There's a lot of catching up to do

but most of it's boring.

Both Chris and I have colds. Mine has gone mostly to my head, which aches whenever thought looks like it will be required. Chris's has been mostly her throat, head and anything else that shouldn't feel uncomfy but did. She's mostly better today, but I took the day of as leave because I wanted more freedom to do stuff (more later) than I can allow myself when on a sickie.

Saturday was supposed to be a day off for us to be together. Having done chores we were talking about where to go when Ben got up and asked if I'd be able to 'help him' a bit this morning. 'This morning' turned out to be a visit to the breakers, spending a number of hours removing various parts from various cars, then returning around 3pm. We did manage a nice picnic by the canal though, sitting on a blanket in the warm sunshine.

Saturday evening I reversed into a car that had just whipped into the space I was trying to park in. She first told me that I was parking in the space next to the one she was in, then told Chris this afternoon that I had been stationary when she parked. The broker thinks it will go knock-for-knock but she's having none of it. Ho hum.

On Monday Chris put 945kg of 20mm shingle on our parking space, single handed. Looks great, smells of fish. Presumably it was freshly collected from the sea bed somewhere just before delivery. "Oh I do like to be beside the seaside" an' all that.

Tuesday we skipped housegroup - not cool as we're supposed to be leading, but frankly, the only place my head was taking me was the next box of tissues. We sat next to each other and watched 'Return Of The Jedi'.

And so to today.

The cold has taken most of my sense of taste and smell - therefore it is the perfect time to cook for the Alpha tomorrow night. 40 mains including 2 vegetarian please.

When in doubt, resort to chili con carne (sans any actual chili, of course). 5kg lean mince (plus a 2 person portion of quorn mince) and several hours later it's all done. Tastes OK as far as I can tell. ;-)

During the latter stages of cooking one of our cats decided to throw up in the kitchen. I managed to catch it on a plastic mat, for which I am truly grateful. The cat then started washing repeatedly round it's bottom, never being happy and continually stopping and licking. When approached it showed feline embarrassment, walking just out of sight before washing again. I chased it upstairs, then back down before finally cornering it in the livingroom. A section of the plastic tube that Pepperoni sausages are made in was sticking out of it's bum.

No wonder it was embarrassed.

There was a little resistance, shall we say, to it being removed (gently - I don't like cats, but I'm not cruel) but it came out easily enough. The cat now seems a little less distressed and hopefully will not be sick again for a little while.

DO

NOT

GET

A

CAT.

Ben is out tonight at the Tim Hughes concert in Oxford. He wasn't going, having hear enough TH at soul survivor, but then Kita called and asked if he'd be there as she was coming up for it.

There you go. All (mostly) caught up.