Comedy of errors

I took the day off yesterday and Monday so that I could enjoy four days away from work. I thought that was a good idea. I began my break on Thursday afternoon after work. I headed for the shops in Exeter to find some really good bargains. I bought a pair of leather wedges (red) and office shoes (burgundy) from Clarks for less than 25 quid! Then I went to Debenhams and I picked up two fab skirts, one from Principles and the other from Wallis, and two pretty tops. Not bad! I do not shop very often but I do enjoy retail therapy.
I was getting really excited about my four day break and looked forward to it.
I started Friday by washing my car. I haven’t done it for quite sometime because we haven’t had any rain but the bonnet was covered with dead insects and it was rather dusty. I gave the car a really good clean inside out. After that I decided to go to Axminster to see if the shops’ sales. Again I was on the lookout for bargains. I was keen to go that I held off cleaning the house after my shopping expedition. Axminster was a seven minute drive away. I found free parking and even managed to park my car the way I wanted (reversed parking). I enjoyed going in and out of the shops and buying an item here and there. I also managed to do some food shopping at the Co-op. I really couldn’t face Tesco during my holiday. When I go home I discovered I lost my prescription sunglasses. I called the shops but no-one has turned them in. What a bummer! It’s a good thing I have an old pair. I was quite annoyed with myself. I’ll have to book for an eye test and get a new pair. This time I am getting the ones that change colour according to the light. No more messing around!
I was still in a low state of mind when I decided to do the laundry. I thought that would take my mind off my loss but as I was hanging the clothes to dry outside, I noticed that I haven’t closed the side gate properly and the wind blew it open. Earlier I used the hose to water the plants outside. All I could hear was the sound of Sam’s name tag and pendant tinkling against each other. Oh no! He’s ran off!!!! My mind was in total panic. I tried to calm myself. Then I heard the dog next door barking. I quickly got Sam’s lead and harness. I thought I would be able to entice Sam for walkies. I ran outside calling him name in my normal voice. The last thing I wanted was for him to notice my rising panic. I just know he’ll head further away for a bit of a play. I couldn’t see him immediately then I saw a flash of white fluff heading for the bushes. I calmly said, “Come on Sammy, walkies!” over and over again. Luckily Sam found a ball and started playing with it. He then came up to me and I quickly grabbed him. Safely back at home, I washed his new yellow ball and went back to my chores.
The rest of the afternoon was uneventful…or so I thought. Around 10pm Peter and I decided to sit outside on the bamboo terrace (it was balmy night) but after half an hour I felt I needed to go back in because of hayfever (itchy eyes, runny nose, etc). I quickly took a shower to remove pollen from my skin. After the shower I opened my medicine cabinet which was rather big. It had two big doors and made out of heavy wood. It was hanging above the toilet. I had a collection of small decorative bottles and they were displayed on top of it. As I opened the cabinet I heard a huge sound and the whole structure came off the wall! It happened like slow motion. It hit me squarely on top of my head and I managed to keep the doors closed while keeping it against the wall. The bottles broke and shards of glass were strewn on the carpet. I wasn’t wearing any slippers! I yelled out for Peter who was in the lounge room. Luckily he heard the sound as well and rushed to my aid. I had to quickly warn him about the glass because I knew he loves walking barefoot. Take note, this was almost 11pm—well past my bedtime. Peter took the load away from me and I got the pan and brush to clear out the debris. I vacuumed the carpet and tried cleaning the stain left by the contents of a broken soap bottle. What a day!
It is raining today. We haven’t had decent rain for ages. Of course I just washed my car yesterday! I reckon the fates are against me!

Heatwave!

I’ve been back at work for a week now and my holidays feel like they never happened! Ever since I came back last Thursday, I was thrust into chaos. If problems were opportunities then I am spoilt for choice. Maybe they should just change my job description into two words—problem solver. Yesterday was not just a bad day in terms of stress but it was also the hottest July day since 1911, a whopping 35 degrees Celsius! At least this morning we have cloud cover but it is humid. We are having refurbishments in our building and it looks like a building site and a rubbish tip at the moment. It is noisy, hot and messy. How I am going to survive this summer I will never know.
Last Friday I attended the Graduation Ball as one of the organisers. It was satisfying to see everything come together. It took over six months of organisation for that night alone. There were over 1600 partygoers paying £70 each. It was huge! I left the party close to midnight and arrived near one in the morning. In spite of the exhaustion I was determined to clear up my garden the following day. Peter and I created a private corner at the top of the garden. My father in law christened it as Bamboo Terrace. We surrounded the deck with bamboos and we love it!
Our holiday at the Isles of Scilly was good but not brilliant because we did not really have the right weather. Most days it was cloudy but we had a couple of bright days and we went to Bryher, a neat little island off St Mary’s. It was fun. I missed Sam terribly and my house as well. Peter and I were so happy to get Sam back. He was “barkless” for a couple of days which was quite amusing. Now he’s back to his impish self.
I cannot wait for the weekend. I would like to spend a lot of time at home in my garden tending to my plants. We planted a new wisteria by the front door because the clematis that was there wasn’t performing as good as I wanted. Watering is getting to be a problem because of the water restrictions. We need to invest in drought tolerant plants. Imagine drought in England! That’s global warming for you!