A Sick Week

It's been a surprisingly eventful week considering i've been sat on my bum all week doing absolutely nothing!  I didn't feel very well all of last weekend, and my chest was hurting, so I went to the doctors on Monday morning, and ended up getting signed off for the whole week with a chest infection/tonsilitis.  I was given anti biotics and was all set for a really boring week...

A fabulous tiny orchid was added to the Harris plant family.  I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!!  IT'S SO TINY!!!  I really am obsessed with orchids.

My lovely work friends bought me a plant and some choccie to cheer me up, which was wonderful.

Matt's new beanbag arrived.  I love how smug he looks in this photo, like he is the coolest man alive, pretending to play on his Playstation.  Really there is Orange is the New Black on the TV, which I have binge watched all week. I've finished season 1 and 2, 13 episodes in each season... yes that's right, i've watched 26 hours of OITNB this week.  Season 3 here we come.

I've comfort eaten...

... and even made some brownies on Friday when I was feeling much better.  Matt had to work today in Dusseldorf at the 'New Families' fair, promoting the school.  Matt got stuck organising it, and everyone else (5 others) had to volunteer to work, which is pretty rubbish - so I made brownies for everyone.  Hopefully it made the day go a bit quicker.

The interesting part of the week came in 2 stages - Matt spending 2 hours at the police station on Tuesday evening after the insane ex-landlady (who has been sending us really nasty abusive emails) took a new crazy turn by threatening to put photos of me on the internet and write nasty stuff about me.  The police are off to talk to her at some point (It hasn't happened yet because we have received 2 more verbally abusive emails since then, but I guess we're not too high up on the police's list of emergencies).  It will get dealt with in due course, and I feel much better knowing the police are handling it.  I can't wait for the whole nightmare to be over to be honest.  I guess we will end up going to court over the security deposit, but maybe a visit from the police will scare her enough to stop being such a nasty cow!

The second, and by far the worse of the two is our friend ending up in hospital with a collapsed lung.  He's going to be fine, and out of hospital in a week, but it's obviously very upsetting.

So, an interesting week all round really.  I can't wait for our quiet night in tonight with pizzas and beer, and the rugby, and maybe a bit of Strictly Come Dancing if I can persuade my lovely husband!

A surprise Present

I've been having a rubbish week, due to my awful new timetable and not feeling particularly well, so I was very much cheered up on Wednesday when Matt asked me to come to his office and presented me with a Kindle, just for no reason at all!  What a lovely husband I have!  I'd been wanting one for a while because of the new book group that has started at work, and it's so much easier now that I have one (even though this months book - Room by Emma Donoghue - isn't my sort of book at all).  I have a feeling that I'm going to be spending all of my money on downloading books now!

We had some friends over to watch the Rugby World Cup opening ceremony and the England vs Fiji match, which was fun.  Now Matt is sick again with cold/flu and i'm definitely not feeling very well either.  I'm at least alright enough to potter about the house; Matt is still asleep.  We're just going to have a nice relaxing weekend of not doing much at all, and hopefully next week will be a bit nicer for both of us.

Formula One

Here are a few photos from Matt's trip to Monza for the Formula One last weekend.

A great view of Lewis on the podium.

Below are my lovely gifts from Italy.  Lucky me!

The next photo pretty much sums up the week... Matt bought a Playstation 4 this week and has not been off it in the evenings... and he has constantly been wearing his hat too.

Matt hasn't been very well this weekend.  He has caught the viral throat infection that has been going around.  I don't have it so far (touch wood), but have been covering lessons for most of the week because the staff (and students) have been dropping like flies.  I have a feeling that it will continue like this for next week too, so I will be very busy indeed.

Xanten and the Landschaftpark Nord

It was a lovely weekend with Mum and Dad visiting, and a very busy one, so i'm still exhausted from last week!  The week was long, because it was super busy at work.  Mum and Dad arrived on Friday evening, and we started the weekend off with a trip to Shanke, the local pub, for a schnitzel, chips and a beer.  Delicious!

On Saturday we went to Xanten (it took ages due to a replacement bus and a language barrier issue, but we made it eventually.  Lola had her first trip on a tram, bus, train and escalator all in one day.  She was a bit overwhelmed I think!

Xanten is such a beautiful place.  Unfortunately it was pouring with rain when we arrived, so we took shelter in a tea room and had a huge slab of cake and a hot chocolate.  Mum and Dad had a look around the Cathedral while I had a look around outside with Lola, and then we went into the Archaeological park.

The park is all reconstructions of buildings from a Roman town, as similar to what it would actually have looked like on this site as possible.  The amphitheatre is great, and I even took part in a demonstration on a tour of how much clapping your hands echos around the construction. (Clapping only because I can't make Lola bark on demand!).

There were a few traditional stalls out, and one of them was dying wool to make clothes with.  The colours were all authentic of what would have been around in the Roman times.

The dig season was on too and students from around Europe were excavating and showing some of their finds - pottery mostly.

On Sunday we went to the Landschaftpark Nord, which is the Landscape Park in North Duisburg.  The park is amazing!  It was an old steel and iron works that has been left to rust and become part of the park.  The buildings are huge and really interesting to look at. I look nearly 200 photos, so choosing which to go on here was really tricky!

Mum and I climbed the 70 m high tower.  The view was great, and we could even see buildings in Duisburg centre, and Dusseldorf!

The outer staircase did make me feel a bit wobbly I must admit!

It was a great weekend all around for us, despite the rain and chily temperature.  Matt had a great time in Monza, Italy watching the Formula 1 in the scorching heat.  I'll post some photos later on in the week of his weekend.