It's life, Jim in Hello.

I’ve got Rob here for a couple of days, which is nice. He’s just got up now and he’s gone to see my nana and granda with my mam. I think I’ll put a chicken casserole in the slow cooker, then we can go for a walk this afternoon, depending on how much walking John feels like he can do.
We were through in Next Town yesterday to buy a new telly as our old one just suddenly stopped working last week. It might sound weird, but in my 50 orbits around the sun, I’ve never bought a new TV before, we’ve always had hand me downs from family members. It just so happened that Belle has a spare one she could have lent us, but John was adamant we’d get a new one with OLED and Smart and lots of other letters I have no clue about. There wasn’t really much difference in the TVs when we got to the shop. We didn’t want a massive one, nor to spend a fortune. We’d narrowed it down to 2, but the salesman pointed us in the direction of one that was higher spec, at around the same price. So we chose that one. He even carried it to the car for us. While we were there, I went to the nearby car parts shop and bought a tail light bulb for my car (MOT next month, it’s an instant fail for the light to be out) then popped round the corner to pick Rob up from the train station. Belle, who lives in Next Town, had met us in Currys while we were buying the TV, so we all squished into the car and came home. John, Belle and Rob set up the new telly then when Eleanor came home, we went into the lakes so we could have dinner at Belle’s work. That was very lovely, John had soup, Rob had a bratwurst hotdog, me and Belle shared a pizza and Eleanor just wanted a piece of flapjack. Belle paid for that with her staff discount. It was just very lovely and informal. I love where she works, it has such a nice feel.
We then came home, Rob and I bought some beers and went to visit my parents for a while. I slept like a baby when I got home!
Eleanor has decided not to go to school today. She’s slap bang in the middle of her GCSEs, but doesn’t have an exam today. She only has 3 more exams this week, then it’s half term, then she only has to go back in for her exams. I can’t believe she’s almost finished compulsory school forever! My baby! She’s planning on doing 6th form, but has a backup plan of going to college. She’s amazingly relaxed, I thought she’d be in bits and really teary. But every day she’s getting up and going to school like it’s no issue at all.
Right, going in the shower now, then to buy the ingredients for the slow cooker. I’m thinking chicken stew with roasties and crusty bread for dinner. I know it’s not really summer food, but it will be easier than making say, a roast for us all.
Edit: change of plan, I’ve decided to make a pasta dish, some antipasti and bread rolls. I think it will be nicer to have a dinner we can pick at and eat slowly. I miss our family meals at the dining table.

Last updated May 23, 2023