tales of days gone by

I decided to work my way backwards and see what I can remember. I'll start with yesterday, we'll move in reverse chronological order.

We went to Ian and Di's place yesterday. It was a short trip down to Buckinghamshire where they live. It's a beautiful place. Their house smells of home. and when I say that, I mean it smells a little of Cantara, which I long ago began to associate with happy times and home. except when jeet yelled at me. anyway back to the point. One of the things that I loved best about being there, was that when you looked out into the garden, you saw not only the garden, but the vast green country stretching away from the house as well. Farms and fences to keep the llamas in. YES I sad llamas. or maybe they were alpaca. The point is, that Andrew came running in and saying llamas, and I said something along the lines of 'don't be silly Andrew, llamas don't live in England. They're from South America. What would they be doing here?' We ran out of the back door and stood at the fence looking out at some grazing shapes. They can't be llamas, they must be cows... or goats. maybe goats. No Eunice their heads are down grazing, we just need to wait for their heads to come up again. There! And they really were long necked things which made me think of camels at first but that would have been even more out of place. oh! Llamas! We all laughed and went back in.

We had a late lunch at their place. I was taken aback by how fancy it was. I think Di brought out fancy silver and plates and set prettily cut glasses out on the table. It was like going to a fancy brunch at a restaurant, just without the same assortment of wine glasses. I really like Di. She is so pleasant and has this really kind air about her. She speaks mildly as well which has a really calming effect. And this isn't really the best thing, but it agreed with me perfectly. she cooked almost everything from scratch I think. The salmon and rocket salad with some oranges thrown in didn't require that much cooking I'm sure, but it was really nice. drool. But almost everything else: the pot roast, vegetables, and roast potatoes. The gravy made from the juices of the meat and thickened with corn flour. Even up to the wonderful pears, peeled and cooked in some kind of wine sauce, for dessert. I think she even made the condiments for that, I guess she used some of the leftover cooking wine to drizzle over the pears and mixed up mascarpone cheese with walnuts. it was very delicious. She bought a trifle for martin's mum because she loves it, and ben and jerry's ice cream to top that. It was AMAZING. aside from that she bothered with presentation! After we had eaten, we had some champagne and toasted Martin's dad again, bless him.

It really was such a bucolic nice day. We talked for ages about different things, like how the cat might fall into the toilet if she kept drinking from it, or what it was like living in the US and so on and so forth. We moved into the sitting room later. They still had there christmas tree, although the smell had faded. And I was so touched later when they were handing out belated christmas presents, when Di turned to me and gave me a little something. I hope she didn't spend too much on me, because it turned out to be some gucci perfume. I know that it would have been much cheaper compared to other products from gucci but perfume tends to be overpriced most of the time anyway. I was very grateful for it. She told me that if I didn't like the smell too much, I could pass it on to someone else.

After a while Andrew started to play with Ian's flight simulator. He doesn't fly a plane like how yai flies planes, but it has wings and a giant propeller at the back. it's open, so the pilot isn't protected from the winds and the weather. Before we left he showed me pictures of himself with one of the aircrafts. When we finally did leave we hugged and kissed. It made me really happy. especially after I had been so awkward at the funeral. I still cringe a little when I think about how I didn't know where to stand and all that.

Yesterday made me consider how much I would love to live in the country, and ride my horse or walk across the fields. I've promised myself that aside from having a room with a baby grand piano and lots of books, some day, some day I'll have a horse at the stables and go riding from time to time. I'll be starting to canter soon after we get back to campus, and I'm quite excited about that.