Leila hadn’t slept well overnight, with Alex finding her downstairs in the (spare? original?) bedroom early in the morning. We’re not sure what caused it but we’re worried it could be the high pollen count and some hay fever overnight. Despite the sleepiness, A suggested they race outside and head to coffee-jar, their plan from the previous night. They raced out and got to coffee-jar for about 11. A headed to Gails and his Greek feta place, while L headed into Whole Foods (there was no queue!) to pick up Papaya. They gave out masks at the entrance free of charge and A & L were impressed at the level to which they went for customer experience, they decided it made sense but it was pretty cool. With 2 OFWs, 2 feta based pastries, and a bag of Whole Food goodies in hand, they headed to Regent’s park for a chill in the sun. They chatted about governments and their thoughts on whether anyone is proud of their government – the George Floyd murder was all over the news. The answer was they weren’t sure, and it was pretty upsetting. They headed back and took A’s shortcut (the best shortcut), L needed to wee desperately and photos below were taken in a hurry.
L made banana pancakes and A started D&D. It was a good game, but very few of us there, and post-game we had a long check-in about how we plan to go on given we’re getting fewer people. L did her JFR call prep, and then after doing some family tasks (looking mum’s website and Liyana’s CV) she did Barre class, pharmacist, and one more thing, and then jumped onto her fam call that she was running. L and Naima had organised the call which started with Naima showing wedding photos of the entire family that no one had ever seen before. Then they showed a powerpoint of old wedding photos of all the couples in the family, from her great aunt and uncle (now in their 90s) down to Naima (married in 2019). L directed the conversation and it brought up lots of memories for everyone, and she was happy that everyone engaged so much. Meanwhile, A chatted to Sam and Hannah about protests and racism.
Then they both headed outside to chat to neighbours and discovered that the mystery parcel and vine leaves food had been left by Shamal, a neighbour Leila had met only briefly the week before to celebrate Eid. They watered the plants with Kay who also gave them a tour of the garden, which looks massively different to 2 months ago. L made a quick dinner whilst A finished hoovering of leftover veg, some potatoes roasted earlier and she also made herself a G&K (Kombucha). After dinner they did an Escape Room online whilst having a glass of wine each. They worked quite well as team, with A escaping quicker (thanks Leila’s clues) and L getting stuck at the end (thanks to her not pressing buttons well enough) but still escaped within the time allowance. Then they spent some time online shopping, which is so unlike them. L was trying to understand the types of shirts A likes and A bought some causal trainers, and 2 white shirts from TK Maxx. Then they headed to bed.
Coffee, Wine and Isolation 