Life!

The lithium battery charger turned up while I was walking Suki!  So much for arriving on Monday - good job I hadn't put convoluted arrangements in place for getting it to Intrepid next week.  I was pleased though - it is a lovely piece of kit about the size of a portable hard drive but lighter.  I charged it up straight away and found a nice turkish purse to keep it in along with the cables and a plug.  The postman brought the AA battery powered one about an hour later.  That was small and neat and very light - so I am now well placed for charging on Intrepid when the socket is booked solid!!  I spent the morning finishing off the packing and doing some washing.  It was a lovely sunny day so I put it outside and Lorraine brought it in for me when she left for Carolyn's.  I got out two pairs of new springer sandals - one to wear around Oxford and one to wear at the dinner, and my new pink M&S micro fleece I had been saving for several years! ...

Met Emma in Acton Park in the morning so walked round with her.  They have bought a replacement car - an estate - and she was very excited about it.  Caught up with blog in the morning and did more Intrepid packing.  Mike went to convent to play for a funeral.  Ordered an AA battery powered mobile charger as I got an email about the other one (lithium battery) stating it would be delivered on Monday, and AA battery one seemed like a good idea anyway (had to pay double to get it delivered by 1 pm tomorrow!!).  Had final two chickens in bacon from the freezer for lunch - very old but tasted ok. Went up to pharmacy to try and get primapore but they were relief personnel who didn't understand what I wanted - pissed me off so I went to Tesco to get final bits for Intrepid.  They didn't stock any dressings either, nor Ovaltine so had to get Options sachets to tide me over.  Got lots of sweets to keep me going for the next two weeks, and some porridge and ski...

Got Mike off to work and then took Suki out for a walk.  Miserable weather, wet and cold, such a contrast to yesterday.  Spent most of the morning on the database - finished updating 1991-2, then updated excel files for reports where I had missed honorary members, then finally updated members in current 2013-14 report.  Emailed Geraldine and Philip V for signatures for new member letters.  Then attacked the Intrepid packing - made a good start but ran out of steam by the evening.  Watched Silent Witness and had an early night with a hot drink and last of M&S fruit brandies.

Went pushing this morning.  A very hot and sunny day which was nice.  Quite a long walk found Chiswick House.  I stayed for the tea and Monica gave Suki and me a lift home which was very welcome.  In the afternoon made a start on updating the membership database with 1991-2 report.  Set of at 4.45 to go to Harrow to ring handbells at Chris O'Mahony's place.  Took me an hour (rather than 25 minutes) because of road works and extra traffic due to tube strike.  I wasn't last though!  Had a couple of attempts at peal of St Clements Bob Major but it didn't go so after a brief interlude for a drink and cheese and biscuits we rang a fast and accurate QP of Yorkshire Major which was great fun.  Only took me 20 minutes to get home! Had a glass of wine with Lorraine and went to bed and watched episode of Crimson Field. Mike went to Richmond practice.

Walked over to Patricia's for lunch and to help with tax forms.   Had spicy chick peas, followed by banana rum and raisin ice cream.  Got the forms done and had nice long chat.  Suki had one of her incontinent moments and soaked one of the chairs (and me).  Walked back but got the E3 from Chiswick Pool.  Rather nice as we had the single seat behind the driver all the way so Suki could look out but not get in anyone's way.  Bus became very crowded as there was a tube strike on. Lorraine cooked supper for us - Indian food which was delicious.  Went to first rehearsal of Chiswick Choir summer term - will probably not sing in the concert as won't be able to attend enough rehearsals.

Went over to Clapham in the afternoon for a QP attempt of spliced surprise minor. It was stood up just before the end because conductor had swapped with someone and I was very relieved as there had been some awful leads in the first twenty minutes with chords and bells missing on the front although it did settle down later.  When I got back Lorraine had booked her accommodation for July in the Lake District and this motivated me to look at cottages for Rovers week.  Booked a nice one-bedroomed cottage in Aldbourne for £500 - Hales Cottage - and  10% of accommodation cost was donated to Dogs Trust. Also ordered a portable charger for the phone and iPad, and some air freshners!, for Intrepid next week.  Quite a reasonable practice at Chiswick in the evening - Charlotte turned up for a ring to try the shoulder out and Alley came along too.  Mike had been to him for a haircut that afternoon.  Had steak baguette in the pub for supper.

Walked dog.  Went to church. Coffee and cake at Starbucks in Barnes.  Rang some Stedman at Barnes.  Didn't need to ring at Chiswick as enough came over from Barnes and Martin was there.  Mike went back to Barnes to ring a QP at midday (miscalled - but something of a struggle).  I went church sitting.  Did poppy cross stitch and watched first episode of Crimson Field on iPad when church was empty. Went by bike as traffic gridlocked due to road closures in Hammersmith.   Mike walked the dog and then went out to ring an evensong QP at Thames Ditton - apparently very good - and then go to a committee meeting, so I also had a nice quiet evening in to myself watching Silent Witness and another early night.