By the river

It was a good way to wrap up January, taking Graham to the hospital in Taunton for a pre-op assessment in readiness for his wisdom teeth job in mid-February. We’re not exactly looking forward to it but it’ll be a good thing to put behind us, rather like January, really.

“Would you like me to come in with you?” I asked as we pulled into the hospital grounds.

“Good heavens, no,” he said. “Go and have breakfast in Tesco’s and I’ll call you when I’m done.”

“Fair enough. Break a leg.”

The drive over to the near-by Tesco’s supermarket was dour. Not as dour as it’ll be the day I drop him off for the op. itself, but dour enough. Breakfast helped. It’s a servery arrangement where you tell the guy with the serving slice which of a goodly selection of breakfast items you want.

“I’ll have one of everything except black pudding, and a fried egg on top, please,” I said.

“Why? What’s wrong with our black pudding?” he joshed back at me, bright as a button.

“I’m sure it’s first rate black pudding,” I said. “It’s just that I don’t do black pudding. I had a bad experience with black pudding in Barnsley once and I’ve never forgotten it.”

“This isn’t Barnsley.”

“No. And folks from Barnsley would say that’s not black pudding.”

“Good point. Go and get your coffee and I’ll have your plate ready for you when you hit the till.”

He was as good as his word, and when he got sight of my walking stick he saw me over to my table of choice and put the tray down there for me.  Even went over to the rack and brought me a newspaper.

Isn’t it smile-making when you get personal, cheerful service even in a mega-store like Tesco’s?

Actually, even though I had one of everything, except the black pudding, it was quite a modest breakfast. I enjoyed it immensely, and washed it down with an acceptable cup of good dark coffee. Didn’t read the newspaper, though. It was the Daily Mail, and I don’t do the Daily Mail for much the same reason as I don’t risk black pudding.

Breakfast done I grabbed a trolley and wandered round the supermarket to pick up stuff for our lunch and dinner. I thought we’d both earned a treat for our lunch, in our own ways, so I got us some crispy olive bread rolls, nice squishy brie and green grapes.

Shopping done and loaded into the car I decided a stroll by the river would do me good. It’s been a mild day, with a touch of sunshine, and I thought I might get a bit of video shooting done. Nothing ambitious. Just a bit of practice and a few additions to the library of clips I’m beginning to collect against future studio efforts.

I sat in the sun by the river bank for a good while, enjoying the rush of water over the wier and the sound of birds singing in the trees. There were a few ducks doing their up-tail act across by the far bank. A perfect opportunity to get the video camera out and play videographer. Would you like to see a little of what I saw, and listen to a little of what I heard perhaps?

River Tone, Taunton, Somerset (1 min 51 secs)

With some reluctance, having glanced at the clock displayed on my phone, I decided it was time for me to make my way back to the car so’s I’d be ready to go pick Graham up once more.

It wasn’t the kind of day to wait in the car, though, so I went back into the supermarket to sit over another cup of coffee and read my Guardian. I was about half-way through the coffee and three or four pages into the newspaper when my phone started doing its frenzied sound-off-vibrate-on dance on the table.

“All done?” I asked.

“Yup. No problems.”

“Shall I come and get you?”

“No. I fancy stretching my legs. You in the coffee shop?”

“Yup.”

“Right. Stay where you are and I’ll come get you.”

The coffee was almost finished, and only another couple of pages read when he appeared at my shoulder.

“You want a coffee?” I asked.

“Not here. Can we go and have one at Caffe Nero?”

“Sure thing. Then home for lunch?”

“What will we have?”

“Olive bread, brie and grapes.”

“Oh, yummity. I still want a proper coffee, though.”

“Fair enough. You’ve earned it.”

As we left I caught the eye of the bloke who’d looked after me so well over my breakfast and gave him a cheery goodbye. He appreciated that.

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The photo is of Graham at work in the bar;  black pudding is something you probably don’t want to know about if you don’t know about it already. If you’re curious, look it up on Google but be warned, it’s not something for those of a delicate disposition.