January 19th

Impromptu candlelit dinner for two, thanks to a six hour power cut. Fortunately the local takeaway wasn’t affected, so Sag Aloo, Sheek Kebab and Jalfrezi it was!

January 18th

Woke up at 3am with a strange craving for strawberry ice cream, thank heavens I had some in the freezer. Gave myself brain freeze by eating some too quickly and couldn’t get back to sleep.

Instead got a head start on that ironing mountain, hoping to finish by lunchtime so I can head out for the afternoon, brisk walk rougn the local park should help clear the cobwebs, and tire me out enough to sleep properly tonight.

January 17th

Monday morning blues. A weekend of pampering and relaxation has left me behind on chores, and less willing than ever to do them. The ironing pile looks more like a mountain than it’s usual molehill, and I have promised to whip up a couple of batches of soup this week for the homeless shelter as it’s needed more than ever with these cold winter nights.

January 16th

Farmers market run, followed by gentle amble round nearby car boot sale, fair old amount of tat going as usual, but I did manage to pick up a couple of nice little artworks that I may be able to move on to a friend with a gallery down south.

Hectic morning meant I wasn’t in the mood to cook lunch so we whiled away a few hours at the local, sat in our usual comfy seats, enjoying our favourite pastime of people watching.  Sadly the low tourism rates at this time of year make for lean pickings, but we still had fun, and according to Robert, I had a lovely ‘spring on my face, and smile in my step’ as we tottered our way home.

January 15th

Decided to use up the pamper day at the local spa that Simon and Helen gave me for Christmas.  Took Debs with me, as it’s the first chance we’ve had for a get together since New Year, and as we all know, when you share a house with three other adults and two kids you don’t get much time to relax!

Started the day off with a well meant attempt to be good by spending an hour doing a few laps round the pool, before heading off for a sauna and steam, but this didn’t last long, the lure of pampering was too great, so we cut all that short and found ourselves giggling away like school girls whilst enjoying the complimentary bottle of champagne in the Jacuzzi.

After lunch it was a Full body wrap, followed by a hot rock back massage, facial, manicure, and pedicure, all accompanied by several glasses of a delightful white rioja we discovered, buried down the wine list whilst we eating.

Was practically floating by the time I left, all because I was so relaxed of course, nothing to do with the alcohol at all.  Good job I’d had Robert drop us off though, as apparently it seems I passed out within minutes of flopping down in the car.

January 14th

Went out for an evening meal with Robert’s colleague Marcus and his wife Fran at Il Boticelli’s.  I’ve been wanting to try out this place for ages, supposed to be this lovely exclusive new Italian restaurant.  Turns out more like an over priced, pompously staffed, pizzeria.  We might as well have braved the chavs, children and all you can eat buffet at the local Pizza Hut.

Dreadful food apart though, it was a pleasant evening.  I was delightfully surprised by the new Mrs Martin, given the age difference between the two of them I was expecting some kind of WAG wannabe, but Fran was absolutely nothing of the sort.  She certainly is attractive enough, but it was so divine to be able to hold an actually conversation instead of having to listen to the business chat of the men, or the inane and incessant goings on of the previous Mrs Martin.

January 13th

Robert has decided for some reason that since his birthday is on Burns Night, as indeed it has been for the last 58 years, this year he wants to celebrate it ‘properly’.

So where the hell do I get Haggis, and how on earth do I cook it?!

January 12th

First visit of the year to the gym, and probably the last too. Went with Margaret & Serena for the annual sign up to battle the post Christmas bulge, although we never usually go again. 

Gym visit followed by lunch at La Tasca, it really is a good job they have an all you can eat offer on their tapas right now or Margaret would have had a three figure bill.  Mind you that would go with her three figure size.  Maybe we should use that gym membership this year after all.

January 11th

Was somewhat concerned about what the local village mafia would have to say about Mothers escapades when I went for my regular salon visit so took her with me to head them off at the pass.  It’s been a long time since I saw her glow so much as she regaled the church group with her own exaggerated version of events.

Decided to leave her there with coffee and gossip whilst I went and did the dreaded supermarket shop.  Cheered up the monotonous task this week by dropping random items I’d picked up into unattended trolleys as I passed them.  I think the pregnancy test in old Mr Armitage’s trolley was quite possibly the best drop of the day, although he was still shopping as I left so I didn’t get to see the result.

January 10th

Mother got thrown out of her art class this afternoon.   It seems she got a ‘bit too close’ to the male model they were studying for life drawing.  Apparently, according to the woman who phoned me to collect her,  her eyesight “isn’t what it was,” and she “wanted to make her attempts as lifelike as possible, which was proving rather difficult from several feet away.”

I’m still not sure who was more upset at the whole affair, my mother for being excluded, or the young model for having a 76 year old woman imply that his manhood was rather lacklustre.