Out to Lunch and an Unexpected Purchase

I went shopping. Twice. Once planned and once unplanned. On Friday I went to collect my violin from its service. With its rehaired bow, new strings, bridge and tail piece, it looked as good as new. It sounds good too - at least, it does when allowances are made for the limitations of the player! 

As a teenager and young adult I used to play the viola, but eventually decided I preferred the violin and sold my viola in order to buy a better violin. Over the last few years I had started to miss playing the viola. For a while pre-pandemic I played in a small string group which desperately needed a viola player, so I played on a borrowed viola to fill the gap and realised I would really like one of my own again. However, I didn't have a budget for one, and it had stayed as an unrealised aspiration. When I collected my violin, I decided to ask about violas, thinking a reasonably playable one might be manageable in the not too far distant future. I asked. It turned out that he had one for sale that was both playable and so affordable I bought it on the spot! It is a Romanian factory made viola with slight cracking to the varnish, but it makes a surprisingly reasonable sound and came with a bow, a case and even a set of spare strings. The only thing I need to get for it is a shoulder rest - trying to play without one is painful, and my violin shoulder rest is only barely better than nothing! I think I will have a lot of fun with it, although it will take a while to build up stamina due to the size and weight of it. 

Saturday's shopping trip was pre-planned. It is TG's birthday on 8th June and she didn't have anything specific she wanted as a gift apart from some oddments, so we decided I would take her to an outlet mall in the town where M works so she could choose something. As it is a holiday weekend I thought it would be a good idea to get there reasonable early. I was right! We walked straight in at 10.30. By the time we left three hours later the entire ground floor of one of the car parks was full of people queueing! It probably wasn't quite as bad as it looked as the queue was spread out to allow for social distancing, but we were very glad indeed we weren't in it! 

After looking around various shops TG chose a small bag and a pair of earrings. We enjoyed Japanese style rice bowls from Itsu for lunch - Japanese food is her favourite - and iced coffees before we headed home. 

It seems as though life has suddenly taken off, with lots of things on the calendar. Pre-pandemic it would probably have been a fairly normal level of activity, but after doing so little for so long it is both enjoyable and exciting, but also strange and tiring. Yesterday we went out for lunch, to use a gift voucher R had given M for his birthday. The voucher was for the Marco Pierre White chain of restaurants, and the nearest is part of a hotel which is inside the football stadium at Milton Keynes. We are so used to everything be shut or cancelled that we were quite surprised to find that there was an event on in the stadium. As we left the restaurant we peered through some glass doors and it seemed to be some sort of strong man competition. The audience was obviously just.a limited number and they were seated in socially distanced groups, but they were loud and enthusiastic. I just googled and it seems it was the semi-finals of the UK's Strongest Man contest - the final was taking place in the same place today. 

The three of us all enjoyed our lunch. It was the first time we had been to a MPW restaurant and we would definitely go back. They do a Sunday lunch menu with two or three course meals including a roast - TG and I had roast chicken (I very rarely eat it when I am out as I don't want to eat intensively farmed chicken, but this was advertised as free range) and M had beef. M and I had smoked salmon as a starter and TG had calamari, then we all had different desserts - mine was sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce. One consequence of the pandemic is that I have gone back to eating pretty much anything after leaning quite heavily towards a vegan diet. Being more of an omnivore made it so much easier for the four of us to eat together, and cooking and eating was something we all enjoyed as a family. I would like to switch back to eating mostly plant-based again, as I think it makes me feel fitter and more energetic as well as being more environmentally friendly. but eating differently to M an TG is an added complication to life that I'm not ready to tackle at the moment.  

This morning M got up early to go swimming - I opted out of an 8am start on a Bank Holiday - they later in the morning we went for a 3 mile walk. The boatyard where they rent out canal boats was almost empty, with just one solitary boat left moored. I'm not surprised they are getting lots of bookings, as a hiring a narrow boat must be about as Covid-safe a holiday as it is possible to get. Our friend B, who is a music teacher, came over for lunch, then she and I played duets for a while - violin / violin and violin / viola. It was good to give the viola a test drive, and I managed to play for quite a while without my arms giving up on me despite the size and weight of the instrument. Neither of us has played much (if at all!) since the pandemic started, so we were decidedly rusty, but it was good to get started again. 

Expedition to the British Museum

Back in January I wrote a list of things I hoped to be able to do this year. One of them was to visit the Thomas Becket Exhibition that the British Museum had planned for this spring. Museums were allowed to reopen on May 17th following the long lockdown and the exhibition opened a few days later, so I decided to hop on a train and go. The British Museum is an easy trip for me, as it is only 15 minutes walk from Euston Station where the trains from our local station terminate, and the train journey only takes about 30 to 40 minutes. 

As numbers are restricted to allow for social distancing, I had to book tickets both for the exhibition (paid) and general museum entrance (free). I got there with plenty of time to spare, so sat in Russell Square gardens to eat my lunch and enjoy the sun (at last!), then headed over the museum for my 12.30 entrance slot. There was quite a queue for bag checks, which has been moved to a tent outside the museum, but exhibition ticket holders had a separate entrance with no queue. 

I love the Great Court inside the museum, with its cantilevered glass roof and the old British Library Reading Room in the centre. In my postgraduate days the British Library was still within the British Museum and I was able to spend time working in the old Reading Room, which I loved - history just oozed from every corner. The new British library is also a great place to work and far more practical but, well ... new just isn't the same! Still, the Great Court does go some way to making up for the loss of the Reading Room. 

I scooted past lots of ancient sculpture (with a slight pause to admire some Ancient Egyptian statues and the Rosetta Stone) as I wanted to spend some time looking at the Anglo-Saxon and prehistoric Europe galleries. Over the past few months I have got interested in prehistoric Britain, about which I previously knew almost nothing, and I am currently reading a new book on Anglo-Saxon England, so wanted to indulge those interests. The photo above is a reconstructed helmet from the Sutton Hoo ship burial, which is now believed to have been the burial mound of Raedwald, king of the East Angles, who died in the early 7th century. 

I rather liked these two Anglo-Saxon drinking glasses, also from an early 7th century burial, this time in Buckinghamshire. After the Anglo-Saxons I worked backwards through Iron and Bronze Ages back to Neolithic times. The picture below shows items from an Iron Age grave of the 1st century BC, which have been displayed in the positions they were found.  

I think the two axe heads on the left of the picture below were perhaps my favourite items in this gallery. They date from 4000BC and are made from jade quarried in the Italian alps. They were high value, high status ornamental items, too delicate for use as tools, beautifully shaped and highly polished. 

I had just the right amount of time to get round the things I wanted to see before my entry time for the Thomas Becket exhibition. When I was a student I took a course on King Henry II with a scholar who was an expert on Becket, so I had quite a bit of background knowledge already. The joy of an exhibition like this is that items are borrowed from many other museums, archives and individuals and can be seen together. 

The beautiful casket above is a medieval reliquary, with pictures telling the story of Thomas Becket. Below is the only surviving document with Becket's own seal, on which he calls himself  Thomas of London. 

There were quite a number of illuminated manuscripts, some telling Becket's story and at least a couple of books that he had owned. 

In one section there was a series of replicas of stained glass windows from Canterbury Cathedral showing scenes from miracles said to have taken place at Becket's shrine. 

An unexpected treat was an original copy of the 1225 version of Magna Carta, one of only four which survive. The original 1215 version of the Charter didn't "stick" - King John abrogated it soon after it was agreed and had it nullified by the Pope. An amended version was agreed in 1216 after John's death, and this was revised again in 1217 before the final version was agreed in 1225 - so this one is in effect THE Magna Carta.

I could have included a lot more photos, but this post is already rather picture heavy! By the time I had finished looking at the exhibition I was tired from standing mostly still looking at things (why is standing often more tiring than walking?) and was ready to go outside and take off my face mask, so I headed home. On the way back to the station I stopped at a stall for coffee and a vanilla bun and sat in another garden / park area to enjoy a bit more sun. When I got back M had walked down to meet me and we walked back from the station together. After all the pandemic restrictions I now truly appreciate being able to go out and do something like this - something that I would have taken for granted before. 

Cold, Wet and Windy - Again!

The weekend was quite quiet and relaxing, for me at least - M was working his late shifts so had to leave home mid-afternoon. On Saturday morning we went over to drop some post off for H and went for a walk with her around the area, which currently has pockets of finished housing, partially built sections, and areas where building has barely started. Several building firms are working there, making it quite interesting to compare the different housing styles and sections of the estate. It will be a virtually a small town when finished, with two primary schools, a secondary school, a medical centre, playing fields, a community centre and local shops. It will be interesting to see it all come together - for now the facilities are pretty much limited to a couple of children's play areas. After our walk we went back to H's house for coffee, then left her to get on with studying as she has her next accountancy exams in a couple of weeks. 

Yesterday morning we did our regular three mile walk around the canal and the woods. It is all looking very green and springlike, but even now the trees are not fully in leaf. It is hard to believe that it is almost summer as it feels more like March or April. If it isn't cold, it's wet, and if it isn't wet, it's cold. We had quite a bit more rain over the weekend, though fortunately it didn't get too heavy while we walked. This week the weather is supposed to be getting warmer and drier. I certainly hope it does! I can't help wondering whether this spring only seems cold because we have become accustomed to the effects of global warming, but I'm pretty sure still wearing winter coats at the end of May is not normal. 

While M was at work, TG did some homework and I was mostly lazy, reading and watching some TV. I am working my way slowly through the Marvel movies, with TG half watching along with me. She says she wants to like them, but finds them long and difficult to follow - she loses concentration and then can't work out what is happening. I finished a warm, wool sweater I have been working on for the last few weeks. I'm pretty pleased with the way it has come out. I intended it to be for next winter, but it would actually be good for the weather we have been having so it may get worn earlier. 

Today M only had a small amount of freelance work to do, while I was busy all day with archive work. TG's dance exam ended up being rearranged for this afternoon instead of yesterday, after they managed to find a new examiner. M collected her from school at lunchtime, and chauffeured her to the dance school while I was working. She says she things the exam went well. 

Fully Vaccinated

The latest stage of lockdown lifting meant that we were able to go back to live band practice on Wednesday, after nearly six months of rehearsals on Zoom. Playing as a group rather than to a backing track is just *so* much better, and it was lovely to catch up with people in person. Driving home at 9.30 it was still not fully dark, and the clouds were spectacular. I took this photo from an upstairs window when I got back and couldn't get a view of the looming tall clouds that first caught my attention, but it gives an idea of the contrast between the clouds and the light in the sky behind them. 

On Wednesday morning I had my second vaccine dose. I felt tired again after it - more so than with the fist dose, but I think that may be because I was running a bit short on sleep. Yesterday afternoon I was definitely more than normally sleepy, though. I have an NHS app on my phone which lets me book appointments, order prescriptions and check my medical records, and from this week it is now also showing my vaccination status. Seeing my double-dose in black and white makes me very happy. I'm so looking forward to being able do things again without worrying about catching Covid. 

In another month or so at least one of the orchestras I usually play in should be starting up live rehearsals again, so I decided it was time to get my violin out. For some reason since the pandemic started I just haven't felt like playing - I'm not sure why - but now I really want to get started again. Inevitably, having been neglected for a year, I had a broken string; also inevitably, it was the only string for which I didn't have a spare. The strings I normally use are traditional metal wound round gut and although they are good quality strings they can be a bit temperamental, sometimes awkward to tune and with a tendency to go pop, so I decided maybe now would be a good time to try a different type of string. Also I have been meaning for ages (literally years!) to get my violin serviced - it needs a new bridge and couple of other tweaks, and the bow needs rehairing - and realised that I really should do it now, before it gets tricky to find a convenient time when I don't have orchestra commitments. I took it in to a local repairer yesterday and it should be done in a week or so, complete with new strings. I'm looking forward to trying them out and getting the benefit of having my violin back in its best possible condition. 

 

Bluebell Woods

On Sunday morning we went for a walk in the woods before M went to work. Last time we went there the bluebells were just starting to come into flower; today they were just past their peak, beautiful but not the same spectacular carpet of blue they were last year. They are also almost a month later this year. Such a contrast between last year's beautiful spring weather and this year, when it has felt at times as though winter has dragged on into May. 

This has been my week for working in the office. I am so enjoying the near-normality of it, seeing colleagues and having access to the archives after such a long time of juggling as best I can with what I have been able to access remotely. I am not enjoying having to wear a mask when I am supervising in the searchroom - our small team of four have plenty of space to spread out and have all had at least one dose of vaccine, so we don't bother with them the rest of the time. Ironically I am not finding wearing a mask for extended periods as uncomfortable as I expected, but it affects the position of my glasses just enough to send the varifocals slightly out of whack and give me blurry vision. I meant to take in my music glasses which have plain middle distance lenses to see if they are better, but forgot. Ah well! After today I am not back in for nearly four weeks as the next time it is my team's turn is TG's half term and I have booked the week off. 

Driving home today it was sunny until I got two-thirds of the way home, when huge, billowing black clouds appeared. A few minutes after I got in the storm broke, with thunder, lightening, and torrential rain mixed with hail. I was very glad I didn't have to drive through it. M and TG were out, as he had taken her to her dance class and went into M & S Food to get some bits while she was there. Her dance exam is supposed to be happening next weekend, but the examiner pulled out due to concerns over covid; a replacement was found who has also now pulled out, and the exam board are trying to find yet another replacement. 

After a couple of months with everything seeming so much more positive there is now concern that a covid variant that originated in India is gaining ground here and may be significantly more transmissible. If so, it means we will be very much in a race to get as many people as possible vaccinated before it can cause another serious wave of infections. Fortunately there doesn't seem to be any real concern that the variant is likely to evade the vaccines. Unfortunately one of the areas which has had an alarming increase in cases is Bedford, where I work - I suspect this is what freaked out the dance examiners, who probably would not realise that our area is not affected and still has a low case rate. I have looked at a lot of statistics and I'm actually quite hopeful that what is going on is more of a blip than the beginning of another major wave, but the timing is unfortunate as yesterday saw the next stage of lockdown lfiting. Pubs and restaurants can now serve food indoors, groups of up to six can meet indoors, and more indoor activities can restart, including in person band rehearsals. On current figures, this should be fine - we just have to hope that the new variant doesn't mean it turns out to be a mistake. 

Fallen Trees, Medieval Earthworks and a Kitchen Refit

After Sunday's walk along the Thames Path, we were out walking again on Monday. We had arranged to meet three friends for a circular walk along part of the Greensand Ridge walk to Woburn and then back across fields. They actually walked further than us and we arranged to meet them part way - we might have done the longer distance if we weren't already tired from the previous day. The first section was through woodland, where we saw a few bluebells - it hasn't been a great year for them this year.  

We passed trees which had blown down across the path in a couple of places - one we went round, and this one we went under (it was bigger and taller than it looks in the photo). When we got to Woburn we stopped for coffee and a light lunch - most of us had sausage rolls or pasties. It was take away but there were picnic benches outside the cafe to eat at. 

The weather was all over the place. Sometimes sun, a bit of rain and even something cold and stingy (sleet or hail?) at one point. The final stretch was across open fields where the wind was strong enough not to be able to hear each other speak at times. The last field has earthworks which were once the site of a medieval manor house - the location is shown on a 17th century map, but the house disappeared some time after that. The dip in the bottom picture was once the moat. Around the earthworks the field still shows the old medieval ridge and furrow field strip pattern very clearly. 

Work took up the rest of Monday, all of Tuesday and part of Wednesday. We didn't do much more walking as the weather turned wet and unappealing, so we stuck to just short local walks. Yesterday we went to see a local kitchen installation company to organise a quote to get our kitchen refitted. We last had it done when TG was tiny, and it has definitely seen better days. We wondered about just replacing cupboard doors and the work surface to brighten it up, but in the end we decided it would be better to replace all the fitted cupboards, do some retiling and put down new flooring. Most of the appliances are still functional - we need a new hob and will probably replace the dishwasher - and we will keep the layout the same. It is only a small kitchen and there isn't much we could change anyway, unless we wanted to do a major remodel with building work and knock the kitchen and dining room into one large room. As we are wanting to move in three or four years, we don't want to commit to that level of cost and effort. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we can get everything we want done within budget. 

After starting the kitchen ball rolling we went swimming, when later in the afternoon I went to the supermarket and topped up food for the weekend and the beginning of next week. While we are experimenting with Hello Fresh we don't need as much, so I decided not to bother with an online grocery order. Today M has been at work, TG ignored the grotty weather and went into town with her friends, so I had a few hours home alone - something that very rarely happens! I have spent the day being lazy, reading, wasting time online, and watching the first Avengers movie with TG.

Thames Path: Twickenham to Kew

Yesterday M and I walked the second leg of the Thames Path. He had a day off from 111 in lieu of working on Bank Holiday so was able to join me. As the trains are less frequent on a Sunday and traffic and parking both much better than a weekday we drove down to Kew. We managed to find some free roadside parking, then caught a bus to Twickenham Station to start the 6.5 mile walk. 

It was the warmest day we have had in a while and I was able to walk wearing just a shirt - a pleasant change from being wrapped up in a winter coat or warm jacket! The whole of this stretch from Twickenham through Richmond, Isleworth and Brentford was new to me, though M remembered being taken to both Richmond and Syon House as a child. The view in the picture below is of Old Isleworth.

We had done a bit of research before setting off and decided to cross the river at Richmond to buy lunch from a vegetarian cafe under the arches of Richmond Bridge. It was a good call. M had  houmous and falafel with salad, and I bought a sweet potato and apricot pie - both delicious. We walked on another mile or so before sitting down for lunch with a view. 

Part of the walk turned away from the river and cut through Syon Park, with views Syon House (the London home of the Duke of Northumberland). The igloos in front of the house are for covid-safe dining - I presume there must be a restaurant within the gardens, which are open to the public. Currently restaurants and pubs are only allowed to serve meals outdoors, though there is a fairly wide interpretation of what counts as "outside". A plastic bubble ticks the box. I wonder how much longer these will be necessary?

After Syon Park the walk zig-zagged between the river and the Grand Union Canal which runs through Brentford - the same canal we walk along at home! This section is a short spur which links the main canal with the Thames. I had absolutely no idea it ended up here. The text on the side of this building amused me ... "Along the towpath the Sunday walkers amble, overtaken by lycra joggers." Indeed! We are definitely in the amblers category. 

This last stretch of the walk was much more industrial and busy, including some working boatyards. We were also struck by how many new or nearly new blocks of flats there were along the river bank. Great views, but I imagine they must come at a hefty price. 

Towards the end of the walk we passed this rather atmospheric wreck, which looks as though it must have been there for quite some time. On the opposite bank of the river is Kew Gardens - one of those places that is on my "must visit" list. I have been before, but it must have been at least 30 years ago I think. 

The walk was a nice length. It must have been about 11 when we started walking, and we got back to the car at 2, after stopping to buy and eat lunch. It was an easy drive, motorway all the way and with very little traffic it only took us just over an hour. Much quicker than catching the train, and with two of us and free parking much cheaper. In the evening we were lazy and ordered a click-and-collect takeaway from Nandos, at TG's request. 

It has been a busy working week as I was back in the office again on Tuesday and Wednesday and we had a freelance job which took up most of Thursday and Friday. I am enjoying being back working-at-work alternate weeks instead of working from home, but this week I found the screen on the computer I was using awful to read - I have been spoiled using my retina display laptop at home - and spent most of Wednesday with a nasty headache as a result. Next time I am in I am going to try using the middle distance glasses that I have for music and see if that helps. My varifocals definitely weren't cutting it. I had expected having to wear a mask for much of the day would be hard, but so far I'm not finding it too bad. Fortunately we only have to wear them when we have members of the public in, not around the other people in our work "bubble". Our little team of four have all had at least one vaccine dose, and two of us are due our second within the next couple of weeks (the UK decided to leave a 12 week gap between doses, to ensure that people in the high risk groups were able to get at least some immunity as quickly as possible) so the risk should be minimal.

I am really enjoying trying out Hello Fresh meal kits. After using R's voucher to get a free box last week, I decided to experiment with using it for our weekday meals during May. So far, definitely so good! Each meal comes with everything you need in a paper bag, except for meat and dairy products which are packaged separately with cool packs. Each meal comes with a recipe sheet with detailed and easy to follow instructions, and all the ingredients are pre-measured for three portions.  For some reason the neatness of this gives me a ridiculous amount of satisfaction! I am a reasonably competent cook, but have been feeding a family for nearly 30 years and it is lovely to have something that adds a bit of novelty both to the meals I am making and to how I cook them. The picture above is yesterday's Thai-style beef with peppers, green beans and fluffy rice. Very tasty and enjoyed by all of us - even M who is less enthusiastic about spicy food than TG and myself. I'm trying to push the boundaries a bit to find new and interesting things that we are all happy to eat and so far, apart from one meal which was a bit too far out of M's comfort zone and a bit too rich for TG, everything has been a success. I'm keeping a careful watch on our spending to see how much, if at all, it affects our food budget for the month. So far I think for us it may be either neutral or only slightly more expensive, which is a pleasant surprise. 

Today M was working an early shift at 111, so TG and I had arranged to meet up with H to go shopping for plants at a garden centre in MK. We did consider postponing it as the weather forecast was grim - it has stayed cold all week, though mostly dry until today when it was miserably wet; fortunately it is supposed to get warmer and drier tomorrow. In the end we decided to ignore the weather and go anyway. The incentive to get TG out of the house early on a Saturday (she is on a teenage late rising schedule when she doesn't have school!) was a takeaway breakfast from Tim Horton's, which is quite near H's new house. They have a long-running offer of a breakfast sandwich or wrap, a hash brown and a hot drink for £1.99, which is ridiculously cheap. So cheap that last time TG and H went there was a 45 minute queue for the drive through. Today we decided it would be quicker to queue in person rather than do the drive through, but it still took a while. We got breakfasts to take for H and M2 as well as for ourselves, then after we had eaten we went to Dobbies garden centre. I bought the plant in the picture above to put outside our front door and some bedding plants to go into pots in the back garden; H bought a couple of plants in pots to put outside her front door (they fortunately survived falling over in the boot of her car on the way home!) and TG bought an orchid for her bedroom. Now I just have to find time over the next few days to transplant the little plants and hope that my black thumbs don't kill them! 

Cold, Wet and Windy - Is It Really May?

It is hard to believe we are into May as the weather feels more like the beginning of March, far too chilly for this time of year. At least it was dry yesterday morning so we went for a walk on Dunstable Downs for the first time this year. We did a tiring four mile circuit along the top of the Downs - going down is OK, getting back up again is hard work! 

The first part of the walk was along the ancient Icknield Way. I am trying to learn more about ancient British history and have been reading Home by Francis Prior, a history of domestic life from the Mesolithic to the Iron Age. At one end of the Downs is a set of seven round barrows known (confusingly!) as Five Knolls. These date back to the Bronze Age, possibly as far back as 2500 BC. The picture below shows the path which crosses the three barrows at the southern end of the site. 

In the afternoon I watched Thor with TG, then cooked a large roast dinner for which H and M2 joined us.  They seem to be doing well and are very happy with their new house. Poor TG has had a nasty sniffly cold over the weekend and had to miss a dance class on Saturday, but she has now pretty much shaken it off. Although today was a bank holiday M had to work this morning, while TG and I stayed home and were lazy apart from a quick trip to the supermarket. 

This afternoon we had arranged to go over to R's for a BBQ, along with H and M2. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate. We did manage to cook outside on the grill, despite a strong wind, but then it started to rain heavily and there was no choice but to eat inside. Under the current coronavirus restrictions mixing indoors isn't allowed, but it is clear that in two weeks time it will be. Given that M and I are vaccinated and local Covid rates are very low, it felt safe enough. While R was cooking I managed to distract R and M3's dog from the smell of sausages for long enough to get a photo of him sitting still and looking every inch the beautiful beagle. After we ate we played scattergories -there may have been a few disputes over the acceptability of answers! Despite the weather it has been a good weekend. One positive thing about the pandemic is that it has made us truly appreciate how good it is to be able to spend time with family, rather than taking it for granted.