Roundup...

... no, not a review of that weed killer thingy, but a quick look back at the past weekend.

First, a big thank you to my in-laws once again. They came up Thursday night and stayed with us for two days while Don built a sliding door for my study area that will hopefully prevent me freezing to death again this winter. Meanwhile Jan did a load of jobs to help us out - washing, ironing, painting, gardening, cleaning...

Second, a thumbs up to Steve Bruce and Blues, who recorded their fifth win on the bounce, a feat not achieved since August/September 2001. A narrow 1-0 win away from Plymouth has left us still in fourth spot, but only three points off top spot and four points ahead of the teams immediately below us, local rivals Wolves and West Brom. Bruce has gone back to basics to save his job, and if it gets us promotion I shan't complain. A tough Coca Cola Cup match on Wednesday night at home to Liverpool (our first meeting since the humiliating 7-0 home defeat in March) will probably end that run - especially as Liverpool have yet to win away from home this season - but hopefully we can take the good form into Saturday's home match against Barnsley.

Third, we watched Keeping Mum on DVD on Saturday night (see here). Very entertaining and well worth watching.

Fourth, I sat in for mum at a craft fair on Sunday. I didn't do very well in her absence - took less than £10! - but Toni fared much better, and I got to see encaustic art (see her site here) first-hand for the first time. Very impressive - my wife is definitely the artistic type!

Fifth, today I managed an hour down the allotment digging over one of the beds, and then nipped into town to pay in some money for myself and Toni (her takings from yesterday) before meeting her at Sainsbury's to do the week's shop. Spent a small fortune, but I have work lined up for the rest of this month, so it's no problem. Managed to mostly shop organic, which would have been all the more impressive if I hadn't had a processed steak and cheese sub from Subway for lunch...