Tuesday 16 April 2013

Eating out and travelling around

It was quite a busy week the week before last, we went out for a family lunch on Easter Monday, to the hotel where our Daughter had her wedding reception. There were 2 menus, a lunch menu, and an a la carte. Everyone ended up choosing from the a la carte, some had starters some didn't. Nathaniel had a children's meal of chicken goujons and chips. Lydia sat in a high chair with a rolled up blanket behind her, and she obligingly fell asleep.
I had scallops for starters , and husband and I had seabass on ratatouille, for our main course. There was a posh steak and chips, the chip were called pont neuf, and were served in a neat little stack. Three people chose that. Nathaniel's meal was served with his own little jar of tomato ketchup, and the staff didn't seem to mind that he smeared some on the pristine white table cloth. Nor did they comment on him running his train along the table whilst he waited to be served.
Son In Law took him out into the grounds for a run round, we couldn't stay for dessert, as the Cheshire contingent had to be back, our Son was doing something at the church building that evening.
So we paid the bill, and went outside only to discover that Son in law and Nathaniel were at the far end of the lake, so frantic waving and calling went on.
We came home, got out the cake and lit the candles, Nathaniel was fascinated, and now if the word Birthday is mentioned he says, 'Grandad, cake'. We cut a wodge for Son and his wife to take with them, then they packed their car. Unfortunately, their estate was off the road, and as they had collected something rather big from Daughter's, Tom was squashed into a tiny space in the back. We waved them off and then came back indoors for cake and coffee in lieu of dessert.


The Cake


Nathaniel is fascinated as Grandad blows out his candles
The rest of the family stayed a while chatting, then went home. We had a fairly light tea, then did some packing, then watched something which didn't require too much thought on iplayer.
On Tuesday, husband's actual birthday, after he had opened his cards and presents, we packed up the car and set off for his Mum's home. We stopped for a quick lunch at Pease Pottage, and arrived at around 2 pm. We had been going to stay for 2 nights, but as she had been unwell we decided to just stay one night. We didn't want to give her a lot of work to do. We hadn't been down since New Year, my operation rather got in the way, but she had had a visit from our Daughter and family. I'm sure the great grandchildren are much more interesting than us. We took her a large slice of the chocolate cake to nibble on when she felt like it.
We went out for Birthday meal number 2 to the Eastbourne Hydro. It was quite quiet in the Crystal restaurant, so we had the full attention of the staff. Mum and I had lovely refreshing starter, peppered pineapple with a filo pastry basket with melon and crab apple. Husband had scallops. Then Mum and husband chose whole Lemon sole, and I had lamb, with another filo basket containing ratatouille. There were sides of veg too, all very yummy. Husband chose lemon sponge with syrup sauce and ice cream, I chose baked Alaska, and Mum in Law who is trying to avoid milk was offered a fruit salad, not on the menu,and a complimentary bit of the sponge pudding to try. Coffee for us, and the mischievous waitress put a pile of choc mints on the table. Mum in Law can't drink black coffee, but after a consultation about all the teas on the menu, they compromised and gave her apple juice with added hot water. They were so accommodating.
Back at the bungalow, I caught up on the newspaper and then got to bed earlier than usual. with a little help from co codamol I managed to get a reasonable night. The next morning was very lazy, just catching up on things. I suggested a walk into the village, and Mum in Law said that she had heard very good reports of a tearoom in the village, so we strolled down there for lunch. There was a biting wind as we walked back, and few stray snowflakes. In view of the rush hour we had wanted to leave at around 2, but were about half an hour late setting off. We stopped briefly at the services,and bought takeaway drinks. We were doing reasonably well, but about half an hour from home, we were really slowed down, crawling along for quite a few miles. There had been an accident on the M25. Fortunately it was not too serious, but a shunt involving 4 cars. We finally made it home just before 6 pm.
Thursday was a fairly normal day, I did the weekly shopping, it was nice to have a day to recover a bit. Friday was the day of my cousins funeral, I wore my black boots for the first time this winter. we set off at 9.30, stopping at Watford gap for a coffee. We arrived quite early, there was still snow piled high, round the grounds of the cemetery/crematorium. We found the right chapel, and waited in the entrance hall. gradually other family members arrived, my sister from Birmingham came with her Daughter. We got chatting to other family members, then the funeral party arrived. My cousin was not a religious person, so there were no hymns. There was prerecorded music which she had enjoyed whilst she was alive, the family had briefed the vicar about her life, so he was able to speak about her. There were poems read, but in contrast to the funerals of fellow believers, there was an overall sadness, no sense of a life lived for Christ, or a sense of victory over sin and the grave. The vicar did a remarkable job considering he didn't even know her. We filed out to a song by by someone called Andrea Bocelli.
Afterwards we went to a big hotel near junction 10 of the M6, for a buffet lunch. It was where my cousin had spent her 50th Birthday. It was good to catch up on all the family members again, we usually only meet at funerals these days, but the older generation keep pledging to meet up. We are all so scattered these days, but my eldest cousin's Daughter lives in the peak District, and her Son has got a headship at a primary school also in Derbyshire, so at least they will be close,and the Son will be nearer to his aging parents. We left at about 3 pm, stopped for a drink at Watford gap, and were not too badly affected by the rush hour. I promised husband that the second week of his retirement would be less rushed than the first.
Saturday was a slow day, we went to Berkhamsted as there was something I wanted to buy there. I can't quite recall what it was, I was distracted when we got out of the car, we walked up through the garden centre, and later went into different shops. As I paid for the newspaper, I suddenly realised, with horror, that I had forgotten to pay at the pay and display machine. I quickly rang husband, he was even further away, so I hot footed it back to the car park, Phew, no warden around, no penalty notice on car. I put in more than I needed to, to make up for the time we had been there. In our town we usually pay after shopping in the main car parks.
Husband joined me in Waitrose for lunch, and afterwards we spent far too much money. It wasn't my day on Saturday, and as I prepared the chilli, I burnt one lot of onion, cooked some more, then threw the wrong lot away. I cooked more, then realised as the chilli was in the pressure cooker, that the kidney beans and onion were still sitting on the working surface. I blamed it on the fact that I'm still not sleeping well. I long to be able to sleep on my operated side, but it's still too uncomfortable. Will catch up on last week later.

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