I had an unexpected trip into Farnham this morning. Normally I don’t shop on Tuesdays but, yesterday, I forgot something which was needed for dinner so there was nothing else for it. Naturally, Mirinda volunteered to go up for me but, given her habit of regularly going ‘off list’ I thought it safer for me to go.
In doing so, I noted that the clock and bell at the corner of the Borough and Castle Street is being refurbished.
In Waitrose, I wound up having a lovely chat with the woman on the check-out.
I can’t remember how the subject came up but she told me about her trip on a clipper a few years ago. She said it was the most amazing thing she’d ever done. She didn’t say where the ship had sailed but it sounded like it was on the open sea.
She described sitting on the deck as the sun rose, the sails being unfurled, the wind making them billow, the sounds as they started picking up speed. She said that the ‘young ones’ could help in the rigging and deck swabbing but she and her husband just sat back and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
They were going to book again for last November on a trip along the east coast of South America, travelling through the Panama Canal but, because of the plague decided not to.
She also told me that she had a Swedish son-in-law. She’d been to Gothenburg to visit and said how much she loved Sweden. Not just us, then.
Speaking of Sweden, Mirinda had a disturbing text from Camilla tonight saying how young Christian, the foster child, had deliberately killed Norah, the little orphaned chick. The one that spent so long on my lap at mid-summer. How anyone could do something so horrid is beyond me. It was definitely a black moment of the day.
Camilla also said we could have the cottage next year if we wanted because, although it’s being sold, it can still be rented out until the end of 2022. It’s funny because I’d more or less convinced myself that we’d have fun living somewhere else because the place in Vendelsö would be unavailable. Now I’m excited that we can return.
Oddly enough, tonight I made the roast salmon, which I made up in Vendelsö. And, as well as making my own grillkrydda I also knocked up a yoghurt and dill salad dressing, very similar to the one I used to buy at the ICA.
I was very pleased with the result.
I think I might have overdone the salad a bit, but it all tasted delicious. And reminded me of my very tiny kitchen in Vendelsö.
To finish off the Swedish theme, Mirinda had a cheese and herring plate because, miracle of miracles, I found some herring. I bought four jars from Amazon the other day. While not ABBA, it’s still very nice and a delicious reminder of what we’re missing.
