We were up early to greet Ellie as she was dropped off. When we got up and opened the blinds, it was clear that it had been cold but dry. Ellie was dropped off and sat with Nana as she opened her mountain of Birthday cards and presents. It was, after all, a very special day.
By the time the presents and cards were opened, the weather had changed and it was snowing outside. (Well, it's unlikely to snow inside, is it?).
I insisted that the birthday girl stay in the warm as Ellie and I got togged up for the short walk to school. By this point, the snow had turned to sleet and it was quite slushy outside. I dropped Ellie off without any mishaps and headed straight home. There would be no walk before breakfast today, it was too slippery.
Back home, we finished breakfast and read the overnight news, then grabbed our shopping list for the weekly shopping trip. Though we arrived long before the Zombie bus, there seemed to be a lot of morons in the store, all vying for ways to irritate each other and everyone else. I arrived in the "milk" aisle and stood to one side to allow a caravan of morons to shuffle by. As the last one passed me, one of the staff dropped a carton of milk from the top shelf. It exploded as it hit the floor and I was collateral damage as milk dripped off my jacket, my face and glasses, and our trolley which had several new sweaters on top. Oops! The chap was very apologetic and grabbed the sweaters to replace them and to get help. It was at that point that Zoe turned up. She got on her headset and marshalled the clean-up crew, explaining what had happened and that a "customer had been splattered... and what is worse, it was my Dad". Staff arrived from everywhere to sort things out. I wandered off to continue my shopping.
When we arrived home and unpacked the shopping, we had a quick chat with Lottie, who was cleaning upstairs for us, and then leapt in the car to go and celebrate Diane's birthday at a local restaurant.
We went to the Bear Inn at Pagham. It's only 3 miles from here and we had heard good reports on the food. It was clearly a popular pub with a very extensive menu. It was a bit cool in the restaurant wing, but we had come prepared. We both started with smoked salmon on homemade savoury scones. This was quite delicious. Then Diane chose a rump of Southdown lamb with mashed potatoes, and I selected the Chimichurri Chicken burger. The food was excellent and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Our review, as we drove away was that the food was good, but in general, the Inn was "nothing special".
We drove home via the Runcton Farm Shop. The butcher was good to his word and had saved me a slab of pork rind from which I could make some crackling. It must weigh a couple of kg., but only cost me £3. That seemed like a good deal.
When we got home, we were about to settle down for some Kindle time when the doorbell rang and Trudy and Ian were at the door. They came in for a cup of tea and we chatted about their first week in the new house. It sounds as if they started to get things straight, but have a way to go yet.
The snow had melted away, the rain had stopped and the paths were drying up. We settled for some Kindle time before Diane went to collect Ellie from school and take her home to await Zoe's return from work.
We had a quiet evening.
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