1st Anniversary (of the house)

A year ago today, I went to school from one house and came home to another, the title deed/ownership having changed while I was on my lunch break. It was an exciting time, with floorboards that didn't meet, 3 usable rooms, no carpets, a loft full of dog baskets and Edwardian sash windows that didn't keep out the cold or the traffic noise. But that was then. The now is slightly different, liberally carpeted with a lot more Lego.
Because Jof keeps going on about how much fun we have without her, we deliberately invented a Jof-friendly trip and chivvied her into the car. Petersfield is a pleasant yet expensive old market town in the valley the other side of Butser Hill. A year or two ago, I checked it out in advance and so today we knew exactly what to do. Parking up by Heath Lake, we walked through the woods and saw baby moorhens and swans and an abandoned bike (rider not seen) in the lake.
The lakeside swingpark is brill but we were on a mission to seek out new charity shops. Jof took us up on the promise of a light lunch and we ate vastly overpriced snacks brought to us by overstacked wenches at the Cloisters Café by the farmers market in front of the church: I bought a Horrendous Henry DVD and goujons of chicken with shards of potatoes.
As our initial chivvying was not successful enough, we ran out of time and barely managed to stuff in a top-quality ice cream from the Plump Duck food-hut by the pond (which contains some massive carp) before racing home to get Jof to her stress-relieving massage appointment. Pompey were playing their last home game so the heavy traffic meant we were very late, another source of stress there, panticles to everything.
We cycled en masse into town. Jof wobbles at junctions and I told her to her face that I don't trust her and stuck with Bud instead. We separated amenably like Hollywood C-list couples and I climbed in Victoria Park and got sandy again in Landport Adventure Playground;  it's a tough life. Having showered off the sand, I played naked Lego which is oddly liberating but not if you sit on a Lego humanoid, trust me on this. Much later, I had my promised Bath Fizzer and Bath Salt night where we discussed sniper tactics and then I watched 'Fantasy Beachfront Properties on Sandbanks Peninsula For Over £5 million', although if I had £5 million, that's not where I'd live, believe me. There's a nice place up for 1.6M right in front of Petersfield Cricket Club, for a start.