This is the second week of my two weeks off. I'm so glad I booked a second week as I needed the break. Husband went back to work, but he's done something really clever. He's booked every other week off during the summer. I think this is genius. You're either on holiday or just 5 days away from being on holiday.
Today is my last day and so I thought I'd write up the blog as it's too late for anything exciting to happen now.
The first couple of days back were largely spent getting the unpacking done and the huge amount of washing that comes after any holiday. I also spent much of the week avoiding my computer because this felt too much like work. I've only braved it today because the cleaner is in.
Whilst I'm typing this I'm trying to arrange getting my son insured on my car - he'll be learning to drive soon. He's VERY excited. I'm not. Hopefully by the time I've finished writing this up I'll be able to tell you the extortionate cost of the insurance. Certainly getting the quote using the chat feature on my insurers site has so far taken about 30 minutes and we're still clarifying what I want - very painful.
Just before we went away I got a surprise email from the Forge Comedy Club informing me that Stephen Merchant would be doing a work in progress. I immediately selected 'buy' and minutes later I had 2 tickets. We discovered when we went on Tuesday that they'd sold out in 35 mins - so we were lucky.
Husband and I love the work in progress sessions that comedians do. It's much more intimate and also you tend to get a longer session with them because they want to work through their material. So far we've never been bitten. The comedians have always been excellent.
There we were in a room with about 200 seats watching Stephen Merchant work through the first stand up he'd done in yonks. He was absolutely hilarious - as expected. I know it's a rubbish picture you'll just have to believe me that it's him on the stage.
Wednesday I had a lovely sofa day with son. We watched Saving Grace - an old British Film that makes me giggle. I was thrilled that he liked it. It's definitely one that he'd never have watched if I hadn't shown it to him.
Then on Thursday we went to Tangmere - and that's where we stumbled on Michael Jackson.....
To explain Tangmere was an important RAF base in WW2. They have some amazing aircraft there and as son wants to fly this has always been a great place for him to visit. Now he's older we tend not to take him for the old days out, but he asked if he could go and I was thrilled to take him.
It actually was really good that we went because there were loads of things he could do at 16 that he couldn't have before. Significantly he could use the adult simulators.
As well as the simulators we went around the exhibits - imagine my utter joy when we came to a display case that was showing a telephone system. The telephonist was such a striking resemblance to Michael Jackson in his later 'incarnation' that I collapsed in giggles. It literally made my day.
See what you think....
As we travelled to Tangmere there were 2 problems with my car. The first was that it started pulling back and I kept having to drop a gear to get the revs up again. Nightmare. I've had to book it into the garage - more expense. The other was that son pointed out how utterly disgusting the car was.
I have to admit that because the paint is peeling on the outside of the car, I've kinda given up on the inside. I used to get it valeted once a month. But that was pre-COVID. Seeing it through son's eyes really did show me how disgusting it was.
Today's challenge was to clean the car out. It's not perfect because it really was in a bad state, but it's definitely a lot less disgusting than it was yesterday.
That's all I have to say about this week. I have the answer on my car insurance. My insurer will not insure my son on the car - what a nightmare. I guess the only thing I can do is find which insurer will and then switch my insurance over to them.
Why is nothing ever easy.
A very quick update because I'm due to start work any second (though annoyingly there's an auto update to my laptop that needs to happen so I'll probably not start for hours!).
Son did some checking on AI and let me know that my insurance company does do new drivers. I called them up confused. Turns out the STUPID person I was talking to on the online chat didn't take any notice of what I was saying - which would explain all the STUPID questions they were asking. Such as has your son had a claim in the last 5 years. To which I'd reply 'no because as I mentioned he hasn't started driving yet and can't until September because he's not 17 yet, the insurance will start after that'.
The reason they had said they wouldn't insure him was because he was 16. I know that FFS - that's why I specifically said it would be after he was 17. Aaaaanyway, I got somebody far more switched on when I called and the quote estimate was £550!!!!! That's for 6 months. Scary stuff. But at least we can do it.
On Sunday Mum and Dad were coming for lunch. I'd planned to make a chorizo ratatouille with goats cheese along with Spanish Rice. I had this idea to add smoked paprika to pep it up and was very heavy handed. About an hour before they turned up I had a taste - absolutely DISGUSTING. Completely inedible. So I rushed to the nearest shop and picked up some cream and basil, using what we had in the fridge I rapidly knocked up carbonara. Not quite the special meal I had planned.
As we ate I explained what I'd planned to cook - it was a this moment mum said that she hated goats cheese. So perhaps it was a fortuitous disaster after all!
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