Normal service is resumed

So here we are, home again. What to do on the last two days of freedom before we both return to work?

We could try and fix the bathroom. Freyja has broken it!!!!!! She rang while we were away and said that the bath tap was running in a determined and not to be argued with sort of a way. I told her to turn it off as much as she could and we would sort it out when we got back. In a burst of Herculean strength, she ripped the cold tap right off. I wasn't unduly worried about this. I thought it had merely fallen off and could easily be put back. But no. Sheared right away is what it was! It can't be put back.

This leaves us with no effective shower, although given that it is a combination boiler which provides hot water on demand, it is possible to have the water running at an appropriate temperature without needing to use the cold water. I do this sometimes. The Builder, however, does not.

So we took ourselves off to the Bathstore to have a proper look at costings for the stuff we want to get for the bathroom. It's eye wateringly expensive, but we have saved (and inherited :-) ) very nearly enough and can certainly raise the rest. And if you are going to go to all the expense, trouble and chaos of putting in a new bathroom, you might just as well get the stuff you want. I didn't go for the cast iron feet option for the new bath, mind you!! Then we went to Chatsworth in search of some vegetables, some meaty supplies (completely unnecessary I found, when I went to put it in the very-nearly-full freezer!) and some lunch.

Chatsworth was much too full to provide lunch! So we went to the Three Horseshoes instead. And found that very nearly as full‼‼ They were hosting a baptismal party. Fortunately, they had some spare tables in the side room. They also had the carvery open. So we had a completely unexpected Sunday lunch on a Saturday.

One of the advantages of having spent the week trundling along minute Cornish roads is that the road between Beeley and the Darley Dale Road, which always seems to me to be unnecessarily narrow and winding, seemed positively highway-like on Saturday‼ I hardly gripped the hand rail at all :-p

The weather was lovely over the weekend. The Builder got up to the allotment and carried on digging. I went on an inspection tour and then came back to the house. The other excitement of the week just gone was that we inadvertently gave Freyja a key to the front door, which was blocked with pot plants, and not to the back door, where she could have got in and out quite easily. This led to quite a merry time for her when she tried to get in the first night she was staying at our place! It also meant that she shifted all the pot plants out of the doorway when it became clear that we didn’t have a spare set of keys for the back door lying about anywhere (although – we should have; I wonder where they have gone). This meant that I could now see quite how manky the porch had become after very nearly three years of having pot plants sat in it. I’ve cleaned it. And washed the door. And severely irritated three spiders and a beetle which were quite happily living in the porch.

I’ve found alternative homes for the pot plants. I think I might buy a mat for the porch and leave it so that people can get in should the need arise. Although – preferably not burglars!

We had lunch sat outside on the patio.

We pottered in the garden.

We had a lazy-ish afternoon (although The Builder did do some more digging).

And now we are back at work. And, although I don’t know how busy The Builder has been this morning – it’s been very busy in the Adsetts Centre. It’s the first day of the summer term. There are dissertation deadlines at the end of this week and next. The network is being very stroppy (it wouldn’t let me log in at all this morning – fortunately, I had brought my Mac in with me, something I very seldom do but I thought I might get some of my photos sorted at lunchtime. My Mac is more than happy to talk to the University wireless network :-) ). Consequently, printing is being stroppy. It’s pretty much bedlam out there.

A little before Easter, I was looking on the Derbyshire County website to see if they offered yoga or tai chi classes in the evening anywhere even close to Tupton. They don’t really, or at least, not ones that would be convenient. But I did find something else, at the Hunloke Community Centre, which is a mere spit away from the house. So tomorrow evening – I am off to my very first evening class in ……….. beginners Japanese‼‼‼ I must remember to go :-S

There is now English asparagus in the shops. And Jersey Royal potatoes. I love late April.

Anyone got a plumber they can lend us for a weekend? We've got a bathroom coming that needs fitting