Monday: Cool Lakes and Hot Chilli

Photos today are from yesterday's walk in nearby Milton Keynes. Unusually TG decided to come with us and wanted to walk round a lake, though when we got there she complained it wasn't the lake she meant!. As a new town (built from the 1970s onwards) MK was deliberately planned with a series of stormwater balancing lakes and linear parks. As a result there are lots of great places to walk, all linked by traffic free paths. We walked a full circuit round the perimeter of the lake, which turned out to be our usual three miles. The top photo was taken in front of some housing built facing the lake - quite a view!

We started our walk outside a lakeside pub / restaurant and hotel. Pubs and restaurants were only allowed to open a week ago, so we were intrigued to see how it was working. We walked past the entrance to the outside area and heard a member of staff directing a couple of people to a table and explaining that they could download an app and use that to order from their phones, or order from a staff member if they preferred. The tables were very well spaced, and we both felt we could go for a drink or meal outside quite safely.  While we were out walking H was working her first cafe shift. She was indoors working the coffee machine and said it was quite quiet. A couple of regular customers had found out she was going to be working and popped in to give her a card to congratulate her on her graduation, which was lovely of them. 

We found another swan family on the lake. There were eight cygnets, but they were spaced out too far to get them all into a single photograph. After our walk we decide to go for a drive through Starbucks as TG loves their their frappuccinos, but when we got there the queue was long and barely moving so we gave up. 

Today I went to a shop for the first time since March. I needed to pick up a click and collect order from Marks and Spencer - we have a food only store, but can get other items delivered there without paying postage - and then did a bit of food shopping. I wore one of my new cotton masks for the first time, and found it surprisingly comfortable. I should think about 15 to 20 percent of people were wearing masks. The messaging about them here has been so confusing - the government now seems to be suggesting people should wear them, but in a very vague way. There is some speculation that masks may be made  compulsory in shops soon, which has already been done in Scotland, but ministers seem to keep contradicting each other and nobody seems to want to take a decision about it. They really are useless and leadership is non-existent! 

TG cooked dinner tonight as she had to make a high fibre meal for her catering course. She made baked potatoes with chilli (beans for fibre!) and avocado. It was very tasty, but also very hot. After a bit of discussion it turned out that she had misread the recipe and instead of using mild chilli powder OR a smaller quantity of hot chilli powder, she had used both! The extra heat didn't stop people having second helpings.