Sunday 28th March

Another slow day today, we got up, had coffee went online, i spoke to mum, and then to Mandy, then we took the dogs out for a walk, which was nice. When we got home the weather was looking grim still so we did not get out into the garden as planned but spent all day on our respective computers, a bit of a waste of a day. I roasted a chicken for dinner and ant put a salad together, we watched a bit of sunday evening tv, spoke to gran on the phone and went to bed, very uneventful and we need to break the habit. We have decided to quit the smokes again on monday as we have run out and have been looking for a time to stop so this seems ideal, just hope it does not interfere with my weightloss programme.

Saturday 27th March

We got up about eight thirty and came down for coffee and spent time online, after our morning ritual we took the dogs out for a good long walk. We had lunch and were going to work on the garden but the weather was not great so ant read and i played on the computer. David and Usha called round for a coffee in the late afternoon and stayed for a couple of hours. When they left i put dinner together, liver, griddled, with an onion, lardon and mushroom gravy accompanied by chips, to my amazement ant enjoyed it.
We watched a film in the evening, ant had a good old nap in the middle of it, then we went up to bed and i read for a while before going to sleep, another hectic saturday!

Friday 27th March

We came down for about eight thirty, had coffee and did some bits online, ant is a bit obsessed with the strike, as you would imagine. We decided to take the dogs a good long walk, so walked them down to Willeman and back. We had decided to work on the garden in the afternoon so went down to Hesdin, i had hoped to buy a little plastic green house so we could grow salad stuff but i could not find one. I got some petrol for the lawn mower then we had a little look at Aldi and found some mini garden tunnels, which we bought, then a look in Lidl found seeds and troughs and soil.
We had lunch when we got home then ant started clearing and digging over the veg patch whilst i mowed the lawn. I put together the tunnels, they were a bit flimsy but not to bed for a fiver, then put them in the veg patch, i then seeded the seeds and put the troughs under the tunnels. ant had done a good job on the veg patch but there is more to do. When it got to the point when he had had enough we stopped, i had put together a turkey stew for dinner which was cooking away in the slow cooker. Ant had a bit of a nap whilst i had a game of civilisation for a couple of hours. At seven i put the dinner together and we ate, ant had some wine and i had some morgans spiced and coke. I had downloaded some Roseanne episodes so we watched those and had an enoyable evening before heading to bed.

Thursday 25th March

We woke at about half eight, came down had coffee and i did some bits online while ant looked at ba stuff on his computer. At about ten thirty we headed in to Hesdin, had a mooch around the market, saw Maggie and Marion then went and did a show at Carrefore and Lidl. We got back and i tried to burn one of the films i had downloaded, this took quite some time and did not go well so i was not best pleased, i ended up dragging ant back to Carrefore to buy a lead from the laptop to the tv.
We took the dogs out for a walk and then settled down to watch a bit of tv. We had a nice dinner of Crepinette with salad, back on the healty eating after grans. We watched a couple of films then watched a couple of tv programmes, went up to bed at eleven and watched Fast Food Nation before going to sleep.

Wednesday 24th March

We got up at sixish, went down and had coffee and got ourselves sorted for the trip home, waved good bye to gran and hit the road, the journey up was easy and we arrived at Prestwick in plenty of time for the flight. We had something to eat at the airport then went through security, ant got his bag riffled as usual. The flight was half empty and very easy and we arrived back in Belgium at about three in the afternoon. After a little upset over the free shuttle we got back to the car and headed home, the drive was ok and we were back by six. We dropped our stuff and headed down to pick up the dogs, they were particularly excited to see us.
We decamped in the house and had a bit of a got home time, phoned gran to let her know we were back, she had been to the doctors who were very pleased with her progress. We had a simple dinner of burgers beans and eggs then decided we would go and spend the evening in bed watching a bit of tv. Ant was asleep within about thirty mins but i enjoyed an evenings viewing, a program about a medieval woman and one about the history of bread a very interesting evening. We went to sleep at around eleven, happy to be back in our own bed.

Tuesday 23rd Feb

We woke about seven in the morning, grans curtains are a bit on the thin side and it was broad daylight in the room. I went down and gran was already up, i made a coffee and we sat and chatted for a little bit, ant came down a little later. Gran opened her presents and was very taken with the pearls, though we couldn't do the clasp very easily, she then opened her cards. Ant phoned in to scheduling to see what was happening but found out he had not been given a trip until monday. When grans friend Alwyn arrived i asked if we could borrow her internet so we went to her house and booked a ticket on ryan air for ant to come home with me the next day. When we got back we had to wait until gran got ready, Mandy's flowers arrived and then we set off in to town, we said hello to Wendy then went to several shops, gran was very pleased she had managed it, she said last week she could hardly walk to the front door, so it is a great improvement. We got new catches put on the pearls and had a mooch round a card shop, a chemists, a book shop and gran went in to the bank, during which time i saw Diane walking past so we had a chat to her.
All the shopping done we headed out to a pub for lunch, we drove over scouts scar into the lythe valley, the first pub we came to was shut so we carried on to Crosthwaite and went to the punchbowl there, the food was very good if a little pricey, ant had Devon Crab rarebit with twice cooked chips, gran had a twice baked cheese souffle and tempura prawns and i had the twice baked souffle and smoked venison. Gran was pleased with her meal and her and ant wittered on about for a bit. After lunch we headed to Morrisons the supermarket and did a bit of shopping before heading back to grans in time for aunty Ruth to arrive.
When Ruth arrived we set to preparing the food for the evenings party, we did a nice spread, then ant and i went up to get changed, then we all sat and waited. Mandy phoned to say she was not coming which was a bit of a shame. The first to arrive were Barry and Shiela, then Brian and Ruth and then the rest, Kendall arrived a little later as he was pricing up a job. The evening went very smoothly and we all enjoyed ourselves. Everyone had gone by ten in the evening so we sat and chatted for a little while and the got off to bed.

Monday 22nd March

I woke about seven, got up had a shower and got dressed, no coffee but i did have a bit of time online. I took the free shuttle to the airport, a five min journey, had a little look around and then went through to airside. I bought some smokes in duty free as directed then settled down with my book and ipod to wait for the flight. As i was sitting there a rather loud Scottish woman and her two pals walked to the front of the queuing area and settled down to wait, this was then followed by a huge serge of people, Ryan air does not designate seats so the closer to the head of the que you are the better choice of a seat, i didn't bother, everyone gets on. The boarding did not happen for another fifty mins so the standing people were stood for all that time, i waited until the last min and got on, had a whole row to myself.
The flight was easy, one and half hours, headphones on a reading my book it went really quickly and at five euros each way it was cheaper than getting the bus. When i got to Prestwick i picked up the car, a Ford Mondeo, very nice, spacious, drives really well, cruise control, automatic wipers and headlights, i hardly had to do anything. I got to grans about two and half hours later and was met with a great deal of enthusiasm by ant as he had arrived the day before. The strike took up a lot of conversation and we didn't know what they would do with ant the next day. Gran made a meal which we all enjoyed and then we sat and chatted for the rest of the evening. Gran was looking much better and seemed her usual self. We headed up to bed around ten and went off to sleep.