Been a bit of an odd week. On Sat Ken and I went to Wells for a couple of hours while Kai got homework done. Lovely to get out of Bristol together! Enjoyed the trip, as ever - Glastonbury Tor was rising out of a sea of mist as we descended the hill, very mysterious and Arthurian (but we were moving too fast for a photo, alas). Did a little shopping, but didn't find what I was looking for, unfortunately. Nice trip all the same.

Then on Sunday, after shopping and lunch, Kai and I walked the Whitchurch Way, as I'd promised him. Sunny to start with, then the mists rolled in and it got a little cold, which was actually rather pleasant.

12 lengths swim on Monday morning, then after Kai headed off got some client work done. I've been asked to take over the BCHS site, and Fox and Howard want a revamp of theirs before the London Bookfair in April, not to mention I'm transferring WaveWrights to 123-reg at the end of the month and Ken thinks a revamp is a good idea, so it's now urgent I learn html5 asap. In the evening I met Ken at Curry's in Avonmeads and we decided on one of these. It's a little smaller than the current one, but it has five fridge shelves and four door compartments (which we really need), and now that I can't carry anything like as much as I used to, I have to shop more often, which means I can pick up everything we need fresh, so more fridge space and less freezer space is much better. It still has plenty of capacity for our needs.

Tuesday evening I met Kai from Uni, treated him to a meal at the Crazy Fox, then we were off to see Michael Berry's Optica Fantastica lecture at the Institute of Physics (one of of Bristol's annual Festival of Ideas events: we try to go to at least one every year, many of them are free). It was wonderful, and I learned a lot, but some of the concepts were unfamiliar so not only did the brain get a bit of a workout but Kai was very happy to explain the things I didn't know on the way home. Though I'm still uncertain about the concept of 'knottiness'...

Wed was supposed to be quieter, but after two lots of shopping and a small baking session (I had several ripe bananas to use up so made a banana loaf -

- a John Barrowman recipe I found online, extremely tasty but it gave me an upset stomach and Kai a touch of stomach ache. No idea why, it was properly cooked and the ingredients were all fine. Ken was OK...) I didn't have much time left to do anything.

Yesterday morning was my appt at the BRI. I thought it was about my arm, but it was actually a review of my hip. All OK, but the manipulating and prodding has of course left it aching today. Still, the exercising is making a difference. Next review in six months.

Afterwards I did a major hunt through Broadmead and Cabot Circus for a Yule present for mum in law. She's recently bought herself an 'autumn coloured' coat and wants an autumn coloured headsquare to go with it. Problem is, they're now definitely out of fashion and very hard to find (unless you can afford £69 for pure silk at House of Fraser). So that was a bit of a washout. Caught the bus to Broadwalk to make Kai's second MMR appt and go to the PO, then walked home. After dinner Ken and I cleaned behind and under the old fridge in preparation for the new one...

... which is being delivered between 3.10 and 7.10 this afternoon, according to the text I got at 6.58 this morning. Yay!

Tomorrow is set aside for major shopping expeditions to both Sains and Tesco. I've saved up £30's worth of Sains rewards, which is enough to stock up the freezer, and I have a 'spend £50 save £7' Tesco voucher which will come in handy in stocking up for Yule stuff. So we're all organised!

Tesco had The Book Thief cheap, so I picked that up. Hoping to watch it over the weekend.

Labels: busyness, client sites, cooking, medical matters, presents