Tuesday 15 April 2025: The spring bulbs are blooming

The weekend was a full and busy one and even felt a bit hectic, even though we steadily plodded our way through everything that needed doing.

Saturday

Saturday didn’t start particularly well when we thought our milk delivery hadn’t arrived. It had arrived, but instead of leaving it in our safe, cool place, they left it just over the gate at the top of our drive where anyone could have grabbed it, and it was in full sun. So the first thing I did was fire off a complaint.

We wanted to go back to Meadowhall to buy yet more clothes plus another couple of odds and sods to take away with us. We began by starting late. D’uh! And as it was already midday by the time we were ready to go out, we decided to have our midday breakfast first, while I wrote up a shopping list.

Off we headed, then, to a caravan and campervan/motorhome showroom to have a look at the accessory shop there. It was quite a distance, but it was only when we got there that we discovered there was no accessory shop. We did a search, and there was another place about 40 minutes away, but it was in the wrong direction. And then I saw that there’s a Go Outdoors in Meadowhall.

So we turned the car around and went straight to Meadowhall, only to find that it was a Go Outdoors Express and not a big store at all. And that meant it was mostly clothing. We wanted a pop-up laundry bag but they didn’t have one. What they did have was a pan set and some boot bags. So we snaffled those and carried on with our other shopping. Later, while we had something to eat, the poet ordered a pop-up laundry bag online

We returned home via the supermarket, where we did our regular weekly shopping. When we got home, the new dash-cam had been delivered to our safe place, plus new batteries for the photography and videography equipment. Once the shopping was put away, the poet explored his new purchases.

I had a reply from Kobo regarding the Ellery Queen issue, thanking me for taking the time to contact them, promising to elevate my suggestions, and offering me a fiver for a new book. 

Sunday 

On Sunday morning, the milk delivery people replied to my complaint, apologising and promising to look into it further. We went out to see the poet’s mum and continued on to B&Q to pick up some compost. When we got back, the poet went to collect the campervan so he could instal the new dash-cam.

While he did that, I went into the garden. I planted out 9 sweet peas in 3 pots and made wigwams for them. I planted 12 potatoes in 3 tubs. And I sowed 8 cucumbers in 4 pots. The poet helped me with the heavy lifting as I was still only at 5 weeks following my operation and I wasn’t supposed to lift anything heavy for at least 6 weeks. 

I wanted to sow the cucumbers directly into 2 troughs, but the seed packet warned that they needed to be under glass until the temperatures were more constant and a little warmer. So they went into a portable propagator instead for now, although we did put the compost in the troughs ready for when they can be transplanted.

The poet moved a few empty pots out of sight and swept the patio. I arranged the pots so the flowers can be seen through the patio door in the dining room and the vegetables can be seen from the office window. The two pots I planted with layers of bulbs in the winter are blooming gorgeous. 

It was nice to be in the garden again. The dash-cam took literally minutes, so the van went back to the compound. When he got back we watched Birmingham City FC (my #1 football club) get beat at Wembley. (Congratulations to Peterborough United for winning 2–0!) We finally sat down at about 5pm to enjoy what was left of the weekend, we had a roast beef dinner, and we watched the Masters until gone midnight.