Little Tornado

I was up well before seven, but there was no particular imperative that drove the early start. We had a quiet breakfast, I did some admin and we prepared for the raid on Sainsbury's.

We had agreed to meet Zoe at the entrance to the store and Di would go off with one trolley to do our usual weekly shop while Zoe and I went off with another trolley to do the shop for the various family guests we have tomorrow and Sunday. Zoe and I finished first and I unloaded the trolley into the car. I returned to the fray, catching up with Dinae and joining in her raid. The car was full, but we still had to visit M&S to pick up a few items we preferred from their range. 

We got home and unpacked. We immediately realised that a bottle of gin still had its security cap on, and I had forgotten to pick up the pasta. After a quick call to Zoe (who was now working), I returned to the store sorted out the security cap and collected the pasta.

After a light (but late) lunch, we settled down for an hour or so of Kindle time before I started to prepare dinner. As I write, it is all finished and the dishwasher is on. A side of salmon is cooking in the oven ready for tomorrow.

Ellie (our little tornado) has just arrived, after a week with Pete. She's had a good time and will stay with us overnight as Zoe has a late finish and early start.

Snitch

 Soon after I came down for my morning coffee we had a shower of rain. It didn't last for more than a few minutes but it was the first rain we have had for a few weeks. More rain was forecast for 10 a.m. so I decided to defer my walk until later in the morning.

Much of the morning was spent preparing shopping lists to cover Friday's guests, and another for Sunday's guests and our usual weekly shop. We split the list in two, with the idea that we will work two separate trolleys when we raid Sainsbury's tomorrow.

I went for a nice walk. The sun was out, but a strong wind kept the temperature down. Indeed, I was glad to be wearing my leather jacket. I was surprised by how few people I saw in the hour or so that I was out - particularly as it is school holidays.

After lunch, we settled down for some Kindle time, but it was getting too hot for me in the Orangery. I decided that I would review the DashCam footage from our drive home yesterday. I didn't mention it in yesterday's blog, but as we drove into Chiddingfold, a small white van shot across the road in front of us and, had I been going any faster, I would have t-boned him. As it was, I had to slam on the brakes to avoid clipping his rear offside panel. Having found the footage, I was able to identify the type of van and read its number plate. The footage also showed that I was driving well below the speed limit. I decided to report the incident, so I uploaded the footage to the NextBase site, where it will be forwarded to Surrey Police. I don't expect anything will happen, but I felt a lot better for being a snitch and reporting it.

People who lunch

I was still stiff this morning. I must say that my back is taking a while to settle. It was a quiet start to the day, and we read the papers and social media over breakfast. Being the 15th, I performed my monthly check on the utility meters... I have been monitoring all of our electricity, gas, and water usage on a monthly basis since we moved in 10 years ago. The spreadsheet recording these readings helps me keep a strategic view of usage and easily allows me to compare the month with the same month in earlier years. It is clear that we used a bit more gas this winter than in previous years, but we did stay much warmer, thanks to the new heating system.

Soon after Lottie arrived to perform her weekly magic on the house, we left to drive up to Milford. We were meeting Jane and Trevor for lunch at The Refectory. The first part of the drive was wonderful, the roads seemingly devoid of traffic. When we reached Chiddingfold, however, we joined the back of a 2-mile stationary queue of traffic and just sat there, immobile for about 15 minutes. All of a sudden, the traffic started to flow, and we were on the move. We never found out what the delay had been. I guess it's one of those mysteries that scientists will puzzle over in years to come.

We pulled into the car park at The Refectory just before Jane and Trevor. We sat down and chatted over coffee, drinks, and lunch. We caught up on all the latest health news, family news, and general chit-chat. We also talked about the river cruises we all had planned for both this year and next. As we chatted, I noticed a famous actress (Victoria Hamilton) and her family arrive and sit at the next table but one. I think she was recognised by a lot of people, but being British, we all left her alone.

It was nearly 4 o'clock before we left. We had a good run home. As soon as we were in, I changed my shoes and went out for a walk; I had stiffened up in the restaurant and in the car and was in need of a good stretch. I wasn't out for long, but it did me the world of good.

Scans

I was still very stiff when I woke up. If anything, it was worse than yesterday but once I was moving about it settled somewhat. When Di came down for breakfast I went out for my early walk. It was delightfully sunny, but there was a nip in the air.

Back home, I settled down with my porridge and coffee and read the overnight social media (I had read the news when I first came downstairs). I eventually stirred myself. I had a few items on my "to-do" list. I started off with the accounts. This may seem like an almost daily activity but with so many different ways that criminals and scammers find to steal your money, I like to be right on top of every penny that leaves the accounts so I can spot any dodgy transaction immediately. With the accounts dealt with, I went up to my Study to do some scanning and filing. (I don't like paper, so I scan everything that needs to be kept, file it, back it up, and then shred the original). This took me a while as I had a backlog to clear.

With the admin complete, I walked into the village to get my haircut. The Barbers' Shop was quite busy and I had to wait for a while before a chair became free. The barber who cut my hair was new to the shop, but I was very pleased with the effort he made to make me look presentable.

This afternoon saw some Kindle time in the Orangery.

Stiff

Oh dear. I discovered during the night when I took a "bladder call" that my muscles had decided to go on strike after yesterday's exertions. My legs were stiff and painful and my back seemed almost locked in position. I returned to bed and went back to sleep until seven-ish. I struggled out of bed and made my way downstairs for some coffee. This was going to be an "interesting" day.

I had a quiet morning, trying not to bend too much and avoiding twisting at all costs. By late morning, the temerature had wrmed up nicely and I decided to go for a walk, hoping to loosen things up. A new audiobook was playing in my ears as I walked. My pace was a little slower than usual, but I was quite comfortable after a few minutes.

Back home I had just finished lunch when Zoe popped in to drop some clothes off for Ellie. She didn't stay for too long but it was nice to see her for a chat. We also heard from Kim. She has just bought a car to replace her current Fiesta. She needed an automatic gearbox for when her back plays up, so she has selected a Peugeot 3008, which she will pick up after Easter.

We had a quiet afternoon with our Kindles in the warmth of the Orangery and we have just finished dinner.

More Cobbles

 It was bright and sunny when I got up. Coffee kick-started my day as I read the overnight news.  Being Saturday, I had my usual call with the Empson cousins. It was a bit different with Simon here in England, rather than sweltering in Australia. The attendee list was curtailed by various trips (Sarah was on her way back from France),  events (rolly was at a sporting event), and sickness (Maggie has a sore throat and can't talk). It was the usual mix of chat with nothing particularly revealing emerging. 

Once the call was finished, I returned to the cobbles. I tried to lift one of the sacks to empty it. That was when I discovered that each sack weighed as much as a rhinoceros and was just as easy to manoeuvre, I dragged the sack and cut it open, tipping the cobbles onto the underlying stones before setting about them with a hose to remove all the sand and gravel that clung to them. Sack by sack I washed them and placed the cobbles in the bottom of the rill. We had overestimated and only used 5 out of the 8 sacks we had bought. The rill is looking good again and the cobbles provide an interesting mix of colours.

By the time I had finished, my hamstrings were groaning and I thought it would be a good idea to take a walk to help them relax. Well, that wasn't a huge success. The hamstrings gave me no discomfort, but I realised I was slightly twisted as I was walking and despite not having any pain, I could not straighten up. I cut the walk short. When I got home, I went up and (under nurse's orders) lay on the bed for an hour. This did seem to do the job and I continued with the day much as usual.

After some lunch, we settled down for some Kindle time in the warmth of the Orangery. I finished another book and started a new one.

After dinner, I went for another walk. This was far more comfortable. We had a quiet evening.

Cobbles

 I was, needlessly, awake early and downstairs making coffee before 7:00. Diane emerged a bit later and I went to perform my morning ablutions. As I was dressing, I heard Di talking and assumed she was on the phone with Zoe. She wasn't, Kim had been to surgery for a blood test and called in to see us on the way home. She was with us for about an hour and we had a lovely chat, catching up on the trials and tribulations of the night duties she had worked this week.

Once she was gone, I got on with some admin and a few chores before Diane went to the vet to pick up some meds for Jasper, and I went for a walk, stopping at the pharmacy for some meds for Diane. It was a lovely warm, cloudless day and I was quite hot by the time I arrived home.

We have a bit of a family gathering planned for next Friday, so we spent some time looking at our catering options. Eventually, we concluded that the easiest solution was to prepare everything ourselves. I started to develop a menu for the day.

After lunch, we settled down in the Orangery for some Kindle time. Mid-afternoon, Zoe and Ellie turned up (with Ellie's friend Natalie in tow) so that Ellie could give us a hug before going to Pete's for the next week. It was lovely to see her bouncy and well again after the illness at the start of the week.

After dinner, Wickes arrived with the cobbles we had ordered yesterday. The chappie offloaded them and took them around to the back garden for us. He has had a long day, starting at 07:00 he has reloaded his van 4 times and still has deliveries in Lancing, Worthing, and Midhurst this evening.

Plan B

 I woke naturally and pottered down for coffee just before 7:00. Di followed me down soon after, she had an appointment at the Doctor's at 9:00. SHe had her breakfast and headed to the Surgery, I got on with some chores before stopping for breakfast. There was no early walk this morning.

Back for the Surgery, Di updated me, had a coffee, and we headed to Sainsbury's. We stopped at Wickes on the way. Di wanted some Scottish cobbles for the rill. We checked what they had and ordered 8 bags for delivery tomorrow. This triggered a return to the discussion we had earlier in the week. Wouldn't it be easier to shift things around if we had a sack barrow? Yes was the unanimous answer... we would stop at Screwfix on the way home, but first, we had to raid Sainsbury's. We had timed it badly, arriving just after the Zombie bus disgorged its cargo. The first few aisles were in a state of chaos, but as I powered through, I got ahead of the crowd and the rest of the shopping was trouble-free.

We stopped at Screwfix and collected a sack barrow which only took about 10 minutes to assemble (well, all I had to do was put the wheels on!)

I went out for a walk. I explored another route today. It was just a variation of one of my usual routes, but I explored a road I hadn't previously been down. It's nice to see how they all link up. I received a phone call from Zoe while walking. Could I help her dismantle the legs of her old table? I stopped off to see what was needed and agreed to return with tools after I had been home for lunch.

To dismantle the legs required a spanner of the right size to fit in a small recess and loosen a nut that would only turn about one-eighth of a turn at a time. Plan A was to bring my spanners, but Plan B was to bring my power saw. I returned to Zoe's and took one more look at the legs and the nut. Forget Plan A, Plan B it was! The saw made quick work of the legs and they have now been cut down into short lengths that can fit in the car for disposal.

Back home, brushing off sawdust, I settled in the Orangery and finished another book (that's 44 for the year so far).

Catching Up

 We had a lazy start to the morning. There was no imperative that demanded an early rise. I languished in bed until nearly 7:30 before stumbling downstairs for my first coffee. Once Diane emerged, I went to shower and then took a walk before breakfast. Several clouds disturbed the cerulean sky, and there was a chilly nip in the air despite the sun's attempt to warm things up.

Back home, I enjoyed my porridge while reading the overnight news and social media. With breakfast out of the way, it was down to work. I had a list of admin I wanted to clear during the morning. One by one, each task was ticked off my list, which took all morning.

As I was eating lunch, the doorbell rang. It was the delivery of the jumpers and shoes I had ordered on Monday.  I was impressed by the speed of the delivery as they had suggested 4-5 days - and it was here in 2.

After lunch I settled down in the Orangery with my Kindle, soon to be joined by Diane. We had a quiet couple of hours before Di went around to Zoe's to see how Ellie was coping and if she was feeling any better. (She was). When she arrived back, she reported that it was still nippy in the shade, despite the sun's attempts at warmth.

Tut, tut

 We were up early - we had a day out planned. Unfortunately, while we were getting ourselves ready, we heard from Zoe that Ellie was not well (serious hayfever and its side-effects) and she really wasn't well enough to come. It was a shame, I had planned for the start of the Easter holiday, as a day out in London. We wished her better, and decided that we would go anyway.

We boarded the 8:26 from Bognor Regis as it chugged up to Victoria. It was a quiet and pleasant trip until we arrived at Gatwick and then Croydon, where the train filled up with immensely noisy people. At Victoria, we dropped down to the District Line and eastwards to Whitechapel, where we changed onto the Elizabeth Line. Two stops later, we were at Custom House where we wandered down to the waterfront. The views across the Victoria Dock towards Canary Wharf and the O2 were quite impressive in the bright spring sunshine.

We had some time to spare, so we settled down at a waterfront cafe for some coffee and a pain au raisin. We then took a walk all along the side of the ExCel building by the dock. By the time we had returned to our starting point, we were spot-on for our timed entry to the Tutankhamun Exhibition Experience.

The exhibition really was an experience. It led us through the history of Egypt and the basic family tree of Tutankhamun and his short reign.

It then took us through the archaeological story that led to the discovery of his tomb and the treasure therein. There were contemporary photos from the discovery and the newspaper stories of the time. 

There was also a room containing replicas of some of the artifacts found in the tomb, including the famous mask and the sarcophagus. 

From there, we moved on to more historical context and then a 30-minute immersive video in a large 360-degree theatre. The images came alive all around us, telling the story of Egypt and King Tutankhamun. The graphics were quite stunning, and though I took some video clips, they hardly scratch the surface.

Leaving the theatre, we then moved on to a holographic presentation showing the mummification process and then on to a Virtual Reality (complete with headsets) that revealed some of the religious beliefs of the Pharaoh's journey into the afterlife. It was stunning. Fortunately, we were firmly seated during this, so there was no significant disorientation.

The last major immersive exhibit was another Virtual Reality. This was more adventurous as we had to move around in a virtual universe that was the Valley of the Kings. As we walked (Diane was tightly holding on to me), we were able to plunge down into the tombs, walk through Howard Carter's encampment, stride across the landscape and peer at all of the tombs that had been discovered. It was an incredible, if somewhat disorientating, experience.

Overall, we had been in the exhibition for over 2 hours. I had taken about 70 photos and videos. It had been well worth the money and was both entertaining and educational. It's a shame Ellie couldn't come with us.

We were hungry. We stopped at Tapa Tapa on our way back to Custom House. We enjoyed a few plates of tapas and a beer, then headed back across town to Victoria and the train home. We got in at 18:30. It had been a brilliant day.

Oops, I did it again

We had a quiet start to the day. After my first coffee and ablutions, I headed out for a walk (I hadn't managed any actual exercise during the weekend). There was a slight nip in the air, but it was bright, sunny, and cloud-free. By the time I arrived home, it was warming up nicely.

After some breakfast, we grabbed our gear and walked to the bus stop for a trip to Chichester. I had called Kim and she resolved to meet us in town at some point. We wandered along examining the various shops. One plane was to visit the recently opened WoolOvers shop. This turned out to be a bit of a damp squib for me. The shop only stocked ladies' clothes. Leaving there I took Di across the road to Clinkard's to look at some shoes that had caught my eye last week. I received the royal seal of approval and now have a very smart pair of shoes. We met up with Kim and continued to browse. We stopped at Hotter where I had rejected a pair of trainer-style shoes last week. I looked at them again and received the royal seal once more. They should be delivered at the end of the week.

We stopped at Crispin's for lunch. As usual,  there was a wide selection of fresh, tasty, and hearty food. We all chose well and enjoyed our lunch before moving on. Diane wanted to raid H&M for some clothes for Ellie, so we left there clutching armfuls of bargains. We bade Kim, adieu, and caught the bus home.

The afternoon was spent with our Kindles, in the warmth and comfort of the Orangery.

My phone pinged. It was Trevor. The new brochure for SAGA river cruises is out. He suggested we might like to look at a cruise along the Moselle for next year. Thirty minutes later it was booked and a deposit paid.

Attorney

We had a brilliant evening last night. Kim had recommended a show called "Last One Laughing". We thought we would give one episode a try and ended up watching the whole series back-to-back. It was probably the best Saturday evening's entertainment for many months.

We woke without external stimulus. For me, that meant 7:15, and for Di, it was closer to 8:00. There was no imperative that would drive us, but Di had an appointment with Zoe and Ellie to go shopping late morning.

I spent the morning and part of the afternoon dealing with some admin. We had to face facts and acknowledge that we are getting older and may not always have all of our marbles. To that end, there is a construct called a "Lasting Power of Attorney" that permits others to make decisions on our behalf, should we be unable to do so. There are two flavours of this, one that has access to financial and property affairs, and one that deals with health and care. I spent the morning and part of the afternoon preparing one of each each for Di, and another set for me. It went fairly smoothly, and I now have to get the various trusted parties to provide their signatures on the documents.

Zoe called. She wanted some muscle to help her move some plant pots to the front garden. I wandered around the corner and helped. Diane also wanted a shrub cut down and some of our own planters moved. That was soon accommodated.

Finally, we managed to sit down and enjoy the warm afternoon sunshine in a sheltered corner of the garden, before I returned to the kitchen to prepare a nice beef top rump roast for our dinner.

Pumping

Ellie slept through. Indeed, I was up, breakfasted, showered and had completed my call with the cousins before she emerged. Clearly, she was in need of a solid night's sleep. So that I didn't wake anyone, I skipped my morning Nespresso (the machine is noisy) for a coffee bag brew, and after my breakfast and shower, I took the cousins' call on the MacBook in the Orangery and garden, rather than my study. The sky was clear, and it was already pleasantly warm and quite comfortable sitting in the garden.

I had some admin to clear while Diane and Ellie started to review the various toys that had accumulated in the garage. While they were doing that, Kim and Jon arrived. Jon had brought an industrial wet vacuum cleaner with him. This was plugged in and switched on. In a couple of minutes, the rill was almost empty. It took a little while to scoop out the last remnants of water and debris, but the rill was finally clear. We left it for the afternoon, refilled it with clean water, and started the recirculating pump. Crystal clear water is now cycling through the rill.

I had cooked a batch of sausages and bacon. We gathered at the garden table and tucked into bacon and sausage baps, soaking up the warm spring sunshine as we chatted. Zoe turned up to collect Ellie just after we finished.

Kim had brought her MacBook. She wanted me to read and (if necessary) edit the essay she has to submit at the end of the week. I was very impressed with the style and content and, frankly, could add no further value. I think she has done well.

By the end of the afternoon, we were on our own again. I shuffled indoors to cook a curry and prepare Diane's salmon. It had been a lovely day.

Writing

I was up early for Ellie's drop-off. She burst into the house, full of the joys of spring, and after giving me some breakfast instructions, charged upstairs to see Nana. Her chirpy mood lasted, and we deposited her at the classroom, eager to enjoy another day of school. Diane headed home for breakfast, and I went for my walk.

After breakfast, I set about some admin tasks. I have started to develop a document "Oh Shit, I'm Dead". This will, hopefully, provide the family with all they need to know to handle matters when I shuffle off this mortal coil. (Not that I'm planning on leaving anytime soon). The first task was to create a template that I could fill in over time. Then I had to try and dig out the details of the contacts that need to be informed at IBM and our pensions administrators. Emails were sent, and I await the response. Further sections and sub-sections were defined and embellished. It will take a while to finish it (and get it right).

While this was going on, Diane was on the phone to Pauline. I offered to bring her lunch, an evening meal, and even a duvet and pillow as time would demand. She declined but gave in when I offered tea. I made myself some lunch and went out for another walk. It was delightfully warm, and the sky was punctuated by a few high clouds. I didn't go far, but it was nice to get out and stretch my legs.

Back home, I settled down in the Orangery with my Kindle - soon to be joined by Diane. It was very hot in there - just as she likes it, but a little too warm for me. I managed to consume all but the last chapter of my latest book before we had to go and collect Ellie.

It will come as no surprise that we stopped at the park for her to run about, and then we headed home for a snack and drink before Zoe collected her. She will be back later as she is staying with us overnight to accommodate Zoe's early start tomorrow.