24 July 2010

So much for the forecast improvement in weather, as it was cloudy all day and the temperatures at Mum's barely lifted above 16C. In the morning I took Emily into Abergavenny to meet my old school friend Jeannette. I was pleased to see the town centre buzzing with crowds and all the shops busy, as we hear so much about the decline of the town centre these days. It feels so odd to me that I grew up in this place and now am a stranger. We had a coffee at one of the many cafes now in the town, but Emily was jealous of me chatting and kept butting in. We nearly had a crisis when it was time to leave as Goki had mysteriously disappeared. Emily was close to meltdown when I finally found him at the other end of the larger coffee shop. Some other child must have spotted him and taken him away when she was absorbed in something else.

After lunch we drove into Pandy and parked outside the Lancaster Arms (once one of my haunts but now a B&B serving walkers on the Offa's Dyke footpath). We walked through the field to the river where the girls played happily with sticks and stones, then we climbed the steps to look at the railway line.

Emily wanted to walk across a couple of times though I felt a bit nervous as one way there is a bend in the track. We took up a position by the track side and waited for another train to come along. After about 10 minutes one appeared at the end of the straight stretch northwards and we moved behind the fence to see it go past. It was only two carriages long, but enough to thrill Emily, who said earnestly 'I love trains, Mummy'.

In the evening I drove back into town and picked up Jeannette. We checked out a few south Asian restaurants (I won't say Indian as they are often Bangladeshi or Pakistani). We made a very good choice as the place we settled for had a good ambience, delicious food and affable service. We ordered a vegetarian Thali each but if we had known how much food there would be we could have shared one really. Jeannette ended up taking a doggie bag home and I was so stuffed I couldn't sleep until 1am. Afterwards we popped into the Hen & Chicks and I found myself hoping (fruitlessly) that we would bump into someone from our school days as I would love to see how they have turned out. I think I am feeling a bit rootless and need to feel connected to somewhere, anywhere, even Abergavenny!