My Week — 5th July

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And hasn’t it been a scorcher this week?  Hottest day since records began on Wednesday and it seems the country grinds to a halt and you can’t open a newspaper without a scantily clad woman lying in a park at lunchtime staring back at you.  But what of our week?

Well Ellie was away in Spain with her friend Em and looks to have a great time.  The first time she has flown without us or a teacher to shepherd her through the airport and they did it without incident (well without incident that I know of 😉 ) .  So that’s that milestone crossed off the list.  And they have even come back with a tan.   It was straight into a bowl of cereal for dinner and a week’s worth of Hollyoaks to celebrate her return.

As for us, well Monday was one of those working and juggling kinda days.  Mr B had a blood test at stupid o’clock as part of his “You’ve had a significant birthday so we need to run a load of tests” letter so was working from home opposite me at the kitchen table.    Always fun when he does that because it means I get a cooked lunch.  Bizarrely, lunch doesnt happen when you work from home by yourself.  Well it doesnt in this house.

Monday night is poker night so I catch up on TV.  Dull but it’s a night I look forward to as it means I can switch off for a couple of hours.  I am loving Madam Secretary at the moment.  Anybody else watching it?  Tea Leoni is an actress who can do no wrong in my eyes and she is great in the role.

Yet another American drama though about the White House.  What with that, Scandal and House of Cards, I get a shock when I see Barack Obama now.  I forget he is the real POTUS.

Tuesday flew by in a whirlwind

On Wednesday I went up to London, in theory to do a walk around Chelsea and then on Thursday to attend a load of blog events in the West End.   That didnt’ all go to plan though and for one reason or another they all either got cancelled, or I had to cancel as I was needed back at home.   Mr B though had his annual summer party with work just down the road from my parent’s apartment so I headed up anyway and decided I would go for a walk on my own and try out the Fuji X-A2 I have been sent to review for a couple of months.

As I arrived at the apartment there were police officers standing on all exits of the roundabout outside, barriers up and TV cameras.   Of course, the victims of the massacre in Tunisia had arrived back at Brize Norton that afternoon and were being brought to the Coroner’s Court which is across the road.

There was an eerie silence as everybody stood solemnly as the unmarked white vans arrived.   Tents had been erected to protect privacy and maintain the victims dignity.

I had flashbacks to the same event after the tsunami in 2004 when a group of us lost good friends Sam and Debbie.    I decided the only way to remember them was to raise a glass to them all, so headed to Tesco and bought two large bottles of beer which I drank whilst “having a moment” on the balcony.

Mr B had promised to take me to dinner after his event but en route he found a fish and chip shop so we sat on a bench watching the sun set above Battersea heliport.   In some ways it felt like the perfect way to spend the evening.

A mad dash back to Hampshire from London on Thursday morning and thankfully as I was going against the traffic I was home by 9.30am.    Thursday was an admin day.  SO much to sort out ahead of going away including trying to find kennels for the weekend we go to Camp Bestival at the end of July as everywhere is fully booked.   Aahhhh nightmare.   And if he does go to kennels that means he needs his annual boosters this week as there is no time when we get back from our holiday so a quick dash to vet.    And so it continues.   My head is was close to exploding when I got in the car to go and pick Mr B up from work.    The less said about the return journey the better.

Friday night Jonnie and I decided to go shopping after he got home from work.  For no other reason than we could.   Mr B was at the Oval watching something.  Cricket I presume.  I have no idea who was playing.     I had no idea that supermarkets were so rammed at 8pm on a Friday night.  Is this the new going out?  It was bonkers!

On Saturday morning Caity and her BFF came over to try cooking smores on the firepit.  Something we had seen on Pinterest where you can fill a waffle ice cream cone with chocolate and marshmallows.   Suffice to say it needs a bit more work I think.  They were a bit of a disaster.

In the afternoon we found ourselves in M&S buying dollars for our holiday and as the bank faffed about with authorising the transaction (which took FOREVER)  I asked the lady behind the counter:

This is a really odd question but did you used to rent your house through <insert name of local estate agency>.  And did you fall down some steps and break our ankle about 13 years ago?

Bearing in mind I left said agency ten years ago

Ha, yes I did and I thought I recognised you but I couldn’t work out where from

Some of the tenants I looked after really stuck in my memory and Valerie was one of them.  I used to see her every few months for the landlord’s management visit and her house was always spotless so it was a pointless exercise but contractually I had to do it.

It made me chuckle as I struggle to remember what I have done (hence starting this blog post linky) and yet boom, with no prompting, I can remember somebody from 13 years ago.

And in an another strange coincidence we went to a barbecue hosted by that same company, as guests of my current main client.   And spent time chatting my old boss.   A flying visit as we had to get back for Ellie but lovely to briefly catch up with them all.

So far Sunday has been lazy.  Well I say lazy.  Some of us have done an emergency run to the Co-op for cat food, done a load washing and cleaned the kitchen.   But this afternoon it is all about the British Grand Prix.   My arse will be firmly attached to sofa for that one.

The coming week is all about Speech Day for Ellie on Wednesday and a lovely barbecue next Sunday with Caity and Dan coming over too, which I can’t wait for.

How about you?  Tell me about your week?

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