We had a good day today, as I said in the previous post, despite the rain.
It started with a breakfast at McDonald’s, which I view as a treat when taken in moderation. I didn’t bother to tell Julia that I’d had one after yesterday’s blood test in case she went all diet-conscious on me.
After that we moved on to a doughnut and a cup of tea at Sainsbury’s in Matlock. Julia resisted the doughnut and just had tea, but I was in a relaxed holiday mood. We didn’t actually stop for tea, it’s just that I have a Pavlovian response to seeing a teapot. We actually stopped because my breakfast tea had worked its way through. This tea and toilet cycle was to be a feature of the day.
Next stop was Bakewell, which was the point of the day. We were looking for a birthday present for Julia’s sister and an internet search had located the item we needed in Stone Art in Bakewell. You may recall that we went there some time ago and bought a pendant for Julia. This time we bought a pendant for her sister. Pendants are good for presents – no need to know a finger size and no need to know if someone has pierced ears.
I had checked my bank balance when we were in Sainsbury’s, so I was able to do the decent thing and secure a pendant for Julia.
She, as you can see from the header picture, responded by buying coconut macaroons. She also bought a Bakewell pudding, but there is less comedy potential in a Bakewell pudding.
We paused to take the customary pictures of the locks on the bridge, and the trout under the bridge before crossing the river to the car park, which is where the previous post starts. Sometimes I confuse myself with all the time shifts, but I wrote these two posts in order of how much the events annoyed me, and it’s much easier to get annoyed about closed toilets than it is about buying jewellery.
We got caught behind a wide load coming down the Via Gellia and the satnav picked a peculiar route through Matlock on the way back. I hadn’t used it on the way to Bakewell and was only using it on the way back because I hadn’t switched it off after using it to get to the bookshop. It doesn’t seem to know there’s a by-pass these days.
Finally, back at home, we found a letter from the anti-coagulant service – I have four more weeks until the next blood test, having hit the target again. This is good news, particularly for my inner elbow, which was starting to get quite tender.
We then had seafood linguine and Bakewell pudding and custard for tea. Julia did the cooking and Number 2 son did the washing up.
All in all, an excellent day. And I still have material for another post.
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I love Bakewell! In fact, I have sat on that same bench you and Julia were sitting on when she presented you with her saucy macaroons. I’m glad you warned me about the toilet closure; I’m a regular visitor there too.
I like those benches, always plenty to see. Fortunately there are other toilets, but they were very useful, being so close to the car.
🙂
Is this the place where the famous Bakewell Cake comes from???? Glad your blood test came back providing some relief!
In Bakewell the use an old recipe and call it Bakewell Pudding. Bakewell Tarts and other cake type derivatives are descended from this recipe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakewell_pudding
Ooh. Thanks for the link.
🙂
I too am not a fan of the locks. It seems like a gratuitous waste of money. You could always tell the object of your admiration that you loved him/her but I suppose that that would involve talking to another person which I believe has gone out of fashion among the mobile phone generation.
I’m ambivalent – on the one hand the locks make for interesting photos and give me something to write about. On the other hand they are a waste of money, destructive to bridges and symptomatic of modern life where people have to show their emotions all the time instead of keeping them decently repressed. I view them in much the same way I view those piles of rotting flowers by the roadside.
Now it’s official – I love Julia.
🙂 I just told her – she’s trying not to look smug.
LOL
That was some day you and Julia had. And who knew that macaroons could provide so much comic potential? 😉
I hadn’t even thought of macaroons for years but as soon as I saw them things fell into place. Sophistication is greatly overrated. 🙂
Love ’em and sophistication be damned!
🙂
Sounds like a perfect day!
It was close to perfect, that is true. 🙂
A good day, with good blood news. I’m sure Julia could find humour in a Bakewell pudding. I like the lovelocks pictures
Julia says she needs a good sense of humour. Not sure what she means, but she always looks at me and sighs when she says it.
🙂
Matlock is a curious place, so the bikers still go there? Traditional Bakewell pudding is okay but I prefer Mr. kipling!
I think there’s enough room in my life for traditional pudding and Mr Kipling. Yes, still plenty of bikers.
I presume that the council are just waiting for the metal value of all those locks to make it worth their while to cut them all off. What a dreadful custom and one with a lot of disturbing undertones.
Yes, and the locks are now spreading to the next bridge. I thought they were going to cut them off years ago, but they didn’t. They did, however, manage to close the toilets.