Another Chapter

Well, it’s been a while since I logged in and feels like an age; the holiday seems a distant memory and to be honest, it wasn’t one of our most successful breaks.  Phil, after his month away and with all the work at his mum and dads, was desperate for a week in the sun but he was duped by the holiday tour operator.  To be fair, it wasn’t too bad but the location wasn’t ideal and although the apartment was modern and looked cool and fab, in actual fact, it was cold and uncomfortable.  It didn’t help that we both had chest infections and colds and in fact, I am still suffering with a hacking cough and a streaming snotty nose.  It’s funny, Tenerife seems a life time ago and I already feel in need of a holiday. 

I know I am always moaning and complaining that woe is me, but our feet really haven’t hit the ground since getting back. We arrived back at No 2 at midnight, we tried to be quiet and even though Sue had gone to bed, I think she anticipated that we would wake her up when we walked through the door, and even though we tried to be quiet as mice, she tripped down the stairs in her slippers to greet us.  Of course we had a cup of tea and a chat if only for only to come down a bit before going to bed.  It was good to catch up with Suzie Sue, naturally we had emailed whilst away but there were some developments that I needed to catch up with especially with regards to Sue’s health problems.  At half one, we eventually went up to bed but we were up by 8am because I had promised to go to MK hospital with Sue for her appointment with the specialist at 10am.  I won’t go into details because that’s Sue’s personal story to tell but we went from department to department for various testing and got away about half twelve.  Sue had picked up my mattress cover from the dry cleaners whilst we were away and very kindly agreed to go to the flat to help me fit it after the hospital.  She helped me with a couple of other jobs and then we went to the Cricketers to meet Phil for a quick pub lunch. 

Wednesday afternoon was washing, drying, ironing stuff from holiday, catching up with emails and paperwork and then a shower and wash and a quick change of clothes.  We ordered a taxi from number 2 and dropped Phil off at the pub where he was meeting the Wednesday night boys and then me and Sue got dropped off at Brassiere Blanc in the pub.  I had been promising Sue for ages that I would take her and after telling her how nice it was even though Phil hates the place. Unfortunately for us, the 2 course special menu was a little weird and there was nothing that appealed.  I pleaded with Sue to order something from the al le carte menu but she adamant that she was going to try the 2 course special menu.  In the end we both decided to order out of our comfort zone and it was a mistake.  I didn’t mind my pea and hock ham risotto but the starter of some kind of salad, and don’t ask me what because I can’t remember, that Sue ordered, tasted pants.  She let me try and try I did and so did she but she left almost all of it.  

The waiter girlie came to collect our plates and asked what the problem was, we said no problem but said that it wasn’t to our liking and she very kindly said she would deduct the starter from our bill.  We had different fish for the main, but Sue said she felt that her fish wasn’t done enough and I didn’t like my sauce PLUS we had an issue with too much food on the plate.  Thankfully Sue and I both agree on this preferring little and quality as opposed to too much and poor quality.  Oh dear, I write this and it sounds like we had a crap night, but actually we didn’t. We had a carafe of the red stuff and we chatted and I was amazed 3 hours of girlie catch-up went SO quickly. The big bonus though, was that when the bill finally came, we weren’t charged for the wine (£11) and neither were we charged for Sue’s meal (£14) so the final bill, bearing in mind that we sampled a 2 course meal with a carafe of wine plus a bottle of still water and 2 extra large glasses of wine came to 30 quid.   Fair justice I say and silly front of staff for getting the bill so wrong but we paid and got out pretty pronto.

Thursday morning came about very quickly.  Phil, as always on a Thursday morning after a night out with the boys was slow to come round.  I had to coax him slowly out of his slumber pit but in the end we breakfasted and were ready to go on the road just after 9am.   We were on a time schedule because we had to get over to Overstone Park to get access to the caravan to dismantle the table and chairs to get them over to the Oldbrook flat.  I was very anxious, no extremely anxious going back to the caravan.  Our first winter break and I wasn’t sure what I would come back to but actually it was fine.    We had left 2 heaters on permanently over the 2 month break, so yes it was a little cold, but no damp, no mildew and it was all surprisingly in good order.  I have yet to fall in love with Overstone Lakes, I knew Phil had the moment he took residence but it’s the location of it that I feel the most.  Girl with a glass half empty I know but I did have a moment on Thursday when Vicky and Dennis from next door, waved and rushed over to greet us and to ask how our winter had been.   Carl over the road, long term Overstone resident turned up a few minutes later and for a nano second, I felt a ‘gipsy’ kinship with our neighbours.  Or is that a kinship of free thinking people that just want out of the rat race.  I prefer the latter.

Anyway I diverse, as I always do when I haven’t been on the blog for ages.   Argggghhhhhh I always feel better when I can let off steam.   Yes, Thursday was busy but it was a very productive day.   Phil dismantled the table in the caravan and loaded the table and chairs into the Land Rover. I unloaded, unpacked, dusted and hovered and felt much better than I thought I would when we left.  Overstone Lakes Park looked pretty, the flowers were in bloom, and even though it had been winter, fences have been painted and I have to admit, the park looked pretty damn good. 

Phil set up the table and chairs in the Oldbrook flat and it looked good even though I do say so myself.  We finished up with the last minute jobs before the new tenants moved in at 2pm and went to IKEA to pick up a new table and chairs.  Steve and Jan’s son Dan has the same set but actually I have had my eye on this set for the last 2 years.  It was easy picking the set but not so easy picking up from the IKEA isle and loading in the car but we did it.   We had arranged to pick up Harriet from the OU to take her out for lunch but the IKEA table and chairs took up the whole of the Land Rover. I phoned her on her mobile and asked her to meet us at the pub at Walnut Tree.  She was cool and we met for steak and chips.   Originally it was me and her without Phil and we were going to have lunch and a shop as Tesco’s but plans change.   We had a nice meal and the sun was shining and we finished out drinks outside on the veranda. What a nice way to finish a meal.  After we finished, Phil and I had a quick trip to Lidl’s for toilet and kitchen roll and then it was back home to number 2.

Sue had cooked us a nice sausage casserole with mash, carrots and green beans and kept joking that it was our ‘last supper’.  I said don’t be so silly but she was right it was our last night of living in and all being together.  It was a tasty last supper, Phil went to bed early and Sue suffered my soaps.  Thursday night is a big night in soap world and somehow Sue knows, not just what soap is on but at what time.   Bless her.  It was a bitter sweet morning moving out of Sue’s house on Friday morning.  I know Phil was keen to get back to his holiday home and his writing and hiding away but I had some doubts. 

It’s been good living with Sue for the last 2 months and she has been more than brilliant for having us.  I am not stupid, I know that some of our close friends must have thought her totally mad for putting us up for such a long time and I am sure, no certain, that some of Sue’s friends must have questioned her for opening her house for 2 nomads like us, but she’s never said a word.  But actually it’s worked out very well, or at least I can only speak for myself and Phil. It was handy that Phil worked for a month and Sue has only to suffer his laziness and untidiness and pyjama clad for only a few weeks.  As for me and Sue, well, I am a bit hyper in the morning, she is a morning person also but takes a while to come round, but nonetheless, we have enjoyed our first cup of tea and our ‘defriefs’ as we refer to them.  What was a fairly close friendship, made tighter I am sorry to say by the loss of Alan, well it all could have gone horribly wrong with us all living together, but our friendship has got a lot closer and stronger. 

What I will say, that this has been mostly down to Sue.  She has been very tolerant of me and Phil at number 2; she has willingly given over her remote control to Phil and has never uttered a word when I’ve watched my soaps.  I am sure she has had to bite her tongue sometimes and had to count to ten because there have been a few dilapidation's whilst we have been in residence.  I have smashed a glass and have knocked a full glass of red, not only over the dining room table but all over the dining room wall.  Jan tried to help but blowing out the candles but only succeeded in getting wax on the table cloth.  Thankfully the red wine and the table wax all came out.  All trials and tribulations of life and we have survived and are still the best of friends, thank god!

Friday, the day of our move out, was indeed, a bitter sweet day.  I felt a little sad that another chapter of my life was coming to an end. After Sue left, I changed our bed, put the washing on and then the drying, finishing by ironing and making up the bed.  I showered, cleaned our shower and then put the towels in the wash.   Sue said there was no need to do this because she would do it but why the hell should she clean up our mess.  She has done us more than enough favours and has so much on her plate without me adding to it.  I have asked Sue to guest write a blog and she has agreed, and so sometime next week, time allowing, you may well see a post from her.  I certainly hope so.  No pressure Suzie Sue but it will be good for folks to hear your take on living with us crazy ‘Krauses’ for the last 2 months!

After packing up the car, I drove over to Westcoft to the half way retirement home that William, Sue’s dad is hopefully moving into next week.  Sue had already been there for a good few hours and I had promised to help her shift some furniture.  Sue’s dad has been in a nursing home for the last 6 months after falling and breaking his neck last year.  It has been a worrying and trying time for them both so god pray, this intermediate half way care home, gives Bill the care that he needs. Also I hope that it gives Sue some peace of mind and the chance to live a little and have some fun for a change.  God only knows she hasn’t had much of that for the last 18 months.

It was nearly 2pm by the time I got back to Overstone.  No time for emotions, the sun was out and the site looked welcoming. No time to dwell, ponder or reflect or get sad; I unpacked, cleared, chucked out and generally got moved in.  Phil had assembled the new IKEA table and chairs and it looks fabulous.  I absolutely love it. It’s perfect for the caravan, Phil moaned because it took him 2 hours to put together and he thinks that it’s not big enough.  But it’s fine and besides, if we want to entertain, in the summertime we can sit guests outside.  I want to say that all was well that ended well, but I couldn’t get onto the Internet in any way, shape or form, I tried for 2 hours on Friday evening but then gave up.   I got myself in a right strop and Phil went to bed early to get away from my foul temper.  I can just about manage living in a caravan out here in sticks but I MUST have an Internet connection otherwise life is not worth living.  Sue has Sky at number 2 and her connection is fast, the problem was that I had forgotten just how slow it is here at Overstone.

Phil was up with the lark on Saturday morning because he wanted to listen to the Australian Grand Prix on the radio.   It’s a shame that it’s not being shown on BBC1 anymore and we don’t have Sky HD so the only way he could tune in was to listen on the radio.  It wasn’t so bad because he also downloaded on his iPad at the same time.  Phil put the kettle on about 6am and this woke me up so I got up then.  After the qualifying finished, we went to Sainsbury’s to get supplies.   We needed the basics and stocks for the cupboard but we were careful not to over shop because there just isn’t anywhere to put it in the caravan.  We decided on a lazy day and walked down to the club house for lunch but unfortunately it wasn’t open until the evening.  Never mind, we had a couple of pints and then went back to the caravan.  We had a late lunch or is that an early supper of fish fingers, homemade chips and baked beans.  Not the most exotic of dishes for a Saturday night but it filled a hole.  

We were up reasonably early on Sunday morning and left the caravan just after 8am to drive down to Melton Mowbray to spend Mothering Sunday with Phil’s mum and dad. Mum and dad had seen an advert for a place near Leicester advertising sheds and they wanted us to take them to have a look. It was a bit of a miserable day but fortunately when we found the place, the rain had stopped giving us time to look around at all the various sheds. Phil’s dad found his 7 x 5 almost straight away and we ordered this and it is being delivered a week on Monday. It was also a very good price; £400 which includes boards for it to lie on plus windows and erection. Phil’s mum wants me to paint her bedroom so we stopped off at B&Q to buy paint and then it was off to the Bowls Club in Melton for the carvery. As it was Mother’s Day, the place was packed, but for once mum and dad let Phil pay and we had a nice time. We did a couple of jobs back at the bungalow after lunch but managed to get away by 2pm. The rest of yesterday afternoon was easy; Phil watched the GP highlights, I cooked a chilli and then it was early to bed after watching Lewis.

Well, I seem to have gone on and on and on this blog so I will finish now and post before I change my mind.  I still can’t believe that I am living back in the caravan and have left life as I knew it back in Milton Keynes.  At the moment, it feels a little surreal and I feel like I am on holiday.  What I will say, is that I do feel a little better than when I left the place in January.  Whether that’s because I have accepted my lot in life or whether it’s because the weather is better and the days and nights are lighter.  I don't know.   I've only been back for 3 nights and 2 and a half days, so I'm guessing, only time will tell.