Well it has certainly been a week of coughing and spluttering for Ellie and me. Ellie was off school during the week. I first started to feel something wasn’t quite right on the Monday. I had gone to the gym, but was coughing at the end of the session. I worked from home Tuesday as I was doing some interviews at the school. By Wednesday I was starting to feel thoroughly rotten… I went to rehearsal, but came home, declared I wasn’t going to work on Thursday and went to bed… I woke on Thursday morning, feeling a lot brighter, and knowing I had a number of meetings on, dosed up and went in. Come the evening I was shattered. I went to work Friday, but gave up shortly after lunch when I came home and went to bed. Saturday and Sunday I have felt quite grotty. I did get up to church this morning, and I did cook the roast, but in between I have been doing nothing, and feeling like doing nothing. It’s not fair where’s the rules!

A Happy Mothers Day to Tricia and my dear old Mum. Rob took Tricia to the garden centre yesterday and bought her some plants for the garden. Tricia took the opportunity to stock up on all sorts of bags of top soil, bark, manure etc, and has been in the garden today. Nikki sent Tricia some nice flowers, and Ellie went to Aylesbury yesterday and got TRicia a photo frame and few bits. Tricia took some flowers over to her Mum.

Nikki has booked flights to come home for a week. I pick her up a week Tuesday, it will be good to catch up with her. Tricia and I have a few days away from Sunday next week, we are off to Chichester. Something to look forward to. Tricia and Ellie, before her cough and cold kicked in, went to see Fame at the Aylesbury theatre, they had a terrific time.

I mentioned earlier I had cooked todays roast, we had lamb, which I cooked in red wine – Tricia’s favourite. Ellie made some ‘key lime pies’, individual ones for pudding, and did a marvellous job. This morning in church, she was given a prize for the money she raised in the ‘ten pound challenge’. I took a photo which didn’t come out brilliant, but here it is with a pic of the ladies at Fame, and Ellie’s desert, and the flowers Nikki sent to Tricia…

This is the second attempt at writing this blog. Having spent some time writing about last week, and having not saved my work as I went along, I inadvertently knocked the ‘esc’ key, which promptly lost all my work. After a few moments of cursing, I am back here. But I am not going to write it all out again, so here is an abbreviated version…

It was a week without Tricia’s car. It went into the garage on Thursday evening and isn’t back yet, so we spent most of the week playing a game of who was where and when and trying work around all the conflicts of demand on the one car. We managed, but hopefully Tricia will get her car back tomorrow. Tricia and Ellie are going to watch Fame at the Aylesbury theatre, I am supposed to be at a rehearsal, so we will need two cars.

A Happy 78th Birthday to my Dad, who was 78 on Wednesday. Rob and I went to see my Mum and Dad in Bracknell on Tuesday evening. Friday evening, Ellie and I rehearsed for some little acting duties in the village in June, when we are celebrating the 700th anniversary of the passing of John Schorne, who was rector of North Marston in the early 1300’s and was reputed to have undertaken a number of miracles, which let to North Marston becoming a site of pilgrimage…. his remains ended up in St georges Chapel at Windsor. I get to play John Schorne, so I have to be all pious and behave myself… this will of course be quite a demand on my acting skills 🙂

After rehearsal Tricia and I went to Pat and Clive’s for supper, and to plan out our trip to Chichester in a few weeks. Saturday, Tricia, Robbie and Ellie, and Sarah and Jess went off to Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire. On the way around the Abbey, there were some medieval ‘dressing up’ clothes… Ellie didn’t need a second invitation, and so here she is as a pretend Nun. She looks convincing … do the take them at 14 ?

Some of the Harry Potter films were recorded at Lacock Abbey, so Ellie and Jess felt compelled to act out a scene 🙂

A quiet day today, traditional roast beef lunch, and in the afternoon Tricia and Rob went on a ‘Lent Walk’, these are a set of walks beween churches that take place in Lent each year. It was about 5 miles, both enjoyed their walk. Ellie slept… she was at a friends on a sleepover last night, but I am not sure much sleeping happened ! So she had a nap to catch up.

I have been working on the 2011 photo yearbook… the 2012 one turned up this week… It’s a busy week ahead at work… 😦

First off her car has been playing up, although she has had it serviced a short while back, it has been temperamental starting. So we think when we get the present issue sorted we will look to trade it in for something different. She has had some fun in it, but perhaps time to move back to something a little more practical and also cheaper to run. Then on Friday she received a letter from the hospital about her recent op to rmove a carcinoma… on Friday. Which wasn’t much notice. The letter had been dated Friday March 7th, but it wasn’t franked till Wednesday March 12th and arrived in the post on Friday. She called me at work, her car was not working, her Dad was away and so she needed me… well, my car really :-). I got home in record time and Tricia made the appointment just on time… although she ended up waiting 40 minutes as they were running late. The upshot though is that they didn’t get all the carcinoma out wth the first op, so she has to go back and have another, more invasive op in the same place. Obviously she is not too happy about it…. it has to be done though. She wouldn’t have been quite so annoyed if it had been her back or some place that would normally be covered up… but it is on her cheek, and I don’t suppose opening up the recently healed scar will heal so well second time around. Oh well. Next op is April 16th. Here is a picture from the first op. Next time the cut will be longer :-(.

On the upside, Tricia had a wonderful time out in Germany / Austria / Switzerland. On Monday after dropping Robbie at the railway station, I worked at home for a while before taking Ellie off to school, then I went into the office before driving down to Gatwick and collecting her. As well as seeing Nikki win, she was able to spend a couple of days catching up with Nikki and being entertained by Kevin and his family, including an ‘end of winter’ carnival. It seems Germans do know how to enjoy themselves after all! Here are some pics from Tricia’s trip. First off Nikki and Kevin, then Nikki and Mica jumping off the Olympic rostrom with their cups and medals, then Nikki and Kevin with Kevin’s Mum and her boyfriend, then Nikki at the carnival, and finally one of Nikki with the dog… which apparently dotes on Nikki. Tricia says she seems very settled out there.

Ellie had a good week at school, she recently got an A in a Physics test, and followed that up with an A* in Chemistry this week, she was also in the netball team for a game they won on Wednesday. On Friday Jordan, Robbie’s uni mate came for the weekend. On Saturday they went into London and today they went off doing airsoft… they came back absolutely shattered a couple of hours ago. Seems it was a hot day for running around :-). Tricia was coaching yesterday at Brunel uni, and today Ellie has helped her at a food fair in Buckingham.

The weather has been lovely the last few days, and I got out and gave the grass it’s first cut of the year yesterday. This afternoon Tricia has been doing some tidying up in the garden… it’s just nice to get some sunshine 🙂

It has not been the best of bobsleigh seasons for Nikki. The main target was getting to the Olympics, which didn’t happen. She was also frustrated by the lack of competitions she was getting. So when she was asked to be a brakeswoman at the GB championships in Igls this weekend she took the opportunity to try and finish the season with some success. And that she did. So on Saturday Niki, and Mica McNeill, the driver, wion the GB Champs…. and so she can now say she is a GB Champion. It at least ends the season on a positive note… she now has to wait and see what the GB Bobsliegh plans are for the forseeable future and whether she is a part of it or not.

One thing that Nikki wasn’t expecting was to see her Mum out there :-). Tricia and I have always wanted to see her compete, but there is not only the cost and time involved in doing so, but also we could never be quite sure that Nikki would race – often she is only told the day before a competition, and we don’t want to waste money going somewhere to not see Nikki race. So when she told us she would be at the GB champs and would be competing, we worked quick. Nikki’s boyfriend Kevin was a great help. He was travelling with his Mum on Friday to see Nikki compete. I dropped Tricia at Gatwick on Thursday evening, she flew to Basel, where Kevin met her. On Friday they all travelled to Igls, and Nikki got a big surprise to see her Mum there 🙂

It sounds like Tricia has had a lovely time, being entertained by Kevin and his family. Today they all went to an end of winter festival. She comes home tomorrow, I pick her up at Gatwick at 6pm. Ellie has been at a school dance competition today (they didn’t win), and I have to pick her up about 11:30pm. As it is a late finish, she doesn’t have to be into school till 11am, so tomorrow I will work from home first thing, then take Ellie into school, then go into work, and then leave the office about 4:30pm to go and get Tricia.

What with Ellie being out all day today, it has been quiet in the house, just Robbie and me. I was up at the church this morning and did a reading, then cokked some lunch. It has been a beautiful day, some sun and some warmth – it lifts the spirits. I gave the car a good wash, the forecast looks good for the week, so hopefully it won’t be all muddy within a day or two again. Yesterday Ellie had rehearsal, and then we went to Milton Keynes to get her some new school shoes. In the evening we watched ‘Gravity’, a film Robbie had got me for my birthday.

Speaking of which, I turned 53 on Thursday. I didn’t really do a great deal other than work and take Tricia to the airport. But I did have a nice meal in the evening with Ellie and Rob.

Some pictures of Nikki, and my birthday cake.

It was a largely unremarkable week. Tricia picked up Robbie on Monday evening for Milton Keynes. He had enjoyed his weekend in Yorkshire, but had come back with a cold. He was back at work on Tuesday, and worked through it. On Friday Robbie had a review with his manager. He was at the end of his probation period, he was given an excellent review, and is now confirmed in his role. Which has started to get Robbie thinking about moving to London if he can find something suitable. No rush for him, but he is starting to look.

Ellie has been busy rehearsing for ‘rock challenge’, a dance competition which takes place next weekend. On Friday after rehearsal at school, she went on a sleepover at her friends, Jessie, who was celebrating her birthday. Nikki contacted us in the week to get her GB race suit sent out to her. She has been asked to be a brakesman in the GB champs which takes place next weekend in Igls.

Friday evening, being the last Friday in the month was ‘curry night’. We were next door at Rachel and Alans, and joined by Pete and Sarah. Lots of laughs before we all started to conk out around 11pm. On Saturday morning Tricia went off to the gym at Tring, whilst I went off to collect Ellie from her friends. Late afternoon, Tricia, Ellie, Robbie and me drove over to Market Harborough to see Deb and Carlos. It was quite a gathering – Wendy and Rob were there with their daughter Claire and her boyfriend Ieuan. Carlos and Deb’s son Matt was back for the weekend, as was their eldest, Simon and his fiancee Katie. Trevor and Jan were also there. A big well done to Deb for catering for us all… lovely meal on Saturday evening, breakfast this morning, and a traditional Sunday roast. At the end of lunch a birthday cake was produced for me and Carlos… he is 54 tomorrow, I am 53 on Thursday 🙂

It was great to catch up with everyone. There was lots of talk about Simon and Katies wedding, which takes place in August. Plenty to look forward to.

Looking ahead to this coming week, I start rehearsals again on Monday evening. I got a call last week to say I had a part in Habeas Corpus, which gets put on in May. I think I will then take a little break from the acting, but in the meantime I am keen to do this one.

A couple of pictures from the weekend.

A quiet Sunday evening here… I will sit and watch Call the Midwife with Tricia shortly, then I think it will be an early night.