We were in Cambridge over the weekend. We went down after I finished work on Friday, and had a great trip down. I told Jennie to avoid the M1, so we did. Which meant we didn’t spend an hour or so travelling from one junction to the next. Instead we went down the A1 and had a lovely trip. We made such good time that we beat Tabitha back from her place of work!

We had gone down because we all had tickets to the Hadrian exhibition at the British Museum. It is becoming hugely expensive to take the train down from Sheffield and it is not hugely expensive from Cambridge. On this occasion , however, Gareth drove us down to outer London and we took the tube into the city. We arrived in Tottenham Court Road at around 12 and set off in search of something to eat. By a stroke of sheer good luck we found, in a little street off Tottenham Court Road, a pub called The Black Horse. I’m not sure I would necessarily be able to find it again, which would be a pity. It has rather a nice menu – but it also has a separate fish and chip menu, with a variety of different fishes to choose from, and the name of the ale they’ve put in the batter each day. I had pollack, with London Pride in the batter. And it was wonderful! Alas, Tabitha’s wish to eat gammon was thwarted by there having been no delivery on Saturday. And Gareth’s food didn’t arrive at all. Well, it did, but not until the rest of us had finished eating! We all had to have supplementary pints while we waited.

And so, to the BM to meet Hadrian. It was a very interesting exhibition, although it didn’t have the wow element that the Terracotta army had. And it was too crowded for me. The exhibition area was crammed full of people, all listening to their audio guides and focussing intently on what they were listening to and looking at. To the point that they would just walk in front of you while you were stood a bit back and looking at something or reading something. And little old ladies would dart in front of you because they couldn’t see past you – so then, of course, you couldn’t see past them! But we all enjoyed the exhibition very much, despite the crowds and the audio guide listeners!

Ran across Dan from work, while we were waiting for Gareth and Tabitha to emerge from the exhibition. Who would expect to run across someone from work in the Great Hall at the BM. Clearly – he didn’t!!

Off to Covent Garden for a visit to the Australia Shop and a hot chocolate laced with kahlua (although it was really a hot kahlua laced with hot chocolate!!) and then back to Cambridge using the tube and the car.

Now- where to go for dinner. WE had thought of the Green Dragon, but when we rang to enquire if they serve food on Saturdays they said they did, but they had a party of 30 and another party of 10 booked in and it might be a bit crowded. So we went to the Old Spring, where Gareth and his teacher mates meet for after school pints sometimes. None of us had ever eaten there, but we’re always up for an adventure. And the food was wonderful. Two excellent pub meals in a day!

Actually, make that three excellent put meals in two days. On Sunday we despatched Gareth (and John, their housemate) through torrential rain to spend the day at Forbidden Planet reading comics and playing with the sci-fi toys in the shop. They claimed they were working! Tabitha, The Builder and I were meeting Peter and Joan in the Traveller’s Rest, a beefeater pub not far from the Girton Road. It wasn’t raining quite so torrentially by half past twelve. We had a magnificent Sunday Roast and then went back to their place for a restorative cup of tea. They are both looking remarkably fit and are looking forward to their fortnight’s cruise in November (Morocco, Spain and Portugal, I think). It was good to see them. Then we took Tabitha home and made our way back to Tupton, avoiding the M1 *and* the A14 this time. We had noticed that the A14 was at a standstill as we drove over it on our way back from Girton. It was a very pretty route.

It stopped raining by the time we got to Peterborough. Tabitha reports that it stopped in Cambridge towards evening.

The Builder had given some thought to selling Uncle John last week when he was on holiday. He took it up to the van place in North Wingfield where the chap said – I’ll give you £700 for it; no I won’t I’ll give you £500 for it. I think The Builder might have been tempted by 700, but wasn’t ever going to sell it for 500, especially not when it’s probably worth about £1200-£1500. We’ve still got it. The Builder wants to put it on eBay. I’d be a bit tempted to get Nick to give it a proper going over and pay to have whatever needs repairing repaired and then to sell it when The Builder retires in a couple of years time. But he wants rid of the van and to replace it with a station wagon (estate car).