The busiest week of all......

 

It's going to be another of those annoying posts where I write over a couple of days so the tenses are confusing and all over the place. However, this week is frantic and there's going to be too much to remember.

On Monday my hire car was delivered ready for another business trip. It was a Nissan Juke. I've never driven one before. It was a nightmare. The seat was longer than my thigh so I ended up having to put a cushion behind my pelvis to push my legs forward. Even then I was driving with my toes. I know I could have moved the seat forward, but when you are 5 foot there is a point where you have to make a call about safety with the steering wheel. If there's 2 inches between your chest and the steering wheel and you are in a crash, there is only one way that's going to go. You're either going to get crushed by the steering wheel or the air bag.

The other issue with the Juke was the gears. They were so close together that you were either driving at too high revs or you were in 2 high a gear and the car was shuddering trying to stall. However, I gritted my teeth and headed off.

I was staying at my normal hotel, not a posh one by any sense of the word, however it's somewhere where none of my colleagues stay and as a result I can wander around with wet hair and no make-up and not fear about bumping into anybody I know.

That's all on that really, the meeting was a meeting. I got home at about 8pm. Grabbed a bite to eat and went to bed.

Then on Wednesday I'd been invited to an event by my brother. It was something he'd set up with his girlfriend, but she'd dropped out at the last minute. The event was a meal at Soho House. A new restaurant is opening up and beforehand they are doing pop up tasting menus to try to encourage people to come to the restaurant.

The food was apparently Japanese, though I'd question that. On entering Soho House my brother bumped into some friends. The woman was of Japanese Heritage, she agreed that the food wasn't really Japanese. To my horror when we went into the restaurant it was sharing tables of 12. Now I am totally incapable of making small talk. Also the acoustics in the room were terrible so it was very much like being in one of those bars you go to pre-clubbing where you can barely hear anybody. Not helped by the fact that there was a DJ (go figure). 

I'll admit that I didn't love my brothers friends who we ended up sitting with. I didn't dislike them, but I didn't find them that easy to talk to - we had nothing in common. The lady was lovely - dripping in Chanel Jewellery and very chatty. The man was also lovely, but they were both very grown up and very earnest - which are two things I am definitely not.

Fortunately to my right were two friends who were outrageous. With very spicy chat and hugely funny. So I ended up spending most of the night chatting to them. Though I did get some nice chats with brother too.

I got home about 11.00, got ready for bed and fell asleep immediately.

Woke up Thursday morning an hour and a half late because I'd forgotten to set alarm. So had to leap out of bed, wake up son (20 minutes late), gulp down a coffee and take dog for a walk. Dog is on heat at the moment, she's got literally no interest in chasing her ball, because all she wants to do is find a boy dog to get jiggy with. So I put her on her lead and took her for a reluctant walk from the rec and down to Hogs Plat. I then took her into a small paddock with fencing to try throwing ball again. She was still not interested, gazing through the fencing to try to find a boy dog.

We wandered back and suddenly in the car park a car pulled up and a boy dog got out of the car. She nearly ripped my arm off trying to get to the dog. I won!

Thursday night I was out again, off to see Aisling Bea at the Dome. It was a fantastic evening. She was great. First time that I've seen her live. I will definitely go to her next tour. She had an amazing man doing signing whilst she did her act. It was as much fun watching him as it was listening to her. He really threw himself into it.

I thought that it was at the Corn Exchange which is a much smaller venue at the Dome, but it was in the main theatre. The only problem with that was that I'd booked us right in the centre in the middle of the second row. Obviously this is in the danger zone. To make matters worse, the person who SHOULD have been sitting in front of us didn't turn up - so we were completely highlighted. We almost got away with it. The only time we were picked out was when Aisling looked at husband and complimented what he was wearing - I'm quite chuffed as I consider now that Aisling was flirting with my husband! She may look at it differently, but I'm sticking with my story.

Aisling was supported by Suzi Ruffel, so it was great to watch her again. Though much of the set she did was from the material she did when we saw her a few months ago - do you think perhaps we've watched ALL the comedy now!

Friday I fortunately had a day off. I was shattered. I got up and took the dog for a walk, then on returning home I had a nap. Waking up I put on a wash and then whizzed up to the garden centre (I'm trying to find some palms for the garden). The palms are not going to be at the garden centre until May - so I came home empty handed and..... had a nap. I woke up - got some lunch and tidied up ready for the cleaner to come and then whilst she was here.............. had a nap. 

I then needed to get ready to go out AGAIN. Now I have limited going out clothes because who goes out every single night of the week (well unless you're young and alive). I was also bored rigid of getting dressed up. But I was a big brave girl and tarted myself up again.

This time we were going out to watch Ardal O'Hanlan - again at the Dome. It was once again a really lovely show. I'd got it for husbands Christmas present. Then when putting it in diary discovered it was the day after Aisling Bea. It seems not many people know Ardal any more, he didn't actually fill the Dome. Which was a real shame. I hope he made his money back. All the Stalls were filled, it was just the Circle that was empty. Well all the people that didn't turn up missed a lovely evening, it was just basically Ardal having a chit chat. Was very funny and also made me smile that occasionally he even made himself chuckle.

Back home again and as it was a Friday we stayed up for a bit. I woke on Saturday absolutely shattered. Apart from taking the dog out for a walk and cooking supper I did NOTHING.

Sunday was Mothers Day, son and husband had bought me some tulips and some daffodils. Perfect. I have banned my son from giving me a bundle of sticks. Which is essentially what I got every Mothers Day in his childhood. Son slept in, so kind husband made me breakfast.

My mother, father and brother were coming over later. The plan was that we would have a Chinese Takeaway so that I didn't have to cook. To prepare myself I went to Deliveroo to see which Takeaways I would have options with. The choice was slim. Pretty much every takeaway was shut until the evening, but a few were opening at 12.00, including one of our favourites, the China Garden. That's where we had our wedding lunch (but that's another story).

Also as a just in case I Woosh ordered some pasta, cream and basil to do an emergency carbonara if needed. When the Woosh turned up everything I'd ordered was there, with the exception of the basil - they'd replaced it with dried basil. I literally can't stand dried basil.

12:00 was cutting it fine for us actually eating on time, so I pre prepared my menu. At 12:00 on the dot I whizzed onto Deliveroo for the order. China Garden wasn't accepting orders!!! Disaster, I looked through the App and having been through about 20 Chinese options - only one was taking orders. I started the order, but couldn't find rice or noodles. Asked for help from husband. In doing so I managed to lose the order. Then I couldn't find my way back to the restaurant to continue the order - I just couldn't find it again. By now it was 12:25 and everybody was turning up at 12:30. I had a total meltdown.

I rushed to the kitchen and started pulling together my emergency carbonara. By the time everybody turned up I was in a complete flap. I used Pesto to replace the basil - it worked ok! What was supposed to be a no stress lunch had turned into a horrifically stressful experience.

Over lunch mum and I had some NoSecco. The new no alcohol prosecco that I tried last week. It's a great option. Brother had bought some Tattinger and he had a glass. At the end of the meal I had a glass with him. Then everybody went home.

It was son's turn to be nice to me for mothers day. He kindly agreed to watch the 1968 version of Oliver with me and we curled up on the sofa whilst I made my way through the Tattinger. By the time I'd finished the bottle I was very tiddly - of course I then decided I wanted more, so opened a bottle of Prosecco.

Fast forward and I ended up completely rat arsed on the sofa - before bed.

Needless to say waking up on Monday morning I had a cracking hangover and was filled with the guilts!! Oh gosh I hate the guilts.

Anyway, and that was my 'busiest week of all'.

#Nevergoingtodrinkagain