It’s your lucky day – very little news this week!
Date Night this week was a lovely dinner out at the Crown Inn at Weston on Thursday evening. One might imagine that I would take my sweetheart out on Wednesday for Valentine’s Day. Wednesday, however, is one of those days when Penelope runs and jumps about for a couple of hours in the evening. So, Thursday it was.
As it happens, this was perhaps the best decision we’ve made in years – the day after Valentine’s Day, we discovered, many places will be decidedly uncrowded. In fact, we were the only ones dining at the Crown and so had the whole place to ourselves. While we were toasting by the roaring fire as we perused the menus, one chap came in to collect a couple of takeaway burgers & chips (I didn’t know the Crown did takeaways – must remember) and later, as we were eating, another chap came and sat at the bar nursing a pint of ale. Other than that, it was we two, the maître d’, the bar maid and the chef. I don’t know how they are making money with those overheads.
The meal was very good, as always. Penelope and I both had the Trio of Gloucester Old Spot, i.e., Ham Hock Croquettes, Pancetta Wrapped Fillet and Slow Braised Cheek all with a Cider Reduction. Very tasty but, as with all good things, we seem to have tried everything on the menu and it’s probably time, from our perspective, for them to introduce a few more alternatives.
The other thing which was very noticeable – their prices have increased considerably since the last time we were there. One shouldn’t be surprised about that – prices always seem to go in one direction even without your fellow citizens ignorantly voting for Brexit sending the value of your currency down the crapper. Hey presto! Everything is suddenly 20% more expensive. Oh well, it was a lovely evening and hopefully compensated for my failure to mark Valentine’s Day in any meaningful form.
Penelope’s walking group goes from strength to strength. This week’s walk on Friday was excellent and the weather co-operated splendidly – bright sunshine and no rain!
The only drawback (from my perspective, not hers) is that during the week Ms Penelope and I have to run a reconnaissance walk or two beforehand. This week she had two walks in mind so each had to be walked to determine whether the footpaths were passable, how many stiles and of what variety we might have to scramble over (some of our fellow walkers can find it challenging to get over some of the more demanding stiles), how much claggy mud would be encountered, etc. So, this week we walked both routes in the rain and wind and came to the conclusion that the walk across the fields to Weston would have to wait for dryer weather – there was a “lake” in the middle of one field and a fallen tree blocking the footpath in another. Having said that, it is February after all and there is no escape from the wet and mud no matter where one goes. The walk we did this week was fairly mud-free apart from one stretch of about 100 metres where we had to cross an arable field planted with winter wheat. By the time we got to the other side we were standing about six inches taller with platform wellies caked with claggy mud. There was also the small issue of the occasional lake-sized accumulation of water along the bridleway on the way home but that posed no problems for those in wellies!
Still, it was good fun and folks seemed to enjoy themselves. I did suggest to Ms Playchute that we could offer coffee and cakes afterwards to which she initially agreed. However, on reflection, we both concluded that this might be setting the bar too high and foster expectations of cake and coffee after every walk. Still, we did extend a “casual” offer of a cup of tea or coffee and a few biscuits/cookies which was well received by a few who did not have to race off.
We had one of those “Spring” cleaning clear outs on Thursday which is always immensely satisfying. Mountains of rubbish and clutter gets disposed of leaving masses of free space in drawers and cupboards which quickly gets filled. As we know, nature abhors a vacuum!
In clearing out boxes and cupboards and the deep recesses of drawers rarely opened, Pen ran across the following, both of which caused enormous hilarity – tears literally streaming down our faces. The first is a “cartoon” drawn by Ben at some stage. Note the accuracy of the drawing, particularly the differing activities of Penny and me; she resting in the rocking chair in front of the fire reading while I slave over a mountain of dishes and pots and pans.
The second gem was a couple of “Thank You” notes Adam wrote after one Christmas, one to Penny’s aunt and uncle in Australia and the other to Penny herself.
Clearly their sense of satire and sarcastic humour developed at a very early age. I wonder where they get that from?
Love to you all,
Greg