We’ve arrived home tonight, for me after a three-nights away trip and for DM, just a single night away – oh – did I say that the best bit of last night was that he was there? Well, he was and I was so grateful for that and am today so thrilled to have spent the day travelling with him rather than alone. Somewhat pathetically perhaps I was just overwhelmed with pleasure and love when I collected him from the lobby of my hotel and took him up to what had been ‘my’ room and was about to become ‘our’ room.

When we got in, the post was piled up on the stairs where Christine, our dog-sitter had left it for us. There was a big parcel addressed to both of us and it was completely unexpected! We examined it to find it had come from White Lodge. Claz!

Once the box was opened, it was all a bit surreal because it contained a number of pressies from Christmas and birthdays that she’s bought and for whatever reason, we’ve never received….in fact, the Christmas before last, she took pressies for us to her soon-to-be-ex-husband’s parents’ house for us to collect them and we have just received them today!!!

So, it was an exciting moment as we tore off wrapping paper and enjoyed these lovely gifts. We got a book, a really glam photo album (NOT that sort of glam – a black satin album with a diamante bow – very cool indeed), a clock, some fabby candles and this cute little hot rod duck! DM has been so thrilled he’s been charging round with it for half an hour or more. It’s even got little exhausts at the back – along with flamed sides. Thank you, thank you, thank you Claz. We love you!

Perhaps the best bit of all was the card which said ‘although we don’t get together so much or talk to each other as often as I’d like you’re still in my thoughts always’. That meant so much to me because I miss her being around and close by more than I can say.

As you may expect after a long, fraught and stressful week, I’m not feeling overly creative tonight so really this is one of my better cop-outs in as much as it was easily set-up and done and required very little from me other than filling the sink in the new bathroom with bubbles and plonking in the duck, then putting the camera on a tripod.

And yep – that’s part of the new bathroom, which I’m aware hasn’t been subject of a ‘reveal’ but I’m saving that for when we’ve got the finishing touches done…..which will be soon now we can lay flooring because the wiring is more-or-less finished so the floorboards can go back down.

Keeping people out of Reading was my thought last year.

BTW for anyone interested, this is day 1322 consecutive