Hip Hip Hooray ! I am certainly not going to complain. Sure, we could do with some rain, sure it may even have felt a tad too hot on Saturday afternoon… but the recent weather has been lovely, and I have enjoyed it when I can get out in it. I have been trying to remember when there last was such good weather in April ? I looked back to April 1976. After all I recalled the wonderful summer of 1976, where it didn’t seem to rain from April to September, and it was hot… but of course this could just be my memory picking out the good bits. I found a weather chart for Hertfordshire in April 76 (via Google), and the temp high spot was 18.5c, nothing like the 20+’s we have been having, and there was rain… so, I really can’t recall such good weather for the time of year. Who knows how long it will last, so let’s all enjoy it whilst we can

The Easter break was very welcome, what with work being so ‘full on’ at the moment, I was ready for a decent long weekend. I picked Nikki up in Uxbridge on Thursday evening on my way home. She had been at St Andrews in Paddington during the week on placement, and she caught the tube out to Uxbridge so I could pick her up. Nice to have the whole family home for Easter. The placement has been going well for Nikki so far, but she was finding the travel in from Hatfield each day something of a pain.

On Friday morning, Tricia, Ellie and me headed for Aylesbury. The first stop was the furniture store. We had decided on a particular corner sofa we wanted after recent searching around furniture stores. We managed to get the store (which is a local one to us) to ‘price match’ on a cheaper advertisement for the same suite (which we had seen in Milton Keynes), so we were pleased with that. The new sofa will take about 10 weeks to be delivered. That was job one done. Then we were off to Tesco for a ‘monster shop’, or so it seemed. Whilst in Tesco we noticed a deal they had for a Samsung flat screen TV, with a new ‘blu-ray’ DVD player. We ‘ummed and aghed’ and then carried on with the shopping… Ellie was very keen on the tv. I have been hankering after such a tv for a while, mainly for watching sport or films. But Tricia hasn’t always been so keen. A larger TV wouldn’t fit in our existent TV cabinet etc. After much haggling from Ellie, which included a promise to cook the evening meal once a week, Tricia agreed. And so we bought a new TV as well. However, it was on the understanding that we found a new cabinet so that we didn’t have cables and wires all looking untidy. So, once back home with the shopping, Robbie (who having seen the new TV was enthusiastic to get it working) and I went back to the furniture store and found a lovely corner unit in Yew, and even better, it was in the ‘clearance sale’. Rob helped me get the unit home, and then we set about putting it all together… and I have to say I am very pleased with the result.

Well, all of this took up to about 6pm… and then Tricia and I were off to our friends for ‘curry evening’… six of us who get together on a Friday once a month, get a take away, talk nonsense and laugh. And that was Friday.

I decided Saturday should be less expensive than Friday, and so, no further visits to furniture stores. I went off to Buckingham to get a haircut… my hair was driving me nuts, so this felt long overdue. I then did some shopping in Tesco’s for bits we couldn’t get on Friday. Nikki had gone off training and taken Ellie with her, and took her swimming afterwards. Ellie does so love to have her big sis at home. Tricia spent the whole day baking… we had some friends coming for a meal in the evening, and as it was April 23rd, we dcided on a Shakespearean evening. Which meant she was cooking all sorts of oddities. I went into the garden, and after covering up with sun cream, proceeded to cut the lawn and tidy the garden. The garden is starting took lovely, and there is nothing better than a sunny morning sat listening to the birds. Some piccies… me with my shorter hair, then the garden, including Trotsky the cat, at home amongst the forget-me-nots.

Our evening went very well, with the food highlight for me being a layered chicken and ham pie, with a wonderful crust. To start we had cabbage and apple soup. An odd combination, but was actually very nice. The company was good, Trevor and Cathy, and Lisa and Richard. Nikki had gone out ice skating for the evening with Chris, who she has been dating for a few weeks. It was a late evening, and past midnight by the time we went to bed.

Easter Sunday morning we all sat and had boiled eggs for breakfast. The kids exchanged Easter Eggs. They had got Tricia flowers, and me some small plain chocolate aggs. I am not a big fan of milk chocolate, but I do like a plain chocolate. Ellie and I went to church… and it turned out to be a long service. An hour and 20 mins. So God had a good share of my time. I cooked lunch, and Tricia’s parents came over to join us. We had a splendid piece of lamb. Tricia knows the butcher well (he stocks some of the chutneys / jams she does), and so we tend to get our meat there and he looks after us well. After a lovely lunch, it was a flop in the chair. Tricia’s father did the same, and we chatted whilst both half sleep. A typical Sunday afternoon . Chris came across for a while in the afternoon to see Nikki…

But the important thing about today… LENT IS OVER… and so, I enjoyed a couple of cups of tea today, and a beer this evening whilst writing this blog, and a glass of sherry… and a pudding after lunch… No doubt I will pay for all this excess tomorrow.

In other news… the new glasses turned up, so Robbie and me are happy. West Hams poor season continues and it looks like we are certain to be relegated. BP may be sending me to Chicago and then Houston in May sometime to do a project. I will look forward to the travel and seeing a few places I haven’t seen before… but won’t look forward to the work I will have to do. I mentioned this to me Alisa, my old penfriend the other day… her advice, have a good time, just don’t mention who you work for, BP are not so popular over here !

The first three days of the Easter break have been quite busy. Plenty done, but entertaining can be hard work. So, tomorrow is scheduled to be a relaxing day … (please).