Brill

What a great day - I took the car to Tollbar for it's beauty treatment, swapped it for a spanking new C30 & went shopping for the day.
What more could you want?
I went to Alcester - a really pretty little town full of alleyways, with an array of antique & charity shops..
I had a potter around, then bought some bits in the antique shop, which I am delighted with, then drove back to Warwick, had a nice lunch, pottered round the shops, then went to reclaim the car.
I finished the day out in Knowle where I bought chicken from the butchers, for dinner.

We have had a fund raising meeting tonight, to sort out the details for the Mid advent festival, then a glass of wine, to get over it.

G had an altercation with a driver who parked on the grass outside, ploughing it up.
When she turned round he realised that it was a friend who went to the Holy land with us.
Oh Dear.
I shall e mail her to invite her to park in the drive whilst she walks her dog.

I still have a sermon to write. 

Time for bed.....

To make up for going to bed ridiculously late last night - I kept nodding off as I was so tired after doing the sale, then it becomes hard work to go to bed.
I had a really lazy morning - let the girls out then went back to bed with a cup of tea & read the paper then had a long bath & didn't start the day until lunchtime.
Lazy or what?
I walked to the village to deliver some letters & get some exercise, did a few jobs en route then realised that I had a lot to do.
I've emptied the car,ready for it's beauty treatment tomorrow, sorted & put away the remnants from the sale, done washing & ironing, cleaned the bedrooms & made the beds up ready for W & MK, etc, arriving on Friday.
I drove to Sh & NW churches to take stuff that was in the porch - NW was fun as I had a drawer of bric a brac, which was cumbersome & I had to negotiate the two doors in the dark.
I had a prawn salad for dinner - daren't risk another banana sandwich!.
Off to bed - sermon still to do!  

Flog it.

Aj gave me a couple of boxes of objets d'art to sell on my "Hollylands Heirlooms" stall at the open evening in the village hall this evening.
I spent much of the day putting together a couple of boxes of really good things, washing & packing everything.
This afternoon, G set off to visit M in Guildford.
I visited Blyth Mill to check on the Christmas trees then loaded the car, set the burglar alarm off - had to re-open the back door because I'd left the key in the lock - put the chickens to bed, then off to the village hall to set up my table.
I sold over £100 worth of things -  far more than any of the other stall holders, I think - drank a glass of wine, packed it all up again & came home before 10.00pm.
I've since had a banana sandwich & two pints of decaf coffee, reported back to aj - £10 of her things sold, done some ironing & made up the bed.
Tomorrow, I'll empty the car 

Wet, wet, wetter.

I can't remember what we did on Saturday - I remember reading the paper, but that couldn't have taken all day. It did rain all night, loudly & we were flooded out by Sunday morning.
I had services to take at Shustoke & OW - only three at Shustoke as as even Whitacre was flooded in, & I couldn't get to OW, despite trying to go through Furnace End, Shawbury & Whitacre.
We put on our wellies & cycled round the villages, walking through the floods.
Wow.
 I vacuumed & mopped downstairs whilst G watched the grand Prix - i was ttrying to shut out the noise - unsuccessfully - then cooked stew & dumplings & lemon sponge.
Jan & Chris came to dinner, then we looked through holiday photos.

This morning I caught up on e mails - creating a group to invite to our "Final Fund raising Lunch of 2012" & arranging a mtg for the MAF - then we took a heap of G's clothes to the charity shop before going to solihull to shop & on to Shirley to pick up J & Th from school, tea & a play.
we visited JS on the way home as they have great deals on wines, including a favourite of mine - Glenridge Point sauvignon blanc for half price with 25% off for 6 or more bottles.
Dinner, TV & a nap.
Raining again!

Wet, wet, wet.

Aj & I had a fun day in York on Wednesday - we visited J & aj's new grandchild, Lily, both  gorgeous, & then to town to shop - mainly at M& S to be honest, they had everything we needed, well, almost - clothes, food & a coffee shop.
I drove home at 7.00pm, all well until near home, when the floods caused me a slight problem, as did G, who had left the key in the door, so I couldn't get in!

We went to see J & G on Thursday,via Airkix at Milton Keynes for G to do his indor skydiving (see pic) having lunch en route, I went on to collect T & KP from school, to shop in Tesco - self scan - KP holds, T scans - then on to swimming lessons, collecting Ben on the way.
We collected G on the way home & had a lovely evening with B & E.

We stayed over, both wearing B's pyjamas!

The journey home involved over two hours stuck on the M40 due to an overturned car transporter. 4ours from bicester to Tamworth!!
I had my hair done, then we scrubbed up & went to DMP to the conservative dinner, which was scrummy - soup, roast pork & fruit salad.
The speakers were Christine & Colin Still - BBC commentator & Olympic coach.

We cleaned the church this morning to prepare for preparing for the Mid Advent Festival in ten days time.
It has since rained - yard flooded, I've written tomorrow's sermon, ironed, cleaned the cooker & changed the bed - leave a bloke at home on his own for a couple of days........

Dinner by the fire 7 an early night, I think.  

Up North.

I am having a short break in the frozen North, visiting aj.
Yesterday I visited the new Morrisons supermarket in Coleshill - it's opening day.
It is brilliant!
Wonderful fresh food, lots of variety & helpful staff - everything the Co-op lacks!
I had decreed that I would always support the old shops, but after 2 minutes in Morrisons, I changed my mind - the Co-op does not deserve my custom.
I may feel guilty about this.

I then played a couple of sets of tennis, went home for lunch, then drove North, arriving in time to have a nice cup of tea, watching "Flog It" - by the way, did anyone see G & I on the Flog It auction from Bigwoods, last week?

I woke up by 4.30, then walked into Acomb, pottered, shopped in Morrisons, then came back a couple of hours later to get a meal on before aj came in from work.
She was critical of my pan fried haddock with sugar snaps & stewed vegetables - the "Strangest combination she had the misfortune to eat".
Well!
You try & give folk healthy food & they throw it in your face.
She only managed to get it down with 3/4 bottle of Sauvignon Blanc!

Today we went to Wetherby for a potter this morning, then we did Acomb this afternoon - much warmer today - 12 degrees, only 5 degrees yesterday - colder than CPH!

Waiting to see Last Tango in Halifax".
Looks good.
Home tomorrow evening, after seeing aj's new granddaughter, hopefully.   

shops to avoid.

The Sunday Times has listed the shops to avoid/use depending on fairness of tax paid:
Coffee; Avoid Starbucks, shop Costa
Books: Avoid amazon, shop WHSmiths
Clothes: Avoid Topshop, Miss Selfridge, BHS, shop John Lewis
Selling:Avoid e bay, shop Freecycle
Computer search engines: Avoid Google, shop Wikipedia.

I'm safe on all counts apart from Google - don't know how to avoid.

Lovely day today, once the hard frost went - hedge cut & cleared, half-way up the garden.