Off on our travels again

A week last  Sunday, we had someone preaching who has quite a lot of contact with Jewish people, it was interesting to hear how he has opportunities to speak of the gospel. Otherwise  it was a fairly lazy day. We had a few spots of rain too. In the Monday husband went into town to the hospital, as they have started routine scanning in men of a certain age, for what is known as triple A, abdominal aortic aneurism. It can be a silent killer, not everyone has symptoms and sometimes it is picked up when men or even women are being scanned for something else.
I went into town with him as I needed to go to couple of shops. We parked in Asda, as it's cheaper than the hospital. It was another hot day, and husband was hoping that the scanning gel would be cold, but it wasn't. He rang me when it was over, it had hurt a little as they had had difficulty finding the aorta, 'due to intestinal gas', but they said his aorta was normal size.
We met up and went round Asda, picking up a few bits that we can't get elsewhere, and spending enough to get a refund on our parking ticket, then we came home. Tuesday, first thing I had to take my car in to have some corrosion dealt with, it wasn't too far, so  had a pleasant walk back. Later I had an appointment at the building society, as I had been trying without success to upgrade our current account online, to one which pays interest. I was busy upstairs when the phone rang, and the guy was asking if I could go in earlier, as he had to rush off home. So I went in,and he went through all the rigmarole, only to tell me that he couldn't do it without both signatures.
Home again, and later I managed to update the account online. I think I must have accidentally pressed the 'new account' button last time, rather than the upgrade button. I also got my car insurance which had gone up yet again. I determined to go online and check out  a comparison before I said 'Oh yes', to the quote.
On the Wednesday we packed and set off later than we should have done to visit Mum in Law. It is 8 weeks since we had been, she had said it was ok, as long as I helped with the cooking. Fair enough, she has never wanted help before. We stopped at our usual place for lunch and arrived at about 2.30. later we went for a walk into the village, as husband had forgotten to bring his usual green tea and coffee supplies.
Mum In law said she had had an offer of help with her housework, and had decided to take up the offer, she said she was not managing as well as she did. I went to make a cup of tea, and got some milk out of the fridge. She doesn't use milk, but sometimes keeps some in the freezer for when we go. My first thought as I got the plastic bottle out was 'Oh dear, this hasn't defrosted well', so I shook it up, and as I opened it the realisation dawned that it was the milk we had had accidentally left behind 8 weeks ago. Mum in Law said, ' Oh dear, I'm not managing, I forgot to buy milk'. Husband rushed back into the village, to get milk, and I asked her if she was coping with living alone. She said 'Well I will when I get help with the housework'. She said she doesn't want to go into a home, and nor do we want her to, but we cannot do anything unless she decides for herself. Ideally we would like her to come back here, but that would be quite an upheaval, so those of my readers who pray, I covet your prayers for wisdom.
Her oven is not good, but I managed the meat, and she peeled the veg, and I used her pressure cooker. I know it's not easy for any woman to hand over her kitchen to someone else. Husband did the washing up, and we went to bed, her bungalow bedroom is cooler than ours, so we managed a reasonable night.
The next day we were up early, but still didn't set off out very early. She was hoping her gardener would come. It started off as a dull day, bit brightened up later. We took a wrong turning, and ended up going to the garden centre first, where she had vouchers to spend. I found a 'slug bell', which is rather pretty, and less hazardous to kids and dog than my usual liberal scatterings. Then we drove into Eastbourne, had lunch in C&H fabrics, I bought more wool, then we went in a few shops. I would have liked a skirt from M&S which had been reduced online, but my size out of stock; in the store, all the summer stock had gone, and the autumn and winter stuff was in. I do not appreciate this in a heatwave in July! I also needed a new bag, as the lining had split in mine,and the stitching was coming undone, but nothing I liked at a price I liked. One was £79, and when I looked inside, it wasn't finished properly, so I told the manageress.

Interesting clouds over Little Common

 

Mum in law

Later we took Mum in Law to her favourite supermarket. I was excused at first, as I thought there was a Hobbycraft  nearby,but when I got there, they were just filling shelves, and it hadn't even started trading. I went back, and took over the trolley pushing, as husband wanted to escape to Homebase. Whe he returned, in time to help pack the shopping, he said the water feature we bought had been reduced even further. It s solar powered, so doesn't keep going all night.
Back to the bungalow, Mum in law was quite tired, I helped with the meal again, and managed to get the pork steaks just right.  We tried to get sunset pics at the local beach, but we were in the wrong place. We had a reasonably early night, and again slept fairly well. During the day I had run a 'compare the market' check, and found that I could get my insurance a lot cheaper, even my insurer was offering me fully comp for £126 less! So if you have been with the same insurer for a while it's worth doing a check.

Sunset reflected in clouds

Add caption

Over the bungalow

Friday morning we helped Mum In Law trim the tops of the forsythia hedge which helps give her some privacy. I stood on a platform to do it. before that however we had to search the shed and the garage for the charger for the hedge trimmer. Later it was found indoors! Next time we go, we must help her sort some stuff which needs to be taken to the dump, she cannot get there alone. I also offered to go down and help finish papering the hall, a job which was started over 4 years ago, but she said she thinks she will be able to manage it once she has some help with the housework. At getting on for 90, I don't think she should even try. We had another walk round the village, Mum in Law didn't come she was complaining that we had walked her too far the previous day. We took a different route back, and managed to pick up some stray bits of hedge trimmings, so that the big man with the big dog wouldn't turn up on her doorstep and complain. When we packed, husband couldn't close his case, as the lock had jammed. So we were later than planned setting off, and stopped for lunch at a very busy services. It was slow up to and including the M25, as it was the busiest weekend of the year, the start of the school holidays.
We had a lovely fish pie, which we had bought at the M&S at the services, then reasonably early to bed. Saturday, I colleted my car, they had done beautiful job on it,and really cleaned it up for me. I had to call and collect aparcel, some metallic shoe polish I had found online, which was a perfect match for my sale price Van Dals, which we slightly scuffed. We went into town and decided on a M&S mel for 2 for £10, more fish, but hey they say it's good for the brain.
That evening we had a torrential downpour, it came down so heavily that the road at the front of our house became a river. The problem is that the council don't clean the streets as often as they should, and debris clogs up the drain covers.

Our road transformed into a river