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A week of birthdays for my husband and me.  Just 4 days between our birthdays, so some celebrations, mainly family meals out and pleasant activities, especially on those few days when we had lovely warm sunshine.  There are more April birthdays in the family: grandson, sister-in-law and nephew's partner.  These birthdays seem to come in groups, don't they?  We have another lot in October with birthdays for my daughter, brother, nephew, mother, grandfather and mother-in-law (also both my mother and father died in October, though not in the same year).  And yet another mini-group in December with birthdays for my father, aunt and nephew.  My mother-in-law shares a birthday with my daughter and my father shares with his grandson.

I also used to do my shopping by myself, but no longer feel confident enough to drive, so my husband takes me, and yes, Viktoria, I do feel rushed when he's with me, because I know he doesn't enjoy supermarket shopping.  Unfortunately, just like his mother, he is a bit of a hoarder and bargain hunter, so we often come back with rather more than I had planned!  I do appreciate his help with the driving, but am sometimes surprised at what ends up in the supermarket trolley.

My surgery is very keen for me to get my Covid jab - I have had 2 text messages and an email from them over the past week!  Actually I booked my jab after receiving the first text, so I imagine something has gone wrong with their system up there. 

At one of the endless coffee (and cake, of course) mornings held in the village I learned that 4 of my acquaintances were in hospital for various reasons.  I'm afraid we're getting old and suffering age-related illnesses, but it's interesting that most of the societies supported by volunteers still rely on people in their late 70s or even 80s to serve on committees, host parties and so on.  I can understand that younger people are busy with their families and jobs, but where are the middle-aged ones to take over from us?

Many years ago we went to live in an old hall which had been uninhabited for some time.  We shared the house with my brother's family and worked hard at renovating it, but we soon found traces of mice, so used to set traps for them every night, each with a blob of Mars bar on it.  During the night we would hear these traps going off with a snap and every morning my son would remove the dead mice and throw them out into the surrounding woods.

Now we live at the other end of the country and the problem is rats, not in the house, I hasten to add, but they nest under sheds and visit the compost bin, so my husband has to put rat poison down from time to time.  It's a common thing nowadays - they say you are only a few yards from a rat whether you live in the country or in a town.  Viktoria, I'm like you, and don't like the bare tails of rats and mice, though I'm OK with hamsters and gerbils.

We are having the second day in a row of warm sunshine!  The temperature is set to drop a little later, but next week is forecast to be fine every day.  It's unbelievable!  The farmers are struggling with their crops in the sodden fields, though, and there is talk of veg prices rising.

I've just received my invitation to have a Spring booster Covid jab from the surgery and will have my annual review at the same time.  We oldies who have underlying conditions are reviewed every year to see that we are on the right medication and so on.  There are blood tests, too, height and weight and a few questions about our lifestyle.  We don't get to see a doctor, of course, just a nurse, though we would be summoned back when the test results come back if anything was of concern.

Thanks for the helpful hints 🙂