The first event of the week was fruit related. Yes I can tell you're on the edge of your seat with excitement..... so I shall continue. My parents, brother and his girlfriend all came over for lunch on Sunday. I'd decided what I was going to make. The pudding was to be plum and ginger (a lovely mix, try it if you haven't). I usually get these really nice pots of peeled plumbs from Amazon, but they're not available any more, so I decided to find some tinned plums. There were none available at my supermarket so I headed off to Amazon again. There was a tin - a little over priced, but otherwise what I wanted. So I ordered it.
A couple of days later a huge box appeared, this didn't bode well. I opened the box to discover I'd purchased a catering sized tin of plums. In the photo I've put it next to a normal sized tin. Needless to say pudding made and we have plenty of plums left over!!!! I've been looking up recipes for plum sauce. Watch this space for the next unexciting instalment....
Also in the photo you can see just how miserable the winter has been. The whole back patio and the walls around it are green with algae. I just need two days when it's not raining and I can go around and spray everything. I've managed it a couple of times over the winter, but then the rain comes back and we're back to square one again. Hopefully not too much longer. It's not a huge job and it makes a huge difference, but takes about 4 goes until things are perfect again.
I took Wednesday - Friday off from work to get some things done. The first was my annual trip to the greyhounds in Hove with son. You will note from previous years that this is always the Wednesday of February half term. I've been doing this with him since he was about 5. I know it's terrible parenting to take your child gambling, but let's face it it's fun and a ridiculously cheap day out. There's no cost to get in, refreshments are really cheap and so it's mainly the cost of the bets.
We sit there playing card games, usually Uno, but now he's older this year we got out a retro game from when he was about 8 'Plop Trumps'. Basically Top Trumps, but based around the poo of different animals. Very educational, you discover how surprisingly hard the poo of a locus is, amongst other things. Yes I know son is too old for this now, but aged 8 it provided hours of fun. To be honest I think we both quite enjoyed having a retro moment.
I mentioned how cheap the whole event is. We put a £1 (each) bet on 6 races, shared 2 lots of cheesy chips and had 4 soft drinks. A whole afternoon of entertainment at the grand cost of £25. As far as winnings are concerned we made £7 in winnings - so technically if I'm being pedantic, the total cost of the afternoon was £18. I'm not sure how greyhound racing manages to make any money and stay open. But it's been around for years.
Before we went to the dogs I headed into Lewes where I have a shop that does my jewellery fixing. I had a bracelet that had some links missing and a broach that my godfather gave me that I wanted to be fixed and made into a pendant. I also had a silver bracelet that had snapped. Unfortunately they told me there was nothing they could do about the silver bracelet, but they said they would look at the other pieces.
Thursday was supposed to be a day of rest. I've had a terrible cold that I just don't seem to be able to shake off. I've been feeling ropey now for over a week. It's somewhat gone to my chest as well. Plus I have a very snotty nose, my sinuses are in a state... So I had planned to just curl up. I mentioned earlier that the relentless rain had suddenly meant my windscreen wipers in the car were not working. The one on the left was particularly bad with the rubber flapping about.
On Friday I was due to travel to see my mother and with all the rain I knew I needed it sorted. I'd ordered some windscreen wipers online as son and husband had kindly said they'd fix them. These didn't arrive until lunchtime on the Thursday. I was a bit anxious because I needed them sorted. First son went out and he couldn't work out how to do them, then husband was on lunch and he went and had a look, but couldn't work them out. By now I was at the height of tension because I knew I could just drive to Halfords. In the end I had to thank them for their efforts and just make the decision to go to Halfords.
It's not a long drive, but you do have to do the most terrifying roundabout in Brighton, the one at the bottom of Bear Road. Anyway, I survived and once I got to Halfords it took them approximately 30 seconds to clip on some new wipers. To be fair on husband and son, the wipers they put on looked nothing like the wipers that came online. So despite the fact the place I ordered them from insisted that they were the correct wipers, I suspect they were not. So they just went in the bin - a waste of money.
Then I got a call from the jewellery shop. Saying they'd looked at the bracelet and broach and unfortunately they were beyond repair. Sad times!!!!!!!! I'm particularly sad about the broach as I've been waiting for years to get it turned into a pendant. Hey ho, if it can't be done it can't be done.
Friday came and I drove to Horsham to meet my mother for lunch. We had a good gossip and also talked about plans for dad's 90th birthday and their 60th wedding anniversary. We do at least have plans in place now. Once that was over I drove to my parents house to have a chat with dad. It was time for the dreaded conversation about him stopping driving. It actually went ok, I took it very gently and didn't press things, but hopefully he'll remember the conversation and reflect on things. It has to be his decision - unfortunately - because they keep signing him off to drive for another year (it's unbelievable).
The road to my parents house was a nightmare with road works. It took me about 30 mins to do half a mile. So I decided to head home another way - there were roadworks there as well. What a nightmare but it was certainly better than the other route. The whole cross country journey home was one set of roadworks after another - you'd think that they'd plan things better so whole areas of the country were not cut off at a time. Goodness only knows how people are coping with commuting to work.
On arrival home I got a message to say that the local magazine son delivers had arrived, so giving son a driving lesson he drove us to pick them up for the first time.
So where are we now.... ahhh Saturday - what did I do on Saturday.............. I remember feeling really really ropey............ ahh yes, son was meeting friends for the day at one of their houses in Glynde so in the morning I took the dog out for a walk, whilst taking the opportunity to deliver half of my amount of the magazines (you'll recall that I do half and Andy/Son do the other half together - this means I can get my stuff done in a day and they can wibble through there's over a week). I then drove son to Glynde and on the way back headed into Lewes to pick up my unfixed jewellery.
I did have plans for when I got home, but I felt really ill so I curled up on the sofa feeling sad for myself. Across the afternoon I did some bits of prep for the meal on Sunday (Paella and then the plum and ginger), but didn't have energy for supper so we had a takeaway. Yum.
Sunday morning the day started with a dog walk and then prepping for the lunch. It was lovely to see everybody and the first time brother's girlfriend had come around. All went well - although the plum and ginger wasn't great. The plums had no taste to them - so that's the first and last time I'll purchase that industrial tin!
Once they'd gone miraculously the rain stopped so I packed up my rucksack and finished off my delivering. I admit that I'm getting to the end of the run on me helping with the magazines. When we started out son was a lot younger and afraid to go out alone. It was also a way that we could give him extra money without it hitting our pocket. But now we're throwing endless amounts of money at him, he's old enough to do it himself and I'm a lot older than I was when we started out. I'm beginning to get to the end of my patience. He says when he passes his driving test he'll get a job. His driving test is in April. I'm hoping this means that we'll just have the May run on the local magazine and then it's all done and dusted forever..... watch this space.
And that was my time off. I'd hoped that having a bit of a break would enable my cold to clear, but no such luck. Hopefully soon.
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