Walking the dog in the neighbourhood
It's Friday the 8th April today and we've been in the UK since late Tuesday evening. It remains very cool, but at least not as windy today as it has been. Barb is sans heavy winter coat and just a lightweight jacket instead.
Yesterday was spent just catching up with Susan at home and making plans for our trip to France. Reading the news here, it seems that plane travel to Europe from the UK has been pretty chaotic, with lots of flights cancelled leaving travellers angry and either delayed or stranded. We might need to re-think how we get to France if it's no better in a month's time when we're due to go. We'll wait until after Easter to make a decision on this to see if the airlines get their act together.
The next best option might be to take Susan's car over on the ferry to Calais from Dover and then drive down to Montpellier, breaking the journey and staying overnight somewhere along the way (it's a thousand kilometre trip!) That's quite a drive! More of that late .....
Yesterday afternoon we went into Saffron Walden again to pick up John's watch and get some groceries. The Waitrose grocery store is always a revelation to Barb. So much variety! Also you can get alcohol within the store. Susan uses the self-service hand held scanner so by the time you get to the check-out it's all already scanned in and you just pay. Very quick and efficient.
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John and Susan shopping at Waitrose
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Susan made a delicious meal for us last night using venison, vegetables, lardons (bacon chopped up thickly), juniper berries and cranberries. This was accompanied by roast potatoes and parsnips. It was amazing!
The blocked nose and sneezing that Barb woke up with (our RAT tests were negative thank goodness) seems to have abated as the day wore on .... so maybe it's just an allergy.
Today Susan had a routine medical appointment at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge. While she was off doing that we took Bella, Susan's Golden Retriever out for a walk in the village. She is getting older now (around 12 years old) so is slowing down and showing signs of early dementia. She did seem to enjoy the walk with us, albeit at a very sedate pace with lots of rest stops.
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| Barb resting on a bench in the church grounds |
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The Church of England church in Great Chesterford
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| John and Bella |
After having a good rest at the churchyard we walked around to the village store. Bella does enjoy being petted and admired by passers-by and it was nice enough once we got to the shop to sit outside and enjoy a capuccino and share a Danish.
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The village shop and bakery
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| Quite warm in the sun |
We walked back home via a different route admiring the lovely houses and gardens in the village as we went. There are several thatched cottages with chocolate box cottage gardens.
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| Thatched cottage with a hare up on the roof. |
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The village school
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| Spring tulips in a cottage garden |
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| The Plough ... conveniently located across the road from Susan's house |
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| Home sweet home .... back at Susan's place after our walk |
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| Village store and bakery |
Absolutely loving all the photos. Everything is SO green and lush looking. Love all the spring flowers too, sure hope that we get to see them in bloom like this when we get to Denmark. Not long now... This time in a fortnight we will be in the air...
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