Welford-on-Avon

I began the day by submitting my tax return - well, sometimes you just have to treat yourself, don't you? I've actually been trying to do this since Sunday, but the HMRC web site has had a string of problems which have made accessing it almost impossible; but first thing today I finally managed to log in and do the return - all the while wondering how the Government thinks it's going to put in place all the infrastructure that will be required to turn us into an island fortress a global trading nation, if it can't even keep the thing running that lets its citizens tell it that they owe it some money.

Then I discovered a sudden and acute need to stamp my foot at the company currently holding my personal pension fund, who'd unexpectedly attached a third party to it as my personal advisor, without my knowledge or consent. Three phone calls and two emails later, order is restored to the universe - but my foot is pretty sore from all that stamping.

By mid day I was toadally zorsted from the stress, but luckily R was on hand to take me out to lunch; we decided to try a pub in the nearby village of Welford-on-Avon, where we had a very nice meal, followed by a stroll through some of Welford's ridiculously pretty lanes to see if we could find a nice view of the River Avon as it winds past the village. The river view, when we found it, wasn't all that - but we did happen upon this film crew and some of their props (apparently if we'd been there a couple of hours earlier there would have been a horse in the shot too, attached to the hearse). The sight of a film crew isn't an especially rare occurrence in these parts, though you never know how they'll react to the appearance of a camera (I did have to go all I-think-you'll-find-I'm-within-my-rights on one occasion in Stratford) - but the chap who came to say hello to us today was perfectly open and friendly. They're filming a new daytime detective drama called Shakespeare and Hathaway - Private Investigators, which will be shown on the BBC at the end of the year - I may have to break my normal habit of not watching daytime drama, and take a look at it.

OK, so now: Mono Monday results. I've had a thoroughly good time this evening, looking at all the interesting and enticing entrances that were submitted - so many thanks to everyone who played this week. Due to extreme incompetence I failed to keep hold of my hearts today, so I'll have to go back and actually bestow them tomorrow, but they will be going (in no particular order) to:

isbi
greg_lovett
Freyjad
FrankS
sk - though I'm afraid that this might not be received with universal enthusiasm in her household, because Radish submitted a competing entry. In fact I was initially afraid that some cribbing might have occurred, but after due examination I'm now satisfied that any similarities between their photos were entirely coincidental.

My Honourable Mentions this week go to:

Radish (of course!)
rainie
Riwaka7
dfb24
WildMooseChase
SkiMe.

If you have time, please take a look at these entries and show them some love - and please do play again next Monday, when the theme will be Still Life, and the tag will be MM194.