Me on Monday

 It's been all change here this week.  Well, on the vehicle front that is.  My new car which was supposed to be here in March had been delayed due to world events so it was a lovely surprise to get a phone call at the beginning of the week to say that it was here!  Would I like to come and pick it up?  What a silly question ...

How lovely and shiny she is!  My plan for today is to take her for a little trip to Saffron Walden. I only picked her up on Friday and there's been lots of road closures around here this weekend due to the Ride London Cycle event so I've been very restrained in staying at home to avoid traffic queues and diversions, I want to enjoy my first proper drive out.

Talking of road closures - after Rosie and Leo had gone home on Tuesday I turned on the tap to fill the kettle and found we had no water.  It was there 10 minutes earlier!  I rang the water company and was told there was a burst pipe along the road from us and they were on the way to fix it.  Six hours later, at just before midnight, the supply was reconnected.  A water pipe had not just leaked, it had exploded making a huge crater in the pavement and they had to dig up the whole main road into our estate.

This was Tuesday; as you can see there is a tree cut down and a mound of earth completely blocking the road.  The diversion is still in place today!

So we spent our sunny days in the garden and it's getting more colourful by the day.

I do love this time of year when everything springs into life.

On Sunday we were supposed to be having Rachel and Jon and all their families here for lunch but I woke in the morning to see a message on my phone from Jon 'Bad news, Olive looks like she's got the beginnings of chicken pox'.  So we were one family down, but on a positive front it is good for her to get it now, and they are off on holiday next week so she will be out of quarantine and feeling better for that.  

So this week is the Queen's Jubilee celebrations!  We plan to go and see the beacon being lit on Thursday evening, then we have Rachel and family coming round for a Jubilee lunch on Friday (need to give the menu a thought as so far all I am thinking of is Coronation Chicken and a Victoria sponge!) then we are invited to friends for a barbecue on Saturday.  Our road is not having a street party but I am sure there are lots of others around us which will.  If you are in the UK, do you have any jubilee plans?

Lastly, don't forget that the 2022 Summertime Photo Scavenger Hunt starts on June 1st - a full list of prompts can be found on Marie Lou's blog Patio Postcards.  Once again she has chosen titles which can be interpreted in many ways and it's always fun to see what people choose to photograph.  Come and join us!