Week Eight – Day 7 The end of a bank holiday which has been lots of fun and a bit crazy round the edges. The garden is moving through the spring towards summer. The wisteria is on the way out and the honeysuckle and clematis are coming through.

Week Nine – Day 1 My last week of work ahead of furlough and my last Monday catch-up hat for a while

The workload is quite heavy this week in an attempt to tidy everything up and leave it in good order for Edd, who is the only fundraiser left standing. Current State of Plays & explanatory emails need to be done before the Out of Office kicks in.

Week Nine – Day 2 A dear friend from school days has her 30th Wedding Anniversary today and her daughter organised a Zoom meeting with many of their family & friends. I am slightly stunned that 30 years have passed and then the photos start appearing and it becomes obvious that much water has passed under the bridge. The bride and groom say nice things about one another and their time together and it reminded me of Robert’s parent 25th Wedding anniversary party. They had a Sunday lunchtime drinks do that was terribly civilsed (and to be honest a little dull) until Roy opened his home-brewed elder flower wine and chaos ensued. A quiet lunchtime drinks party turned into a hooley. People were staggering home after dark and I remember thinking as I was poured into a taxi home – thank goodness tomorrow is a bank holiday. Sadly no parties at the moment, but it was fun to catch-up with everyone.

Week Nine – Day 3 A day of much excitement in the Spicer household, as the Government’s relaxation of lockdown rules means fishing is back on and Catering was off and running by 10am.

Still I have to admit he’s good at it and returned home with 6 lovely trout, some of which he gutted and distributed to neighbours, the rest he froze, apart from 1 big one, which is dinner tomorrow evening. Tonight however it’s steak!

Week Nine – Day 4 It was a really busy day today, largely because someone had the day off fishing yesterday and because I am working to a deadline of Friday and then furlough. Robert had a site to clear and took the Smallest Boy with him, allegedly as help, but I think Nick just wanted to play with big toys.

I actually found myself at the desk way past 5pm, but I was delighted that I cleared the decks of all the important stuff, so that tomorrow is going to remain chilled and not hysterical. It was Thursday night clap at 8pm and then I had a chat with two of the girls in the wedding photo above – really good to catch-up over a glass of wine.

Week Nine – Day 5 Work all tidy so in my lunch hour I was due to ride my bike to Marlow to a keen cyclist friend’s house, as he had kindly offered to look at my gears for me. My trusty steed has suffered from a certain level of neglect over the years and when I lamented this in the Pub Zoom chat on Tuesday evening, Ken stepped in and offered to help. I got a mile down the road and horror of horrors I had a puncture – disaster! I rang Robert to come and collect me and WhatsApp’d Ken to reschedule visit, but he said to still come on down and he would not only look at gears, but also fix the puncture. It’s official – I love him. He did look slightly aghast at the state of said trusty steed when we dropped it off, but he emailed me that evening and is getting me a new chain and everything.

I got back in time to pack up and sign off, consigning work chair to the corner and pouring a glass of fizz for a virtual drink with Edd at close of play. Waiting to see what furlough brings.

The evening was going really well until we lost this week’s darts match (moved from Saturday to Friday), Robert & the boys remain unconvinced that my having consumed a bottle of champagne ahead of the match, had absolutely nothing to do with my poor performance. It did however have everything to do with me believing Mrs Ashworth that you can throw darts underarm – you can’t. I had a very embarrassing conversation/apology with our next door neighbours, when I went round to retrieve the dart that had sailed over the eight foot wall and into their courtyard – that will never happen again.

Week Nine – Day 6 Household chores were the order of the morning, followed by tackling the ironing pile for an hour or so, by which time I was exhausted and in need of refreshment. Fortunately Diane had invited me round for a socially distanced drink – pink fizz in her glamorous new birthday present glasses. I had to be back by 5pm as Robert had a surprise for me – he had arranged to walk up to the woods, where we met the Ashworths for a socially distanced chat (& drink). Such a lovely surprise and couple of hours in the sun, over looking the Thames. Should perhaps have told Alex where we were or given him and ETA home, as he was more than a little grumpy when we eventually returned, as he had a quiz to run and on an empty stomach. I tried to win him round with peace offerings of food while he quizzed, but he was having none of it! It’s official – we’re terrible parents.

Week Nine – Day 7 The Ring of Shame was returned by Mel and we had a nice distanced coffee sitting in the sun. We are determined not to get it again next week and so spent an hour playing darts in the afternoon to try and ensure a better performance.

Roast chicken and a bottle of rose finished the day and weekend off rather nicely – tomorrow furlough!