Watchin' the tide roll away

We were up quite early on the Saturday morning, but didn't actually start off very early. We didn't stop for breakfast till we got to Sourton, where there is a cabin with seating. They used to just serve through a hatch, but now you go inside and order. I had a bacon bap and husband had a bacon and egg  bap. Mine was stuffed with bacon. we don't usually eat like that, just on holiday.
After a coffee, we set off on the rest of the journey. The traffic was quite light, and we arrived in Penzance at around 11. We parked on the harbour car park, and I was walking up Market Jew street, when I realised it was pay and display, and I hadn't, so I shot off down the nearest side street and rectified the matter, Phew! I went into all my usual shops, walked up the pedestrianised area, found that the loos were closed, so walked down the next street where I discovered Penzance Baptist church. I had often wondered where it was.

Penzance harbour

side street where chapel is

I decided to go to a cafe for lunch and Lavender's wasn't far away. So I went there, and also made use of their facilities. I had a salad, best to try and start off well. Then later I walked round more shops and met up with husband. I did have a bit of a panic when  thought I had lost my small camera, and rushed back to Lavender's and a card shop, looking for it. suddenly I discovered I had slipped it into my handbag. I wanted to walk down Chapel street, but he had already been there, so we split up again, and met up at the car. On the way to the car I had a sneaky ice cream.
We set off to go to Sainsbury's which has been built on the site of the heliport. I hadn't been in there long, when I discovered I had dropped a lens from my reading glasses. I retraced my steps several times round the meat and fruit and veg, but could not find it, so reported it to customer services. This is why I always keep a spare pair.
Once the car was packed with the food we set of for the office where we had to collect the key. That done, we drove into St Ives and found the flat. Someone was parked on the courtyard level, and they told us that they were just unloading, but the underground car park space which they were to share with us was quite small.  We opened the gate and drove in. Yes the space was small. There was a staircase which led up to the flats, so we were able to unload the car and get stuff up without too much trouble.
When I opened the door to the flat we had another surprise, the flat was smaller than described online. The bedroom is so small that the bed takes up the whole centre of the room, head at one wall, feet at the other. I don't know how you cope if you are 6 foot 6. There are 2 sliding doors, one for each side of the bed. There is a huge wardrobe with shelves, but not quite deep enough for my skirt hangers. The bathroom was small just a tiny shower cubicle, a toilet, but a huge washbasin, like a butler's sink.
It was very nicely decorated, but the living room dining room and kitchen were all in one, and not a lot of room for food storage. It was quite well equipped, but no washing machine as there is a launderette on site. At the end of the stone balcony, there was storage cupboard with beach chairs windbreaks, a small chest freezer, and, picnic basket, games etc.
There was quite a cold wind blowing, and this became really strong if both the front door and balcony door were open together. When we had unpacked, husband went down to the underground garage, and discovered that despite his parking as near as possible to the wall, the other chap had got his car in but we were unable to get in our car. Husband just about managed to open  the door enough to squeeze his bible out on the Sunday for church.

The housekeepers had left us scones jam cream and milk, and a bottle of white wine, compliments of the owners. We had a tea for me coffee for him and just one scone each, they were huge. Later we walked down to the harbour,and got fish and chips. To my surprise they did grilled sea bass, so I had that with chips, half good and half naughty I thought. Husband had plaice and chips,and we managed to find somewhere to sit and shield our dinner from the predatory gulls. One good thing that we hadn't realised was that Porthmeor is only a short walk from the harbour, so we strolled back, watched some TV on the Smart TV, used the wifi for the internet,and then retired to our 'cabin'. The duvet was a tad thin, but I covered it with the available throw,and we both managed a reasonable night.

view from the flat

evening

the 'cabin'

We awoke fairly early the next morning. The shower cubicle was quite small, and had the option of an over head shower, or a hand held one. It was a bit small for standing back till the water was the correct temp, the knob was very stiff, and when it came on it was the hand held option. I didn't mind too much, as it was hooked up, and I could turn it towards me. If I had used the overhead one I would have got my hair wet every day, but as the water is soft I can go 3 days without washing it there.
We had breakfast, the weather was sunny, but there was an underlying coldness. It didn't take us too long to walk to Zion chapel, and we were greeted by a friendly face at the door.
The minister whose preaching we were not keen on had retired in January. He had been over state retiring age when he took the chapel on. That morning, there was a preacher 'with a view'. he was a pleasant young man, there for a second visit, with his family. The only problem  for us was that everything that was sung was post 1970,and we only knew 2 short choruses in the middle. Everything else was by Stuart Townend, and we had no clue as to the tunes.
After the service we were welcomed by the regulars who remember us, and someone introduced himself as one of the trustees of the chapel, who was there taking an interest in the proceedings of helping call a new minister. Then we spotted a couple of familiar faces, an elder and his wife from the chapel in Dunstable where we have friends. It turned out that the young preacher is a member in one of the churches we know in St Albans,  a church plant from the church we used to go to, and he feels burdened for the ministry in Cornwall.
We chatted with the couple from Dunstable, then the young preacher, but he didn't know our Daughter and family.One of the members there has suffered from ill health for many years, and has been at death's door a few times. It was good to see him out and about, and he has regained the ability to swallow, so  is no longer tube fed.
Back at the flat we had a good meal of steak, tomatoes mushrooms and veg, and I soon got used to the Induction hob. Pans come up to the boil quite fast. We had strawberries and cream, and after coffee, I managed to  get comfy enough on the sofa, which doubles as a single bed settee, to have a long doze.  We were still pretty tired from the journey,as I don't sleep well in travel lodges,and husband had done all  of the driving
We were both groggy after our nap waking quite late. The evening service there starts at 6, so we decided against going. Later we went for a walk to the Island so I could make a phone call. The flats were built from stone, probably granite, and the EE signal was zero. It was quite pleasant up on the Island, if a bit chilly, then we walked back down and saw another spectacular sunset from the balcony. I wasn't getting as much exercise as I usually do, as I usually have to walk from the other side chasing sunsets.

Grandma's visit and after.

Our daughter and Son in Law were taking the family to a barbecue, on the bank Holiday Monday, so we collected Grandma, and gave her another roast dinner. She spent the afternoon with us, and admired the garden, she hasn't been up in the Summer for a while.  We had a small piece of the  Birthday cake.Then later we all went up to our Daughter's for tea. There was plenty left from the day before as our Daughter hadn't realised that her brother would be going home on the Sunday. We all had more Birthday cake.
On the Tuesday, Son in Law had things to do with job seeking, and we asked Daughter if she would like to come to the big garden centre  on the bypass. There wasn't enough room in her car for Grandma, so she came with us. Daughter was a bit careful with what she could spend, due to their current situation. We had lunch in the outside area as it was quite warm, and any mess the children made could be cleared up by the birds. Then they went off to play for a while in the play area. Grandma wanted something that she couldn't get locally,and has no transport anyway, so we helped her there I loaded up my trolley with mostly trailng plants for my containers. Sadly they had sold out of the Winston Churchill standard fuchsias, one of mine did not survive the winter, the other has few buds on one of last years stems. Later we dropped Grandma off at our Daughter's and kept her heavy stuff in the boot, ready to take home.

our honeysuckle

The tall ceanothus

One of the spreading ceanothus

some of our roses

Potentilla in the bottom corner

On the Wednesday I offered to take Mum in Law shopping, as she was planning to return home on the Thursday, so she could go to the funeral. She did not buy very much, but we had cool bag we could lend her to take the cold stuff home.  had bought some of the dairy free 'ice cream' which she likes, Daughter had bought some, and Mum in law bought a third pack.
We had been asked to babysit from 4 pm to 6 pm as our Son in Law had an interview and Daughter was meeting a friend in need. a lot of the time the children spent being read to by Great Grandma. however Daughter hadn't quite got the times straight and her husband was not home till about 7.30 had I known I could have fed the children and Grandma, but never mind.
On the Thursday, we collected Grandma and her stuff, and set off for the South Coast. we didn't leave till after the rush hour.The journey there was quite reasonable. Mum in Law said she would like to take us out to lunch, when we had a stop on the way down, but when we arrived at around 1 pm, husband said he wanted to be home by 4!
I told him we would never make it, so we had a bit of a break, but then set off. As we both thought he would get overtired, I drove to the services, where we bought food and ate it in the car. Then we set off with husband driving, but had a much slower journey,especially  on the M25. we arrived home a around 6.30 pm.
On the Friday we had a fairly lazy day, husband announced that he wanted to have a look for something in the local Aldi store. We have 2 now, so we visited both. They have been doing a lot of cycling stuff lately. I did buy some 'padded knickers', but they are nowhere near as thick as those which I bought online.
Saturday was the usual into town for shopping and bus back, and Sunday, church.
On the following Monday and Tuesday I got stuck into replanting my pots. I had to remove all the daffodil bulbs,and leave them for the foliage to die back. I used quite a lot of compost, and was not sure what to do with the old stuff. I rang the council,and they said not to put it in the green bin, which is where it always went, but to take it to the dump. After some conversation and a bit of thought, husband decide it should go in our compost bins,and we could save money by using our own 'home grown' compost for potting. I went to the supermarket on the Wednesday, and when I got back he wasn't home. I thought he had walked into town, but no he had gone off on a bike ride.
Son in Law had heard that he had been accepted for a job in Milton Keynes, so we didn't need to collect Lydia, she would  have Daddy care. When husband got back he had made it even further than last time, as far as Northchurch.
On the Thursday morning, our friends in Dunstable, with the miniature railway in their,garden were
having a Coffee morning, in aid of the Christian Charity for whom their Son works, Caring for Life, so we spent a pleasant part of a morning sitting in their garden, drinking coffee  and chatting. sadly there were not many people there, although others may have arrived after we left.
Home gain we got on with packing and sorting stuff, then husband decided to go on another bike ride, but I was too busy.He went South,as far as the grounds of the Grove in Noth Watford, although now it is a hotel they prefer to be known as the Grove Croxley Green.
Friday was spent collecting stuff together, packing the car, cleaning and tidying the house,setting up security lighting, and we set off at about 3.30 pm on our annual 2 week holiday. This time we were going back to St Ives. We stopped at Leigh Delamere, but the choice of food was not to our liking,so eventually we decided to go to the West Cornwall pasty company kiosk, and get a pasty and wedges.
We also had a  coffee, and then I went onto the small M&S store and got us a dessert each.
Later when we stopped at Taunton Dene for the night, I had a massive acid reflux, so had to go in search of indigestion tablets. that is why I rarely eat pasties, I always suffer afterwards. Husband would eat them every day if he could.
I had taken milk with me, and my supply of Ovaltine, but I realised I had no means of boiling the milk, I didn't fancy using the kettle, so I compromised with half hot water,and half milk. It didn't taste great, and I didn't get off to sleep very quickly. Still, we were half way on our journey.

Pictures from Grandma's Birthday

These all came up in the wrong place so I'm posting them separately

the cake

Grandma

 The sunset

May madness

It was on the Saturday, the day after Tom came, when we were in town that I suddenly had what seemed a crazy idea. Husband's Mum was going to be 91 on May 24th. We could not go and see her, as we had to be here for our Son and family to collect Tom, and they were staying overnight. It was to be the start of the half term holiday, and Daughter had been talking about visiting her Grandma, but with her husband needing to be around for interviews, she hadn't made plans. Our Son's old bedroom has become more of a storeroom, but I did wonder if someone could collect Grandma, and could she possibly stay with our Daughter?
First I asked husband, he wasn't sure how it would work out. I then asked Daughter, she thought it a good idea, but wasn't sure that she could do the journey in one day, and would have to stay overnight.
In my Sunday evening chat to Mum in law, I put the proposal to her, and asked her to think about it.
I'd had some difficult news that weekend, my dear friend C who had seemed to be getting better, had deteriorated during the week and was being sent home for palliative care. I was quite upset at this news.
We didn't go on any bike rides that week we were busy taking Tom for walks. On the Monday it was raining and husband took him for a long walk, so I had to towel him down afterwards. On the Wednesday, when Lydia came, she made friends with him, and seemed to enjoy having him around. The weather was fine so they were in the garden.

Tom waits expectantly

Tom just loves affection

A complication with my plan arose. Grandma's next door neighbour had recently died, and she had found out that the funeral was to be on the Friday. She had also been expecting delivery of bean plants, and despite enquiries she couldn't find out when they were to be delivered. She had, apparently told the suppliers the whole story, including that her Grandson whom she saw infrequently, was to be there, and would have to get back to.... not being able to remember the county, she said it was near the Scottish borders. This caused quite a lot of amusement for us who were waiting for will she/won't she come. At one point she wasn't coming.
I then suggested that she could come on the Saturday, husband agreed to collect her, the beans duly arrived and were potted,and all systems were go. To be on the safe side I posted her gift, just in case.
On the Friday I was busy getting the front bedroom ready, I was going to phone C's husband, but thought I'd do it later, but then later in the morning got a call from a mutual friend saying that C had entered the presence of her Lord that morning. I felt so sad, I had known her for nearly 35 years.
I rejoice that her earthly sufferings are over, but remembering how well she was doing before her last stay in hospital,when she was so bright and cheerful.
That evening, husband was on the phone to his Mum finalising the arrangements for her visit,and he learned that she had waited in vain for someone to collect her for the funeral, only to discover later that she had got the date wrong and it was to be the next Friday.
Next morning husband set off bright and early,  I took Tom for his 'final' run around the local field, with the ball thrower, then I walked into town to do the shopping alone. I had bought a chocolate Birthday cake earlier in the week., but I had the usual weekend shopping to do. Husband had rung to say he was there, but Mum in law had also bought a chocolate cake, and should she bring it? It would go out of date on the 30th. I sighed, and said ok!
Husband arrived home late afternoon, he had taken his Mum straight to our Daughter's. I had lent her the bedlinen and towels that we usually use for Grandma. Our Son and his wife arrived later, they had stopped on the way for a meal, so I had made a minced beef cobbler just for 2. Ethan seemed to be getting more used to me, but he had to go off to bed. Then they chatted to us about the holiday.
The next day we were up relatively early, and it seemed along time till church, as I had no dinner to prepare. The family went off to the new church plant, and we went to our usual service. We popped home briefly, then drove to the place which we had chosen for Sunday lunch, for Grandma's Birthday treat. It was a good lunch, and afterwards we headed to our home, where I put candles on the cake I had bought, and we sang Happy Birthday, and Grandma blew them out. then I cut a wedge for Son and his wife to take home with them, and we all went out to the back to see them off. Sadly our Son had to work the next day, which was a bank holiday.

Lydia tackles her huge Yorkshire pudding

Grandma tucks in

some of the family

Lydia fell asleep on the sofa, so that delayed us going to Daughter's, so they took Nat to the local park with his scooter, Some of the rest of us had a bit of a doze, but the others returned with a crying boy, who had gone over the handlebars of the scooter on the footpath along our road and bashed his face. So I had to give him a cold wet flannel, as he wouldn't  anyone else deal with it.

Lydia woke up, and daughter and family went back home,and we took Grandma there,and had a scrumptious tea, and a piece of Grandma's Birthday cake. I forgot to mention that Son in Law had gone shopping, and thinking I wouldn't have bought a big cake had also bought a cake, so that was 3 Birthday cakes she had!! Of course having had a nap, Lydia was late to bed. Husband and I noticed there was a sunset, so we walked over to the playing field opposite their house and took a few pictures. A lovely end to a lovely day, perhaps my idea hadn't been so mad after all, the whole family had been together for a while, which is always good.
Sadly, when we got home I found there were 3 missed calls on my answering machine, when I rang the number, it was a family member to say that her husband had passed away, so I rang our Daughter, and spoke to Mum in law to tell her the sad news.

May musings

We had two visiting speakers again in church Sunday of the week before last they were both quite good, it's hard getting used to different styles of preaching, but unfortunately this is what happens in an interregnum period.
On the Monday it was a lovely day, and we decided a bike ride was in order. We set off along the canal bank, but my tyres seemed to be inflated to the maximum, and I found it bumpier then ever! Through sheer determination I managed to get to the top of one of the little hills before the locks, but most of them defeated me. We rode as far as the Waitrose store in Berkhamsted, and that meant I could use their toilet, buy the paper, and a fresh bottle of water too. I also bought us a Mars bar each. We hadn't had lunch, but I thought it would sustain us on the way back. There were 2 stretches on the way back where we managed to go along quiet back roads. The locks were all downhill too, but I did stop a couple of times as I was a bit saddle sore. Husband was wearing padded shorts under his trousers. In total we did 11+ miles, which was odd as we did 6+ on the way there. I brought my bike into the garden to touch up some paint which had chipped off the mudguard, probably that time in the winter when I slipped on the hump back bridge and dropped the bike.

Someone extended their garden to Islands in the river

Arriving at Berkhamsted

getting ready for the return journey

The totem pole

I wasn't too sore on the Tuesday, the weather was quite fine again, my only exercise that day was a walk to the shops in town. I'd been having trouble getting to sleep for a while, so had started having warm milk with a dash of Sweet Freedom, a natural sweetener, before bed. This had stopped working and I had 2 really bad nights. It probably didn't help that I'd been reading the Poldark novels again, due to them being on TV and iplayer recently.
So on Wednesday, when I went to Sainsbury's, I bought some Ovaltine. When I had to stay in hospital after the birth of both of my children, it was always my bedtime drink. The hospitals must save a fortune now that new Mums are only in for 8-10 hours. We always were in 8 days for the first, 5 for the second. That meant that we had 3 meals a day, tea and biccies at 4pm, then a choice of drink before bedtime. There were also free nappies, free formula, or dextrose, baby gowns, and free breast pads.
I digress, the Ovaltine has worked, and I'm trying not to read too much Poldark before bed. I was up earlier on Wednesday, got to the supermarket earlier, and husband had his walk into town earlier. We collected Lydia, our Daughter had gone early, but her husband is  between jobs again, it seems to be a hazard in his line of work, so he can be available if we are late. Although he has interviews, and tests to perform, so we still take the children.
On the Thursday, the weather changed, I'd been wearing summer skirts and sandals, but we woke to pouring rain that morning. So it was back to long sleeve t shirts and trousers, there was areal underlying coldness as well. I left Lydia with her Granddad whilst I went to the shops, as she would have been behind rain covers. After lunch I asked if she wanted a nap, and she nodded so I put her  in the cot. I came down and she was singing away, we could hear her on the baby alarm, I was thinking of going up to bring her back down stairs, my own eyes were closing, due to my previous lack of sleep. Suddenly, it went quiet, so I  had a short doze, but was awake long before she was. When her brother came home from school he was very good and didn't waken her, so I let her sleep a bit longer.
However I'm alawys conscious that she won't sleep at night if she naps to late, so I did wake her up.
She was pretty dopey, so I reckon she would have slept much longer.
On the Friday, our Son and his wife and Ethan arrived in time for lunch. They were dropping Tom off on their way to the airport, for a holiday in Spain They had 'won' the accommodation free, just by test driving a car. They were staying in a hotel at the airport, overnight, as they had an early flight in the morning.
Saturday morning husband took the car to be cleaned, so I took Tom for a run on the field, then we drove into town, minus Tom to get the weekend shopping. In the afternoon I took Tom to the field near to Daughter's home. I needed to pop to the shops, but didn't want to take Tom, so left him at Daughter's home for a while, much to the delight of the children.

Tom after affection again

A miscellany

Oh my! Is it really 3 weeks since we came home? I am so behind with this blog. Well it hasn't been an over exciting time. the first part of the first week was spent washing, and putting stuff away; looking for a new hairdresser, the 3 in the local 'village' were too expensive, so I checked with the one where I used to go when the children were at primary school, and I got an appointment for the Tuesday morning. I had a mile walk uphill, can't believe I used to do that every day, and it turned out to be pensioner's day, so I got it done even cheaper. We have walked past the old hairdressers a few times, and it's been done up. Husband reckons it's going to be expensive.
We looked after the children as usual on the first week, then on the Friday, late morning we went for a bike ride. As I hadn't ridden much whilst  away, I kept it fairly short, only going as far as Kings Langley. I suffered no ill effects, so I reckon I did drink the caffeinated coffee after all.
On the Sunday afternoon I got  a phone call, asking if we could look after Nathaniel whilst his parents took Lydia to the hospital, as her Daddy had been pretending to be a horse,and she was riding on his back, when she fell off and hit her head on the fireplace. He arrived with pjs, just in case it was a long wait at A&E, we were instructed to get him ready for bed and take him home.
Granddad was napping upstairs when he arrived, but after about an hour I went up and told him, so he came down to play with Nathaniel. We gave him tea,and his parents arrived back at about 6.40pm, too late for us to go to the evening service. The Doctor had checked Lydia over, and glued the scalp wound together. We chatted for a while, then they went home, relieved that it was not a bad injury.
The next day we set off on a bike ride and covered nine and a half miles there and back, we almost made it to Berkhamsted.

Marina

Information board

Clouds

This fellow landed just before we arrived

But we scared him off to the other side

It may have been the Tuesday when we went to the garden centre, mainly for grass seed. We always seem to have bald spots on the lawn.
That week, on the Wednesday, we took the children home and Nathaniel changed into his Doctor's outfit, got out his toy medical kit,and subjected some of us to 'medical' examinations. It was quite lovely to  watch him play. I went to visit our friend C who had been in hospital for a few weeks, she'd had a fairly minor procedure, but had had a complication, and then got a chest infection. Poor lady, she was very low, but I hope I cheered her up a bit.
On the Saturday, we took my bike for the after sales service, I was rather late taking it, as I'd taken a while to do the required 40 miles, and we had such difficulty getting it out of the Focus, so that we wanted to use the bike rack. We went into town for lunch, then to a couple of shops, but Watford had been playing their last game of the season, with an early kick off, and there were fans and police everywhere. It was a bit intimidating when the fans were all going in one direction,and we were going the other way, especially the mob that came through chanting. We stayed a bit later to allow the traffic to die down a bit.
So last week, being a bank holiday week, husband went out on his own on the Monday, I got no rides at all, but he made it to Berkhamsted. I did some walking for exercise but the day I took Lydia in the buggy, it poured with rain, and I got soaked whilst fitting the rain covers. I was glad when Saturday came. Husband took the car for its first wash and brush up under the deal we signed up for at Fords, and then we were off to Watford to collect my bike. we had lunch in the M&S cafe first as there was something I wanted to buy for Mum in Law's Birthday later this month.
We eventually got the cheque for the cancelled insurance, although I had to prompt the AA insurers, apparently they have a backlog, not a good way to do business.
The other big items this last couple of weeks were the birth of a new Royal baby, much guessing went on until the names were announced, then of course we had an election last week. No one came canvassing until the night before, when our local council Conservative hopeful came.
I was very surprised to hear the result, obviously people have not forgiven Labour for what happened last time they were in power, and weren't happy with their leadership.  Our local council have even more Conservative seats, so they still remember who closed most of our hospital services.
We will have to see what happens over the next 5 years, but in the meantime pray for our Government to be given wisdom, and that Christians will be able to live their lives in peace and freedom.

More rain, but it did get better

The Wednesday wasn't a particularly nice day, I had to do more shopping, and went to Morrisons', but it took ages as I couldn't find stuff.  I couldn't find the flowers, but late in the afternoon, it had stopped raining, so I went to Sainsbury's, bought some flowers, and took them to Mum and Dad's grave at the cemetery, leaving the car at the gate. The cemetery was deserted, but as I walked back along the path I saw another lady, then realised that she had driven her car in.
Later that evening husband and I went to see my sister, and as we drove back I was surprised to see that the cemetery gates were still open. That's not very good, it's an invitation to youths bent on mischief and vandalism.
The next day we were expecting visitors.  After a lunch of bought lasagne and salad, I prepared rolls, cut up quiches, put out pringles, cherry tomatoes mini sausages, and other treats and waited for everyone to arrive. My niece who lives in Rhyl arrived first, then my sister, her husband and my niece from Birmingham, then my other sister who had insisted on getting the bus from Rhyl. Daughter got a phone call to say her car was ready to collect, so we looked after the children whilst my husband took her to collect it. The grandchildren were slightly bewildered by all the newcomers, but behaved quite well. The weather was better, but still a tad cold. Husband had put the garden furniture out, so when it came to teatime, daughter took the children to eat outside, less messy!
Fortunately there were plenty of mugs in the bungalow, so I managed all the teas and coffees. We all had a good chat except my Bro in Law, who is quite a quiet chap, and seemed a bit out of sorts. He is diabetic, and his blood sugar sometimes fluctuates.

Cousins 

My eldest sister

The middle one

The Birmingham family left at about 6 and gave my sister and niece a lift home, so that they could easily find the A55 from there. We cleared up, gave the carpets a thorough vacuuming, and the kitchen and conservatory.  I felt like a walk, and duly set off across the dunes to the promenade. I walked to Splash Point, and watched the sunset, but then felt I couldn't walk back. That bed really wasn't doing me any favours, so I tried to read a bus shelter timetable, but didn't succeed as I had no specs with me, So I rang husband and he collected me. Then we began our packing. We were relatively early to bed, but I didn't sleep too well.

 Up at 6.30, then on with the sorting of food to bring home, breakfast, packing the cool bag, showering, emptying the fridge etc. Husband had to refit the detachable towbar, but had to wait until everything was packed in the car before he fitted the cycle rack.
At the last minute, I remembered that my rings were still in the bedroom, Daughter was trying to pull out of the drive, but the cleaner, who wasn't due until 10.00 am had arrived.  I hastily returned the keys to the keysafe,and shut the garage door, looked at my watch,and it was still not 10.00 am, we had been warned the cleaner would be there at 10, but she was at least 5 minutes early. We continued hoisting the bikes on at the side of the road where husband had parked. We were soon on our way, stopping for lunch with our Son and Daughter in law, but our Daughter had decided to press on. Ethan kept us entertained with some snatches of 'row row the boat', but we couldn't stay too long, husband had decided he wanted to get home that day. We had a comfort stop at Norton Canes, and a coffee, then later, a drink at Watford Gap. We arrived home at about 5.30 pm, took the car to the rented garage, unloaded the bikes and the bike rack, then unpacked the car. Once I had checked the mail, and the answering machine, I went out to get some food for that evening. I had a piece of beef in the freezer to defrost for the Sunday.
There was still quite a lot of stuff to be sorted and put away. there was no sign in the post of the cheques for the cancellation of the Focus insurance. Husband went to bed, but I stayed up a bit longer to watch something on iplayer. It was lovely to be back in our own bed. I had quite a good night's sleep.
On the Sunday we had a visiting preacher, we spent the day quietly as usual,and I phoned Mum in Law in the evening to catch up with her news.