Monday 5th Oct

I woke about nine and left ant in bed, came down to a wet and grey day, so the dog walking was out, i went on line and did some bits. At eleven i went up and woke ant to say i was heading out to pick up my birthday pressie from mum, i headed down to Auchy Les Hesdin only to be told they didn't deal with western union so i had to go to Hesdin. The post office was not very busy and the woman was very nice and helpful, we sorted everything out and she wished me a happy birthday, which was nice. When i got back home i gave mum a call to thank her for her pressie, very extravagant, but very welcome, we chatted for a bit, then ant chatted.
I helped ant make a start on the birthday cake, but realized we were missing quite a few ingredients so we headed off to Carrefore and did some extra shopping. I had discussed with ant what i should do with the money from mum, it was too much to fritter away so i wanted to do something special with it. Half of me wanted us to go on a holiday with it, the other half wanted a nintendo wii, so when we got to Carrefore i looked at them but then thought it is a lot of money for something that will get less and less use so i decided not to buy one.
When we got home we realized the fruit for the cake should have been steeping in brandy over night, so that kicked our plans for making a cake in to touch, we smothered the fruit in brandy and left it to sit overnight. In the afternoon ant had his usual nap and i started a search for a place for a little holiday for us. Ant is on holiday for a week from the eighteenth so it is an ideal time. After an exhaustive search i settled on a place in the Loire, a converted watermill which accepts dogs and was within my price range, so it is all booked and ready for us to arrive a week on Saturday. The holiday will be something to look forward to, plenty to see and do in the area and it has central heating, which will be a luxury for us, so we may take a load of books and a few bottles of wine and settle in for a comfy week.
Ant had just woken when Tony arrived, he brought the details of a house they are very interested in and stayed for a good while chatting, once he had gone ant made a start on the dinner, meat balls and chips, quite an unusual mix but very nice none the less. After dinner we both had a good long chat to gran on the phone and then settled in to a bottle of wine and the tv, another design show on BBC4 and then Ross Noble again, he seemed to think that small town Australia would find it hilariously funny if he just insulted their towns, which they may well have done, but it did nothing for me. And so to bed, quite merry and all chatted out.