Chilled out weekend...

Well, as I type this, I am admittedly in the playpen that I call an office, but I really don't care at the moment. Why? Because I've had the best weekend away for a long time.

My beloved and I had been planning an escape to our favourite place (The Green Man), but unfortunately, we couldn’t get the accommodation. So, we stayed at Furzton Lake, near Milton Keynes (yes – the town famous (or should that be infamous) for the concrete cows!)

As we weren’t meeting up until the afternoon, I made the most of it, and went shopping. Yes, I know that I’ve stated in previous posts that I loathe shopping, but for once, it was nice to be able to wander around somewhere on my own, at my own pace.

My beloved had said that he didn’t know what to get me for my birthday, so I was given a free choice (within reason – if I’d had my way, it would have been either an Aston Martin DB9 or the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti!) So, I decided that the best thing I could do, would be to have a wander around the shops, and see what caught my eye…

The first stop was to head to Marks & Spencer, to see if I could find that rarity of rarities, hold ups that actually fitted without cutting off the circulation to my legs. That was a success, so it was then off to take a leisurely walk around the centre.

My next point of call was to Waterstones, in the hope of getting three books that I was after (Dark Haven by Gail Z Martin, Thorn Queen by Richelle Mead and A Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde). That failed partially, as I only manged to get  A Picture of Dorian Gray, so it was back to wandering.

My wanderings took down towards Midsummer Place, and straight into one of my favourite shops (after Waterstones – can’t do without my books!) – Lush. This is one of the few places that I have been able to find skin care and other treats that don’t upset my skin (most things turn my skin into something that resembles a lizard!)

I got quite a bit in Lush – including the bits that I wanted from their Christmas range. This included a shower jelly called Champagne Snow Showers – a real treat to use in the shower as well as Vanilla Dee-light. No – I’m not taking the mickey – this is a delightfully light body lotion, with a very gentle vanilla scent to it. Most of the time, I find fragranced body lotions too heavy (usually in the scent (or it's way too synthetic for my liking!) or the the actual feel of the lotion  on the skin (too heavy - most feel like axel grease to me) but this seems to suit me just right.

It was then time for a coffee. And for me, only one place to go. Yes, Starbucks. I know that it’s clichéd and everything else, but the coffee is good and that’s all that really bothers me. That and the fact that I get left alone! It gave me a chance to start reading, and I will admit I’ve been quite surprised. The only thing I knew about Dorian Gray was from the film – The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (the one with Sean Connery in!)

It’s quite an involving read, and I will admit to nearly forgetting the time (I was limited on time by the fact that I’d only got 4 hours on the car, and time was marching on!) So, I headed back to the car, via La Senza (where I got exactly what I wanted for my birthday - all I will say is that it is listed as Dazzling Blue - the rest remains between me and my beloved!)

I then made a brief stop at Borders to see if I could get the books I wanted. That was a partial success, and I managed to get Dark Haven, but not the other one. Ah well - you win some, you lose some.

So, as it was getting near to the time that I was supposed to be meeting my beloved. I’d taken the trouble to put the sat-nav into my handbag, and when I went to set it up – disaster. Me being a twit had taken the SD card out of the unit. Normally, this wouldn’t have been an issue…

But this time it was. I’d recently received a large update from the manufacturer, and had taken the time to install everything on the computer, and copied the files across to the sat-nav. Only the internal memory wasn’t large enough to accept all the data I required.

Ok – not a problem – this little gizmo has a slot where I can put an SD card, and then load the details onto that. Which I did. Only to take the dammed thing out at some point, and forget to put it back in!

Now I’m not the greatest at map-reading, and could only vaguely remember where this dratted place was, which meant that I headed towards junction 14 of the M1, where the directions in my little directory started from.

And that was where some of the problems started. Have you ever tried counting roundabouts, whilst watching all the other traffic around you, as well as making sure that you’re not in the wrong lane? Not easy I tell you, but I did manage to find the place. Eventually.

The rest? Well that remains between me and my beloved, but all I will say is that I am so chilled out, I am almost horizontal.

Guess I should think about doing some w*rk, but I really don’t have any interest – or inclination, and that’s not good, especially as it’s only Monday!

Back later.

Karen

Now some things you hold on to - and some you just let go
Seems like the ones that you can't have
Are the ones that you want most