This week has been a quieter one than last, with Peter back on night shifts and me acknowledging the fact that I needed to catch up on some work. However, we did have some nice activities in between all of that and we’re going away on the weekend!

On Monday morning we skyped Padley and Amelia and had a lovely catch up – it had been ages since we spoke to them and we had a lot to talk about. We had to shut down the conversation and run out the door at about 10:15 so we could make our way to Kew Gardens. It was a beautiful sunny day, despite being a bit chilly, and perfect for wandering around outdoors. We had an 11am entrance time booked and it was not too busy in the gardens, which made for a nice relaxing time. We have only previously been to the gardens for Christmas at Kew, which is a light display at night time, so it was an entirely different experience walking around during the day.

We started at the cherry blossom walk, which was gorgeous – a laneway of blossoming cherry trees with a ‘tulip lawn’ planted underneath. From there we headed over to the Japanese Garden, then through a redwood forest and a woodland walk that ended with a view over the river to Syon House, where we stopped for a cup of tea. We then cut through the rhododendron walk to a bamboo plantation, walked along the lake and then looped around through flower-bed-lined lawns to the rock garden and kitchen garden. It was a beautiful morning and once we’d left we found ourselves in the beautiful neighbourhood by the station. We’d planned on going to the pub for lunch if it was open, but it wasn’t, so we stopped in at a little health-food store and got some sushi and a sandwich and ate at the tables out the front. With Monday being the first day that restaurants and shops were open, there were a lot of people at the various cafes along the street. We’d intended heading to a wine bar or something afterwards but ended up being a bit sick of people after catching the tube home so settled for a quiet afternoon.

On Tuesday afternoon we walked up through Shoreditch and I was able to exchange a pair of leggings that I bought online from Uniqlo in December that didn’t fit. It was bizarre going into a shop, and of course when I asked about exchanges, they told me they’re not stocking their winter leggings anymore – probably not surprising, but such a bizarre indicator of how much time has gone past since we went into lockdown! Nonetheless I was able to swap them for some ‘summer leggings’ and a t-shirt. We continued our walk up into Shoreditch and ended up stopping at BrewDog for a drink, where the waitress told us that it had snowed on Monday afternoon – so people were stubbornly sitting outside for their first drink-at-a-venue in four months in the snow! Crazy.

Peter started working nights on Tuesday night so I started some work on Wednesday during the day, planning maths lessons for the next week and German planning for year 5 and 6 for a couple of weeks. On Wednesday night instead of my usual ‘Happier Hour’ with my book club, I joined a virtual meet up for the ‘Crafty Beer Girls’, a group that I found online recently. I had a fantastic chat with a group of girls who are all either working in the beer industry or interested in the craft scene, and the head brewer from Burnt Mill Brewery talked to us her career and their beers. She has a barley and wheat allergy so can’t drink the beer, and spoke to us about how she brews from smell alone! It was a really interesting evening and I’m now really looking forward to being able to meet up with them again.