Banana Bread Beer has returned...

I think I might just have found myself the secret to a decent night's sleep and that is to crack open one of the Banana Bread Beers I treated myself to when I last put in an order for ales for John.  We used to be able to get them regularly here but haven't seen any for months and months.  Now they were a bit pricier than John's beers but I reckoned I was worth it.

John clearly needs some practice in pouring as I ended up with something which looked like an ice-cream sundae but it tasted lovely I am sure it did help me to get to sleep.  

I only ordered four so I shall have to save them for a special occasion - I am just hoping that the company has these on special offer at some point because I would like to get a few more.

So this morning then I was full of the joys of spring - the evenings are most definitely cooler and that coupled with the beer meant that I managed a good night's sleep by my standards and it was nearly 8.00am before we surfaced - even the cats had got the brief and didn't disturb us - by cats I really mean Charlie who goes through spates of wanting to eat all night.

Our friend Isabel, who went for a two week holiday to Scotland over Christmas and got stuck there, is finally coming back this weekend and she wanted us to check out her house.  I think she will agree with me when I say that being shut up for the last 8 months or so hasn't done it any favours and the garden is in need of a major haircut.  There is so much dust and tumbleweed everywhere.  I had hoped that Clare might come and clean as she is looking to do some cleaning jobs locally but Les was taken into hospital last weekend and is due out any time and to be fair she needs to be with him and get him settled.  

I also had a trip up to see Marianna at the Community Office as I struggled to try and pay some outstanding bills for George and Pam on the new computerised JCC system.  The water bill payment was accepted no problem but for the community charge the computer resolutely said NO so I went to ask why - Marianna tried it herself and I was relieved that the computer resolutely said NO to her as well.  She said she would find out but in the interim brandished her new and shiny card payment machine which meant I could pay there.  She set it all up only for me to input the wrong pin number which necessitated a void and a restart which involved a bit of huffing and puffing on both our parts.  I generally make such small payments by card that I just waggle the card over the machine and it does the rest automatically.  We are cash people really - that way we can keep control of our expenditure.

Anyway on my way out I was pleased to see that the village is sporting a clothes recycling box which is a new and positive step forward.  I have asked Marianna about general recycling in the past but this has to be an initiative coming from the Mukhtar and I think it would be fair to say that this isn't going to be happening any time soon in that case.

John had his first encounter with the three Mouseketeers today as we called in to see Mark who was playing nursemaid to them.  We had both forgotten how small kittens are compared to our fully grown (some more so than others) cats and how exhausting they can be - like children you want them to be quiet and then when they are you wonder what is wrong or what they are up to!!!