Fingers crossed

It always seems strange to me when there is no food preparation to do in a morning.

Today is the day for our end of the month meal. We're going Italian this time. I'm really rather surprised about this.

When I first agreed to once again organise the meals, I suggested we could maybe go Italian some time. There's a popular Italian restaurant in Lancaster, Even gives free bottles of wine to early diners on Mondays - we usually start about 6pm. We've never tried it ourselves.

"But I don't like pasta or cooked cheese," wailed Fran.

I assured her there will be other things on the menu. Al, our gardener had gone there earlier in the year to celebrate his 60th birthday. I know his wife had sea bass. I have difficulty imagining serving that with cheese or pasta.

You can imagine my surprise a week or so later when Fran turned up with a menu from another Italian restaurant. They'd stopped for a lunchtime snack there & it was really nice. What's more there are meals with potatoes & veg, but no cheese. So we're off to try tonight.

We're just keeping our fingers crossed all goes well. No excess afternoon alcohol. No animosity between Little B and Fran & Den. Mrs B, the retired headmistress & mediator between the two parties, can't come this time. She's off to Manchester Eye Hospital to have her tear ducts cleared today so won't be up to venturing out this evening. I also hope Linda fits in well & enjoys herself. She needs a bit of support through this time of grieving.

As I say, fingers crossed.