Another week

Although life is mostly fun and we are doing a bit more here and there, the weeks are rather blurring into each other. Working from home, walking, golfing and village based socialising. Now the pubs are open there is the option of same variety I suppose but do we have the desire to make the effort any more?

Not really but neither do we want to desert our locals which we rely upon during the dreary, rainy winters...hmmm

When last I blogged we were vegging out watching Wednesday lose on a rainy Sunday. We did eventually haul our carcasses out for a walk and picked a hilly route round the village. And of course we called into The Shoulder of Mutton for "one" on the way round. It was fabbie to have a crisp, cool pint of bitter out of a proper glass. 

One became 2 when it absolutely bucketed it down just before we were about to head up to the White Hart for a quick one. 

So, maybe not the most diet friendly afternoon but nice to be out after all this time. Following the pub theme we had steak and chips for supper and a bottle of Pinotage. What a lovely day!!

Yesterday morning it was weigh in time. I squeaked into the 17s taking me to a 5lb total drop in 2 weeks. Not bad but 2 weeks is always okay. It's weeks 3 and 4 which are the tests!

I'm afraid the diet didn't feature heavily in my Monday though. I was grouchy in the morning then got some emails with my pub quiz team about our team member Richard who died a couple of months ago (not of Covid, he had a massive heart attack on the street while out on his daily exercise walk - tragic). We were starting to make plans for his Memorial quiz event as we couldn't go to his funeral. 

So far, so good but then I mentioned the pub and before you know it I was agreeing to meet Greg and Dave for a lunchtime drink in the Anglers in Bamford! So now I'm day drinking!! And no regrets. It was great, just lovely to see the boys and have a proper chat and banter. I cheered right up but Rich went the other way when I sent him this photo and told him we were drinking one of his (and my) favourite beers, Abbeydale's Moonshine. 

I will not be making a habit on Monday lunchtime pints but it was fun!!

We went back to Bamford in the evening to pick up Rich's car from the garage so walked round the fields and the Mill. At least we saw the sun briefly before it disappeared again. 

Have a great week folks!!

A bit same-y but that is no bad thing

Here are some pics from my visit to Dad's earlier this week. It was a gloomy day and Lincolnshire is so flat that I sometimes find the walks there a bit featureless. They certainly don't photograph very well. However, I have spent the last 4 months watching the natural world in much more detail than usual so, this time, I found lots to look at.

The first thing I noticed is how far ahead Lincolnshire is compare to my corner of the Peaks. At home the verges are full of geraniums, hogweed, dog roses, even some elderflowers. These are all over at Dad's. The dog roses were all finished with the hips well developed. The hogweed had gone to seed leaving brown husks. They are onto Rosebay Willow Herb which hasn't even started at home. Also the brambles are covered in masses of green berries whereas we are only just starting with flowering.

The brambles were alive with butterflies and bees, in particular a pale brown butterfly with 1small orange "eye" on each wing. I have not seen these round here ever!

Since I returned from Dad's I have played golf twice. Not particularly well either time but both were physically tough due to constant, drizzley rain and strong winds. I felt pumelled after each round. On the plus side, it has been good, calorie-burning exercise and the scales are showing signs of downward movement. I have even squeaked down into the 17s a couple of times!!

So, I have to be good today in advance of weigh in tomorrow but, the trouble is, I have just had a big fry up for brunch and am vegging out blogging and watching Sheffield Wednesday v Swansea on the telly. It is howling a gale outside so a long walk is not appetizing either.

I'm only in week 2 and should really have more motivation than this. I will be active after this game! I will definitely do something that is not couch-based. But it will be hard...

Catch up

It's been a bit hectic this last week hence the no posting and catch up post now. So, what have I been up to?

The weekend was mainly golf. A pairs comp on Saturday where Rich very wisely manipulated it so he was playing with his brother not me. Katie and I were terrible shooting a miserable 31 points  while Rich and his bro played brilliantly with just one blemish to score 44 and win third for £26 each!

On Sunday in an individual comp it was reversed. Katie and I found  form and scored 38 each and the boys collapsed. Haha! I came third in the comp overall but don't know how much my voucher is worth.

So, my handicap which had crept up for the weekend to 13 is back to 12 after just 2 outings. No bad thing but bad timing as our big week of year with the President's Prize is next week and an extra shot would have been handy!!

Monday morning weigh in saw a 4lb drop but I did not think this was real due to TOTM fluctuations and subsequent weighing makes a 2lb drop seem more realistic. Better thn no drop!!

Then a rare trip into the office for a couple of hours hunting for deeds and documents which other folk have not been able to find. What fun. Skelping boxes around and wading through piles of dusty deeds (I whinge but I do quite like this old school side to property law). Found all 3 items thus making a lot of people happy and allowing 3 transactions to continue unhindered.

I had brought the dog with me and left her snoozing in the car in a quiet corner of the underground carpark.  After a quick legstretcher up the canal we were off! Visiting my dad for the first time in 4 months!!

I had been poorly at the end of Feb and veginning of March with a really nasty cold/cough (don't think it was the dreaded lurgy) around the time of panto and just after so had put off visiting dad rather than pass it to him. Then came lockdown. The last time I saw him was 21st Feb when he visited with my sister to watch me in the village panto! (I was a triumph of course as Captain Nobeard in Treasure Island!!)

It was lovely to see him again. He's sounded very positive and fine over the phone and he is very good on his own but you just don't know do you? My niece and her husband who had been living with him for nearly 2 years had had to move out hurriedly at the beginning of the restrictions as she had been told she would be transferred to a covid ward at Lincoln General. (She's in her second year as a doctor so doing stints in lots of different areas.)

As it happened, Lincolnshire had very low numbers so she was never moved and stayed on doing mostly telephone work with the GP practice she had been with at the time. Which, to be honest, we're all happy about. Being local she could do dad's shopping and pop round every couple of weeks with that and check up on him for us.

And his village has been superbly supportive. Weekly phone calls from a Parish Councillor; his cleaner popping round with the odd plated up meal;  another woman's weekly bun run leaving home baked treats every Wednesday; various pals phoning and chatting on the driveway.

Dad himself has been so positive, making a point of doing something in the house or garden every day so that the garden looks great and all sorts of chores have been ticked off. He also tried to phone one of his old friends or family every day which was a great idea, both for him but also for some of the pretty ancient friends too.

When I was working on Tuesday I could hear him chatting to an old school friend for ages about all sorts. He said she was poorly and fed up but I reckon the call would have cheered her up.

I cooked us a meal Monday evening and we talked and talked and then on Tuesday at 4pm it was time to leave. But I'll be back every 2 or 3 weeks now for a 2 day, 1 night visit.

On my way home I stopped in to visit my old school friend Stephanie. She has had a rough time. Gave up her job 2 years ago to care for her father with dementia and last year he deteriorated badly with liver cancer too. He died a few weeks ago and now she's rattling around his big house sorting and boxing and dealing with the estate to get it valued and sold etc. with only sporadic help from her brothers.

We had a nice couple of hours in her beautiful garden chatting and catching up and I hope seeing someone new and petting Minty lifted her spirits a bit. I think I will make a point of calling in on her every time I visit dad as she doesn't know anyone locally apart from her brothers.

Work has been very busy too so diet and exercise has been pushed down the agenda but not forgotten. I have been good on booze but only okay on food as there have been several grabbed-on-the-go meals and snacks. Yesterday was decent so will work on stability this coming week. 

Must dash now to get some work done as we're clocking off early to play golf at Rich's other brother's club in Sheffield at 4pm. I wonder which golfing Lesley will turn up today!!?