For months now, Freyja has been asking me to clear a Saturday or a Sunday in my diary to indulge in a mystery expedition.

I kept forgetting.

Finally, finally, we set a date. That date was yesterday.

The Builder asked where we were going. I didn’t know. All I knew was that Freyja had said we would meet outside the old flat in Nether Green. That seemed a bit silly; although we can get to Nether Green without driving past her street, it’s no real detour to stop by and pick them up. I assumed, though, that if the original plan had been to meet there, then whatever the activity was, it was likely to be somewhere around there.

Freyja would divulge no further information. Other than to say that no, it wasn’t to be a walk in the park. Although I would have been quite happy to go for a walk in Endcliffe and/or Bingham Parks, and certainly to go for a walk in the Whiteley Woods. Haven’t been walking in any of these places for simply ages.

So. Off we set, yesterday afternoon, picked up Mark and Freyja and duly trundled to Nether Green. Parked in our old, habitual parking spot, next to the deli. Got out of the car. Looked around. And discovered that the old pet shop up Hangingwater Road isn’t a pet shop any more. It’s Planet Pot. And we were to spend our Sunday afternoon choosing and then painting a pottery object of some sort. A bit like the Plaster Fun House, only more expensive and much more useful. No need to select plaster ornaments. You can have practical pottery utensils or crockery. So, I selected a baking dish. The Builder chose a large oven dish. Mark decided to do a cereal bowl and Freyja determined that they had a teapot for one and a teapot for 8 at home, but needed something in between, so picked a teapot for two.

The Builder went for a fairly minimalist approach to his oven dish and finished quite a lot earlier than the rest of us. I was a little more adventurous with my baking dish. Freyja created a VERY complicated pattern for her teapot. I got to help finish it :-) But they were all rather fantastic when we had finished. Mark and Freyja took photos of the events in progress. The Builder and I are due to pick up the finished items (glazed and kilned) next Sunday. I must remember to take a photo of them entirely finished.

So, after a merry and creative afternoon, we took Freyja and Mark home and returned to The Sidings for roast beef, Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes and mushroom and onion gravy, accompanied with vegetables from the garden and the allotment and a bottle of Australian red wine and followed by home made raspberry ice cream. It was rally rather a lovely Sunday. Made all the better by the opportunity to speak to Austin and to Tabitha when they each rang to find out why Freyja and Mark weren’t at home ready to play Mario Kart online.

Both The Builder and I had our hair cut on Saturday. Mine is rather shorter than I was expecting it to be. I wasn’t really paying close attention when they girlie asked how much I wanted off. About an inch? Hmmm…. Ok. I was listening to the salon’s owner who had been out the night before to a pub in Grassmoor to see a drag act. She was describing the event in quite graphic, attention grabbingly awful detail. Consequently, I look something like a sheep does after being shorn! But no matter. It’ll grow. And as Freyja says – it’ll be a while before I need another haircut!

I got back, pretty much as The Builder got back from his trip to the barber in Hasland. I was hanging out the washing and pondering that we hadn’t had any breakfast and I was a touch on the hungry side, when I remembered that a young woman who was having her hair coloured had rung the Cornerstone Café and ordered take away breakfast sandwiches for her and all the people working in the hairdresser’s. The Cornerstone Café opened about a year ago. We went in with Ian just after he arrived last summer, when they weren’t doing much in the way of food. However, they are clearly doing breakfast now. So The Builder and I wandered up to try it out. Not bad. Not bad at all. I must just remember to ask for my bacon to be crispy next time.

There was no real need to go as far as Chatsworth for supplies this weekend. We’re not short of most things, just needed some cheese and a bit of meat. So we decided to go to a farm shop on the Darley Dale Road. We’ve been in a few times, but not recently. It’s got BUSY since we last called in. It also now has a lovely butcher’s section and sells some rather fine cheese.

Otherwise, we’ve been pottering, more or less. We been on the allotment and out in the garden. We’ve been drinking real ale and real cider and eating nice food and generally enjoying life. We’ve even had the odd burst of sunshine and warmth.

I have no recent news of the invalids. Stella was, apparently, looking quite good on Saturday but wasn’t so well yesterday. She has, though, now moved to a general ward from the high dependency ward. Nobody is about for me to enquire so far today. And I haven’t heard anything about John. I assume that both are doing all right, in the absence of anything to the contrary.

I seem to be entirely alone in the office ………

PS Have found Lindsey. She says that Stella looks a bit better but is not yet ambulatory. However, it seems that she is improving (mind you, to have not one, not two, but effectively three major operations all at the same time, it would be remarkable if she were ambulatory less than a week later!) John, on the other hand, has gone home. We shall remove him from our worry list for the time being