Saturday, 07-10-23

Good morning, everybody, and welcome to my not-on-holiday-any-more blog!  The sun is thin but shining and it's nice and fresh outside.  No squirrels and no muntjacs but you can't have everything, can you?

As I said in a comment reply, it is always nice to come home and I'm loving it, but . . . I wish I were still there this morning.

Oh, well, it's been great and I';m very glad to have been able to enjoy five days away with Beth and Alex.

Departure was not without its stresses though.  We were given permission to stay in the lodge for an extra half hour while Beth did her training session.  I walked with Alex up to the pool as he wanted a last swim and then I went back to join Beth.
At eleven, we all met up outside the Guest Centre but Alex was in a bit of a state.  His coat had disappeared from the pool, he said.  Trouble was, he had keys, wallet and phone in the pocket.  So, for the next hour, we searched.  We couldn't get into our lodge as we were 'out of time' so we ended up going to the welcome centre which is gby the car park.  They were so lovely - they checked the pool for us (while we waited in the centre) and then the checked the lodge - and there it was.  The silly sausage hadn't taken it to the pool at all and it had been just sort of chucked out of sight instead of hung up where we would have noticed it when we left.  A very kind member of staff cycled up to the Welcome Centre with it and, yet again, we were so grateful for  such pleasant and helpful staff.  I will definitely be completing the post visit questionnaire very positively.

So that put us back a bit but we all like a happy ending so no problem.

And then we couldn't work out how to get all the stuff into the car once we had lifted the (very heavy) wheelchair in.  We tried it all ways before Beth and Alex, bless them, basically told me to shut up (nicely) and did it right with the help of a very nice chap and his family who had just arrived and who took over the lifting with Alex while Beth and I tended to my sore backs!

We got there, eventually, and I hope he, his wife and his two little boys are having a wonderful time.

And finally, the sat nav took us back through Bury St Edmunds rather than round on the A14, but this turned out to be a blessing because I do know Bury a bit and it turned out to be very easy and less stressful for me than joining a busy A14.  I'll definitely be doing that again rather than the A14 way.

Phew.  Home sweet home.  I had a great night's sleep and today I'm clearing the post holiday stuff and then chilling as I'm a bit achey and the back is grumbling.   I've made a batch of tomato and red pepper soup, the bread dough is rising nicely, there's a load of washing ready to go out and there's some sweet chestnuts roasting in Nellie, harvested from the lovely tree outside our lodge.  I'll freeze them and use then in bits and bobs.

So I had better go and deal with things.  Have a lovely day, everyone, and enjoy this fine weather while it lasts.  xx