Whoops

 Oh whoops, I suddenly realise I haven't posted for a couple of weeks.

I've got a break from work - starting tomorrow. I'm desperate for it.

Anyway, what's happened since I last posted. Not huge amounts and certainly nothing exciting. I went for lunch at my mum and dad's house. I suddenly realised I hadn't been there for about a year. My brother and nephew came along too, it was good to be there as a proper family.

Even better (sorry bro, but it was EVEN better), was that my mum had made Chicken and Peach Bake. Now whenever I mention this to anybody they look horrified and they probably should. Basically this is a proper 1970's dish. Should you wish to make it yourself (you should) it consists of...

A layer of salted crisps in a dish. Cover this with a layer of cooked chicken, then a layer of shredded runner beans, then a layer of tinned peaches, then sprinkle with cheese and then repeat this until you get to the top of the dish. To finish off you pour over a tin of Heinz chicken soup (it has to be Heinz) and then sprinkle cheese on top and add a few remaining peaches.

Honestly, don't knock it until you've tried it. When I was a kid if it was your birthday week mum used to let you choose what lunch would be on Sunday. Without fail I'd go for Chicken and Peach Bake.

When we went over mum had made a lamb stew for the 'grown ups' and a Chicken and Peach Bake for the kids. Given that the 'kids' were now 15 and 21 they opted for the lamb stew. I, however, was very happy to allow them to have my portion so I could have Chicken and Peach Bake. In fact it's my birthday coming up and I've decided that I'm going to make it. I haven't made it for years because husband looks at it with wide eyed horror.

Apart from that excitement, not really much happened last week. Work, sleep and all that. Oh except for dog is on heat - I've been taking her out before 06:00 in an effort to get her to the Rec before any other dogs turn up. Then at least I can let her off the lead briefly to throw a ball for her. 

She is really such a floozy though. One morning I decided to walk back through the woods. Two beautiful Spaniels turned up and started to fuss around her. Her eyes lit up and she basically was offering herself to them. I pulled her lead short and when the dogs owner turned up I explained she was on heat. The brilliant dog owner held both of her dogs by the collar so that I could carry on my way. 

No sooner had I gone around the corner when my dog started to dance about in circles and then somehow (no idea how) managed to squirm her way out of her collar. In seconds she was back with the spaniels floozying her self around. Fortunately other dog owner found it very funny, some people can be really arsy when you're dog is on heat. What do they expect you to do - lock them in the shed for 3 weeks?

On Saturday I was a good girl and had a really good go at the back garden. Filled a 10 litre garden bag. Though the area with the bamboo is now beyond my capability. I chuffing hate the previous owners and their love of fast spreading bamboo. No matter what we do we can't stop it spreading. I think we're going to have to get the professionals in to dig it up. Though it's not a small job because they can't use a digger or anything. The bamboo is half way up a hill with no access. More expense (sigh). 

Pretty much everything we've had to pay somebody to do to our house is to undo something stupid the previous owners did. The two things we were going to do were extend the kitchen and convert the garage. Because we've had to get so much other stuff done those are the two things we've never been able to afford to do.

Then on Saturday evening we met up with friends in Brighton and went for a Japanese meal. It was a fantastic evening actually. 

Then in the evening I had to drive to Southampton ready for a meeting that started early on Monday morning. It was a nightmare journey. I stopped at Emsworth services to put the postcode into Google Maps. I'd just got past Portsmouth when Google announced it had lost connection. I was on the motorway and so there was nothing I could do. Then about 5 minutes later it started to give me directions again, but it encouraged me to come off at a sliproad. I assumed there was a traffic problem and so did as I was told, then it told me to go around the roundabout and head back towards Portsmouth. 

Needless to say I ignored this and decided to take another exit and pull over and find out what was going on. Bad decision because it ended up being a country road with high sides on both sides. I drove for about 15 minutes before there was anywhere I could pull over. Looking at Google for some inexplicable reason it thought I was in Worthing - a good 50 miles from where I was. By now I was totally lost with no idea how to get back to the motorway. Google was refusing to do anything but believe I was in Worthing. In the end I had to get my aged Tom Tom out of the glove compartment and boot it up - just to get back to the motorway.

Then I ended up with both Google and Tom Tom talking to me. By the time I got to Southampton both of them were telling me to go in different directions. 

Anyway, in the end my 2 hour journey took 3.5 hours and by the time I got to the hotel I was completely exhausted.

I've recently repurchased a CD I loved about 20 years ago. Called the Best Ever Easy Album, full of really cheesy music from the 50's and 60's. The journey back was great because I put this on and sang my way all the way home.

So that's me all caught up. I'll try to be better next time!