Tuesday 24 June 2008

Good Week

Well the good times started with an excellent 7 mile run into St. Andrews on the 18th.

Really pushed it time wise - first 5k 30min, next 5 k 30.30 seconds and then a more relaxing
final mile in 10.30 (including the 0.2 from the 10k). Total run time: 1:09.14. So averaging less than 10min/miles. Blissful.

It was a really great run - tiring and needed more food and water than I remembered, but a really lovely way to get back into doing some distance. I also was careful to do loads of stretching.

Legs were a little achy the next day so TheO gave me a delightful massage.

The 20th was jam packed.
The first good bit was that all the documents arrived about the house proving that it's in good nick, and the water is drinkable, and everything else has weathered the years well. Despite some great clauses by our solicitor, it was still extremely reassuring and quite wonderful to discover all the things the previous owners had had done when they moved in 3 years ago.

I had a very reassuring dress fitting where everything went swimmingly and I was delighted by what I saw. This made me much calmer about the whole shebang.

TheO and I then went for a fantastic hill and off road run. We headed up through the woods, across a field, down and track and then at about the half way point came back onto tarmac. It was a really hot and sunny day, we took the dogs and managed a great time of 35.12 given that it was rough terrain and really quite hilly. It made us very happy and in desperate need of a shower.

After some speed packing, washing, and car loading we headed to RF and Wheeler's country pad. (Cutest cottage ever.) My inaugural meeting with Dougal (the working cocker) took place, he's just bloody gorgeous and it makes me want more puppies quite badly.

RF then cooked a fantastic meal. The sweet potato stacks were yummy, the duck with the most incredible potato and chilli salad was INSPIRED - I mean, fantastic spicy duck with a simple and super tasty potato dish worked so well, there was none of the over-richness too often found with heavy duck dishes - but all of the big flavours. This is an idea I will be stealing. The pud was malteaser and whisky ice cream - again I think this rocked and it took some energy on my part not to have bowl after bowl. YUM.

Dinner was followed by a fantastic walk in fields around the house. Our dogs behaved delightfully with Dougal and proved their strict upbringing by heading into a field to talk to the horses. Dougal practically walked to heel...

Much good chat was had and the night was rounded off by wagon loads of cheese (mostly eaten by me) and whisky. We then headed up the stairs to a wonderful guest bedroom and a brilliant night's slumber. A better time could not have been had. Mucho Gracias to RF and Wheeler.

We were thoroughly spoiled as we were also invited out to dinner the next night. Mistrel and Brave Bird were letting us look at their new place (they moved in 10 months ago!) and have a bit of catch-up pre nedding. A wonderful coq-au-vin supper followed with profiteroles to finish ... and more cheese. (I may never need to eat again this week.) It was great to see them and have such a relaxed time. We drove home feeling very lucky to have such nice friends, and not to have had to cook for 2 whole days in a row! ;-)

A quiet few days have followed with naught but the news that everything for the house has been signed and legally we're all bound up now. Just some £££ to be moved to the appropriate places on the appropriate dates and we're all sorted.

We've also had some great chats where we sorted out loads of nedding stuff and loads of stuff for the new house. A super productive week.

xx

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