My week off

Well I suppose I can't complain too much about the weather this past week. The first half was cracking, and as soon as I got up last Saturday morning I was raring to have a clearout of some sort! I decided on one of the sheds and after a couple of hours it was transformed to something of beauty and ordiliness (is that a word?). During the rest of that day, Monday and some of Tuesday, I spent on more garden projects, thus also making the most of the sunshine: clearing leaves, weeding, trimming ivy, going to the garden centre and planting a few patio pots, sweeping and getting rid of rubbish. It looks so much nicer now and I felt well and truly accomplished.

On Tuesday evening John and I went to see Mamma Mia the movie at the Odeon. John's seen the stage musical about half a dozen times, myself twice, and so we were eager to see how they'd managed to convert it into a film. Unbeknown to me, John had downloaded it from the internet and watched it earlier on in the day - WHY WHY WHY would you do that if you're seeing at the flicks?! Anyway, the film far exceeded my expectations. It was so much fun I immediately wanted to see it again. We were both perplexed when we heard that Meryl Streep had been cast in the role of Sophie's mum but she was great! Julie Walters was a blast as per usual - she could quite have easily stolen the show but the filmmakers were clever. Pierce Brosnan's singing would probably appeal to an audience somewhere...? bless - shall we say a good attempt? The end credits were a hoot and Colin Firth's costume had me in fits. If you don't come out of the theatre singing and smiling, there's something wrong with you! 10/10 and easily the best film I've seen in an age.

Wednesday morning, John and I went to see my Nan who had a fall a few days beforehand. She's been having dizzy spells (she is a long suffering vertigo sufferer) and she fell against a stool which had an exposes screw in one of the legs; unfortunately she caught her leg on it and now it's all bandaged up. She has paper thin skin as it is so any damage to it is really bad. Nan didn't look well at all; in fact she's looking very old and frail now. However, her mind is as active as ever and she'll always have enough strength to give her opinion (and the only opinion) on current affairs.

The rest of the day was spent looking around DIY stores for a replacement for the rotten wooden shelf around our raised rockery - I wanted slabs but couldn't find anything suitable. Typical. They probably don't make what we're looking for. We bought a few more plants and then did the food shopping. Boring but essential.

We went into London on Thursday afternoon. The weather wasn't great so visited the Science Museum first of all before heading to theatreland, having something to eat and then taking our seats for the evening performance of Les Miserables. I haven't seen this show since 2000 when we were in New York, whereas John is probably in double figures. The seats were great - 4th row right in the middle. Great! It's such a brilliant show and the music is fantastic. I enjoyed it so much more than previously and found myself getting really tearful at the particularly sad parts.

With the weather a bit grotty on Friday, I started make a list of people to invite to my forthcoming 40th birthday party on 27th September. Also, I started designing invitations on the laptop, including making suggestions for fancy dress which has a theme of TV and film characters. I spent hours scouring the net for costume ideas for me; there are so many sites dedicated to fancy dress it's unreal! So much choice - too much in fact. I'm not really any closer to making a decision - I think it will be best to go to a few shops and actually try stuff on first. If I find the perfect costume using this method, then I will hire one, otherwise, I will buy one online.
In the evening, Tina and the kids came round for a couple of hours, at the same time, collecting some empty cardboard boxes for her move to Pitsea in August. Dave will be staying at the house and renting out a room to a mate to help with the mortgage. Shame the kids will be further away, not just down the road like they are now but Tina doesn't have much of a choice. You should see Ronnie playing on the wii - he comes straight in and asks to play 'boxing'. He doesn't know exactly what he's doing but does the motions and thinks he's knocking down daddy even when it's him that has been knocked down by Kasey! Kasey always wants to play hide and seek with my fake fruit and she always forgets where she's put it. I found a peach amongst my soft toys when I was dusting yesterday! (yes, me dusting!) lol

I spent most of Saturday in the garden reading and falling asleep and reading and falling asleep. Well you get the picture. A very lazy day.















Today, John and I and my Mum and Dad went for a day out visiting Scotney Castle near Tunbridge Wells. Not so much a castle but an old house with a rotunda and a fairly large pond all the way around it (not really a moat). This was really pretty and looking even nicer when the sun came out. There was also an old house in the grounds which you can also have a nose around - it wasn't anything special. As it was only 3pm when we'd exhausted this site, we travelled 20 miles down the road to Battle in Sussex (1066 and all that), and had a cream tea. It was the biggest scone I'd ever seen and only managed half of it. Stuffed for the rest of the day, I only just managed to eat a jacket potato at my parents' house on our return. The rest of them had a roast dinner!

So that's it; a fairly uneventful week. Back to work tomorrow.