On Friday lunch time I met up with Kim, my oppo at work for lunch at the Kingfisher in Chertsey. It was great to see her and catch up on all the news. That news had little to impress me as regards the work environment though. Poor Kim is even working on Sundays to try to maintain her workload. She must be a glutton for punishment though as she says she is still enjoying it! Kim - you like a challenge - you certainly have one - and long may you be able to cope. I wonder where and when it will all stop though - how much work can an organisation load onto one person before they break. She looked well though so it can't be that bad.
The weather was glorious - temperatures of 18 - 19 degrees celsius - so we sat outside soaking it up watching the Thames flow past as we ate a lovely sweet potato and spinach curry each - not a bad life I suppose. Kim even paid for my meal as a leaving treat. I forgot my camera (again) so can't support this blog with a photo of Kim - but she is coming to our leaving do next Friday so I will make sure I capture her there.
Steve and I have indulged ourselves and bought tempur mattresses for the caravan. We considered it and dismissed the idea at first due to the cost - they are expensive. But since then we have both had back pain due to one thing or another and reconsidered the idea. When we did the maths we worked out that they would actually cost us about £1.50 per night of our trip - and that for a good nights sleep and the ability to enjoy our days - not a lot when you look at it that way. These were delivered on Friday too - so we decided to try them out in Esmerelda before we leave. Well - we have to see if we have got our money's worth don't we?
Yesterday we drove down to Southampton to visit Steve's dad Fred and his sister Deborah with her daughter Hope (pictures above). Before we left though we had to load one of our 2 seater sofas into the car to take down to her. She was in need of a new sofa and we have two of these - only one of which is needed in Cyprus - so we agreed to take the other one to her. Now these sofas are the bees knees - they have a very supportive squab to support our backs and they are recliners as well - ultra comfortable. Ultra heavy as well as we found out when we tried to pack them into the car. Steve had to remove the car seats first then we moved the sofa, in two parts, through the patio window as it was easier to negotiate them out that way. The metal action for the recliners weighed a ton and although we struggled with the first one we both failed to get the second one in place as it was difficult to fit them both in anyway and I didn't have the strength to lift the second one higher up. Our neighbour, Steve, came to the rescue and enabled the second one to be packed into the car. When we arrived at Southampton Debs had arranged for her and a friend to carry them into her flat - on the fourth floor! They did it too - with much huffing and puffing!
First though we went for lunch together- yet another goodbye meal - at a lovely restaurant by the river. The weather was cold though so we sat inside this time. It was a carvery meal which we all thoroughly enjoyed. It was Grand National day so we stopped off first at the bookies and all put on our pennies and crossed our fingers. After dinner we heard the race on the car radio and found to our surprise that Steve's horse, Snowy Morning had come third and mine, Slim Pickings had come fourth. So back to the bookies on the way home to collect our winnings - we made 100% profit from that so a good day all in. And Fred paid for all our lunches too - all this eating and not paying for it!
We stayed with them all until early evening before heading back home. Although colder weather and even snow had been forecast we decided to bite the bullet and sleep in Esmerelda to test the mattresses. Steve put a heater on in the caravan for an hour before we took ourselves out there with mattresses, pillows and duvet. The night was very cold - took me back to my childhood when we had no central heating and I had to put my head under the duvet (blankets in those days) to breathe in warm air. It was really comfortable though so the nights sleep was an overall success. We were very surprised when we woke up to look out of the window and see snow that any Christmas would be proud of. I had to capture that on camera - April 6th!! how unpredictable can the weather get?
As I write it is still snowing and shows no sign of melting. Looks very pretty though.
Yet more food today - we are meeting Dean and Linda at the Fox and Hounds in Englefield Green for lunch - another goodbye meal. At this rate I won't even be able to get into Esmerelda by the time we leave!
Steve also bid on an awning/sunshade for Esmerelda yesterday and we won! Brilliant price too but it is in High Wycombe - I have emailed the seller and asked if we can collect it this afternoon after lunch as we are heading in that direction - we hope he replies with a yes before we leave for the pub restaurant at 12.15pm - keep your fingers crossed. It won't be the snow that bothers us on our travels (we don't think so anyway) it will be the sun - so the shade will enable us to sit outside the caravan in comfort.
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