Stuck

I joined Carl early this morning to (re)visit bathroom shops, hopefully to finalise choices for fixtures and fittings. He's having problems with his architect, who is much more hands-off than you'd expect an architect to be, and the builder needs decisions to be made. We visited several places (extra: Window Shopping), took a coffee break along the way (extra: Signs of the Times), came across some pretty weird stuff along the way (extra: Give a Big Hand), and eventually he made up his mind about sanitary fittings and wall tiles.

Our last stop was in Sandyford, so not far from Carl's mum's house where he's staying while work on his house continues. We treated ourselves to sandwiches and chatted with his mum who's recently come out of hospital. Before I left she showed off a lovely corner of her garden where a hydrangea-type shrub has come gloriously into flower (extra: Powder Puffs).

I left them around 4:30 and made my way home. I've been struck recently by how light traffic has been, but light it wasn't on this journey. The trip across town would normally take forty minutes or so, but I didn't get home until 6:20. The main problem was traffic lights.There'd been news reports about the City Council adjusting lights to favour pedestrians more than cars (ostensible because a pandemic-related increase in the number of pedestrians), but they seem to have gone completely overboard, with set after set of lights on my journey allowing only a very limited number of vehicles through on each change. It was all very frustrating.