I hadn’t realised quite how much I had settled into the, far more agreeable, routine of working from home 4 days a week, with only 1 office based day, until this week. I’d kind of been dreading the week arriving, knowing I had 2 days in workshops in our York office and then a super early start on Wednesday to go down to London. The sheer pleasure (not!) of the commute was compounded by the fact that, I don’t have a car at the moment. It needs a part replacing, and unfortunately the part is one of those with a long (5 – 10 working days) lead time to get, which means I’ve spent more time, and money, than I care to reflect on getting taxis to and from the train station. All very exhausting.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom. The workshops in York were very productive and on Tuesday, the chap was able to come into town and meet me for lunch. The sun was shining, and although there was a nip in the air, we were still able to sit outside at The Shambles market and enjoy some Greek Gyros. I didn’t take any photos, but I really enjoy getting food here in the better weather because there’s so much choice and quite a vibrant feel.

Wednesday my alarm was set for 5am! What an ungodly hour! By mid-morning (which felt more like mid-afternoon after that early start) I was outside my offices in London. It’s the first trip I’ve made to London since before the pandemic, when I used to do it around once per month. The train journey wasn’t too bad, me and some colleagues had the carriage to ourselves, but the tube was still rather bustling so I was sure to keep my mask on throughout the journey.

We were down for more workshops, which were quite good fun actually, and then enjoyed a team lunch at a lovely Turkish restaurant called Haz.

We ordered loads of starters for us to pick and choose from, the babaganoush was my particular favourite but it was all delicious, and then I had a very generous serving of Chicken Shish. I’m trying to embrace a more vegetarian lifestyle, but as you can see from my choices, I’m not always very good at it.

Thankfully, this food was mighty filling, since I only had time to grab a sandwich on my way back through Kings Cross, and I didn’t get home until 9.30pm. That was a long long day, and I was terribly grateful when Thursday came to be working from home again.

Friday, I had booked a day off work, to coincide with the chap having a day off too. I’m so glad I did, the weather was incredible. Blue skies and sunshine all the way. Originally, we’d planned to go to Castle Howard, but having no car cancelled out those plans. Instead, the chap came over, and we had a day by the seaside.

It was lunchtime by the time we hit the seafront, so once we’d parked up we went to one of my favourite haunts, Marisco lounge, for a coffee and some Kimchi loaded fries, which were pretty delicious actually. The chap had brought a remote control beach buggy with him, so we went down to the beach for a play with it. Thelma didn’t quite know what to make of it, but little Miss thought it was amazing and I suspect I’ll be getting asked for one of those soon.

Once we’d finished playing with the toys, we walked along the sand all the way to the large, Olympia Leisure, arcade. There’s loads of arcades along the seafront, but this is one of my favourites with its bowling alley on top. First stop of course was the 2 penny drop machines, where baba managed to win herself a you to me bear… albeit we probably spent more in 2ps than we would have done just buying the bear, but she does love going on those games.

Afterwards, we went to the top floor for a game of bowling. It’s years since I’ve played bowling, and it was great fun. Little Miss hadn’t played bowling before, but she was able to with the bumpers down and, she really loved it very much! I won… I just had to share that.

Feeling extremely happy and thoroughly exhausted, we decided it was time for dinner and set off into town for Bareca. We’re really growing fond of Bareca. It’s quite large, has a great atmosphere and is dog and child friendly. My one criticism is that they don’t have a children’s menu, and given Little Miss can be a bit picky, that can be a bit troublesome, but nonetheless we always have a good time here and I do usuallyfind something she will eat.

I actually succeeded with my Vegetarian ambitions this time, having the most delicious vegan burger, washed down with an alcohol free lager. All of us enjoyed our food, just as I had the last time I visited here.

It was almost 8pm by the time we got home and the full moon was high in the sky. After the bustling and fun filled day we were thoroughly exhausted, but I can honestly say that’s the most fun day I’ve had in a while and was a tremendous end to a busy and tiring week.