Slipping and Sliding

 It was another very cold night, in fact, we had some snow during the evening, yesterday. Not that the snow settled, but it was indicative of the temperature. I wrapped up well when it was time to walk to Zoe's for the school run, The girls were both full of the joys of spring and we chatted and chuckled all the way to school.

With Ellie deposited in class, I set off for my morning walk. The audiobook of Michael Connelly's "Desert Star" kicked off in my ears as I strolled around the neighbourhood. I was only out for 40 minutes, but the book already has me hooked. There were several spots on the route that were very slippery and I had to stay alert, particularly as I crossed the wooden bridge and viewing deck.

Once home, I had breakfast and completed this week's shopping list. We set off for Sainsbury's just after Lottie arrived. Shopping seemed to take a long time today, and certainly cost a lot more than I was expecting. I zig-zagged through the back streets to avoid the tailbacks caused by roadworks on our usual route. Seeing the tail end of the queue, I have no doubt that I made the right choice.

We had a Kindle hour after lunch and the bright sunshine meant that it was nice enough to sit in the Orangery, even though the outside temperature was only 2.5c. We went to collect Elli from school and I took her to the park to have a run around. She was explaining what she had been learning and doing during "Science Week" and was really enthusiastic. When we got home, her friend Jaxson came to play for a while and then, when he had gone, Ellie cracked on with her times tables before dinner.

Ellie is staying with us overnight.

Snowflakes

 It was very cold overnight and there was a hard frost when I opened up. Diane hadn't slept well, so decided not to go to Pilates as originally planned. I did the usual school run and then headed off for my pre-breakfast walk. I did a couple of loops of the state while listening to the approaching climax of my audiobook.

After breakfast, I quickly updated the accounts and then went back to my study to edit some more of last year's blog entries. Zoe popped in for a while just as I was deciding whether or not to go for a walk. The forecast suggested it was about to rain, so I decided against it.

The rain did start at lunchtime. By mid-afternoon, it had turned to snow, but it wasn't settling. We spent much of the afternoon with our Kindles.

I plugged my AirPods back in when I started preparing dinner. I listened through to the end of my book. I cannot recommend a book more highly - Michael Connelly's "The Dark Hours" (a Ballard and Bosch book). I have already downloaded the next in the series and will start it in the morning.

Much as usual

We had a gentle start to the day but I still wandered around to Zoe's to join the march to school. She and Ellie were both in a very bubbly mood and there seemed to be a spring in their steps. As soon as we had said goodbye to Ellie at the classroom door, I headed out for a walk. I did a couple of loops around the estate before returning home for some breakfast.

Though the Xmas decorations have all been packed away (except for the one thing we will have missed and will find in the next few weeks), the containers had been sitting in the Orangery. I rated everything out to the garage except for some of the soft goods which I stored in the loft.

We have been experiencing some condensation forming on the inside of our bedroom windows. I spent some time looking for a suitable dehumidifier solution. Because of the size of the gap between the blackout blinds and the windows, I couldn't find a perfect product. In the end, I managed to find something that would fit the gap and separately ordered some dehumidifying crystals. We'll see how this works out.

As it was still crisp, sunny, and clear, I went for another walk. This was longer than the earlier one, looping around the estate and crossing up through the village, through Bersted Green, and back home. It was a very enjoyable hour.

The afternoon saw the usual Kindle time.

Gnashers

 It had been wet overnight but the rain had stopped by the time I ventured downstairs. As Zoe had a later start today, Ellie was not being dropped off but I would wander across to join the march to school. After the school run, I returned home for breakfast before we wrapped up and headed off to catch the bus.

I had an appointment at the dentist's. The bus whipped us into Chichester in about 11 minutes - I couldn't have done it any quicker in the car. When we arrived, we split up. Diane went to do some shopping and to return some shoes that didn't fit. Though early, I went straight to the dentist and sat in the waiting room with my Kindle until called. The dentist gave me the usual 3rd-degree interrogation before checking my teeth and gums. I was out in 5 minutes with a clean bill of health (and a healthy bill).

I met up with Diane as she left M&S. We headed back to the bus stop and went home for a coffee, and to get on with our day. Diane returned to her sewing project while I attacked the accounts and returned to my Kindle for a while before heading out for a walk.

It was my first proper walk of the New Year. It was nice to stretch my legs and catch up on my latest audiobook. I was out for about an hour but stayed in the local neighbourhood.

We are eagerly waiting to hear how Kim's first day at the care home went.

Rain and Edit

  Much of the country was hit by freezing rain and snow overnight and throughout the morning. We had rain, lots of rain, and it continued throughout the day. At least it was not cold.

There was no point in getting soaked, so we both stayed in and buried ourselves in our respective studies. Diane was working on a dress pattern, which kept her busy all day. I provided her with regular infusions of tea. 

I spent the day working on the editing for last year's blog to ready it for publishing in hardback. It was fascinating to go back through our river cruise of last spring and my trip to the South of France to see my old school friends. It was painstaking work as I standardised all the photos' layout and size, wrapped the text to fill the white space, and continued to develop the index. It did take all day, but I have now completed the first six months of 2024.

I tried a different approach to the roast potatoes for tonight's dinner. I drizzled olive oil over them and sprinkled them with onion granules and semolina. I then put them in the air fryer for 30 minutes. I must say, they turned out rather well. 

It will be back to school tomorrow, but we don't need an early start as Zoe isn't due to start work until 10:00.

Charger

It had been very cold overnight and there was a hard frost. The weather warning forecast that we would have a dry morning but the snow and rain would begin at midday. I had my usual call with the cousins to start the morning. 

My plan for the morning was to take down the Xmas lights from the front of the house while it was still dry and then start on the indoor decorations. I seem to have mastered the art of removing all the lights and looping them onto the cable reels. I was surprised by how quickly that was done. I then started on the Xmas tree. The issue with the tree isn't the lights or the baubles, it is the disassembly and packing away. Again, I must have been inspired as everything was packed away without any problems.

As we then started to process the rest of the decorations I went to my "man tin" for some pliers. There nestling in the tin was the lost AirPods charging case. I was confused. There was nothing that I was doing on the day the case went missing that would have caused me to go to the tin. How did the case get there? One of life's first-world mysteries. I guess that I now have a spare!

Kim dropped by. She came to show us her uniform (scrubs) for her first placement (as part of the University course), which starts on Monday. She will be working at a Mental Health facility in Worthing for about 6 weeks.

She looked very smart and seemed very enthusiastic about the work.

Kim wasn't here for too long, and when she left we continued to tidy away the decorations. By the end of the afternoon, everything was boxed and ready to be taken back to the garage. That can wait until tomorrow.

During the afternoon, I made up a batch of chicken curry. That suited me for dinner this evening and gave me 4 portions for the freezer for upcoming weekends.

End of the Pier Show

It had been cold overnight and there was a hard frost. It was nearly 8 a.m. before I got up and filled the kettle and coffee machine. We had breakfast and then prepared to head out into the crisp, bright, sunny morning.

We parked the car near West Park and set off for a walk along the promenade towards the pier. As we looped through Marine Gardens, we realised the paths were quite slippery so we dropped out of the park onto the pavement which was in the sun.  Crossing to the promenade we continued in the winter sunshine, marvelling at how few people were actually out and about.

The last time we approached the pier, parts of it were closed where new boards were being laid. They have finished the maintenance and we were able to walk out to the end and look back across Bognor Regis. 

We walked back towards West Park and stopped at the cafe for a coffee before heading home.

We had a quiet afternoon in the Orangery with our Kindles. I also spent some time editing the extract from last year's blog and preparing it for printing. I have only got as far as the end of March, so there is a fair way to go.

By lunchtime tomorrow, the forecast is looking wet and bleak, so it was nice to make the most of today's conditions. (We are in a Met Office Amber Weather alert at present, due to the cold weather).

Day Out

 Yesterday's rain and wind had blown out. This morning dawned cold, bright, and clear. I was up and about by 7:30 and settled with my coffee and iPad. Diane came down a while later. After breakfast she started to potter around and, clearing some of Ellie's toys, knocked the spare table that I had stacked next to the toy shelves. The table slipped and fell and bashed her leg and ankle. 

Lottie came this morning to do the cleaning downstairs. We decided to make the most of the sunshine and go to the Weald and Downland Museum.

Being members, we could get into the museum at no charge.

We started by wandering along to the Carpenter's Workshop where a chap was explaining how the village carpenter would fill in between jobs by making brooms and small household wooden articles.

From there, we walked along to the Smithy where a couple of chaps were beavering away around the forge.

We carried on around the museum, stopping off at a display of the Tudor Kitchen where volunteers (dressed in costume) were preparing food for the Twelfth Night feast.

Next door, volunteers were talking about the clothing of the 1500s and the life of the yeoman farmer and his family.

We looped back up the hill and back towards the restaurant where we stopped for a coffee and a bap.

We stopped off in the gift shop as we left the restaurant and then after a final look around, we hopped in the car and headed home.

We had a quiet afternoon in the Orangery with our Kindles before I zipped to Sainsbury's to grab some tea bags... but was concerned by how long it may take when I saw the gridlock in the car park. This turned out to be the result of an accident just by the car park exit. It turned out that everything had been cleared by the time I left.

A New Chapter

We didn't stay up to see the New Year begin. Ellie was still having a lot of discomfort and again we swapped beds. She settled fairly quickly once Nana was in bed, despite the fireworks exploding throughout the late evening.

This morning, New Year's Day, was the start of a new chapter in the journal of life. I was up first and had a quiet hour with my coffee and iPad before Diane came down. Ellie decided she wanted a pyjama day... and stayed in bed until mid-afternoon.

Gales had blown in overnight and there was rain battering the windows. The idea of going for a walk didn't really penetrate my consciousness. Starting to populate this year's accounting spreadsheet seemed a much better bet. Once that was complete, I headed up to the study and started to process the 2024 blog. The text and images were extracted into an "HTML" file. This was opened in MsWord and the correct stylesheets were applied and the file was saved as a "docx". Then I started to work through each entry and apply the correct formatting, check the spelling and grammar, and resize and position the photos. By mid-afternoon, I had finished January and February.

Ellie finally got up, got washed and dressed, and came downstairs. We watched a recording of last night's fireworks from London and then she sat and played quietly until Zoe came to collect her.

I wish you all a healthy and peaceful New Year, I wish you happiness, love and contentment.

Swapped Again

 Ellie wouldn't settle last night and we were up and down all evening trying to comfort her. She was suffering from tummy pains and was clearly very uncomfortable. By the time we went to bed, it was clear that she needed to sleep with Nana again, so I padded across the landing and settled in her room again. It was gone midnight before she finally dropped off, but she did sleep through the night.

I was up an hour before the girls pottered downstairs. Once I had dressed and had some breakfast I headed off to the pharmacy to collect the meds that had been prescribed yesterday. I had to hang around for a while as the pharmacist was conducting a consultation and she would have to sign off the meds. By the time I left, it had started to rain so I was quite wet by the time I got home. Ellie has now had her first dose and we hope it will sort things out.

While I was out, UPS delivered my replacement AirPods charging case. I have charged it up, recharged the AirPods, and paired the devices with my phone, tablet, laptop, and desktop. It's good to have them charged up and means that I can continue with my audiobooks when walking.

After lunch, Ellie's friend Ariana came around to play. This gave us an hour or so of relative peace before Zoe came to collect them. Zoe will bring her back later to sleep overnight.

As the year draws to a close, I must say that it has been a good year with a few uos and downs to keep us on our toes. We managed a short break in Sidmouth (twice), we went on a river cruise along the Danube, I visited friends near Toulouse, we saw Paul and Cathy (on their way to the Olympics), and Ellen (on her way to a conference), and we went to Turkey with all the family. In general, our health is good, though there was a period where Diane was unwell.

We are blessed.

Bed Swapping

 Ellie wasn't her usual self as she went to bed last night. In fact, she was tearful and clearly very uncomfortable. We decided that she should sleep with Nana so that Nana was on hand if she was taken ill, and that I would use Ellie's bed. As it happened, Ellie dropped off to sleep at 11 o'clock and slept through.

I was up first and enjoyed a quiet hour before Diane and Ellie wandered down. Ellie seemed a lot better this morning.

We spent some time working on our shopping list and when the girls had completed their ablutions and dressed, we headed off. The car park should have been a warning. It was chock full. We entered the store and it was carnage. It was a zombie apocalypse with morons wandering about and blocking the aisles. I suggested to Zoe that she set off the fire alarms so the store could be cleared for us... but she didn't seem enthused by this idea.

Ellie seemed to take a dip and Diane contacted Zoe and she booked an appointment at the surgery. We had a quiet afternoon (I managed a little Kindle time) before heading to the surgery. We have a prescription for some antibiotics, which we will collect tomorrow. It's only a 3-day course, but will hopefully knock this on the head.

(I spent some time online with Apple and ordered a replacement AirPods charging case.)

Theatre

We had a very lazy start to the day. Ellie had slept through and I was downstairs snuggling up to a cup of coffee before she stirred - and even then she stayed put in her bedroom until Diane came down.

The morning offered nothing to report but we headed off to Chichester at lunchtime. We had tickets for "Cinderella" at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

It was an interesting show, put on by the youth theatre group. It was a play, as opposed to the traditional pantomime, and they did an excellent job of the story.

Ellie was a little unsettled during the first part and had to go to the loo with Diane. She stayed out in the lobby watching the rest of the first half on a video screen. I went out and joined them during the interval and we all went back into the theatre for the second half.

The second half was much lighter and Ellie got totally enthused. In the end, she declared she had really enjoyed the whole play and declared which characters were her favourites.

We dropped her at Zoe's for dinner and went home for our own. Ellie will be back to stay overnight.

Tidy

 I slept well. In fact, it was 07:30 before I woke up. It was a suitably gentle start to the day with a breakfast of porridge and coffee as the call with the cousins kicked off. The call was the usual mix of reminiscences and banter as we caught up on everyone's Christmas.

While I~ was on the call, Zoe dropped Ellie off for the day (and night). By the time I emerged, Ellie was huddled under her headphones and catching up on goodness knows what. When she went upstairs to wash and dress, I started on a bit of a tidy-up. The spare table was cleared and collapsed, chairs were relocated (but not put away as I couldn't be bothered to hit the garage), and Diane started on a deep clean of the family room and kitchen.

I was debating when to go for a walk and checked the status of my AirPods. The battery status was very low. I searched for the case again, but have to conclude that I have lost it so I hit the Internet intending to order a replacement. I found a case by Otterbox (sold by Apple) - but cost £17 instead of the £89 for the Apple case. Otterbox got the business and the new case should arrive tomorrow.

Despite the lack of Audio input, I did go for a walk.

Soon after getting home, Ellie's friend Ariana (and her mum) came to call and invited Ellie for a playdate. She couldn't get away quickly enough... and it gave us a couple of quiet hours with our Kindles.

Ellie is staying with us overnight.

Colourful

 For some bizarre reason, I was awake by 2:15 this morning. My brain clicked online and I started to process random ideas... how would I prepare lunch when I didn't have sufficient burners on the hob? What would be the best way to serve up the pasta and various sauces? Where would everyone sit? Where is the case for my AirPods? What will we do with the current kitchen table when the new one arrives? So it went on, and when all of these had been dealt with, I restarted the whole list to ensure I had the best solutions. I got up soon after 6:00.

We expected Jane, Trevor, Mark, Zoe, Ellie, and Kim for lunch. Kim made contact to say she had an upset stomach and unfortunately wouldn't be able to make it. Diane and I spent the morning preparing for our guests.

Zoe and Ellie arrived first. Ellie had ridden here on her bike. Mark, Jand and Trevor arrived soon after. We had a noisy hour while everyone caught up with their collective news and viewed some of Ellie's Xmas presents. We even set the Nintendo Switch up in the Orangery. (The Switch is in a sorry state after Zoe managed to drop it and break one of the controllers... but it still works).

For lunch, I had prepared some linguine with a choice of sauces. One sauce was made with chicken, bacon, chorizo, roasted red pepper, white wine and cream; the other was a shop-bought carbonara sauce with prawns and salmon. It seemed to go down well and there was very little left.

After lunch, we continued the general chat. I discussed the accounting spreadsheet with Trevor as he is in the process of starting one of his own. It was during this discussion that we were attacked by Ellie with her hair dye. Before we knew what had happened we looked like victims of a paint explosion. (We were assured it would wash off!)

After that, we discussed Ellie's recent chess prowess and this led to Trevor downloading the sea chess app that we use (SmallFish). In turn, that led to a game against the computer... which we lost.

We finally remembered that it was Xmas and exchanged gifts. I was particularly lucky as Trevor and Jane had bought a super painting of Sidmouth for me. I think we have the perfect spot in the lounge where it can be hung.

Everyone left early in the evening and it only took a few minutes to clear up before we settled down for a quiet evening.