Another school day with Mr T this afternoon (post a straightforward shop at the usual venues).

After we'd dissected the skills and entertainment value of most of the world's snooker players and golfers (a favourite topic between us), and then got onto Spanish palaces, we turned to one of the crossword clues he didn't get this week, and which he thought I might know - "Twenty Years (9)"...I had to resort to the interweb, which told us the answer was Vicennial...a word neither of us had ever come across before.

To satisfy our joint curiosity, we discovered that the word for a period of Fifty Years is semicentennial...(thank us under your breath if you ever win a pub quiz with this new found knowledge).

To assist my list reading today, Ms D had conveniently prepared key items that she wanted this week close to hand, and as I ran down the list she would produce said item (marigold gloves (large), white bin bags...) at the appropriate moment - I think we could've made a great double act on the seaside pier...our timing was immaculate. In even better news, her lottery ticket from last week had even won her...a lucky dip for this Saturday, so more fingers crossed.

Somehow I avoided the worst of the rain on the trip south to Boots before heading north to the friendly aisles, for which I (and Ms D's shopping) were truly grateful.

Six black bags and a small box full of flattened cardboard...could I manage it all in one take down 3 floors and along a path to Miss V's communal bin area...with a bit of juggling, the answer was yes.

Mr T has discovered how much better M&S Greek style yoghurt is compared to the tubs from Lidl, so alongside M&S sardines and soup, this has now become his yoghurt of choice - which then got us into a lengthy discussion about what food items you would want from a "higher end" shop vs what's okay from the budget end (in his case cheese, spinach, carrots, but definitely definitely not soup!). Yet again it proved to be another interesting afternoon's discussion.

Ms D was in a bit of a fluster this morning when I arrived - her neighbour was apparently up on the roof clearing leaves and her physio hadn't been able to visit due to her dealing with a domestic matter at home...so we needed a few minutes of calming down time before we ran through the list, for which the most most important item was a new box of clothes washing tablets...and anything else I could think of that she might have missed. Fortunately everything she needed was findable in the aisles, and she was delighted that she could finally do some washing when I got back with this week's treasure.