Your Day (apart from gardening) - what took place?

I haven't picked up a guitar since the start of the pandemic but decided to get back to playing. My fingers are sore and you would think I had never touched a guitar before.
I was on a large daily dose of an Opioid pain killer but decided to stop taking it. I am making do with the Paracetamol I was also taking. I am sorer but I feel so much better overall. Think that is why I picked up the guitar again. Just chords to start with. Started with "Angel Came Down From Heaven Yesterday".

 

Attended a talk plus demonstration about winter baskets and tubs in a nearby pub. It was jolly and educational as these things are , and I finally learnt how to pronounce "Heuchera". You English speakers certainly like to turn names with Latin origin into an obstacle course. Must be a cultural thing going back years and years, when "Life of Brian" was made

Fingered a lot of plants I have considered before, and decided to check if Morrisons have Gaulthera (that I now know how to pronounce) a bit cheaper than the local family garden centre who were giving the talk. Three of them would look good in my old wicker basket. Some grasses were also actually quite inspiring and architectural.

Valiantly didn't buy anything and didn't cry when I didn't win anything in the raffle (a near thing).

A very nice start to a couple of days off.

 

Alnwick today, minus the castle and the gardens we have visited countless times. This time we wanted to explore the actual town, which is a kind of mini- York minus the masses of people. The Bookshop is great fun with a model railway whizzing above your head and rows and rows and rows of books spreading across the vast ex- railway station. In any other country the space would host designer shops, handmade candles and herbal remedies, but here we have second hand books. Perfect.

Apparently Alnwickians are into dogs, posh hiking gear, dogs and antiquities. And dogs. Every store welcomed dogs and offered a drink and most also had a jar of dog treats at disposal. My Karrimor weatherproof jacket paled in comparison to the top of the range North Faces but we were after all served a nice brunch at Olive Branch tearoom. Sadly, they didn't sell badges with slogan "My other walking jacket is North Face".

Having bought day bus tickets, on our way back we hopped off at Morpeth, so near and never visited. The dogs-antiquities-poshoutdoorsy theme continued, with an addition of charity shops and hen do's. You can orienteer towards Newcastle just by following the groups with tiaras and specially printed tank tops The girls seemed to be having a lovely do

It takes over an hour from Newcastle to Alnwick by bus, and that's time very well spent. The landscape of rolling hills, ancient villages straight from Christie's Miss Marple books and the occasional glimpse of the sea is lovely.

 

I'm impressed. Went to Morrisons to pick up the weekly shop - pushing the trolley past the in-store pharmacy I noticed that they were offering flu jabs. Jabbed within 5 mins of enquiring. Saves such a lot of messing about - well done Morrisons I say .

There's not much you can't get from the supermarket nowadays.

 

Today my wife and I went for our Covid boosters and flu shots (the new Moderna dual vaccine). We had to go about 11 miles to Penicuik for it (luckily we have a car or it would be two buses there and two back) and it was a wonderful drive.

 

Eventually hubby got the invite for his pneumonia jab from his surgery so he went today. Saturday he's having his flu jab at his surgery, not sure if it will be a combined with Covid jab, they haven't come in yet.

 

Busy day with no time to do what I had initially planned to do in the garden. Grocery shopping, and a trip to the GC to stock up with MPC. Stock was very low and a lot of people were having a grumble. We went to a couple of places and have now got our usual quantity stacked and stored away.

This afternoon went to my sister's and we looked through knitting patterns to keep us occupied through the Winter.

Booked my 4th and hubs 5th Covid jab for Thursday afternoon, surprised to get an appointment so quickly. Flu jab next month..

Glad to get the Covid one done as we are travelling up by train to stay with our youngest up in London next month.

 

Going to take Barley for his booster at the vets, berry is staying at home it's less hassle that way.

 

Had our Covid boosters this afternoon, they also said we could have our flu jabs too so we ended up with having both. We had actually books ours for next month at our surgery so we cancelled them when we returned home. All done and dusted .

Popped into a charity shop next door to where we had our jabs and bought 2 jigsaw puzzles ...getting ready to collect things up to help pass the time during the grey winter days.

 

Yesterday, me and the Mrs headed off to Skegness for the day. Our daughter is starting Uni at Lincoln so we decided to spend 10 nights down here. Trip to Skegness started well, the fuel station on route was £1.49 for unleaded, filled up. Was a lovely day, so had a nice walk on the beach front where we had fish & chips for lunch. We then popped into Asda for some bits and bobs as we are staying at a holiday park, the cake shop in Asda was something else, temptation got the better of us, a lovely chilled day.

 

We spent a day at Skegness many, many moons ago (in the 80s I think) and enjoyed it. Yummy treats! Lovely photo.

 

So glad your trip is going well, lovely pic indeed.

 

Change of plan today we went and visited friends, but I did manage to grab a bit of ' garden time ' too. So a perfect day!

 

Finished the jigsaw we got for Christmas two years ago (no, it hasn't taken two years to make but has been in the cupboard waiting for the rainy day that came last week.) It's a family tradition to give just a bag of the pieces without the box and let the recipient figure out what the size and the theme is.

Thanks Brother. My eyes will never be the same again.