ian yesterday morning leaving Phil to get on with paperwork.  She and Ian were fine and seemed to have had a great week in Southampton.  Harriet had her operation yesterday and I was pleased that I managed to speak to her before she went to MK General at lunchtime. After the gym and lunch, I went with Phil to the caravan to pick up the double bed to put in her shed and we collected post on the way back.  Harriet phoned at teatime to say she had her op, was out of recovery and back on the ward.  She sounded fine if a little tired but I won’t really know how she is until I see her this afternoon.  Fingers crossed all went well.


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