That Was a Week That Was

 

It's been a funny old week and weekend, both weatherwise and family wise.

The weather can't quite make it's mind up, one day we have glorious sunshine taking the edge of the cool breeze and I can get washing dry on the line, the next the skies are grey the wind is howling and then it's starts to sleet ... and once again I put off actually digging out my Summer t-shirts and tops from under the bed.

In the first of the family news, my brother visited Mum on Saturday, she got very angry with him and then fell asleep and didn't wake up again.  We went yesterday and she slept through the whole visit, even with us both being very noisy in a bid to wake her up sensibly.  Graham went back again this morning for another visit ... he only lives ten minutes away from Mum's care home ... she said hello and then fell into a deep sleep.  A lot of this is obviously expected at this stage of events but it's still a bit discombobulating.  Luckily our three hours on the motorways was much quieter than usual and our pit stop at Greggs on the services was very tasty on the return journey.

The other family news, in the much wider family was a very sudden and shocking death, publicised in the local news in Manchester and all over social media.  As a Mum it's really shaken me and made me really sit and think about how easily things can change for us all.  Just when we think life is ticking along relatively nicely, life stops us in our tracks and shows us that it's best not to assume anything.

To round the weekend off nicely, two of the guys were in the bungalow building the bedroom wall this morning ... and it collapsed.  Luckily neither of them was injured, but one guys toolbox suffered complete destruction.

'It's life Jim, but not as we know it!!'

Sue xx

Memories of Easters Gone

So many memories tied up in photographs.

Every Easter when we were children we would go round to visit my Gran.  She was my Mum's Mum, and gosh I loved her to bits.  Mum criticised her all the time to my Dad in the hearing of me and my brother and I never understood it or thought it fair even as a child.  Now as an adult a lot of the things that she said and did still seem so unfair, especially considering that my Mum is so like her in so many ways.

We are stood outside her large four story rented house in this photo, she was relocated there after the family home was totally flattened by a bombing raid during World War 2, and she stayed there until she was rehoused in the early 1970's.  As a child I loved the old house, but found parts of it very spooky as it was very gloomy in all but the front 'best' room, hence the photo being taken outside on the street.

It was about a forty minute walk to get to Gran's house, but back in the day we were all used to walking much longer distances weren't we and it just seemed normal.  Gran would walk round to ours most Saturdays as she loved to watch the wrestling on the television, she refused to have a tv in her house until her dying day, she thought that they would burst into flames willy nilly.

I have to say none of mine ever have.  😁

 We didn't have to travel any where near as far to visit my Nana, Dad's Mum.  We lived downstairs in her house.  So we would get our new Easter clothes on and troop upstairs to receive an Easter egg and have our photo taken.  I loved my Nana, just as much if not more, although sitting and posing for a photo with her seemed strange.

I would go upstairs and watch television with Nana most nights, our favourite evenings together were Mondays, when it would be at least one quiz show, usually University Challenge ... Nana did like Bamber Gascoigne ... and then Opportunity Knocks.  A highlight of watching tv upstairs was that I got to sit on a chair, downstairs we only had two armchairs so me and my brother would sit cross legged on the floor when we watched anything.

It's funny, but oh so nice, how two photos can bring so many memories flooding back.

Wishing a very Happy Easter to all my readers, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.  Perhaps you are making memories for the future, or simply reliving lovely ones from the past.  Both are wonderful things to do.

Sue xx

My Easter Shopping ... and Temptation

While Alan was doing a final pre-Easter days work with the builders at the bungalow yesterday, I took myself off to the shops for the things that I wanted this week.  First I called to Aldi, gosh it was really busy considering it was only 9.30 am.  People with full trolleys and the Easter egg aisle was virtually impassable.

I'm pretty stocked up with most things at the moment, so these were just extras that I fancied and replacements for things I have used.  Of course I had to include Ginger's Tasty Licks, a very necessary thing at the moment as he is on two lots of medication from the vets, one for his arthritis and one for his over-active thyroid.  They must taste nice as we have no trouble getting any of his medicines down him. most unusual for a cat!  🐱

The receipt for posterity ... and price comparison in a years time.

Gosh doesn't fish and wine bump up the cost of the shopping, I may have to have another try at frozen salmon fillets, the last lot that I got were not that nice though.

Then it was round to Sainsbury's as I had a £2 off coupon for the little Oggs cakes and they are currently on Nectar offer at £3, so I got them for just £1 which makes them a very nice Easter treat.

I picked up some of Alan's favourite cough sweets, he eats them in the car when he's travelling, I like the black traditional ones but not the honey or cherry flavours, so they are all his.

So pretty bog standard shopping for me really.  

We don't do family meals or even visits at Easter any more, which is a shame.  So there's no need for us to stock up on the makings of a large lunch.  I think I am going to try and rectify this once we move and we have our lovely big open plan living area.  It would be nice to get everyone round once in a while.

As I paid for my Sainsbury's shopping the machine spat out a very tempting coupon.  It's £18 off a £60 online shop, I need to sit and have a think about this one as it is a really good offer.  Perhaps to good to miss ... I don't know.  🤔

Sue xx

Lots of March Freebies for Posterity

 

I did well during March collecting freebies while we were out and about.

Alan bought me the Vegan Meercat sweets as they were the last two in the farm shop, and they weren't going to be restocking.  He had picked up some HP sauce for his sausage butty and then changed his mind.  This is a frequent happening so I don't know why he continues to pick them up ... we rarely eat HP or brown sauce at home, although I do like tomato ketchup with a sausage butty.

Napkins and a little butter pat.  Alan uses the 'real butter' pats when he is cooking a steak, so it's worth us bringing them home.

Lots more napkins, and not all ours.  Alan spotted a real wad of them on the next table to us at the services, abandoned by the people that had left the table.  I must have rubbed off on him, because he actually asked me if I wanted them ... of course I did. 😁

It was a good month for freebies collected on the Greggs App on my phone, helped by me buying my son and his partner four doughnuts on his birthday to take home with him.  You get one free item for every eight that you buy.

On one visit to the services we managed to get one free sausage roll and ...

... a free Americano. 

Not all ours, but all collected in on a visit to the garden centre.

Yet more freebies from Greggs ... I told you it had been a good month didn't I.  😄

The final Greggs freebie of the month was a glazed doughnut last Sunday on the way back from Mum's.

A highlight of a trip to Booths for a coffee, three napkins and a book.

I've been good recently and not really browsed the charity book table, but on this day I did and Alan surprised me by saying that he had just found a pound coin next to our car in the car park and did I want a book.  

This one was there, brand new and calling my name.

Another wad of napkins and a few packs of salt.

And finally from Dobbie's on Saturday last week, the ketchup salt, peppers and napkins were ours and the mayonnaise had been left on the chair of the table we sat at.  

They all came home.

So all in all March was a very successful month for gathering things in, and with all the napkins that have come home with me yet another month where I don't have to buy any kitchen paper.  My last purchase was in November of 2024!!

I'm on a roll, even if I'm not actually buying any.  😄

Sue xx

Robins, Riverford and Renovations

We called to our local garden centre on Saturday to return something, so we decided to get some breakfast and a coffee while we were there.  We were very well entertained at our riverside window table by a pair of robins, a pair of some kind of tit and a couple of little black and white birds dashing here there and everywhere.

Have I ever mentioned my complete lack of knowledge of flora and fauna, my head is just too full of other things for any of this to stick ... the robins are lucky that they mean so much to me.

.

The river was hurtling past, right at the very top of the bank, fascinating and very hypnotising to watch while sipping my coffee.

We didn't go for a full Riverford box last week, instead we got a salad bag each and some additional blueberries and another pack of hot cross buns.  But ... I've had enough of the hot cross buns now, seasonal eating is good but you can gorge too much on something when it suddenly appears on your radar.

I loved this week's newsletter.

On our way back from the garden centre we called to the bungalow, it had been a few days since I had last seen it and Alan and the builders had been working hard all week.

This is the view from the front door.

This is the old kitchen, who needs windows with glass in them when you can have a wooden board that the wind relocates. 😄

The old living room.  

As I said who needs windows, or in this case part of the front wall too.  We do seem to have gained a coat hook though.  Proper posh!! 😁

The biggest gain of the week is an actual concrete floor in the living/dining/kitchen room.

An actual surface to walk on!!

Just four more layers on top of this and the floor will be done, ah well it's all progress.

Alan and the builders will hopefully have all the floors to this stage by Thursday night, when the builders all down tools and head off to Spain for the Easter weekend.  We are obviously paying them far too much. 😄 

Sue xx