Mood:
amorousTopic: Elisabeth's Entries
Today has been absolutely lovely! It started last night when Stephen finally came home after a 24 hour shift...see blog below...and we had a relaxing lie-in this morning. Stephen brought all the cards & presents up to the bed, and I opened the cards, and 2 DVDS (Belleville Rendez-vous, Goldmember), 3 books (The Xenophobe's Guide to America; Carol Ann Duffy's Anthology: Out of Fashion; & Alexander McCalls: The Sunday Philosophy Club). I also received some lotion stuff from Jane my co-worker, and who for the 2nd year in a row supplied us with a Thorntons cake of which most was eaten for breakfast.
Instead of a card, Stephen gave me a completed Risk Assessment Form. Some highlights include: "Risk to Self: Will take risks while riding a bicycle. Has led to several minor injuries in the past" and "History of Hostage Taking: Forced husband into unholy matrimony"...and so it goes on and on....absolutely uplifting.
I also ordered a bra & skivvies from figleaves.com, which arrived right on time this morning...a little birthday present to myself.
So Stephen having a day off (coincidently) and myself having taken leave for the day, we set out to Shere, Surrey voted "The Best Village" many times. No Internet sight or description will do this little quintessentially English village justice. It is tiny, but filled with listed houses, some dating back to the 1500s, and previous. One of the these such buildings is an independent pub, where we enjoyed a brew & some real pub food (ie. not pre-made somewhere else, and reheated...Stephen was even served an apple with his ploughman's lunch.)
From the pub we wandered up to the church (dating as far back as the 1300s I believe), and behind the church cemetery was the trickling stream of the Tillingbourne:
There's the birthday girl, clearly enjoying the day..
Following our stroll, I dragged Stephen into a boutique where I bought a nice pair of earings. Then we went for another stroll past vegetable gardens, scarecrows, a ford, and lots of old houses. Hot and tired, we went to the Lucky Duck to enjoy some refreshing tea, coffee, cake & scones. We really felt transported back to 1970s England (because we were there yo...). Afterwards we decided we were too sober to go home, and stopped at a pub by the trainstation for a quick tipple before waiting at the station for 40 min. for the next train...they run once an hour out of this village station. To give you an idea of how remote this station is: There are no electronic signs displaying the train schedule. There are 2 platforms, but not across from each other. Where one platform ends on one side of the track the other begins for the opposite direction. And how does one get from one side to the other? An overpass? Underpass? No, you have to read a warning sign before opening the gate cross through the middle of the tracks. Dangerous much after a quick drink?
But we made it home eventually. Stephen got a frozen pizza for dinner, I got a yummy prawn & cashew takeaway at So's Kitchen.
While the sun set, I was struck by a bird on a wire (or antennae):
And now it is almost time to go to bed...but there's still some cake left...
Best wishes to all!
E