Phil quite often tells me that I have the “life of Riley” and mostly I refute this but I do think this week he may just have a point, this week I have had it real easy. The weather has been lovely and this always lifts my soul. Every one needs good girlfriends and this week I have been able to meet up with 3 of mine. On Monday I started the day off my with usual trip to the gym followed by Asda, then after lunch I went to Willen to have a cup of tea with the lovely Vanessa. I hadn't seen her for a while so it was good to catch up with all of the Ford news.
On Tuesday after my gym session I decided to work on the gardens. I started on the front garden which was easy. A bit of chopping with the hedge trimmer then I was on my hands and knees getting the moss out of the block paving. Fortunately I'd had the hindsight to spray it at the weekend with weed killer so the green stuff came out quite easily but boy what a tedious job. I finished up with a good sweep of the drive and a polish of the front door and it was job done. After lunch, chicken chilli men without the chicken, I decided to attack the back garden. Now this wasn't as straight forward as we haven't touched the back since last autumn and it was a mess. It doesn't help that I hate gardening with a passion and I have no natural gardening skills. And I mean none whatsoever. If I had my way I would have astra turf, slabs and concrete with the odd pot but this garden was fairly established when we moved in so it made sense to keep what we already had.
I started with weeding the borders. I collected thousands of leaves and pulled out everything that looked like a weed. I wasn't sure actually what was a weed all bar the thistles but my strategy, if you can call it that, was if looked grotty, it got pulled. It was really hard work and 4 hours later I had filled our green bin. After weeding, I got out the mower and cut the grass which was quite satisfying. Next job was to rake out the moss with a screw driver, no easy feat. Last job of the day was to sweep the up all the moss and rearrange the patio furniture. I was knackered when I'd finished but very pleased with myself. I couldn't wait for Phil to see my results when he got home from work. Phil hates gardening so he was really pleased that I'd started. However, on closer inspection, his appreciated soon disappeared when he discovered that as well as getting rid of the weeds, I'd also got rid of some shrubs in the process. This was my biggest fear but too late now, the deed is done.
Phil went out for a beer with Jim on Tuesday night and I caught up with some soaps and did an hour of deep plunge squats. It didn't hurt at the time but oh my god, when I woke up on Wednesday I could hardly get out of my bed. I think my exertion in the garden was exercise enough and deep thrust squats was overload on my aging body. Just getting down the stairs was a nightmare. I was driving down to see Christine in Surrey and had planned to go to the gym beforehand but there was no chance of that. Instead, I did some domestics, packed an overnight bag and finally set off at half ten. Phil had programmed the crappy sat nav for me and I admit I was a little nervous about driving so far. I don't drive much on motorways and the M1, M25 and M23 was scary. But I took it steady, not really going above 60 which wasn't difficult, much as I love my new car, it hasn't got much poke.
I got to Charlwood in 2 hours which wasn't too bad considering Christine lives just 5 minutes from Gatwick. The dogs, Purdey and Buffey gave me a good welcome and I was surprised to see that Paul was down from Sheffield. The sun was glorious and we had lunch on the lawn, goats cheese tart and salad and a good bottle of chilled white which Paul & I polished off between us. I was curious to see what Christine had done to the cottage since Phil and I visited her last September. Lots of work has been done, new kitchen, new windows, landscaping in the garden, new fence and gate. The garden in particular looked lovely and it was obvious lots of love and care has gone into this project. Christine has still a way to go, new bathroom for one, more painting and decorating and some tweaking and general finishing off. But she'll get there I'm sure but it's fairly obvious that she is very happy in her new home which is good to see.
After lunch, we left the polish man laying her new patio in the back garden, I have to say I felt for him labouring so hard in the hot sun and popped into Horley. At least I think itwas Horley; we had a quick look around the shopping complex and then dropped Paul off at the train station as he was spending the evening in London with his daughters. We went back to the cottage to pick up the dogs and then drove to the woods. Christine said that the bluebells were a sight to see and she wasn't wrong. The main reason for walking the dogs in the woods, which is a walk Christine does every day, was to take me to see John's remembrance bench. With my really sore thigh muscles I really struggled with the inclines and declines and the stiles but I managed. John's bench is in a great expanse and it was good to take a few minutes out to remember him.
We had a good hours walk in the woods and It was almost half six by the time we got back to the cottage. Christine fixed us an appetitive and we had this by the pond. The Polish man was still labouring on the patio and I did feel guilty watching him work, while I supped away. Marius finally finished the patio at half seven, Christine paid him but then he couldn't find his van keys. Half an hour later he finally found them and when he left we had supper and cracked open the wine. The rest of the night was girlie chat and generally putting the worlds to right.
I was awake really early on Thursday morning, like before 6am. I don't now kwhether it was because it was a strange bed or the light pouring through the bedroom window but I really didn't want to wake that early. In need of tea, I crept downstairs and found the kettle and then took my brew back to bed. Around 8am Christine got up and we took the dogs for a walk around the football pitch and then stopped off at the village shop for newspapers. Paul was up when we got back looking and feeling very hungover, not surprising seeing as he didn't get back until 1am. I had some melon for breakfast with a cup of green tea and then just after 9am I said my goodbyes and headed for the M23. It was nice to see Christine and the cottage and I had a lovely time; sometimes its nice to do something different.
The drive back to MK took almost 2 hours. I was a little worried that there might be jams on the M25 with the imminent bank holiday weekend but it was fine, busy and a little slow but the main problem were the speed restrictions because of the road works. I was very relieved when I finally got home. After my night away or holiday as Phil referred to it there was jobs to be done. Unpacking, washing and a lasagne to cook. I just had enough time to drive to Peartree Bridge to get a large, cod and chips, Phil's favourite Thursday lunch. Phil came back at the normal time and I think he missed me, he seemed pleased to see me.
After lunch and a few more jobs, I drove over to Westcroft to see Jan I was very pleased to see that she is much, much better. She still has to take it easy and be careful not to overdue things but she is well on the road to recovery. She is frustrated with all the things that she wants to do but can't, but she's sensible and I just hope she doesn't rush back to work before she's ready. So all in all, as you might be able to tell, I've had a good week; reunions with girlfriends, lots of sunshine and lots of wine. It would have been nice to catch up with Sue but it wasn't to be. She phoned me on Monday to say that was hoping to get out to see me but Alan was having a really bad pain day. Hopefully there'll be a window of opportunity next week.
I'm excited today because we are going away for a couple of days. I found us a deal on the internet and so we're off. Our original plans for the weekend have changed slightly but I'll blog more about that when we get home. We're going to the gym for a quick workout first then home to pack a bag, grab a light lunch then we're heading north on the motorway.
Happy Easter everyone!
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