Chilly

 There was a chilly breeze today and when I went to walk Ellie to school it felt quite damp. Having said that, we didn't get any rain until late in the afternoon. Ellie appeared tired and a little under the weather but by the time I collected her from school she was her usual mischievous self.

Diane went out for the day, meeting with Kathie at West Dean Gardens. She had a really good time and completed over 13000 steps - which she couldn't have done this time last year.

I went out for a walk during the morning and stopped off at the barber shop while out. The route just took me around the neighbourhood but, with my audiobook playing in my ears, I wasn't worried by the lack of landscape.

Back home, I completed some admin and then returned to a Kindle book (I usually have one Kindle and one audiobook on the go at the same time). As the time approached to collect Ellie, I set off for another walk with the aim of arriving at school as the gates opened. This worked out pretty well, though I arrived a little earlier than I had planned.

Diane arrived home just before 17:00 and we all settled down to dinner. With dinner over, Darren has just come to collect Ellie and take her home.

Surface

 We had a very lazy start to the day. There was nothing of note. Diane did, however, have a telephone call planned with Jan. This meant that a) she needed to be prepared, and b) I would have an hour or two of relative quiet. Well, that's what I thought. As it happened Zoe called to ask if Ellie could stay with us while she and Darren went to the garden centre. I, of course, said that would be fine and Ellie was duly dropped off to look after Grandpa while Nana was on the phone.

It became clear that her Microsoft Surface (Windows 10) was not behaving as designed. The keyboard was not working at all, and the touch screen gave us the cold shoulder. I left her to play with various bits and pieces while looking for suitable replacements for the Surface. Zoe suspected that it was a charging issue and took it home to recharge. I am less than convinced. We'll see once it has been fully charged. I may have to replace the device.

The afternoon was spent with our books in the Orangery.

The doorbell rang. It was Ellie and her friend Neve. They had baked us a chocolate brownie each, covered with "sprinkles". They looked delicicious and I can confirm that they tasted delicious as well. Now, I just need to teach Ellie how to make a good curry!

Stream

The day started with the mandatory coffee and a bowl of porridge. The Zoom call with the cousins was next on the agenda and was blessed by Sonia and Mel joining the call from Adelaide where they are staying with Rolly. We had the usual cheerful banter and we were all embarrassed (if not surprised) to hear that Tim had attended a rally with Keir Starmer and loony left stormtroopers during the week.

Soon after the call Zoe called in to collect Diane. They were off to the shops in Bognor to exchange some school shoes for Ellie. 

I took the opportunity to head out for a short walk. I wandered around the lake (see picture), up Berry Lane and then down the old road between Bersted and Shripney to see if the flooding had subsided sufficiently to walk the Shripney loop. I could get a lot further than the last time I looked, but there were still sections that were underwater.

Back home I completed some admin (have I said that we have a date for the replacement of the boiler and controls?) and got on with a few chores.

You won't be surprised to hear that the afternoon was spent with our books in the Orangery.

Normal TV (i.e. the terrestrial channels and main satellite channels) is dreadful on Saturdays so we usually watch something we have recorded or find something we can stream. This evening we found a series called "Unforgotten" with the brilliant Nicola Walker as a detective. We binged on the whole six episodes of series 1 and had an excellent evening as a result.

Feeling Tyred

 For the first time in several weeks, I had my alarm set. We we expecting Ellie to be dropped off soon after 07:00. She bounced in and demolished the breakfast I had prepared before going up to wash and get dressed for school. We walked her to the classroom door and left her as she ran into her form room.

Once home, I had some breakfast and read the news while Diane headed off to the Cardiac Rehab session at the Community Centre. When she got home I updated her on the admin (I had accepted the quote for the complete switch of our existing boiler and all of the thermostatic controllers. This is scheduled to start in May). I then headed off to get the front tyres on the Skoda replaced.

While the mechanics were working on the tyres, I took the opportunity to go for a walk and listen to more of my book. The tyre change took about 40 minutes and it was nice to drive home knowing they wouldn't need replacing for another 4-5 years.

After a bite to eat, we settled in the Orangery. I read (and finished) my current book, and Di did some sewing. Just as it was time to go and collect Ellie, the heavens opened and we had a real downpour. I convinced Di to stay put, and I collected Ellie by myself. Once home, she started on some homework until Zoe came to collect her.

Revert to Default

 We reverted to our default setting today. After some coffee, I popped around to Zoe's for the school run. Zoe was already at work, and Darren was waiting for my arrival so he could set off for work. Ellie decided she didn't trust me to do her hair in a ponytail, so we had to stop at a friend's house so that Lorraine could fashion her hair into the required coiff. With her hair sorted, we carried on to school and I left her at the classroom door and headed home for breakfast.

We had our usual trip to Sainsbury's and were delighted to find we had arrived before the bus turned up with the pre-corpses and zombies. We were in and out in no time without them to clutter the aisles.

Back home, I completed the day's admin and we had some lunch. We then settled down with our books until it was time to collect Ellie. It was delightfully warm and sunny in the Orangery and it was clear that Di was very comfortable. I told her to stay put and I went to collect Ellie and take her to the park to give her a bit more down-time.

Zoe collected Ellie when she finished work, but we will have her here for breakfast tomorrow.

Different

Today was out of the ordinary. There was no need for the school escort service. Ellie had an approved day off.  Zoe and Diane had a surprise planned.

I drove them to the train station and left them to catch the train to London. I then drove to West Park and left the car to go for a nice long walk along the beach. The shingle that had been deposited by the recent storms had been cleared away for the most part, so I was able to go further than last week.

When I got home, I checked on the girls' progress. They arrived in Victoria and then found their way across to Covent Garden where they planned to have lunch. After lunch, they headed for The Lyceum where they had tickets for "The Lion King".

I spent much of the day catching up on some admin and reading. 

The performance was due to finish around 17:00. Trevor sent me a message. He and Jane were waiting outside the theatre to say hello as the girls came out. Fortunately, it worked out and they managed to meet for a chat and a photo.

They timed their arrival at Victoria to perfection, getting on the the back of the 18:05 and then walking through the carriages. I met them at the station and heard all about their wonderful day. (Ellie didn't like the Underground trains, but everything else was "good").

Service

 Ellie slept through the night and didn't stir until 6:45, by which time we were already awake (if not up). She was very good and finishing her breakfast, went up to wash and get ready for school.

Once we returned home from the walk to school, I took the car to the Skoda Dealer to have the emissions control problem fixed. I had checked in online, so just had to drop the keys and leave them to it. I plugged my AirPods into my ears and started the walk home with a new audiobook playing in my ears.

Once home, the morning was filled with admin. I checked the documents and details for the forthcoming river cruise. I checked my foreign exchange card (and yes, it does cover the countries we will visit). I then cancelled my current service contract with British Gas. It was clear from the survey that was done a couple of weeks ago that their annual service has been shoddy and had missed a long-term leak.

We had a quiet hour with our books before going to collect Ellie. As soon as we were back, I left them to it and walked back to Skoda to collect the car.

We got a video health check from Skoda. I had to chuckle as I watched it. The engineer clearly was having a problem with the technology and ended up cursing and swearing before he had switched the recording off. Ooops! Anyway, he did point out that our front tyres needed attention so I have booked the car in for two new front tyres on Friday. Meanwhile, the emissions control system is now working again and all warning lights have been extinguished.

Back in the Swing

It was the start of the Summer term today. I wandered around to Zoe's and escorted her and Ellie to school. Back home I had breakfast and read the news. Diane was getting ready to go out. She had to get to the pharmacy and then head into Chichester for some shopping for our forthcoming break. 

While Diane headed out, I stripped the family room and went about steam cleaning the floor and the main hallway. Di had phoned - her meds had already been dispatched for delivery to us. I stayed put so I could receive them, though I should have gone for a walk. In the end, it was lunchtime before they arrived, but I did manage to finish my current book and my audiobook (that's 40 books I have consumed this year).

Di got back from Chichester at lunchtime. In the hour we had before collecting Ellie, we sat in the Orangery and I started on a new book. We collected Ellie from school and she has been a bundle of joy since getting home. She's in the batch at the moment but should be in bed by seven.

Chillin'

 We had a very quiet day. I should have gone for a walk, but couldn't stir myself into action. I was in a frenzy of inaction.

Diane, Zoe and Ellie are off to London to see a show on Wednesday so I did spend some time sorting out their train tickets and explaining the route from Victoria, by Underground. I then showed Di how to use Google Maps to plot walking directions to the theatre.

I realised that I seemed to have misplaced a case of wine. This meant a search around the house to see where I had hidden it. I confess I'm stumped, I have no idea where I have stashed it and will have to schedule a more concerted search later in the week.

After a spot of lunch, we sat in the Orangery with our books until it was time to start on dinner. Dinner was simple. We had plenty left over from yesterday. All I had to do was dish it up with some new potatoes.

Ellie is back to school in the morning and will be staying with us overnight, tomorrow.

Just Visiting

 After the initial coffee, I headed to my study to attend the weekly Zoom call with my cousins. It was Simon and Sarah's Birthday so we obviously wished them a Happy Birthday along with all of the expected banter that accompanied the weekly call. Tim is off to Lanzarote in a couple of weeks and asked if I had a journal for our trip back in 2006. It only took me about 15 minutes to produce an extract and send it off to him. Hopefully, he will find it useful.

With the call complete, we had to prepare for today's visitors. The garden furniture was retrieved from the garage in the hope that the day would be warm enough to sit outside. Floors were vacuumed, Jasper's litter tray was moved to the Orangery and much of the detritus we had been saving for Ellie's next school project was shifted to the garage. I made up a couple of huge bowls of salad,  and we settled down to wait. Denise and Dom arrived at about 13:00 after a dreadful journey down from Buckingham. Drinks were provided and we settled down to a light lunch as we caught up on all of the latest news from the family.

Su, Trevor, and Jean arrived late afternoon. The chat widened and we caught up on their news and the various family tensions regarding Tim and Beth's forthcoming wedding. (We were invited, but can't go). It does sound as if there is a need for some "chill pills" in the vicinity of Cambridge, it seems astounding how people can get so worked up over small things - particularly when they have the completely wrong end of the stick.

We ordered some Indian food for delivery and I cooked some salmon and new potatoes for Diane and Jean. I timed it to perfection as I had just started serving the salmon when the doorbell rang and Indian food arrived. As usual, from Habib, the food was excellent and even Sue found it to her liking. We stayed chatting around the table until it was time for Denise and Dom to head home. As it happens, they had a really good run back, fortunately. The others stayed a while longer and the discussions strayed onto cruises (clearly a no-no for Trevor who suffers from dreadful sea sickness), vertigo (which again, affects Trevor as well as Diane), Vienna, Florence, old photos, and goodness knows what else. They left soon after 21:00 and we finished tidying up before sitting down for an hour in front of the TV.

Jigsaw

There was a gentle start to the day as Di's alarm tinkled us into consciousness at 07:00. There was no need to get up immediately, but we did have to watch the time as Di was due at the Cardiac Rehab session. As it was such a nice morning, I left at the same time as Di and went for a walk around the neighbourhood. Within a few yards from home, I was again engrossed in the next part of "The Girl in the Spider's Web". As the book moves inexorably towards the conclusion, the tension builds up and I become even more intrigued by the story.

Once home, there was some admin to complete, and as lunchtime approached, I had to go and collect Ellie from a playdate with her friend Sophia. Zoe was having her nails done, so Ellie and I played until Zoe was free. We played cards, we did noughts and crosses, we played follow my leader, we did some colouring and drawing, and we started on a jigsaw of the United Kingdom. Eventually, Zoe arrived to collect Ellie, and peace returned.

Diane had gone out to meet with Kim and go to the tulip festival at Arundel Castle. They had trouble with traffic, trouble parking, and found that the tulips were past their best.

I spent the balance of the afternoon in the Orangery with my latest Kindle book.

Nothing

 A very quiet day. There is almost nothing to report.

We did our normal shopping trip and because we were later than usual, the free bu had already delivered all the pre-corpses and zombies to Sainsbury's before we arrived. This meant that by the time we left, I was feeling homicidal. If I ever get to the same point of mental oblivion as these shoppers, I willingly give permission for you to put me in a straightjacket and lock me in a padded room.

Once home and with our shopping stashed away, we had some lunch and then spent some time with our books.

Shingle

We had to set the alarm for this morning. Diane had Pilates on her schedule, and I planned to go for a walk. It had been cool overnight, and it was overcast at first. 

We both left home at the same time. Diane, driving across to Angmering, and I walked to the bus stop to catch a ride into Bognor. My AirPods were plugged into my ears and my audiobook was switched on. I started by walking westbound to West Fields where I did an about-turn, and retraced my steps and headed up past the Lobster Pot towards Middleton.  The recent storms had swamped the walkway with shingles from the beach, making progress slow. I decided that enough was enough and turned back. I had been walking for about 90 minutes when I arrived back at the bus stop. As before, I had timed it to perfection with a bus waiting at the stop and the first drops of rain starting to fall as I walked to our front door.

Diane went into Chichester with Ellie and Zoe. I stayed put and my Kindle provided the backdrop to the afternoon as I finished my book and started on another. I was waiting for the heating engineer to return. He turned up as Di arrived home. He had come to explain the options that I had requested for changing not just the boiler, but also the heating controls. We chatted through the design and he went to check some aspects of the existing pipework. He's now going to come up with a new quote.

Afternoon Tea

There had been strong overnight winds. The River Arun had burst its banks in Littlehampton at high tide and a caravan park near Selsey had to be evacuated. We seemed to escape the drama, for which we are very grateful. 

Once we were up, had broken our fast, and were dressed I headed out for petrol and a trip to B&Q for some pan-headed screws. I had to finish off the shelving unit in Ellie's room by fixing it to the wall (for safety). That done and the accounts brought up to date, I returned to the YouTube videos explaining the features of Trading212.

I heard from our heating engineer. He had completed his research and was ready to come and explain the details of the design for new heating controls. His email summarised the design but it was very complex and I want to understand the design decisions behind the proposal. I agreed to meet with him tomorrow.

We picked Zoe and Ellie up from their house and made our way to Port Solent where we met with Emma, Remi and Louis. They had been on a long weekend break in Selsey so we chose this location as it was on their way home. We had a lovely couple of hours sipping tea, eating scones and chatting. We parted at 16:00 as the tea room closed. They headed towards the A34 and home, and we scooted along the A27.