First things first. Thank you so much to everyone who sent kind messages about Samuel. He is recovering well, in fact he’s feeling better than he has in years he reckons.
I’ve no idea how long his appendix was grumbling along for but I think it’s a fair bet to say that it’s been some time.
He feels like a new man. So much so I’m tempted to have my appendix removed. He’s so perky now. ;) hahahahaha
We had a busy, but an emotionally less stressful week.
We started with a little week day treat. For Chris’s 50th birthday (some 18 months ago) his colleague’s bought him a Porsche driving experience. He’s had it booked in a couple of times now, but with covid it was put back and put back.
Well, hallelujah! It finally happened.
The Porsche driving days are at Silverstone race track. We headed up early Tuesday for it.
What a wonderfully thoughtful pressie. He had an absolute blast!
Me with my baby…
The belated birthday boy. :)
His session finished around lunch time, so I asked Chris what was near by. He happened to mention that Bicester village was about half an hour away.
Say no more, don’t mind if I do!…
Jumper and trousers from Hollister, Shoes and bag from Tods
We had lunch at Cafe Wolsey and then shopped. I actually now feel set for autumn. I like to prep early. I can’t promise I won’t buy anything else but as it stands I don’t actually need to.
Why am I talking about autumn in August? Well, because it’s England and it pretty much feels like autumn already.
I find it’s a good idea to get stocked up on clothes that suit you when you see them, and I just happened to have seen a lot lately that fit my needs.
The mint green trousers are from Hollister. I bought them the other day and they are absolutely dreamy. I thought I had bought four similar pairs, I tried the green ones on in the shop and just grabbed them in every colour.
It was only when I got home that I realised the rest of them were massive bell bottoms! I did laugh. They looked appalling on me. My bell bottom days are long gone now. I’m not totally sure they were ever my thing.
I took them straight back. I’m very happy with the green ones. They are so stretchy. They feel like a second skin.
The weather hasn’t been great, but I didn’t fancy the restrictive nature of jeans. So these trousers were heaven.
I ate my lunch in them and didn’t think twice about it. That’s how comfortable and stretchy they are, and how safe I felt.
On Wednesday I met my bestie for brunch. I took her to the place I met a friend the other day. I was so impressed with it. Michelle was too, she hadn’t ever been before.
If you’re in Colchester I totally recommend The Barn garden centre cafe, just down Turkey Cock Lane. I think it’s the best breakfast/brunch place that I’ve been to locally.
Dress from Tesco, Shoes from Gucci
Now this was a bit of a sticky situation of a day for me. I’m meant to be losing weight (as ordered by the government), but I happen to love food and socialising. Bit of a tricky combo for weight loss.
So I skipped breakfast, had brunch and then went out in the evening as planned for Ben’s birthday.
In fact, I believe that is the very purpose of brunch. It’s a replacement for both meals.
I’m not getting bent out of shape about the fact the government guidelines say I’m overweight. I’ve been skinny before and I can assure you I find no comfort in the memories of that time.
I am the happiest I’ve ever been. I consider myself blessed.
I suffer chronic insomnia, chronic fatigue syndrome and have the aftermath of cancer to deal with.
The fact that I’m up and about every day is something of a miracle, so no, I can’t concern myself too much with being ‘overweight’ by government guidelines.
I am very happy thank you very much. Not sure if BMI can take that into account. ;)
Anyway, brunch was fantastic. We were still there some three hours later, chatting away. I’m amazed we weren’t asked to leave our table. It was so lovely, so un-rushed. It really is a wonderful place for food. The garden centre is fantastic too.
Then in the evening we headed out to a really nice Chinese restaurant near us.
Dress from Michael Kors, Shoes and bag from Jimmy Choo
We’ve been going to Lian’s in Witham for a fair few years now. And the boys have celebrated a fair few birthdays there too.
We had a fantastic meal. It was so nice to share our baby boys special day with him and Kaitlyn, and Ally & James.
…Thursday can only mean one thing…
It’s vaccine centre day!! It really is one of the highlights of my week. There’re so many layers to volunteering. It’s doing good in the community of course. But it’s also doing good for my self esteem and general well being and worth. It makes me feel good. It’s doing good. Everyone’s a winner! :)
I get to meet new people. Mostly lovely people too. Only had two rotters in the whole time I’ve been doing it. One was last Thursday, silly man, shouting at me because he had failed to comprehend this government’s guidance on gap in between doses.
The manufacturer says 28 days, this government’s protocol is 8 weeks. He read the 28 days bit and felt he should be able to have it done now!!!
He was very angry because he’d taken the time off work.
I was very calm, and tried to explain his misunderstanding of the situation. He was very angry.
I was very impressed with how calm and polite I was. I have a mouth like a sewer. I am one of life’s swearers. But I bit my tongue and stayed very polite. I’m going to chalk that up as a win! :)
I tried to be as diplomatic as I could, whilst explaining that he was confusing what is allowed by the manufacturer, and what is set out by the government.
Apart from him - bringing the mood down - Mr Mood Hoover - 2021. It was a really joyful afternoon and evening. Everyone else was just pleased to be getting it done and dusted.
Lots of 16 year olds very happy to get done, and a couple on a date night. :)
Jumper from Hollister, Trousers from Next, Shoes from Tory Burch.
I love a bit of navy. Navy is always classy. I find black is sexy, navy is classy…and I just tend to avoid brown altogether. I wore brown leggings and a yellow jumper once, and a friend said I looked like an over ripe banana. Never went back to brown after that. :)
Then we come to the weekend. We booked ourselves into The Dilly hotel. I sadly won’t be recommending it to anyone, which is a shame as it had such potential.
But due to a fire alarm in the middle of the night, not ideal for an insomniac, who’d just got to sleep, we had to get dressed and walk down 8 flights of stairs. Only to be told the following morning they would only compt us our drinks and cake that we’d had there in the bar the previous day (£34).
No attempt was made to entice us to come back, no incentive to book again, and therefore no interest in our future custom. I won’t bother to book it again. There’s stiff competition in 5 star hotels in London. I wanted to feel valued as a customer and I simply didn’t.
We only live a 45 minute drive from London. We book hotels because we want to, not because we need to.
We book hotel rooms to sleep in. We did not get any sleep in ours - and not in a good way. ;)
Not that I expected to get that ruined night for free, obviously not, hotels have suffered greatly through the pandemic, but I did think some sort of discount when booking a future stay with them wouldn’t have gone amiss.
Anyway, rant over.
The reason we went to London was to try a newly opened restaurant. Madhus of Mayfair!
We have been going to Madhus in Southall for many years, after a dear friend introduced us to it. We love the food. It’s a mixture of Indian and Kenyan cuisine. It’s utterly delicious. But Southall is a really long trek from our house.
So them opening up in central London is fantastic news for us!!
We had a restful afternoon pottering round London. We went to Fortnum and Mason. I needed (“needed?”) a few bits and bobs. Plus while I was in there I bought some of their delicious ginger biscuits for a friend going through chemo at the moment. Ginger saved my life when I had chemo, well, not literally, chemo and radiotherapy and a very clever surgeon did that bit. But ginger got me through some very tough times.
I felt like a right fancy pants when given a shopping trolley by one of the sales assistants. It’s the little things in life. Find joy where you can. :)
I’ve never been so happy in a supermarket. :)
I bought a few Bordallo Pinheiro bits. You know the stuff, the retro cabbagey plates etc. I’m getting a bit hooked on it to be honest. It just looks so good on a scaped table.
Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for our special dinner.
Top from Michael Kors, Trousers from Quiz, Shoes from Louboutin.
Gajjer ka halwa
The food at Madhus is even better than I remember it! I can’t recommend visiting a Madhus enough.
There are a few scattered around. They have a restaurant in The Grove hotel, and Madhus To Go on the fifth floor of Harvey Niks. It’s an extensive array of take away food, but there are a few dine in tables available.
Notice there is no photo of our main course from Friday night, that’s because we scoffed the lot before I remembered to.
I was disappointed that they didn’t bring my favourite desserts to Mayfair. I love Gulab Jamun, but I am obsessed with Keer. The last time I went to Madhus in Southall I brought a tub home and ate it for breakfast (I can’t think why the government think I’m so overweight?!?!) hahahahaha.
I was gutted it wasn’t on the menu.
The waiter suggested we try this new carrot dessert dish. Neither of us fancied it, so we ordered the Kulfi, Indian ice cream.
Anyway, the waiter brought the ice cream, but also brought the aforementioned carrot dish, because he felt it was vital to try it.
Oh my lord!! It was heaven! You have to try the gajjer ka halwa!! It is a masterpiece!!
I still love Keer. But I’m sold on the new pudding in town. :)
I love Indian food. I love all things Indian and India itself.
Madhus of Mayfair transported me back. What a blessing that is when we can’t visit India right now.
Top from Karl Largefeld, Leggings from Next, Shoes from Louis Vuitton
I would say - the next day we got up bright and early, but we hadn’t actually been back to sleep after the fire alarm.
Drained and exhausted (more so than normal) we went to breakfast.
Then off to, well, Ben’s birthday party. Is there an age you can be too old for a paintball party? If there is word hasn’t reached my family.
Ben booked to go with his friends, and Chris couldn’t contain himself. He used to play for a team in his youth. And although he is seriously debilitated with his back he was determined to give it a go! :)
I dropped Chris off and came home to prep for Ben’s surprise after party refreshments.
Do 23 year old boys care much for the intricacies of table scaping? No, not particularly. But I was pleased with the results.
I brought into my theme, every indoor potted plant I own and tea light holders. I wanted a camouflage effect.
I have a green linen runner, to which I added a hessian runner. Then I added cut foliage from the garden. The Bordallo plates and of course, a Colin Caterpillar cake, a must for a birthday in Britain.
Table scaping, beer and fifteen Dominoes pizzas made for a very pleasant evening.
It’s actually surprisingly cost effective, as over a certain amount you get 50% off. Which is an absolute bargain!
They’ve actually come out of the dark ages and now do a thinner based pizza.
Sunday morning Chris and I were up with the larks to get over to Costco. Kim had been the day before and had jolted me into starting my Halloween decor shopping and Christmas shopping!!
Early bird catches the worm and all that. :)
But as we had a friend coming for lunch. It seemed a good idea to pick up one of their sandwich selection packs.
I give myself credit for coping as well as I do with insomnia and fatigue. I also have no problem gifting myself short cuts.
Socialising is important to me, who makes the food isn’t. :)
Sunday was a two outfit day. No, I didn’t have a bag leak in skin tight white jeans. It’s a risk with anything tight. But no, I’m just really clumsy and spilt mayo down them.
I love eating out, but entertaining at home does have its benefits. It’s a great idea for the colostomy/stoma newbie to invite friends over.
That way you can see how your bag reacts to food intake, without missing out on seeing friends. Or having embarrassing leaks and bag fails out and about.
Jumper from Whistles, Jeans from New Look, Shoes from Louis Vuitton.
Cycling shorts from Boohoo
It was a busy week. But it was a good week. What more could one want for in life. xx