When I arrived at Mr T's this afternoon, he immediately set me an observation round challenge - "what's changed in here" he said pointing at his living room...caught off guard, I cast my eye around at his now familiar surroundings and suggested "new curtains?". He laughed and pointed out that the windows had been cleaned (to which I did admit they'd done a pretty good job), and this was the first time they'd been done in three years...

Just before I set off into the afternoon sunshine with trolley in tow to make the double venue visit to Tesco and Lidl, Mr T asked me to remind him to give me some carrots when I returned - as a stickler for not wasting food, he knows he can't get through a whole kilo bag in a week and is loath to throw them out.

Lidl was behaving itself today, so I was back in double quick time with all that he wanted, which gave me a change to quiz him about prospects for the Grand National whilst he separated out a handful of carrots for me to take home for my tea. (Writing this report post the race, I can confirm Mr T's pick won the race...sadly I hadn't heeded his advice on the betting slip, but I am at least enjoying the carrots...)