It’s been one of those weeks. I’d already committed to full days on Monday and Wednesday when other opportunities arose for Tuesday and Thursday. And now it’s Friday and I’m wondering where the week went?

It’s a while since I caught the early morning train to Paddington and I’ll admit to a little apprehension on Monday morning - had I remembered everything? Allowed enough time to get there? Would I remember my way to the suite of offices in Westminster? Even though I’d been there countless times previously, the network of small streets can be tricky to navigate. and I hoped I would get off at the right bus stop and take the correct turning.

Needless to say, it all came flooding back and I needn’t have worried one bit. I had forgotten how semi-tropical it is in the city however and almost as soon as I stepped from the train, I wondered why I’d brought a raincoat.

Thankfully there was no squeeze on the 36 bus and I sat back and enjoyed the ride, arriving at the judging venue in plenty of time to join the panel discussing this year’s UK Bus Awards. On Monday we were interviewing the finalists for the Manager of the Year award, as difficult a decision as ever but ultimately, a unanimous choice.

With time to spare in the afternoon before my train home, I enjoyed some “me time” in Selfridges too.

What’s more, I got to do it all again on Wednesday as well, except that we were interviewing Young Managers this time and rather than play on the Chanel counter in Selfridges, I bought a new duvet in John Lewis!

Whilst I was swanning about here and there, the work at home was progressing nicely and Victor the plasterer was here with a colleague working their magic on the downstairs walls.

Upstairs the boards are being put in place ready for them to finish up here too. Dare we hope that some stairs might materialise soon?

The main issue we seem to be facing right now is s p a c e. Tomorrow the floors will be tiled and in the meantime, the cupboards and fixtures and fittings need to be put somewhere. So we have a six inch space to squeeze through and when Kieran the security guy was here yesterday fitting the new alarm panel, the two of us had just a couple of square feet to squeeze into whilst he showed us how to set it.

It was more or less the same space as my Hero and I squeezed into on two separate occasions last week for this year’s Autumn vaccinations, for ‘flu and Covid. We chose to arrange each of them through our local pharmacy and found ourselves in little more than a broom cupboard in two separate locations. Not that it mattered one jot for the process took little more than a couple of minutes to complete and hopefully will protect us against any passing lurgies that come our way in the coming months.

In the meantime, the leaves have begun to fall from the huge walnut tree above our garden steps, currently in frequent use in lieu of our indoor staircase. Number one task for the weekend, then, will be to clear those wet leaves from the steps before one of us slips on them.

Never a dull moment, eh?