We got up and got dressed for a morning outing to Hackney. Leila had found a coffee shop for them to visit on Broadway Market and Alex found directions through Angel, Haggerston and then on the canal for a little walk until they reached Broadway Market. It was beautiful and sunny, and absolutely heaving. Not much social distancing going on. They scouted their options amongst various bakeries and coffee shops. They decided to try Climpson & Sons first, which was the coffee shop Leila had heard of. L had an OFW and A had an iced coffee. L had fomo though because she had seen a longer line outside another coffee shop, Arabica, so of course they queued there for another OFW. They much preferred it, though L though it was a bit weak. A thought it was perfectly silky. There was a man playing music outside and lots of trendy people and couples with kids. Pubs were opening and serving takeaway beers. Everything felt really normal and happy. L was very chilled and walking super slowly and was grateful to A as she would not have made it there if he hadn’t encouraged her to cycle. A grabbed a sourdough avocado sandwich from a Danish man and they headed to London Fields to have a little picnic. They chatted about Hong Kong and whether China have any justification (both played devils advocate for a bit) and then read up on Confucianism. Then they grabbed bikes and headed to Islington to Ottolenghi for some food but stopped en route quite dramatically as L spotted a sign that said “pickles.” She proceeded to buy some £8 jalapenos – good, but so so priced (there was no price tag). On arrival, the Ottolenghi queue was decent and there were no bike bays nearby so they walked towards Angel station and picked up a babaghanoush from a brunch place on Little Passage behind Angel. They then couldn’t find any bikes so ended up walking home via the canal.
They crashed on arrival. A played games for a bit whilst L made herself a nice lunch of lots of dips and rye bread. She made A a snack plate because she felt weird eating something nice without him. Then L got ready for her parents to arrive although she had no idea what time they were going to arrive as they were not answering their phones. Finally, they called and said they were 10 minutes away and wanted to use the loo. L and A did a little house cleaning in anticipation and also convinced them to have a little bite as they said they were hungry. They prepped crackers, cheese , fancy nuts, the new jalapenos, salad, hummus and elderflower drinks for them. Parents went straight into the garden and enjoyed the little feast and some nice, albeit brief chat. L was glad that parents could spend a bit of time with A. Then L headed home to Barnet for an afternoon of relaxing with family, eating lots of food and playing cards, dancing whilst watching Ismaili TV. She got really had hayfever unfortunately and had to ice pack her eyes for a while and couldn’t breathe but felt a bit better after a shower. Meanwhile, A cycled 45 mins to Battersea Park where he met Cam Brookhouse and they chatted about life, uncertainty, and what they had been up to.Then A headed home and spoke to Tom from QB about universities. Then A watched some Rick & Morty and ate Linda McCartney sausages with a lot of chilli. L arrived home after 10pm and they had a chilled debrief about their days. L was really drowsy as she had taken a second antihistamine so headed to bed. A joined after finishing his episode. A very busy but balanced and relaxed day.
Coffee, Wine and Isolation 