Well our very good friend S is over from the States on business and spending a few hours with us in between his breathless gambols around the commercial centres of W Europe. I’ve written about S several times; we met when I joined the Post Office’s Telecommunications section after leaving university, back in the Middle Ages. He was a smart lad and I was a dopey herbert if truth be told. An unlikely pairing, we became firm friends and remained so even after he and wife M and the boys emigrated to America quite a few years ago now. I’m fairly sure he didn’t leave to escape me if that’s what you’re thinking. He’s still involved in high level telecomms stuff and these trips are a welcome way for us to keep in touch even though he’s always on a manic schedule and of course we do miss seeing M and the lads (nay men).
Fact is we always enjoy catching up – as we do with all our old friends I think. I believe there’s a lot of validity in that saying about absence making the heart grow fonder. On Saturday we had a whole day with S. We had a lazy breakfast and no fixed plan for the day. It was lovely weather and around midday I suggested we might go and take some rays and watch the cricket match on the Green for a while. It turned out to be a decent suggestion; we found a vacant bench in the sunshine and C, S and I plonked ourselves down to watch the match. The two very attractive girls doing stretching exercises immediately in front of us proved a little distracting and a lot delightful as we chatted to them post-yoga session. We soaked in the sun and the clicks of leather on bat and the occasional outrageous appeal for lbw. I haven’t watched cricket on the green since my teens and it was fabulous.
We chatted away like a trio of Les Dawson gossip-ladies for over a couple of hours. Feeling a touch warm and thirsty I suggested a cheeky drink over at Arthur’s excellent cafe bar/restaurant at the far side of the Green. We passed dozens of folks out with their kids and friends, playing happily in the warmth of the late afternoon sunshine. There’s nothing wrong with England on days like this. C and S had a couple of glasses of prosecco and some dry white wine with lots of ice for me. We chatted about allsorts and nothing in particular. Bloody delightful.
We headed back to our place and proceeded to make a super charcuterie style late lunch/early dinner with the meats and cheeses S had procured the day before in Borough market. And a few more glasses of course. The meal lasted a good couple of hours at least. And later S and I headed off to our local Prince Blucher for a couple of pints of London Pride. It was more than we needed but what the hell, I haven’t had a pint with my mate at the pub in donkey’s years. C was in bed when we got back and we finished the day with some decent MoTD action on the tv.
Good weather, good sport, good drinks, good food, good company, good fun. Good lord don’t you wish every weekend could be like that! Grand.
pp
Pasta Paulie 