On Friday we had tentatively planned to take the kids to Old Macdonald’s Farm in Brentwood, but the weather was not suitable for a day outdoors—cold, windy, and gray. We would all have been frozen, and given the cost of admission we need to go when we can spend all day there to make it worth it.
So we bailed on that idea and instead I convinced Joy & Brian that they might like Kung Fu Panda. We booked tickets online and got upgraded for free to premium seating for doing so, and the theatre in Basildon was quite nice. Everyone in the audience was well behaved, and it must have been good as Joy didn’t go to sleep during the movie and Brian said it was definitely amusing. I was relieved they liked it since I had talked them into it!
Afterwards we visited a large Hobbycraft store, and I was surprised that its prices were higher than the little one-of-a-kind local shops that we go to in Wickford and Barleylands; it’s usually the other way around at home. Then we dashed home, Joy & Brian took off for Lee & Ali’s as they were attending Eleanor’s school play that evening, and Dale & I headed down to The Feast of Bengal (Dale used to live in the flats just above it) with the children to meet Nigel, Graham, and Darren for a meal. It was as yummy as always and nice to be out with friends.
Five minutes after we got the kids in bed, Joy & Brian returned, so we took advantage of Kayleigh already having gone to sleep and dashed up to The Chequers to have a quick drink & chat with Nigel and everyone else. We never even went inside—just stood out in the beer garden behind the pub and spent about 40 minutes before heading back down the street to home. It was very pleasant; I spent most of the time talking to Graham’s girlfriend Isabelle, who has family in either Memphis or Tucson and has been to both of those places.
Posted by elizabeth at July 20, 2008 05:25 AM