Cambridge 1

We have come to visit Tabitha and Gareth in Cambridge for the Spring Bank Holiday weekend. And it is, of course, raining!

We came down after I finished work on Saturday. Not a bad trip down; took just over two hours. We arrived around 8:15, said hello to the new rabbits (very cute, and only ten weeks old), and took ourselves, through a dry, warm evening, into town for dinner. We called at the Cambridge beer festival, where Tabitha and Gaz have been volunteering in the evenings during the week, only to find that it had closed early. We suspect that they might have run out of beer!! So we took ourselves to Don Pasquale’s Italian restaurant for a fantastic dinner. Their seafood pizza remains magnificent! Then we visited The Eagle for a quick one before making our way back to the house. So much food. So much wine. No wonder then that I woke in the night with Horrible Heartburn. I always do, if I have excessive food and wine in an evening. Not normally quite so horrid, though. Made me coff and coff and coff and coff and coff and coff and coff. And kept me awake!

So it is no surprise that I slept late on Sunday morning. More of a surprise that The Builder also slept late. He had slept through my coffing fit (as had Taffa and Gaz) but still didn’t waken until I poked him at twenty to ten! Almost unheard of. Mind you, it’s half past eight on Monday morning now and he’s still loitering in bed, listening to the Today programme on the radio.

Nobody really got up and moving until close to lunch time. What to do today? It’s raining persistently, so no outdoor activities. Let’s go to Anglesey Abbey. I’ve been several times, but only around the grounds. I seem to go in the winter when the house is closed. But first lunch. They’re still building the new restaurant and visitor centre, but the restaurant is open. And offered us a beautifully cooked roast pork. I do wish, though, that British chefs wouldn’t put quite so much salt in their cooking. It ruins the flavour of things! And is completely unnecessary on roast potatoes.

So. Off to inspect the house, which was an Augustinian Abbey until the intervention of Henry VIII, when it became a private house. It’s a beautiful building which had been turned into a repository for a vast collection of art and statuary (and clocks!) by the first Lord Fairhaven in the mid-20th century. Quite enjoyed poking about in it. Many, many pictures and statues of naked men. It somehow comes as no surprise to learn that there was no Lady Fairhaven! Then we went through the drizzle to the water mill, where the others went up to the top to investigate. Not that long since I was last there, and in any case my back and legs were not entirely happy, so I stayed downstairs and watched a yellow wagtail bouncing about on the water lilies in the mill race. I wonder why they call these wagtails yellow – they are mostly grey. Greyer, indeed, than the grey wagtail, which is substantially yellow. You’d think they’d have been named the other way around!

Back home for a cup of tea, then we all took the bus through the rain to Clare College for evensong. Which turned out to be a sung Eucharist, in honour of Pentecost. It was lovely. A nice little chapel with a fantastic choir and a nice, relaxed atmosphere. You can even stay, if you are minded, for wine and supper afterwards. Though we did not. We took ourselves to The Bath for a glass of wine and then out to the leisure complex for ten pin bowling. We had intended to eat before our session at 9, but none of the chain eateries had spaces. We arranged to return to one of them after bowling and went for our pre-dinner exercise. Ten pin bowling in a neon lit bowling rink! There’s also a DJ – a loud DJ. Fortunately, he eventually shut up. Was quite fun after that. And I didn’t finish last by a long long way. In fact, in the first match, I didn’t end up last at all! I beat Tabitha by one point! Mind you, she redressed that situation comprehensively in the second session!

We went back to the Italian place for dinner after, only to find that they had closed the kitchen, because no one had been in for over an hour. Frankie and Bennies was still open, so we went in there. Not an entirely successful experience. They smothered Tabitha’s burger with mayonnaise, despite her having carefully explained that she can’t eat mayo. And you wouldn’t think it was possible to mis-cook steak and prawns, but their cook managed. My rare steak was stone cold in the middle and the prawns were very over cooked. I think next time, we will stay at Clare College for supper. Only £4 for wine and food. And I bet that they don’t cook steak badly!

It was the sort of place, Clare College, where if we lived locally, I could see us going to regularly on Sunday evenings. I wonder if we could convince them to establish an outpost in Tupton.

The Builder has gone back to sleep. And it’s still raining.