Tomorrow, I’m meeting my sister and her house guests at a local inn for lunch. It’s the old friends whose Golden Wedding party we went to last September, down near Bristol. Lynn has now been officially diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, which she’s probably unaware of but, though he already knew, I suspect it’s painful to her husband. So he decided on a road trip to visit friends and family and, of course, they’ve got a standing invitation to visit us. They arrived last Saturday, I’m not sure how much longer they’re staying. Wink is taking over Izzy duties here for the next few days, so she’ll drive over and I’ll drive them back. I considered inviting them for lunch here, but I really am not much in the mood for preparing food for guests.
Tim and I went to the place I have chosen to meet, once. Five or six years ago, I suppose it was. It was the sort of meal that was okay, palatable, but clearly most of it was bought in and heated up to order. But it’s easy for Wink to find as it’s on the main road and not far from here, with plenty of parking, so it’s straightforward.
It’ll be the third meal out this week. On Monday, we met another friend at what has been a favourite restaurant about halfway between home and here, near Norwich. It changed hands in April, just before we went there as a whole family for Sunday lunch for Wink’s birthday. Surprised not to have Sunday roasts on the menu, but we had a good meal. On Monday, we found that the previously interesting menu was somewhat curtailed – of course, there’s nothing at all wrong with a relatively small menu but it wasn’t that, it was just less interesting. We all had fish and chips, which was a slight fallback – that is, it’s safe and normally reliable when you’re not sure what to choose. I think I was the unlucky one as the batter on mine was somewhat pasty on the inside and needed a couple of minutes more cooking – I always remove and leave the batter though, so it didn’t really matter. The fish itself and the chips were fine, though the peas could have done with another minute’s cooking – not easy to go wrong with frozen peas. I’m not sure that I’ll be in a great hurry to go back, which is a pity. It’s a great location and we’ve had many good meals there.
At the end of the month, my American not-cousins are coming to stay for a fortnight. I’m making plans for their visit.