On the Beacon

I got up early for a Friday so that I could enjoy my new study/office before it got too hot. Our house gets stifling upstairs in hot weather. Steve went off to the market, and I managed to do a load of washing and hang it up in the cow -parsley garden, and do some writing homework, before going to meet Tessa at the Trinity Rooms. S and E the Afgani boys, came too, but we couldn't all sit together. I had pheasant and mushroom risotto. I don't think I'd have it again. Forgot to get any pheasant eggs! Four of them make an omelette for one. To tell the truth, I do not think any part of pheasant agrees with me. Could this the be the end? 

Tessa and I then went off to Painswick for a walk, but we were unable to park in the public car park. It was full. Decided instead to drive up to the golf course on the slopes of the hill, Painswick Beacon, and approach the Beacon in relative shade, with only flying golf balls to watch out for. It's so beautiful on the top, especially with the yellow rape fields in the foreground. It was hazy:  couldn't really see the Severn, let alone seven counties ! We sat and talked about travel, and long distance walks. Eventually came down, and Tessa dropped me off at home. 

It's V's birthday today, 55, and she'd chosen to go to the new noodle bar, Daikoku Ramen. We had a drink first in a deserted bar, then popped into an exhibition opening (too crowded) before hitting the restaurant. We both had vegan miso. I liked it, but V found it too spicy. (She is Indian, but brought up in South Africa. She tells me that South African curries are not hot. She also told me that she broke her chopsticks, but I couldn't see the evidence). Photo of the noodle bar in Extras.

When it got noisy there, we whipped the birthday flowers out of her office, and drove up to my local, the Crown and Sceptre, where we sat in the garden until the heat and the cider made me sleepy. I'm now recovering from a busy day, in front of my laptop in the study. 

The rat is still missing. Steve is too busy to help me move the sofa today. I think we'll have to wait until it shows up somewhere else, or begins to stink..