Bath (1)

For many years now, some university friends and I have gone away together for a weekend, usually sometime around October. Not everyone can make it each year but even on the occasions I haven't been able to go along, it's been oddly comforting to know it's taking place.

Funnily enough, because of the various lockdowns, I've seen the guys much more often than usual, albeit over Zoom, this last twelve months or so, but we still decided we'd do an extra trip this year, going back to Bath. Now, it's unusual for us to visit the same place twice, but this suited me because I missed the original Bath trip, last year.

I set off this morning once Abi had gone to school, driving while listening to a long playlist that I originally put together for our family trip to Looe three years ago. It's choc full of great songs plus a smattering of things that the kids were into at the time, so there were lots of little (but pleasant) surprises, and it saw me through the five hours it took me to drive down.

It was lovely to see the guys face to face, and we had a great afternoon and evening, wandering between pubs, eating occasionally, and catching up. In fact, I was so distracted, the only photo I took all day was this one of the Bath Labour Party's offices, which I sent to Dan.

Over the last couple of years he's become more and more engaged with politics, and these days we have quite interesting conversations. Despite us both being to the left, broadly speaking, he is more leftwing than me, and I find the clearness of his vision quite refreshing; I think I've become quite 'compromised' over the years. Which is not to say that I don't stand by my arguments!

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Reading: 'Meet Matilda, Rocket Builder' by Dom Conlon