The needle returns to the start of the song and we all spin around like before.
I know I said I wasn’t going to start with song lyrics again but this one has just been going round my head and somehow seemed appropriate.
We have only been back just over 4 weeks and we are now off yet again, this time to our guilty secret – Lanzarote. I was looking forward to it but then Karen started telling me almost hourly about how bad the weather was going to be. So, I checked our booking and found that we could move it back a couple of weeks without incurring an enormous cost. The beauty of being retired is that we are not usually tied to specific dates and Karen can always just choose when she works.
However, then she decided that perhaps the weather wouldn’t be quite so bad, leaving me quite bemused. The forecast seemed to differ whichever ‘App’ she looked at and she always only believed the worst one.
The biggest change for us during our period at home has been that Neil completed on the purchase of Karen’s Mum’s house and has moved out. It was all hands to deck on the moving out day and I know how grateful he was for all the help he received. We have been super impressed by how he has set his house up and how house proud he has quickly become. We never knew he was also such a keen gardener. Our house seems quieter without him and I really do miss him being there. I like it when the house is full of noise and people.
For Karen’s birthday we had a good day in London seeing the show ‘&Juliet’ which was very enjoyable. Then to celebrate both her and Neil’s birthday on the Sunday we pushed the boat out and went with Barry & Ellie to The Ivy in Norwich which was lovely.
Karen managed to squeeze in a few days’ work whilst I squeezed in a few holes of Golf. I even managed 2 consecutive rounds of scoring under 50 which finally shows some improvement and consistency.
The football has flattered to deceive. Norwich are now almost on the brink of being in the play off positions but are in reality nowhere near good enough to be promoted or to be able to compete next season in the premiership.
We have seen some really good shows at the Theatre including The Mousetrap. We have also seen one poor American comedienne at the Playhouse that was a waste of time and money.
There has been some time but not nearly enough time to catch up with family and friends. I did manage a day being driven down to Letchworth to catch up with an old work colleague who set up a very successful E Type Jaguar restoration garage. His enthusiasm for the cars his guys are working on (although tempered by the fact his wife has just been diagnosed with Dementia) was infectious. His attention to detail has to be seen to be believed.
I have also started playing Table Tennis occasionally in Graham’s garage with some of the golfing chums. It is quite competitive but very good fun. I have been more than able to hold my own against them of which I am quite proud of.
I did manage to add a few words to the ‘book’ and I do intend to move it on further during March. That is probably weather dependent though as I hope to be able to spend some time in the garden repairing our weather ravaged lawns.
There have been some victories in my battles with three large companies. EDF finally admitted their incompetence and gave me £20 compensation. Not much but better than nothing. They did so on the day when it became possible to switch providers again, and so within an hour I become a customer of Octopus Energy who already seem much better.
British Airways after many letters of complaint also admitted they had badly messed up with their admin after we had cancelled a flight booked with a voucher with them last August. After first stating there was no problem with returning, then eventually telling me it had expired and telling me it was against their policy to extend the expiry date on a voucher they finally acknowledged they had caused the problem and reinstated the voucher making it valid until this September. Now after battling so long to get the voucher back, we are determined to use it. This means we will need to book yet another holiday for the summer. At the moment we are still trying to work out where and when. First world problems – I know.
Then there is Amex who have now admitted their error in changing the anniversary date on our credit card. It seems it was an IT error that I have brought to their attention which may have affected lots of people. So far, they have offered £65 compensation which is fair enough but not yet made the change on my card to put me back in the position I was before. My complaint continues for now.
And so, onto this trip which we booked some 11 months ago. Barry & Ellie are away for a couple of days at the same time in Lisbon and so I went in and checked on the cats for them before we left. Their ‘Cat sitter’ was due to arrive later that day.
As nothing different ever really happens on our days in Lanzarote I will probably merge two days into one on the forthcoming blogs.
