Catching Up

 We were up early again. Ellie was dropped off and was excited that today was the first proper performance of the school's Christmas play. She trundled off to school with us and dashed into class as the doors opened. Diane headed home for breakfast while I went for my morning walk.

Back home, I finished my breakfast and then completed the shopping list. We had some catching up, and Sainsbury's was bracing itself for our arrival. It took us longer than usual but we eventually squeezed everything into the boot and went home to unpack.

I made up some soup for lunch and then we had 30 minutes of relaxation before heading back to school for the afternoon's performance. We managed to get a seat in the second row and had a fairly good view of Ellie whenever she was on stage. As Mary, she was on stage for quite a lot of the show even though she only had a few lines. The show was very good and was quite a funny twist on the traditional Nativity story.

We brought Ellie back home and gave her dinner before Zoe collected her and prepared to take her back to school for the evening performance. (Pete is due to come across to watch the performance - which will really please Ellie).

Our dinner this evening saw me prepare some pork loin chops in paprika and accompany them with linguine in a white wine and cream sauce containing onions, mushrooms, and roasted red pepper. It was a great success and was a dish I will certainly make again.

Back in the Saddle

 We were up early for Ellie's drop-off. It was lovely to see her as she burst into the house and ran to give me a cuddle. Then she raced upstairs to see Nana. She was Diane's shadow until it was time for school. We dropped her at the classroom door and Diane headed home while I went out for a walk.

Once home, with breakfast finished I spent some time bringing the accounts spreadsheet up to date after our recent break. With that tucked away, we headed to Sidlesham to collect Jasper from the cat whisperer. He was all ready for us and even gave Diane a huge chocolate cake for her birthday before handing Jasper over to us. Jasper yowled the whole way home (and most of the afternoon). While we were there, we booked Jasper in for next year's trip at the same time next year.

After some lunch, I walked to the local convenience store for some milk and fruit so that we could defer a big shop until tomorrow. It was warm enough to settle in the Orangery for some Kindle time until it was time to go and collect Ellie from school. She had played the part of Mary in the school's Christmas play. Today was a performance for the young children... tomorrow we will attend the performance for the parents.

Heading Home

 We finished our packing before heading down for breakfast. I made several trips to the car to load the boot (having remembered overnight that the rear seats slide forward to make more luggage space. This was necessary as we have contributed so heavily to the local economy that the local Chamber of Commerce is debating whether to give us the key to the town.

After a hearty breakfast, we finished loading the car and said our goodbyes. We were on the road soon after 10:00. In complete contrast to our journey down on Wednesday, we had a trouble-free run home. We stopped for a quick comfort break at Rownhams Services on the M27, then powered on homewards. We arrived back just after 13:00, unloaded the car and unpacked the suitcases.

We had an immensely quiet afternoon with our Kindles, followed by a frozen pasta bake for dinner, and a quiet night catching up on some recorded TV.