Today we drove down to Peterborough and met my sister in Dobbie’s Garden Centre. It’s one of those big modern centres, which is more groceries and giftware than actual gardening stuff, but they do a great fish & chips.
The actual ordering system is a little chaotic and features those buzzing things that are very popular these days. Not as popular with me as actually having a member of staff bring to food to the table, but still popular. The chips are large and well cooked with great tartare sauce. The first was succulent and the mushy peas were good. The bread was a nice seeded variety, though the presentation – two slices thrown on a plate with two butter pats, was not quite as well served as the elegant triangular slices shown on the picture.
All in all it was a very good meal and one that reveals how times have changed. A couple of years ago this was the garden centre we stopped at to have tea and cake on our way back from Suffolk in the week lock-down was announced. There ere only a handful of people there that day and we were unable to see my father as the nursing home had already gone into lockdown. Things did not work out too well.
I really must start taking the camera around with me.
After we finished, we saw a red kite over the car park, a really good sighting at low altitude. Mt sister tells me that as the population increases they are taking more live food as their is not enough carrion around, a problem increased by the spread of buzzards into the area. On the way home via the scenic route, we saw another dozen buzzards, one of which was even closer than the car park bird.
On returning home, I found I had an email accepting more poems and we had beans on toast to make up for the calories ingested at lunch.
In summary,
Red Kites
it was an excellent day and a joy to be out, despite the sad memories.
The Red Kites are from our visit to Wales in 2017. 2017? Time flies.
You did well to find a good plate of fish and chips. I find that the fish is often not as fresh as I would like at such places.
Well done on the poetry acceptances. The rubs and inconveniences of life must have sharpened up your writing. It is very difficult to write creatively if you are happy.
Yes, everything fell into place for the fish and chips. If we tried again tomorrow we might not be as lucky. Yes, I have often speculated on the relationship between happiness and creativity – my previous writing career fizzled out after a couple of years and seemed to be parly conneced wih happiness.
Congratulations on the poetry acceptances!
Thank you.
I am glad you and Julia were able to get some good fish & chips and mushy peas. I know you are still thinking of your father and how you were not able to be with him when he passed on. I am sorry.
It is just how things are. In some ways he is still with me. I can still hear him every time I tell someone to speak up and stop muttering. (I have inherited his hearing and his manners :-))
Beautiful birds, excellent day. But I can see how the pandemic memories brought sadness, too. What a time it was.
Yes, a mixed day. I suppose that’s what life is . . . 🙂