Tennis cancelled.

All psyched up & ready to play tennis & we don't have a quorum. Shame.
I'll go & put proper clothes on & then on to Plan 2. Finish the chores & off to Marsh Gibbon, then Bicester  to see the family before G departs for Thailand / Vietnam for another holiday. This time to see the elephant round up, eventually, in Surin.
Perhaps I'll fly out & surprise him by appearing in the herd, otherwise,I'm open to offers.

Yesterday was a lovely bright, mild day - we both went to the combined All Souls day service at OW, then had Marg & Phil, M,M & Keith to lunch. We went for a walk round the Moathouse Lane/Church block then back for a meeting with Jan re fundraising.
We now have    - "Coffee & Cakes" here on 19 Nov
                           - "Mid Advent" festival on 10, 11Dec, filling the church with Christmas trees &
                              asking folks to decorate them/ sponsor their decoration.
                           - Fund raising lunch here on 4 Dec.

Offers of help/attendance warmly welcomed.

Must phone the sweep to book for home & the almshouses chimneys, when I find his number.
Early start tomorrow, for Heathrow drop-off - glad the clocks went back!
Did they change in DK?

Fall back.

Not a comment on our relationship, but the fact that the clocks go back tonight.
There is the annual debate about the benefits of this.
Personally, I shall just rearrange my life to take place an hour later, where possible.

Yesterday I went to Balsall Common for my free facial, courtesy of the daily Telegraph.
I eventually found the establishment - a small semi on a housing estate, the curtains closed (10.00am), a pushchair by the door & childrens voices.
I rang the bell twice & then left, confident that I would not have a relaxing half hour.
Thanks, DT.
I food shopped in Solihull - P,A, J&Th for dinner & folk for lunch on Sunday.
A had a day off so we did not have the planned day with J & Th, but they had time to make pumpkin lanterns with G.
We ate dinner by lantern light - a first!

Tonight is the Fireworks Party at DMP, which we enjoy.
Nowadays the fireworks are followed by a meal in the Hamilton suite, rather than at the house - too much mud & outer clothing, I guess.

Apparently, the 3 things that make people most happy are:
1. finding a £10 note in a pocket of old clothes
2. going on holiday
3.getting into bed with ......clean sheets
I go with 3, & you can do it twice a week!

Michael D Higgins is the new President of Ireland, they have opted for a poet rather than a murderer, a dragon or a passe pop singer.
A bit of a "no-brainer". I would have thought.

Happy Anniversary.

We have been married for 16 years.
The weather was a lot better 16 years ago, we were a little thinner, younger & in Paris in the rain by now.
Today we opted for an NT property.
It was going to be Chatsworth & a walk in the dales, but due to the rain we decided on Whitwick Manor in Wolverhampton, a late Victorian Arts & Crafts manor house with lots of Morris & Burne Jones....
It was inspirational, especially when looking for wallpaper.
We missed lunch whilst in the house, so had an early dinner before I went to a meeting at 7.30pm.
We lit the first fire of the season.
Brill.

Apparently, York is to become "aware of dementia", training those who meet the public in supermarkets & the like on how to deal with the demented.
AJ may find she is treated more gently when loitering in supermarkets & approaching complete strangers.

I played tennis in the sunshine yesterday morning then did housework after lunch.
I'm not sure which of these activities caused me to ache this morning, as it's the first time I have done either for a while.
Jan & Chris came to dinner & enjoyed some holiday snaps.

A free Telegraph reader's facial tomorrow morning at Balsall Common, J & T in the afternoon, with P, A & Claire coming for tea.

The field opposite has been ploughed, so I shall have another look for my wedding ring. 

Another lazy day.

Didn't have breakfast in bed today.
We went to the Jewellery Quarter to collect some bits, had lunch in a little cafe down an alleyway, then did a tour of some of the more interesting suburbs, before collecting my specs from Solihull on the way home.
It had started to rain by the time we were home & has teemed down for much of the evening.
G has slept for much of the evening, starting from whilst I made tea at 4.00pm, having just got home.
B phoned, AJ phoned & Jan phoned so I am up to date with everything.
I can't get through to DMK - I'll try again tomorrow.

The home page has a woman's looks, projected ten years, depending on lifestyle.
Wow!
Eat blueberries, avocado & fruit, cut down on the wine & don't smoke.
No problem there, apart from the exorbitant price of blueberries & avocados.

Look out for the Aldi ad for washing up liquid.

Tennis tomorrow & the car in for a service, Jan & Chris for dinner.
I must remember where the vacuum & dusters are before home becomes a health hazard.

Back to M & S.

A really self indulgent day.
G brought breakfast in bed - he does this once every sixteen years - then I read the weekend papers, until 10.20pm
Unfortunately the alarm clock was wrong, I thought that it was 8.53am.
Fortunately tennis was cancelled, so it didn't matter anyway.
I spent the afternoon shopping in Solihull, the first trip out in the car & shopping trip for three weeks.
I really enjoyed it & came home with a load of scrummy food from M& S.
Sea food stir fry for dinner.

G  has been preparing for his travels; some odd jobs to do & packing to finish.
The garden looks great, even the Primrose paddock is mown & tidy.
We shall no doubt have a sharp frost shortly & the rest of the leaves will come own overnight.

Congratulations to those who spotted the mistake on the last blog - no W at Stanstead.
I shall apply for a job writing scripts for "Downton Abbey"!

Home again,

Another glorious day, perhaps autumn has been cancelled this year. I have a suspicion that this is intended to keep nearly all of the leaves on the trees until November, so that G can avoid raking up & making a pile the size of Wembley Stadium, at the top of the field, to compost down by the next ice age.

We arrived home yesterday tea time, in time to scrub up to go to a Conservative Party dinner at DMP at which Liam Fox was the speaker.
He did attend & was inspirational.
A shame that his talents will be lost for a while.
The second highlight of the evening was my winning a magnum of Tattinger champagne & £100 in the "Heads & Tails" game (hands on head or hips, toss of coin decides those eliminated - I don't think that success in this has any career potential!) 
The third highlight was LF choosing G & I to embrace for photos as he left.

Anyway, I have spent the last six days in Denmark with W, MK,J & DK, which was delightful.
Since I saw the family at Easter, W has lost 1/4 of his body weight by following a meat & bean diet, which apparently changes your body chemistry - you vaporise the fat & blow it away!
He's pretty skinny - I could try it, with a bit of bread & the odd digestive biscuit!
MK's as calm as ever, J has even more energy - a large hamster wheel could generate enough electricity to sell excess, DK has an increased vocabulary - all Danish!
We walked in the forest, ate with T&B & family, played football & went to a childrens' ballet in Copenhagen - the audience full of little girls in tutus, tights & boots!

The ten days before that G & I were on a Fred Olsen Baltic cruise, from Newcastle, visiting Oslo, Turku & Helsinki (Finland), St Petersburg then Copenhagen, where I disembarked, leaving G as a "single" for the journey home!!!
Really good - a cross between a 5* hotel & a Geordie old folks home, with days of escape in interesting places.
More later.
We spent a night with JR on the way home after W picked me up at Stanstead.
Enjoying being home

Gone tomorrow.

Style, that is.
Busy day.
Preached at Lea Hall this morning, then back to NW to take a baptism - dear little boy & a church full of family & friends.
We used to shop at Lea Hall with Mum & dad, near to Kingshurst is the only reason I can think of.
The church meets in a school hall attached to the church as the church was gutted in an arson attack a few years ago & they need £70,000 to put it right, perhaps it had another 0. A lot anyway for a small congregation in a poor area..
We had a light lunch in the garden - NEWSFLASH - it's just started to rain, the first since last Sunday & then weeks before then - Robnextdoor strimmed behind the hedge, whilst we ate, making conversation a little difficult.
We checked on the lawn mower at OW then visited the Alms Houses to see that all was well with the residents.
We are hoping that the workmen will start clearing the gardens & relaying the paths there soon, having been waiting for months.
We.ve cooked a Thai curry (using a jar of sauce from M&S) & watched "Antiques Roadshow" & "Spooks".
Just have to finish reading the paper & I can go to bed.
Will the sun shine again tomorrow?
I always considered that autumn started on W's birthday, 1 Oct - cold, damp, misty, with a lot of leaves about.
Perhaps it's just a day late after all. 

Hair today!

Well, I got it all done, by getting up early & power-napping whilst at the hairdressers & after dinner.
I don't think anyone noticed.
I swept another barrow load of acorns off the yard, cleared them of most of the rockery, then dug the front borders & cleared G's trimmings from the shrubs around the house.
I had a shower then went to the hairdressers, for three hours! It's the foils that take the time- you could foil a turkey & roast it in that time!
I eventually went on to Solihull, did a little Christmas shopping, had a cup of tea in M&S & came home.
G cooked the dinner whilst I got on writing my sermon for tomorrow (Noah/conflict - think of life in the ark with the parents, in-laws & all of those noisy,smelly animals)
I've just finished it - time for bed.

Happy Birthday William.

Can it really be that I have a son  aged 26 + 11 = 37?
I don't feel old enough.
Anyway, have a wonderful day,W, & I hope that the parcel has arrived.
I have stayed up ridiculously late so that I could be the first one to say it.

I went to see JR yesterday & stayed overnight so that his carer could go home for a day.
Wild activity at Shardelows as a team were in shoring up the sides of the pond, alongside the drive, with piles & sleepers. They then used a JCB to remove eight trailer loads of weed from the pond so that the fish could swim again, rather than climb through it.
A fantastic hot day for the job.
JR & I went to lunch at JS & then to see Mary, home for tea, supper & bed.
I got home at lunchtime, in time to do some washing, gardening & go to Solihull to pick up J & Th from school.
We went to Burger King for a treat as they had both had brilliant weeks at school.
I have made another life-style decision - I shall never go to BK again- it is much more expensive than McD, nowhere near as good, had no serviettes & had no tomato ketchup for Th to dip his chips into. 

We have had an M&S "Dine in for £10" dinner - prawn risotto, trifle & a bottle of rose  (couldn't manage the stuffed mushroom starter, after the tea at BK!)
Excellent.

Up early to garden, before going to the hairdressers at lunchtime.
I should have gone to bed earlier!