Saturday morning, we woke up at 9am ready and waiting for the cleaner to arrive. Initially they weren’t sure she was coming as she was a little late, however, A opened the door out of interest and she just wandered in. She didn’t speak great English but she seemed super friendly. They gathered all the cleaning stuff and L showed her around the house. While she cleaned, A & L wrote the blog, drunk coffee and booking the holiday. They chose a Studio for the last 2 days, and booked an extra night at Jamaica Inn. They were pretty impressed with their productive morning, but hadn’t realised how long the cleaner would stay, and L was getting nervous as she hadn’t said how much it would cost. However, when she was finishing up, L went upstairs and was supremely happy. L almost cried when saw the bathroom and immediately took loads of photos which she sent to Arabella.
In the afternoon L and A cycled to St James Park for Abi’s birthday picnic. L led the way for the first time on bikes and did not enjoy it that much, and took them on all the main roads. When they ran into the BLM protests in Trafalgar Sq, A took over and made them cycle around on the pavement with about 20 police cars watching (L felt weird breaking the rules like that but was glad A was directing). L headed to join Abi and Rosie whilst A listened to Unfiltered in the park separately – Mayra gave a super open telling of her childhood, the people important to her and her fiancée. Then Emily, Joe and Anish joined and they had some strawberries, falafels, and prosecco. L had missed them loads, despite not remembering that Emily lived on the same corridor as her which was super awkward and embarrassing for her. A joined after a bit, and had some glasses of wine and they listened to Joe talk about lawyering and it was a nice afternoon / evening. L wondered how people switch off from emotional work at night (e.g. criminal barristers / probation officers) as she knows she finds it difficult, and is currently struggling to read a fiction book about slavery before bed. A joined in the conversation really naturally and all L’s friends mentioned after that he seemed really nice and they looked happy.
They cycled back with Anish afterwards and A led the route home. It started off badly though with L & A colliding their bicycles in Piccadilly. It was a funny ride back though because Anish and L would say the same things E.g., exclaiming that Zara was open. Anish headed on, and L ate a bowl of granola for dinner. They then watched A Star is Born in the evening, which A hadn’t realised was going to be as sad as it was, and therefore was distraught by the end, while L had prepared and didn’t look at the emotional scenes. They headed to bed, it was quite late, and slept under a sheet (because it was hot)
Coffee, Wine and Isolation 