Slobbing, Snooker & Pub Grub

The roads were empty when I drove to the gym on Friday and because of this, I expected the gym to be empty. But oh no, it was packed out and with members I'd never seen before. Obviously people that only come after work, there were none of the daily regulars exercising, only me, as ever, a gluten for punishment. Despite not being very patriotic and blogging that I wasn't really interested in the royal wedding, I plugged into the BBC coverage whilst on the cross trainer and was immediately hooked by the wedding frenzy. So much so, I decided to cut my workout short so that I could follow the royal ceremony in the comfort of my kitchen. I managed to see Kate leave her hotel and get in the car whilst I was getting changed. I needed to pop into Asda for a few bits and was hoping to see her go into the Abbey but they weren't showing the royal wedding on any of the TV's.

Asda staff had decorated the store with bunting and radio coverage of the wedding was blaring out of every speaker but no big screen so I quickly got my bits and made my way home. Just got back in time to see the pair exchange their vows and then I pretty much watched the royal wedding until teatime. Like the rest of the world, I thought the bride looked splendid, I hadn't realised just how beautiful she was, stunning in fact. She may be a commoner like the rest of us, but I think her whole demeanour and deportment was spot on. Its true, I weep quite easily these days, and I admit I did shed a tear or two. I was glad I decided to watch it, it is, after all, part of our history. And I for one on Friday, was proud to be British. I could resist borrowing this photo from Emma's Facebook page, it is Tegan & Kai all dressed up ready to go to a royal garden party.

Although I watched TV for most of the day I didn't sit down and put my feet up. No, I watched the telly in the kitchen and cooked 2 vegetarian shepherd's pies; one for us and one for Phil's mum and dad. Although they are in their 80's, they've never tasted soya mince before so I thought I'd do a dish for them to try. Originally I was going to do the chili from the prostate cancer diet book but they are not big lovers of chili so I thought it best to do something more traditional. Phil come home from work at 1pm and after his lunch went to Wolverton to get his hair cut. When he got back home he straight away got stuck into the end of month paperwork. Normally I have to nag him to do this but I think he wanted it out of the way so he could spend time writing his book. You will have seen that he did a blog explaining why and what his book was about; this pleased me because loads of you have been asking me what he was writing about and I couldn't provide an answer. Now you know and I know and now that I have an idea of its content, I shall look forward to reading it!

Friday evening was quiet; Phil did an hour on the bike and then we settled in front of the telly. Unfortunately Phil had an attack of the munchies, which was a shame because he has been exercising some really good self control recently. But on Friday night, he gobbled down his sardine salad and then not long after had a good portion of the shepherd's pie followed by another portion. Later on that night he admitted to eating Harriet's chocolate cream egg and had nibbles of a chocolate bar that I had quite forgotten was in the fridge. Naughty boy! We are still on the cancer diet but I have had to relax it a bit and on the weekends, we have what we fancy with some restraint. I am very pleased with Phil though, he is doing so well and it won't be long before he gets in the 15's. That's if he doesn't blow it on holiday.

We were awake early on Saturday morning and had a leisurely lie in reading our books. Phil got up and with a tiny bit of nagging, duly did his 22k bike ride. Unfortunately Harriet was also up early, which is practically unheard of for a Saturday morning and beat Phil into the shower. He wasn't a happy bunny and by the time he'd showered and had got changed, he didn't have time for breakfast because he would be late picking up G from Northampton as they were going to Melton to see his mum and dad. There were 2 reasons for visiting on Saturday, one to give G some motorway driving experience and two, to do some jobs for Bet and George. George still is not very well and until we can come up with a permanent solution to look after mum and dad properly, weekly visits are a necessity. I didn't realise that Phil's dad fell over at the bottom of the garden a few weeks ago and couldn't get up. Their garden is massive and very long and he couldn't get Bet to hear his cries for help. In the end, he managed to crawl on his hands and knees up to the conservatory where she finally spotted him and helped him to his feet. I think 'Project Parents', once we get back from our holiday, is going to have to take top priority.

With Phil out for the day, I was a little bit at a loss for something to do on Saturday. Harriet went out with a mate for breakfast and then went to Sherrington with a gang of friends to a sausage and beer fest. We had a house viewing on Saturday morning at 10.30 so after everyone had left I, had a clean up and took myself to the gym. It was way past midday by the time I came out and I decided to go to McDonalds in the Xscape. I was almost salivating at the prospect of a Big Mac and chips but, you know what, it didn't meet my expectations. When you eat good food, you miss fast food but when you actually eat it, it tastes like shit, so synthetic and full of sugar.

When I got back home, I wasn't sure what I was going to do with myself, but as ever, I found jobs to do. Some washing followed by drying and then I ironed it all and put it away. Then I packed the cases in readiness for our holiday. I don't have any checked luggage only 10kg allowance for the cabin but I have paid for Phil to have 20kg, which in theory, should mean that we take more. However, this is not the case, because I don't want to take the back pack but instead I want to take a smaller case with wheels. This means that I have to cut back even more but I managed to fit it all in even though Phil's research papers and my books take up half the room in the case. Job done.

Phil wasn't too late back from Melton and not long after he walked through the door, we decided to go to The Giffard for a drink. There are only 2 evenings when Phil drinks and those are Wednesdays and Saturdays and sometimes he doesn't even bother with a Saturday, it rather depends on how he's feeling. Anyway, we had a pleasant hour in the pub garden and it gave us a chance to chat. We don't do much of that these days unless we are on holiday. Phil's time is taken up with work, his iPhone, his iPad and his book. I don't mind but I do get lonesome at times; Maybe I should get myself a hobby or maybe get a job or perhaps I should write a book myself??? All these options but I have got 3 projects to start as soon as I got back from Tenerife – Oldbrook, Caldecotte & Parents and not necessarily in that order. Perhaps in the Autumn, now that's a chilling though Claire, we haven't even had the summer of 2011 yet.

Sunday was pure, indulgent slobbing out. We woke up early, very early, read for a bit and were in the gym by 8 o'clock. Unfortunately we didn't have a very good workout. Phil, because he was tired and hungover and me, because I am injured. I don't know if I have over exercised this week, or not stretched enough but my hamstring is tight and sore. I had the same thing last year and had to stop running so will give it rest and see if it gets better. Added to my hamstring injury, my back is also giving me some gip. Well, its not my back, its actually a pain at the top of my bum. This is the same pain I got when I fell over on the ice at Christmas so this injury has not healed. My posture is poor, my gait is not right and all of the above are probably not helped any by the hours spent hunched in front of my laptop. I must try and see someone and soon.

So, our Sunday gym session was short and sweet. Ten minutes on the rowing machine and a mini session of weights. We tried to get papers from Asda but it was shut so we went to the Co-op in Neath Hill which was open. It was hard to steer Phil past all the nice breads and pastries but somehow I managed. The rest of the morning I spent pottering and Phil worked on his book. For lunch, we walked down The Ship Ashore for the 2 course Sunday lunch special. It was very good but the veggies were very al dente which caused Phil to moan. I didn't mind too much as Phil treated us to a very nice bottle of Rjoca. The plan after lunch was to walk to the city and go to the cinema. Phil wanted to see 'The Source Code' and there was another film straight after entitled 'Dum Maro Dum' about a group of drug addicts in Goa that I wanted to see.. Phil wasn't sure about my choice of film choice and when he googled it on his iPhone he found that it was a Bollywood movie and was sub titled.  Well, why did I expect with that title!  In the end we saw neither film, and instead, decided to walk straight back home.

I was really tired on Sunday because in the early hours I got up to wee and saw that I was all alone. I went down stairs to see where Phil was and he was fast asleep on the couch. As it was 2am I woke him up and made him come to bed but the trouble was, I didn't really go back to sleep and then Phil was wide awake at 5am and put his bedside lamp on to read. When we got back from the pub we watched a couple of crap films and then Phil switched over to the snooker. I went to read in the conservatory and promptly fell asleep. A really slobby Sunday with snooker at the end.

On Monday we got to the gym early. Again it was a mini workout, much the same routine as Sunday morning, still I suppose a little bit of something is better than nothing.  On the way back we stopped of at B&Q as I wanted to get black out blinds for ours and Harriet's bedroom windows.  I figured that the blinds may help us both sleep longer in the mornings.  Also, now with the finer weather we are on full wasp alert and I figured I could have the windows open when it's hot and keep the blinds down without any buzzing things getting through.  Whilst I was in B&Q I also persuaded Phil to buy all my paints in readiness for the flat renovations.  He was reluctant at first but then when he saw that B&Q had a 'get 3 for the price of 2' offer he caved in and let me load up the trolley.  All was fine until we got to the DIY checkout and luckily there was a lady there who explained to get the discount we had to put 3 items through the till separately.  What a joke but Phil wasn't laughing because he had to swipe his credit card 3 times.  Eventually we got out of the store and I am happy I am stocked up again.  All my paints and painting accessories are all stacked up in the garage and I am a girl, good to go.

Bank Holiday Monday lunch at home was chicken, new potatoes and salad. I know Phil would have preferred Yorkshire puddings, veggies and gravy but these weren't on the menu. After clearing away, I nagged Phil about putting up the blinds and eventually he caved in and put them up.  It wasn't a straightforward job though (is anything) because they were slightly too wide so we had to saw them and cut into the fabric.  But we got there in the end and they look fine and do actually make a difference but whether they will keep insects out remains to be tested.  Harriet isn't convinced but I am willing to try anything.

Phil wrote some more of his book yesterday and then we watched the snooker.  My blog posting today seems to have gone on forever and forever.   After a fairly laid back weekend not doing anything much, I am surprised I have so much to say for myself.  But I do have to stop now and get on, 3 more days, 2 more sleeps and then we fly away. Hooooray!!!!!!!!!!!!