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Friday 3rd April 2026

We walked in King George VI park. Right next to the sea and very windy.

We still seem to be catching up with things after the holiday. Today was sorting passports as they are expiring soon!

Following the incidents that happened in Next this week, I made a complaint and had a phone call today as my case has been “escalated” and “Carol” is looking into the whole incident and apologised and will call me after Easter when she has had a chance to speak to the store Manager as to what went wrong. At last, some customer service!…….

“Dear Mrs Daniel

I hope you are well and looking forward to the Easter break. It was lovely speaking to you.

First please let me apologise for the experience you had recently in our Thanet store. I do understand how embarrassing it must have been, being stopped when the security alarm went off. There shouldn’t be any tags at all on items from the warehouse, so I’ll be looking into how this has happened.

I’ve already contacted the Store Manager so as this can be thoroughly investigated.”

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Thursday 2nd April 2026

The sun was out and so we went to Kearsney before the Easter chaos. Ellie was very enthusiastic to go into the stream. Today she loved it.

We then went for a coffee at the cafe and she just stood next to us. We had thought she would want a rest!

Mal went to the allotment in the afternoon.

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Wednesday 1st April 2026

An early morning walk across the fields with Ellie.

It was nice not to come back covered in mud!

I phoned Pam who has now returned from her 16 day cruise around Norway. The first week good, the second horrendous with gales and getting thrown around the ship! She has also come home with a really bad cold. Poor thing.

I know it is April Fool’s Day and I loved this one from our vets…

“Introducing AirPawds™ the future of pet communication is here!
We’re very excited to launch a brand new product, available exclusively for Beacon View clients…
AirPawds are specially designed earpieces that fit comfortably into your pet’s ears and provide live translation, allowing us to finally understand exactly what they’re trying to tell us.
No more guesswork… we can now simply ask.
Claire has always dreamed of being Dr Dolittle, so it’s safe to say she’s very excited about this upgrade to our diagnostic toolkit.
Appointments for AirPawd consultations are now open… 🐾“
Lunchtime I had an appointment at the Canterbury dentist for what should have been the final fitting of the new dentures, which Zareen seemed to have made a very good job this time around…last time they didn’t fit properly. I sat in the chair and she asked me if reception had been in touch with me…no they hadn’t!  She then explained that the technicians who actually make the dentures have a new cleaner, wait for it……..she knocked  a whole lot of dentures off the shelf broke them and then threw them in the bin!! So back to the beginning, the last three visits have been pointless. She took new impressions. I think she thought I was going to be angry…..what was the point, it wasn’t her fault.  Things have a habit of going wrong, well for me anyway!!
Then we were changing from Sky to Virgin (Sky keep upping their price for a slow internet). Virgin should have come yesterday but it was put forward to today between 1 and 6.  At 5.30 he called them and was told they were on their way! At 5.45,  6 of them arrived and set to work. They even channelled it through the pavement and filled it in. They were so good , fast and very pleasant. What a change. They completed it all by 7.
Later my Sainsbury’s order arrived. I ordered their half price, lamb, beef and sides of salmon (3) . The lamb for the weekend and the rest in the freezer.  Following my order to the lodge, they gave me  £14 off this order and most of it was half price. It worked out my savings , with Nectar were more than I paid!
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Tuesday 31st March 2026

The windscreen man arrived at 8.45 to replace the cover on the windscreen that he broke during the previous repair.

So the catch up begins! As soon as he left we drove into Asda, Canterbury so that Mal could order his new glasses.  We have been recommended to try Asda Optical.

Later I had to collect one of Rhys’s birthday presents. I had to order online from Next as they don’t keep it in the stores and then collect from the dreaded Westwood Cross.  When I collected it I asked for a gift receipt. “No, you ordered it online, so we can’t give you one” My reply “but you won’t keep Superdry in store. ” “Sorry can’t do it”. As I walked out of the door, the alarm went off!! I just stood there feeling totally embarrassed . One of the men came running to the door. Seeing as the package I had just collected was sealed, they obviously had to open it up. There was a security tag attached. I did complain but was told “nothing to do with this shop, it is our distribution that is responsible”. I did complain but it all falls on deaf ears. He removed the tag and apologised.

From there I went to buy a new Slow Cooker I had ordered.  Then I got caught up in the chaos at Westwood Cross. Both Sainsburys and Tesco had hideous queues for fuel.

It put me in mind of the Covid panics. It wasn’t  just the garages but the cars were queuing all along the roads and roundabouts. I just wanted to get home!

When eventually I arrived home, I had an email from LW Theatres (London Palladium ) with my priority booking. So, we have booked this years Cinderella for December. It is always brilliant……..Julian Clarey, Nigel Havers etc etc

England football in the evening was awful!

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Monday 30th March 2026

My return to work. It was good to be back and I had a really nice welcome from the staff and a lot of the customers who had missed me! How lovely. Quite a busy day but I managed to last the day.  Jack bless him kept checking I was OK.

BUT I ended up in bed by 8, totally exhausted, which means I am not quite 100%. The good news is that in the second round of Cancer research shop closures, we are not one of them.

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Saturday 28th March 2026

It was a little worrying, hoping that Nathan had done a good job on the car but it started perfectly and all warning lights gone. We headed for the port and we  were the last car on an earlier ferry.

We were back home by 1.00pm feeling very lucky that Nathan did so well. Such a shame he isn’t local to us!

I forgot to mention following the rudeness of the Manager re the lack of internet, coupled with our lodge not being properly cleaned, stains on furniture etc etc, we cancelled our booking for later in the year and rebooked at another Lodge retreat, off the island just in case we had any more car issues which may have meant being recovered on the ferry!! We pay an extra £ 70 to take Ellie so surely some of this money could be used to clean stains off carpets and furniture and clean windows and repair blown glass in the door. The retreat has gone downhill.

Quite a lot of post and one thing that Zoe sent me for Mother’s Day. She really is so lovely. It actually looks so much better than the photos. Such a shame the post office can’t deliver anything on time!