Our New Life in Devon

 The doorbell rang on Monday afternoon, and there stood daughter and granddaughter saying, 'surprise surprise!" I didn't even know they were coming, but it was nice to see them again. Our dog, Molly, was at the groomers that day, which is a good thing as daughter is allergic, and so am I now. I never was before I had these 2 spaniels. Molly came home and smelled lovely of coconut shampoo. We all settled on a Chinese takeaway for dinner as we didn't have enough food thawed out in the fridge to cook for them both.  Tuesday Mark, our son, came in the evening for 2 nights. He's back at work on Good Friday and working all over Easter.. We all had a walk around the town but I didn't buy anything, and we ended up in a nice little friendly pub for a drink. Granddaughter had fun walking the dogs on the beach and park each day with son and OH. She loves it here and didn't want to go home!  Wednesday we all went for a meal in a village between Dawlish and Teignmouth. ...

 Returned home tonight as I've been to London for a few days. I quite liked being a tourist with my daughter. We stayed in a very nice 4* hotel on the outskirts of London, with a pool, gym, sauna etc. which was great for daughter while I relaxed in our room. I was very impressed with how clean the streets were in our area, not one piece of litter anywhere, not even a cigarette butt. We toured a local shopping outlet where prices were very low for branded items and travelled on the underground each day. I fell in love with a summer jacket (which is fatal)  and just had to buy it in Oxford Street! It was quite expensive but I didn't buy anything else on this trip lol. We walked through a huge beautiful park near Buckingham Palace, houses of Parliament and Big Ben. The next day we went for afternoon tea at the Ritz. You really feel like royalty there with the staff all very attentive, real tea in silver pots, sugar cubes with tongs, lovely sandwiches, scones and cakes. I even rec...

 We had a nice surprise the other day as son Mark and our nephew came on a day visit. They met OH in the park as it was his time for dog walking, so they knew where to find him. I love it when people just turn up, as it's the way we've always lived. Many other people I know are on the 'appointments system' including our DIL but son is fine about it if she's at work lol. One friend of mine always needs a weeks notice for us to arrange a visit, which I do find strange as she lives alone and isn't very active.  If family are staying over then we do arrange things around them, so 24hrs notice is usually given. This nephew has always been like another son, and we're very close. He's lived with us for months at a time several times over the years. Ebay sales are so poor at the moment I'm considering giving it up. My sister and her friends are having the same problems with nothing selling also. Everything came to a standstill early February when they starte...

 I've had a nice few days with Mark staying here. He's well over his monthly contracted hours so has taken time off in leiu. It's great having him here as he's a good help around the house, vacuuming, helping OH cook, loading the dishwasher etc. He's a perfectionist so everything is done really well. Daughter has almost finished granddaughter's room. OH put the wardrobe and desk together for her when he stayed there and she's put the curtain up. They are just waiting for the bed now and it's finished. She's sent me some photos and it all looks lovely.  Had a message this week from an old friend I haven't seen for years. I went to her mother's funeral about 7 years ago. I think that was the last time I heard from her! Her mum was a lovely, kind lady who was always kind to my family when we were young. TBH I'm not that keen on rekindling the friendship as she's one of life's users - the sort that needs loads of favours doing but won...

 I've bought a few nice tops from Ebay as I'm going to a posh hotel in London for afternoon tea next month. It was a Xmas present from one of my adult children. I always prepare things well in advance lol. Decided to hand wash them as they have decorations sewn around the neckline so wouldn't survive the spin cycle. Put them on the line as there was a nice light breeze blowing so wouldn't take long to drip dry. And then it poured with rain! Well they can stay there as they're soaking wet anyway!  Must stop watching the news as its so depressing atm. What with Trump trying to bankrupt Canada and just wiping shares off his own country, plus the 2 ships that collided, and Russia still at war with Ukraine there's no good news around at all. One of my children never watches TV or the news and never has. They hear bits at work when colleagues discuss it so stay reasonably up to date. Had a bad night last night. I was up 3 times coughing despite taking an allergy pill ...

 The new hairdresser still didn't bother to wash my hair, despite me telling her when I booked the appointment that I definately wanted it washed and cut! She just sprayed it with a water spray, which is more than the last hairdresser did. The cut is fine but at £23 I do think she could have afforded the water to wash it. I never have it dried anyway, so there's no cost on electricity. I had a major coughing and sneezing episode at the salon, which was my fault entirely. I take allergy meds every morning due to my dog allergy as we have 2 dogs. But, I forgot to take it until I was just leaving the house, and it takes around an hour to work. Hairdresser had an adorable labrador dog in the salon that I couldn't resist cuddling and smoothing while I was waiting for her to finish another customer's hair. Thankfully, the coughing had stopped by the time she was ready to cut my hair, as the tablets had started to take effect. So, that's another hairdresser I won't be ...

 Back to the vet today and it's better but still not cleared up. The vet prescribed more antibiotics to extend the course to 9 days. Hopefully that should clear it up. She's so active in herself you would never know there was anything wrong. Dogs seem to cope much better than us.  We called in OH's localish pub on the way home. It was so cold in there we didn't stay long. I wish they would put some heating on. I know it's expensive but they have a log burner that they had just started lighting at 5.30pm as we were leaving. Just a few men were in there and all had thick coats on.  OH had a nice surprise, though, as he'd won a leg of lamb in the meat raffle last weekend. Ive had to put it in the freezer as we've already bought shopping for this week.             Biscuit Cutters for Easter Tomorrow we're off to Teignmouth to get my hair cut and then going to the shops. I love looking in the charity shops, and need a few things from Superdrug whi...