Monday

Entrance "B" of my building and onto the canal. There seriously cannot be any more entrances at work that I've not tried!

Tuesday
Two houses in Pinner. While it's a nice place, these two flats were poky and for too much rent.

Wednesday
A couple of houses in Amersham. Shabby.

Thursday
Stanwell while waiting to collect my colleague from the airport. Saw the biggest funeral I have ever seen in my life, with a horse and carriage and literally, truck loads of flowers, but I don't know whose it was.

Friday

New part of Gerrard’s Cross to avoid paying for parking. Keen readers (ie just me) will know that Gerrards Cross is the richest place in the UK per head – and also the rudest.

Saturday
Pinner. Lots of streets, shops and estate agents. I got a bit lost and took us in a huge circle, compunded by the fact we kept driving past filling stations where they’d sold out of fuel. Also went to the Imperial War Museum for the “For your eyes only” exhibition which I thoroughly enjoyed! Fantastic birthday present, thanks! As well as the wonderful insight into Ian Fleming, I also enjoyed the rest of the museum which was absolutely fascinating and very well-presented. I’d like to come back and spend more time here – while there was so much to see (and experience – the blitz experience was quite an insight), it was a such a beautiful day that I wanted to stay out in the sunshine!

Sunday
Started out on a nature walk (ie pub walk) in Chesham, but found that part of the footpath we were meant to follow had been dug up and was cordoned off for refurb work. So we looked around the town centre, and saw a place we thought we’d like to rent, necessitating a visit there too. New things continued with a walk through Great Missenden, another beautiful village providing a backdrop for murky goings-on in Midsomer. And yes, I agree that I watch too much TV. While we were en route to the Cross keys pub, there was a police motorbike and convoy containing our illustrious Prime Minister on his way to meet Bush.

Thursday

An office in Ilford.

Midsomer Murders

New thing today was taking the opportunity to check out The Lee, better known as Badger's Drift - the village which played host to lots of murders in Midsomer Murders- my favourite in particular was the one where someone gets it in the back with a bow and arrow during a village fete. In real life, it's just as pretty, but quite a bit smaller than you would imagine. I also swung by Lotts Wood to watch the mountain bike race that my boss had organised.

Tuesday

I actually ventured INTO the outdoor swimming pool at Chesham tonight and I must say that there's almost nothing finer than slipping into a cool swimming pool for a leisurely swim as the sun starts to think about setting. That is, until what must have been about my 80th length when an old bloke leapt into the pool nearly on top of me and then whacked me round the head midstroke thanks to his extraordinary style causing me to swallow gallons of water which would quite likely have contained a few spiders, hair and other nasties. I now have a raspy throat which feels a bit like Ghandi's flipflop.

Monday

Chesham for the first time looking for the open air pool. I found it, but ten minutes after it closed!

Friday

Scotsbridge Mill in Rickmansworth. I think the car park was one of my new things a while back, but we pushed the boat out and actually went inside this time. Very nice, but a bit clinical and by-the-book gastropub for us.

Saturday
Ahoy there! We pushed the boat out again – more literally this time, as I hired a narrow boat from Denham Country Park which we piloted up the Grand Union Canal through five locks and two pubs just past my work! I cannot think of a more relaxing way to spend a day and we were blessed with beautiful weather! Really enjoyed the tranquillity and the camaraderie of other boaters. Stopped off at the Horse and Barge which we’d never been to before! Then after our exertions which seemed to absolutely fly past, despite a man overboard scenario (a voluntary one when the weed got stuck around the propeller!). We also went out for a fantastic meal at the Golden Palace in Harrow – although the plan was to get there for dim sum, we had a traditional meal which makes me drool just thinking about it!

Sunday
The Dumbell in Hornhill. Such a beautiful day to sit outside and watch people drive by at top speed around a corner. It wasn’t that bad though – there was a picture inside the pub which had been taken at Matt Molloy’s pub in Westport where we’d enjoyed a night of Irish music this time last year.

Friday

New thing of today was ostensibly racing my colleague to see who could get to the pub the quickest, but really I was stumped for something to do and saw the opportunity to nip down a random alleyway in Uxbridge. I was quickest by the way.

Wednesday

Am planning a party on Saturday and for the past few days have been buying alcohol gradually, opposed to scaring myself and the shop assistant by doing it all at once. So I went into an old fashioned grog shop in Rickmansworth where the two assistants were engrossed in a chat. Then one of them bellowed at me (I assume she’s been trying a few times) and I jumped out of my skin and ran out WITHOUT ANY BOOZE!

Tuesday (although I am having trouble remembering what day it is)

I allowed myself an hour and a bit to get five miles up the road in a village near Slough for my new thing which was a massage, but the traffic was so bad that I was helplessly late. When I called the woman, she didn’t particularly seem to be expecting me and was quite rude, so I decided to go for a drink (which almost cost me a week’s wages) at a pub called the Fox and Pheasant in Stoke Poges before retiring back to Rickmansworth and waiting in a wine bar called the Stables with a half pint.

Thursday

Apart from the joy of terminal five, there was more new stuff. Needed cheering up as I got yelled at by someone at work because I wasn’t feeling well. “You sit there huffing and puffing etc etc!”. Of course, chocolate is the drug of choice, but I needed the next level up - cinnamon buns from the specialist place in Rickmansworth. But that wasn’t a new thing, so I had to go into a shoe shop, called the Shoe Box, and come back out again.

Friday
I walked through Denham Country Park to Fran’s Cafe for the first time to book my barge for next weekend!

Saturday
Lots of new things today! I drove straight up the M1 to the A1 and beyond and went to Tow Law to see my fake Gran. She and her daughter and I then went out for lunch at a place called the Crosskeys in a village called Hamsterley, near Hamsterly Forest. Such a beautiful day – lovely sunshine and you could see for miles, and wonderful to see them both again. Then went to Darlington where I got pooed on by a pigeon, so I went to the hotel called the Croft Spa where I washed my hair 17 times. Met my colleague later for a bevvy before dinner with a further colleague and the boss, before colleague number 1 and I stayed up until 1.30am talking about the yelling I got on Thursday.

Sunday
I had been dreading this for some time, but today I had to show some competition winners around Croft Circuit. It was my first time here, and I am ashamed to say that I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!! The people were great, the weather was atrocious, but there was an exciting atmosphere and thanks to colleague 1 who I just mentioned, I got to see some behind-the-scenes action and meet a couple of the drivers– fantastic!

Monday
A bit of a come down after yesterday, my new thing was parking in a smelly car park in Uxbridge and buying a kettle. Then getting stopped by security because the alarm went off. Thanks Tesco – every little helps.