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satyricaI was released from self-isolation on the Wednesday of my week of leave and N & I attempted to salvage the situation with some day trips: first off was down to Lewes, where we explored the impressive castle remains, marvelled at the number of bookshops and also saw the ruins of the priory; then Thursday we headed up to Cambridge, which I've visited for specific purposes but never just to wander around. It was all pretty lovely, much more rural than Oxford (there were cows roaming around the meadows virtually in the centre of the city): we spent quite a bit of time going round the Fitzwilliam Museum and otherwise wandered about; I dragged us over to the Portland Arms for a drink, because I kept hearing about it as a gig venue, but mid-afternoon we were the only customers. We stayed for dinner and had a gorgeous view over the Cam sat outside The Anchor.
N had to go into work Friday morning then I went down into town after lunch to meet him, we had cake at Maison Bertaux then wandered along the South Bank for the first time in an age before getting the bus home. I headed out again in the evening to MOTH Club for a gig: first up was Fitzroy Holt, this time with a dude providing some chilled out rhythm section, who impressed again, then Estevans, who I'd been pleased to see join the bill: Trampolene were headlining, who remain hugely enjoyable and endearing.
I was off out of London again on Saturday, catching the train to Bristol, I spent the afternoon wandering around the city, up to Clifton Downs, then eventually out to Westbury where TP was having a house warming in the evening. There were about fifteen of us (plus 3 cats), including a couple of familiar faces, everyone was really easy to chat to, and it was a really good night. I headed off earlyish the next day, walking out to Bristol Parkway and (squished into a very uncomfortably crowded train, as they had halved the number of carriages) journeyed back to Woking, rendez-voused with N and came together with my parents at my brother's for a Barbeque sat out in their now-stepped garden. It was all very lovely, although I still struggle to find a way to connect with my nieces, who mostly did their own thing, then we headed back to London in the evening.
On the Monday I was back at work and back in the office for the first time for about 2 1/2 weeks, I suspect the longest I've been away from the building in about 11 years. It's on the one hand a quietish time as the CMC drop-in is closed, but also everyone is on leave as we need to use it all up by the end of August, so with a couple of people sick as well, I was pretty much the only caseworker around trying to cover everything for the week. I headed down to Clapham in the evening and had a drink with S, who seemed well: even before Covid he had somewhat withdrawn for health and caring responsibility reasons, but now seems ready to go back out into the world, which was great to see.
Tuesday and Wednesday were quiet evenings in with crosswords and DVDs, then after work on Thursday I headed down to the Barnes Wetland Centre at dusk for one of their Bat Walks with N, J&E. It was really incredible, we all got given Bat Detectors (which lowered the frequency of the bats' sonar to something audible by humans) and you could identify the species by the frequency they made; we saw loads of bats and N was particularly taken with the sound-technology. We had food in a nice countryish pub afterwards, although it was then quite a trek back to Tottenham.
N had to go into work Friday morning then I went down into town after lunch to meet him, we had cake at Maison Bertaux then wandered along the South Bank for the first time in an age before getting the bus home. I headed out again in the evening to MOTH Club for a gig: first up was Fitzroy Holt, this time with a dude providing some chilled out rhythm section, who impressed again, then Estevans, who I'd been pleased to see join the bill: Trampolene were headlining, who remain hugely enjoyable and endearing.
I was off out of London again on Saturday, catching the train to Bristol, I spent the afternoon wandering around the city, up to Clifton Downs, then eventually out to Westbury where TP was having a house warming in the evening. There were about fifteen of us (plus 3 cats), including a couple of familiar faces, everyone was really easy to chat to, and it was a really good night. I headed off earlyish the next day, walking out to Bristol Parkway and (squished into a very uncomfortably crowded train, as they had halved the number of carriages) journeyed back to Woking, rendez-voused with N and came together with my parents at my brother's for a Barbeque sat out in their now-stepped garden. It was all very lovely, although I still struggle to find a way to connect with my nieces, who mostly did their own thing, then we headed back to London in the evening.
On the Monday I was back at work and back in the office for the first time for about 2 1/2 weeks, I suspect the longest I've been away from the building in about 11 years. It's on the one hand a quietish time as the CMC drop-in is closed, but also everyone is on leave as we need to use it all up by the end of August, so with a couple of people sick as well, I was pretty much the only caseworker around trying to cover everything for the week. I headed down to Clapham in the evening and had a drink with S, who seemed well: even before Covid he had somewhat withdrawn for health and caring responsibility reasons, but now seems ready to go back out into the world, which was great to see.
Tuesday and Wednesday were quiet evenings in with crosswords and DVDs, then after work on Thursday I headed down to the Barnes Wetland Centre at dusk for one of their Bat Walks with N, J&E. It was really incredible, we all got given Bat Detectors (which lowered the frequency of the bats' sonar to something audible by humans) and you could identify the species by the frequency they made; we saw loads of bats and N was particularly taken with the sound-technology. We had food in a nice countryish pub afterwards, although it was then quite a trek back to Tottenham.
