Thursday 6 June 2013

Grease Monkey

Sad news on Anne, she has had another set back and has been returned to critical care. Hopefully it will only be for a day or two so I'll keep you posted.

Another fabulous day out and about. We went into Watford first and trawled the charity shops for books. I was delighted to find four in the series I'd stalled on so will be able to get a bit further in the storyline now. I was forced to use the trike as I was feeling a little breathless following my efforts the previous day. Then it was off into the shopping center where I was left on my own while Peter went off to Maplin. Now we all know I should never be left alone in a shopping center because I tend to go mad.

We thought these were windows at first but
they are actually the entrances to the long gone galleries.


First stop was the Lakeside kitchen shop where I'd planned to go to pick up a new garlic press as Andrew 'muscles' Roberts had broken mine in two last week. I walked out with a cake cover, well I am baking now and no one wants flies in their icing. A new metal sieve found it's way into the basket and I almost got away with a cider making kit but I couldn't lift it off the shelf, maybe that's a sign, and of course the garlic press.

Then it was on to Lush where I bought some shower gels, face scrubs and some hand cream. I was feeling quite virtuous until I spotted Sweet Heaven, which was packed with sweets I remember loving as a child. Seven pounds later and feeling extremely guilty I was happily sucking on a cough candy while clutching a bag containing clove drops, wine gums, gob stoppers, no I don't know how they got in there, and pear drops.

Having salved my guilt by handing my sweets around with the words 'I thought you'd like these', we then headed for Hatfield and the grand clear out.

The view through the church from the doorway

Oh. My. God! Having managed to fit everything into one suitcase and a couple of boxes in September the amount of accumulated junk looked like it was best suited to a small van rather than my little Mito. The boys made a start on the actual bedroom while I cleared the kitchen. There was a lot of canned goods to bring back, and about a kilo of pasta, not difficult to work out what he'd been living on. Once all packed away into several carrier bags I set about collecting up his crockery, pots, pans and cutlery. I immediately wished I'd taken some of my medical gloves. Everything felt greasy and tacky to touch, quite obviously washing in hot water was not a regular thing. Gingerly I filled another box and designated it 'straight to dishwasher' then washed my hands in fairy liquid and dried them on some tissues. The dish cloth and towel looking stiff and germ ridden. I think my baby is going to have to have a few lessons entitled 'swilling under the tap is not enough' and 'tea towels do not wash themselves' before he goes back in September.

I'd made a point of teaching both boys to cook, sew and iron but clearly I'd fallen down in the washing up lessons, revision is an essential.

Car packed to the roof we returned home where the rest of the evening was spent loading and unloading the dishwasher and washing machine. Everything is now sparkling and grease free and packed ready for the next big move.

Today we have been invited up to spend the afternoon with Laurence. He is very keen to show off his garden and try out his new furniture. Sadly the barbecue was deemed beyond saving and has been junked so we have been promised a takeaway.

Slightly sinister when in shadow

The Apprentice Watch

This is a series that just keeps giving.

I am developing a soft spot for 'eyebrow' Alex. Not only does he have a sense of humour, as demonstrated when he shouting 'I don't need that I'm Welsh' when offered Viagra in last week's show, but he seems to have a good business brain.

Sadly the same cannot be said for the girls and unfortunately both teams had girls as project managers.  Leah and her lip gloss headed team Endeavor and immediately started to throw her wait around. The task was to host a corporate, team building, away day for a budget of £5000. The team who kept most of the money in profit and got the best feed back won.

Leah decided she wanted a history theme event as she deemed it to be more classy than the other idea of going back to school. After much argument a vote was taken and the school theme won two to one but Leah was having none of it and stuck by her historical themed idea. While the sub team was sent off to source suitable medieval activities Lean went to see the CEO to find out exactly what was expected. He wanted his employees to learn to listen and communicate better, a request that immediately went right over Leah's head. However something must have hit home because she then phoned the sub team, who had just secured an archery teacher plus equipment for a knock down price, and told them the theme was now military. Alex looked like he was going to explode and quickly came to the conclusion that Leah didn't know what she was doing, the others agreed.

Less so in bright sunshine

Over at Evolve project manager Francesca had decided the school theme was the best idea and quickly decided that they needed a mix of games and new experiences, one of which would be chocolate making. Mouthy Luisa disagreed, in fact Luisa disagreed with everything and set about undermining Francesca at every turn. However the price of hiring a chocolate maker for the day proved to be too much so Luisa said she's run a cup cake decorating session. Bet you can't guess what Luisa's business idea is. However having made a point of stating, several times, that she made cakes all the time because that was her business she mysteriously sent Rebecca and James into a supermarket to buy handfuls of undecorated cup cakes. Of course she totally missed the point that most people make their own cakes but very few make chocolate so which one would their delegates prefer?

Both teams decided to finish the day with a motivational speaker. Evolve hired theirs for six hundred pounds Endeavor used Neil.

Back in the boardroom Endeavor won by a margin which meant Leah's lip gloss, honestly her top lip is nearly touching her nose now, could go back in the makeup bag for another week. Their treat was a trip to the spa where Alex had his eyebrows waxed.

One of the many carvings on the new church


The expensive speaker proved to be Evolves undoing and Francesca brought Rebecca back for merely suggesting a professional speaker, while Luisa was picked for being annoying and doing a fair hatchet job on the project. Francesca had twigged her little game from the start and was having none of it.

In the end quiet, dignified Rebecca went, which mightily annoyed Luisa whose comment about hating the corporate world earned her a rare rebuke from Karen. Not willing to change her stance Luisa was told Lord Sugar would be keeping an eye on her from now on. Possibly not the comment or the firing Luisa had hoped for.

The pictures are from my recent trip out.

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