Happy Vivi Day!

13 March 2025  (Thursday)

Today we’re off to see Vivi - Yay!  We’ve not been together for months, so I was really looking forward to today.

We were up early, and I needed to pop to the plot to check on the seedlings in the greenhouse and poly to see if they needed water, which the broad beans definitely did!  They are looking very healthy, though they would have been in need of water by the end of the day if I had not gone down.

Richard’s not fond of driving in the dark, preferring not to, so I drive at night.  If one of us drives one way, the other will drive the other, and if we’re on a long drive we’ll swap around halfway, or more regularly if needed.  So, this morning it was Richard who had the straw to drive over to Vivi, as it’s likely we’ll be there until after sunset, chatting, laughing, eating, more laughing, more chatting…

So in the car we got, aiming to leave within a half-hour period rather than by a particular time.  Richard driving… and what a drive it turned out to be!  It seemed that the road work managers of the boroughs and areas of Ealing, Chiswick, Hammersmith & Fulham, Chelsea, Battersea and Wandsworth had all got together and decided what roadworks to implement consecutively to create the most disruption to those travelling through West London… not until we were past Battersea did the incessant roadworks let up.  It was just one of those days… sometimes on a bank holiday the drive there can take an hour, though on most occasions, like today, the drive was nearer two… hey ho!

We had a fab day - catching up, hugs, food, lots of tea, chatter, laughter, trips to the loo (individually, not collectively like the road works managers!).  And a delicious lunch of a mildly spiced Chickpea and Cashew Curry with brown rice (cooked, not dried!) - recipe to come!  Utterly delicious!

We left Vivi’s cottage in the sky after the sun had set, walking down her busy High Street and to our car parked a few minutes away on a side road.  And the drive home - much quicker, as it usually is at that time.  We hit roadworks on the way back at only one point, thankfully.

After a cuppa and a little telly, it was time to get to bed, have a quick read of my book (Martin Walker’s The Dordogne Mysteries - a gift of the first eight or ten books in the series gifted by our neighbour of last Saturday evening) and time for lights off and to sleep… Happy Days!  


Weather:  Cold again, and a little wet.  Through the day the sun shone and hid… off and on until it set.

Breakfast:  Bran sticks, yogurt, sultanas and sliced banana
Lunch:  Vivi's Chickpea & Cashew Curry with brown rice
Supper:  Artisan Loaf with stilton and camembert and Richard’s Oat Crackers.