Busy Week!

Whew! Last week zoomed past at speed. Most of it was taken up with work. Unusually, I had tight deadlines for both jobs - the archives deadline partly self-imposed, as I wanted to get something finished as I have another two weeks' leave to take this week and next week. I should have been in Florida with H and TG for our long planned and much anticipated trip to DisneyWorld, but 2020 happened, so we are not. H is at least enjoying her trip to Italy. Yesterday she sent me pictures from Rome, which looks even more deserted than Central London when I visited three weeks ago. She has also been to Siena, San Gimignano and Montepulciano, spent time relaxing by the lake, and eaten lots of pasta and ice cream. She will be back tomorrow, so I will be driving to Gatwick Airport to collect her and and her BF. 

On Saturday M, TG and I went to Cambridge for the day. It is about an hour and a quarter drive from here, so an easy day trip. Unlike London and Rome, Cambridge was busy. We bought buns for elevenses from Fitzbillies bakery, famous for its chelsea buns, and then spent a bit of time in the shopping centre as TG is at an age when shopping is an appealing past time, and she had a couple of things she wanted to look for. Then M got lunch (falafel wrap) from a stall near the market, and TG and I bought sushi (me) and teriyaki chicken and rice salad (her) from Itsu. We walked past some of the colleges and across the river to find some grass where we could sit and eat. Usually we would have explored the "Backs" (college grounds backing onto the river) but the college grounds were all shut due to coronavirus. After lunch we we went for a walk, ending up at a park where a lot of small groups were socialising. We were amused by a birthday party where a nearby tree had been dressed up with decorations. 

We found a cafe with some free outdoor seating, so stopped for various permutations of tea / coffee / iced coffee and cake / brownie / scones according to individual taste. Before heading back we also paid a visit to Fudge Kitchen, which does probably the best fudge ever, both with and without dairy. TG bought a slice of chocolate-caramel fudge, and my slice was vegan chocolate-coconut. M finds fudge too rich so didn't want any. We then headed back to the car stopping off at John Lewis to buy a new duvet cover and pillow case set to replace our rather worn one - we spotted  white one with a monochrome elephant pattern earlier and decided to go back for it. We also bought an avocado tool that TG, who has just discovered she likes avocados, had been hankering for. It halves the avocado, removes the stone and then neatly slices the flesh. She road-tested it today and it is a source of much joy! So much for my minimalist ambitions. 

Today was our 28th wedding anniversary (go, us!) so M and I went out for a meal this evening. We went to a pub we hadn't been to before, which H had recommended to us, along with another pub in the same chain (Oakman Inns). TG has just reached the point of feeling comfortable left home alone in the evenings, so we have finally reached the point of not needing to find company for her if we are both out - just as well given the constraints of social distancing. We really enjoyed the meal - M had duck, I had pasta followed by a vegan sticky toffee pudding - and will definitely go back. We also got £20 off the bill as this is the last week of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme with discounts of £10 per person for meals eaten out on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.