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Aug. 9th, 2007 10:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blackberry444It was such a lovely day today, and as we did so well yesterday with the clearing out, I decided we deserved a little ride out to The Wall for baguettes and beer at the Twice Brewed.
It was really warm because there was no wind. and it was a perfect day for a ride along the Military Way.
We went to the Twice Brewed Inn and had bacon and mushroom baguettes for John and me and a burger with various trimmings for Charles. we also had really great Budvar.
The food and the beer was great but the entire experience could have been ruined, first of all by a woman sitting on the next table to us who insisted on discussing every trivial detail of her boring and insignificant life with her companion in one of those VERY LOUD cut-glass accents. They didn't stay long as they'd only come in for a bowl of soup, but as soon as they left, a large group of friends and family came in, 6 adults with three anklebiters. They were little girls ranging from about 4 to 6 and they were complete pests. When they weren't whining, they were cajoling their daddies with the most sickly-sweet little-girl flirting. It's strange how different their voices were when they were speaking to their daddies, quite different from the voice they used to each other, or to their mothers. They never stopped talking and wriggling and I was amazed that 6 grown-ups made no effort at all to keep them quieter than a shriek.
When I got home, I read an article in yesterday's Daily Telegraph about how child-unfriendly this country is and I wondered why anyone was surprised. I always took Charles everywhere, and he was never allowed to run around and annoy other people or to shriek at the top of his voice; he didn't seem to want to do so anyway. Neither did his friends. It's true that everywhere is more child-friendly on the continent, but it's also true that most of these European children aren't rude pests who think everyone should have their attention at all times, and they're treated as part of the family and join in the conversation, rather than being ignored while their parents chat. They also eat the same food as the grow-ups rather than having plates of the horrible muck deemed fit for children in many places in this country.
We managed to have a good time anyway but it would have been much better with less showing off from these little girls, who almost seemed to be trying to attract our attention to how cute they are.
Afterwards we went to Cawfields and I had a gentle stroll with Charles around the quarry. I hardly got breathless at all and I didn't have to sit down, which was just as well, as there were no seats. I did stop and lean on the wall a few times, though. We saw lots of happy bunnies wiffling their noses and chomping on grass and wild flowers. They were hardly wild at all. There were lots of wildflowers, but hardly any insects. I would have expected to see dragonflies in such a place, but there were none. Maybe the water's just too deep and cold.
It was so sunny and bright and so warm and pleasant without being too hot. Why can't all summer days be like that? Unfortunately we had to come back earlier than we'd planned because John got a call for his regular Friday run to Peterborough and had to pick the papers up in Newcastle before 5.00 pm.
None of us felt like a proper evening meal, so I just had a salad sandwich and a sugar-free ice-lolly. Charles had cheese on toast, and I suspect that John had a pork pie. I do wish that left to themselves, they would occasionally choose a healthier option.
I was planning to get on with the clearing out tomorrow, but I can't do it on my own because I can't lift anything much, and Charles is also going out, to his differently-sane music group, so I think I shall go to the linen warehouse and buy a couple of new pillows and then go to see if Community Furniture has a small chest of drawers I can buy. Or, if it's really nice, maybe I'll go to Hexham Herbs!! That's a good idea!
I've been feeling so much better during the last few days, even the AF seems to be getting better, although, I think I shall probably need some extra medication to get it back as it was 8 months ago. I'm pretty sure that a large part of the reason I feel so much better is because I got the car park accident thing over and done with. I felt all along that if I could stop feeling so terribly anxious, whether the anxiety was rational or not, I would start to get better. And frankly, it was worth the money for me to feel so much better. I don't think anyone but Charles really understands what it's like to have that kind of irrational anxiety, and he understands because he has it himself a lot of the time, poor chap!
We've all had a really nice day, on the whole, and it seems as though we're going to get at least a couple more days of nice weather. That will be the summer, then!
It was really warm because there was no wind. and it was a perfect day for a ride along the Military Way.
We went to the Twice Brewed Inn and had bacon and mushroom baguettes for John and me and a burger with various trimmings for Charles. we also had really great Budvar.
The food and the beer was great but the entire experience could have been ruined, first of all by a woman sitting on the next table to us who insisted on discussing every trivial detail of her boring and insignificant life with her companion in one of those VERY LOUD cut-glass accents. They didn't stay long as they'd only come in for a bowl of soup, but as soon as they left, a large group of friends and family came in, 6 adults with three anklebiters. They were little girls ranging from about 4 to 6 and they were complete pests. When they weren't whining, they were cajoling their daddies with the most sickly-sweet little-girl flirting. It's strange how different their voices were when they were speaking to their daddies, quite different from the voice they used to each other, or to their mothers. They never stopped talking and wriggling and I was amazed that 6 grown-ups made no effort at all to keep them quieter than a shriek.
When I got home, I read an article in yesterday's Daily Telegraph about how child-unfriendly this country is and I wondered why anyone was surprised. I always took Charles everywhere, and he was never allowed to run around and annoy other people or to shriek at the top of his voice; he didn't seem to want to do so anyway. Neither did his friends. It's true that everywhere is more child-friendly on the continent, but it's also true that most of these European children aren't rude pests who think everyone should have their attention at all times, and they're treated as part of the family and join in the conversation, rather than being ignored while their parents chat. They also eat the same food as the grow-ups rather than having plates of the horrible muck deemed fit for children in many places in this country.
We managed to have a good time anyway but it would have been much better with less showing off from these little girls, who almost seemed to be trying to attract our attention to how cute they are.
Afterwards we went to Cawfields and I had a gentle stroll with Charles around the quarry. I hardly got breathless at all and I didn't have to sit down, which was just as well, as there were no seats. I did stop and lean on the wall a few times, though. We saw lots of happy bunnies wiffling their noses and chomping on grass and wild flowers. They were hardly wild at all. There were lots of wildflowers, but hardly any insects. I would have expected to see dragonflies in such a place, but there were none. Maybe the water's just too deep and cold.
It was so sunny and bright and so warm and pleasant without being too hot. Why can't all summer days be like that? Unfortunately we had to come back earlier than we'd planned because John got a call for his regular Friday run to Peterborough and had to pick the papers up in Newcastle before 5.00 pm.
None of us felt like a proper evening meal, so I just had a salad sandwich and a sugar-free ice-lolly. Charles had cheese on toast, and I suspect that John had a pork pie. I do wish that left to themselves, they would occasionally choose a healthier option.
I was planning to get on with the clearing out tomorrow, but I can't do it on my own because I can't lift anything much, and Charles is also going out, to his differently-sane music group, so I think I shall go to the linen warehouse and buy a couple of new pillows and then go to see if Community Furniture has a small chest of drawers I can buy. Or, if it's really nice, maybe I'll go to Hexham Herbs!! That's a good idea!
I've been feeling so much better during the last few days, even the AF seems to be getting better, although, I think I shall probably need some extra medication to get it back as it was 8 months ago. I'm pretty sure that a large part of the reason I feel so much better is because I got the car park accident thing over and done with. I felt all along that if I could stop feeling so terribly anxious, whether the anxiety was rational or not, I would start to get better. And frankly, it was worth the money for me to feel so much better. I don't think anyone but Charles really understands what it's like to have that kind of irrational anxiety, and he understands because he has it himself a lot of the time, poor chap!
We've all had a really nice day, on the whole, and it seems as though we're going to get at least a couple more days of nice weather. That will be the summer, then!
