Another glorious day! What the hell is this? Is 2010 destined to be called ‘the year of glorious days’? It appears never ending. Not to say it’s not cold. Oh dear me, not at all. Today it was supposed to reach 3 degrees. I don’t think it did. The wind certainly cut the temperature down to size.
You’ll be glad to hear that I am over my long convalescence. I am almost healed of the dreaded lurgy. Ok, I have no voice and the occasional awful cough but everything else is fine. So I finally left the house today. It’s the first time this year. And it was lovely.
The plan was to buy a new suitcase at Elphick’s to replace the one I unceremoniously butchered after our Edinburgh holiday following the Incident of the Melting Wheel, which I described at great length here. After a long discussion regarding the schedule of shopping and whether Mirinda was actually up to another trip into town, we set off.
Duly warned by the older lady with the rheumatic rescue dog as to the degree of slippery-ness, we trod carefully the park path into Farnham. A lot of people were wandering about, giving the park an air of Edwardian holiday, like most of this Christmas break. It was all very jolly, even given the fact that people were wrapped up like lots of Michelin men against the sub-zero temperature.
Farnham was nicely deserted. Not totally, of course, but enough to be pleasant and not pushed about, which I hate. I mean if I wanted to be pushed about, I’d shop in Guildford. We had decided to visit Waitrose first. And Mirinda had said she was happy to follow me around Waitrose as I purchased food for dinner. That lasted up until the automatic doors slid aside and she said she’d be in Laura Ashley waiting for me. So I did the food shopping and she did the window shopping. To be totally honest, I prefer it this way. I can shop a lot quicker on my own. And I know where everything is. AND I don’t find odd things in my shopping basket.
The plan was to then pop over to Elphick’s for the suitcase. Well we popped but, unfortunately, no-one had told Elphick’s. Which was closed. Sadly we moped over to Argos. They had lots of suitcases in their catalogue but none in their store. It was decided that I’d go to Elphick’s tomorrow and buy one when they’re open.
We then trotted up to Starbuck’s. But it was ram packed, as was Costa’s. We were in a quandary. I figure this was why Farnham was so empty, everyone was in the coffee shops. We figured we’d go to Chez Gerard’s and make it lunch. Which we did. Mirinda had a Breton pancake (to remind her of St Malo) and I had the haddock fish cakes (to remind me of nothing…I just like haddock fish cakes) and we both finished with coffee.
It was about halfway through the meal that we realised we always call the restaurant Chez Gerard when, in fact, it’s actually Brasserie Gerard. The clue was on the menu…and the sign outside. It’s because there is a chain called Chez Gerard, I suppose. I wonder if it’s the same Gerard? The food is lovely in both so it could be. Whatever…Brasserie Gerard is very Parisian and was an excellent warm up before Paris next weekend. Here’s a photo of it.
Brasserie Gerard restaurant
After a long, slippery walk home, we took the poodles for a brief run up to the castle and back. Apart from Carmen having an FSI, it was very enjoyable. It was also MUCH better than being confined to the bedroom!
The restaurant looks great much better then ours real old worldy not that I go into many well none actually for a very long time. Glad you are both recovered and out and about but beware of the sliding pavements. You dont want to go to Paris with a leg in plaster, we’llll different. mum