Day 451 Out and about

Today I managed to go out and cover more ground on foot than I have since last September.  Firstly Mr MC took me to the little house that we purchased so that I could see how the renovations were coming along (very impressively) then onto a nearby furniture store, Fishpools to buy new mattresses.  To the astonishment of another couple also  pondering over mattresses, we made our decision in a few minutes.  We just asked to be shown the best extra firm mattress, gave it a quick try and made an order not just for our own bed but also one of the other bedrooms, where the mattress on the double bed is rather older than I care to admit to and is well overdue for replacement.  Finally we went on to my favourite garden centre, Van Hage's where I started with the intention of choosing a belated birthday gift (they sell so much more than plants!) but the heat overcame me and we settled for a couple  of  planted hanging baskets, a tray of bedding plants, a bunch of 'faux' flowers for our living room and a cushion to make my favourite lounger more comfortable and easier to get in and out of.  We were then supposed to collect Violet from her other grandpa, 15 minutes from the garden centre, but unfortunately he had not picked her up.  He had misread the message from her mummy, thinking that we were picking her up from the school...  Luckily a friend of mummy's were nearest placed and available to make the mercy dash after the call from the school and we then picked up V  en route to home.  That was quite enough excitement for me in one day and when we got home frankly I'd like to have had a nap.  I did however manage to help V run her bath and supervise her, another first for a long time, and I did feel that I rather deserved my Aperol spritzer afterwards.
Pictured today is the charming cottage, decked out with flowers and shrubs at the garden centre.