Alex woke up early because he’d realised the night before that he had the times wrong, and that his exam started at 11am. L was being amazing and had prepped him food and drink throughout the exam (toast, cheese, tea, coffee, biscuit, easy peeler). He sat down and got ready to take the exam that he’s probably least prepped for in his life. Meanwhile L went off to see her sisters and mum who had driven to Camden to meet her for a “socially distant” coffee and walk. They didn’t hug or touch but it was really hard to stay 2m apart because they were walking along the canal which was really busy. They had all dressed up to come see her which was cute and they walked in 2s and rotated so L could catch up with all of them. They then walked to Camden High Street to see the sight of Iman’s friends new bar before going to Gail’s in Kentish Town to pick up Alex’s birthday breakfast sausage rolls and the candles, banner and balloons. Liyana baked some brownies and brought them for A’s birthday which was cute. L returned back and A was still in the middle of his exam so she went upstairs and did some Spanish whilst writing out the clues ahead of the start of his hunt later that evening. She also started hiding things around the house. A finished his exam on the 3 hour mark, it was feasible because it was open book, but he was still exhausted afterwards. He a had a little rest whilst L made lunch which they ate outside together. Then L went to do a Waitrose shop to get supplies for the next day and queued for quite a while whilst A started working on finishing his dData business plan (due that evening). He wrote an entire revenue projection model which was quite impressive, he projected the revenues and costs on a month by month basis, but it felt a little fake because he really hadn’t made the product itself yet.
L read the rest of A’s business plan when she got back from Waitrose and made a few notes. It was taking him longer than he thought, and he really wanted to finish so they could have a nice evening together. L then started watching Michelle Obama’s documentary on Netflix in the evening whilst A worked. He came to join her around 8pm whilst he finished off the last 30mins and she tried to cheer him on to the end. She had already started rationing his food by this point (she was in charge of what he ate for his birthday) but allowed him some grapes to help him through the final stretch.
After A submitted his presentation, the birthday scavenger hunt started. Clue 1 led Alex to the sourdough starter, named Bernard a few days thereafter, which Leila had been feeding in secret over the past few weeks. Alex prepped the starter so they could bake the loaf on his birthday. The clue was ‘When is a door not a door’, and it took him ages to realise that it was ‘ajar’, he initially went out looking for a gate…
The second clue led him to unlock the suitcase which had cocktail ingredients, Plymouth Gin, and a cocktail set in it, the clue was a series of numbers and reference to the past, he started looking through WhatsApp chats initially and was way off. A then made them both Tom Collins’ using the cocktail set, and L surprisingly liked the cocktail, he made it extra sour for her.
The third clue led him to some ethically sourced Parma Ham that he found underneath Arabella’s hat from Lina Stores deli who had delivered earlier. Meanwhile, Leila prepared the antipasti plate including focaccia, olives and hummus and made the artichoke and truffle ravioli pasta. They ate dinner together in their usual spot and really enjoyed the Italian food. This was Alex’s ideal dinner, he LOVES Parma ham and it was super tasty, the ravioli was truffle and ideal.
The fourth clue led Alex to the calendar on the date of their 1 year anniversary (which they both forgot in reality) – April 10th. The final activity of the evening was a post dinner moonlit walk by the canal which they really enjoyed. They walked up to coal-drops yard and all the buildings were lit up in different colours, they brought along their gins and had a super nice time. It was the final clue and a wonderful finish to a action-packed day.
After the walk, they went up to bed and someone was having a pretty loud party outside. They chatted for a bit and listened to music. L wished A a happy birthday at exactly midnight.
Coffee, Wine and Isolation 