Gutted

Well, it seems that the children have FINALLY returned to school. I saw two getting off a bus after the gym and another group of three in Farnham. They were all wearing school uniforms. My heart grew lighter by the child.

I’ve read a few posts on Instagram lately where parents are saddened by the thought of their little ones heading off back to school. Sometimes it’s for the first time, others it’s just going back. Personally I don’t see why the kids should have any holidays given they tend to use them just to ruin my life.

But not today. Today was beautifully devoid of school aged children (apart from the five I mentioned earlier). However, better than that, one thing the day wasn’t devoid of was sardines. Yes, finally, Waitrose had sardines on a day I could cook them for myself for dinner.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned how much I love grilled sardines. I always think back to the ones I had in Essaouira. They were so fresh they were almost flopping around on my plate except for the fact that they’d been grilled and, before that, gutted.

I wasn’t quite so fortunate with the Waitrose sardines because I had to gut them before I could grill them. Still, drawing on experiences from years ago, I sliced their bellies open and removed the bits that were not needed.

Something that astounded me was the price. I asked for three of them and the total price came to 93p. The woman at the fish counter asked if I wanted another to get over the £1 mark and I said yes.

So, apart from some spinach and an avocado, my dinner cost £1.28! And if I include those things the actual cost was under £3. So, delicious and remarkably cheap.

Most of the afternoon was spent organising our internal travel in Spain (lots of trains and a couple of buses) so we know where we’re going and when. It’s one of those jobs that you start and then before you know it a couple of hours have slipped by and the sun has started to slip below the yardarm. 

Naturally we went to the park after lunch. Today Freya wanted to say hello to the cows. Actually she went into the paddock, took one look at this lot and ran back to me and safety.

The weather was glorious and perfect for the almost constant washing on the line, drying by nature’s gentle breath. I also marked out the new position for Mirinda’s Future Greenhouse.

A splendid day here at home though poor Mirinda had some bad news at work involving an employee who is leaving. It was unexpected and undesired. She wasn’t happy.