When the car moved this morning, it was 10:30 AM, 15°C, and blue sky was beginning to emerge; a couple of dogs being walked up an avenue with lots of puddles looking miserable made us wonder about wellies that could be worn by dogs (these two looked like Poodles cross Chihuahuas); Asdas petrol and diesel prices were 146.7 P/litre and 148.7 P/litre, and Sainsbury’s were 146.9 P/Litre and 148.9 P/Litre when we got to the store at 10:43 AM. A London black cab wasn’t far away; a board had Usain Bolt advertising some sort of cleaning product on it; and inside there were monkey nuts, I persuaded Mum to go for a large pineapple and a cooking coconut (and the milk inside was audible when shaking it); some cauliflowers were labelled as ‘Stamford Street coconuts’; moussaka meal kits and Born Tasty Thai Inspired Green Curry kits, and nine different types of mushroom were among the fruit and veg;. Jörd Nordic oat drinks were £1.90, pots of something called Tzatziki were on a shelf with massive olives; slush puppies were on the sugar shelf, Whitworth shots were above the nuts, and 213 grams of marshmallow fluff was £2.20; and I saw Harper Hummingbird cat toys with catnip, papaya and coconut cat cologne costing £6 for 200ML, cat disco balls, Orla octopus dog toys, things called The Sock Game, ‘LOL water balloons surprise’, Nerf Gel Fire Legion with 300 hydrated gel fire rounds cost £21, and I spotted magazines that appeared to be called Panini on the way out.
Sun continued to shine, but as we went along the next road – leading to this food festival in the historic market town of Warwick, a torrential downpour began; once parked in a field at 11:45 AM I had to put my waterproof on, a parking ticket was necessary, and a bored looking parking officer was wandering around; I spotted a van that said ‘Divine Doughnuts’ on it, and a swan was paddling along the river nearby when we left the car.
The Banbury Road bridge was crossed, cartoon flamingo shaped pedalos were parked on the river below, swan parents were doing some lessons with their two cygnets, and a lot of Calor gas cylinders were the first thing I saw.
A big Boxer who looked very like his owner was nearby; Mum ate something Thai she was handed; ‘don’t blame it on the boogie’ and ‘looking for the hot stuff’ were playing from loud speakers as we crossed the field – where a stall was advertising Lego therapy, and a man dressed in a chefs outfit – who seemed to be high on some sort of substance and was comparably high on a pair of stilts – was wandering around singing ‘what the cluck what the cluck what the cluck’.
A small boy was consuming a bubble waffle, a man had a t-shirt on with a cartoon chicken and ‘I choose violence’ on it; and Mum went and purchased some sort of halloumi wrap thing. A brown Labradoodle got excited by another Labradoodle; frankfurters and bratwurst were on sale (with ‘The Sausage Man’ boxes); getting lunch was a bit tricky, the length of these bratwursts purchased was about one foot, and due to seating being almost nonexistent we ended up on some soggy grass.
Huge gas cylinders (each containing 47 kilogrammes of propane) were behind a black tent and next to an old horse box with ‘Fizz Origin’ on it, a pink unicorn helium balloon was being waved around by a small child; and Mum began hiccupping a lot. It was 12:57 PM when we moved, another child was wailing, loud music began, and bubble waffles intrigued us; Urban Spice was offering naanwiches; chicken gyros were advertised on The Crafty Greek, and frozen yuzu lemonade and frozen yuzu limoncello were on a stall I forgot; and The Dog Deli was getting dogs very excited – with venison legs, beef and chicken liver sausages, furry rabbit ears, puffed chicken legs, and camel skin amongst their products.
A pram had a helicopter shaped helium balloon attached, a big white Labrador and a small white Poodley thing seemed to be falling in love; and the music continued with ‘the summer of 69’ going on loudly, and Peppa Pig balloons were being waved around in a big bunch.
The nearby playground was packed, a rowing boat and a pedalo were making their way down the river (as were ducks and swans), a few big seagulls flew over and more dragon shaped helium balloons were in a bunch; and by 1.30 PM – we seemed to have covered everything – and the swan and cygnets were paddling along the river.
Back in the car – which said it was 17°C and felt really hot – we began heading home; ‘Abseil down Coventry cathedral for Myton Hospice’ was on a banner tied to railings on another road, a hairdresser was advertising hot towel shaves; and home at 1:59 PM – Soot the 20 year old cat got up and greeted us. Shopping was unpacked, Mum remembered the baklava and got excited, how to open up the coconut was briefly considered, the treats got Soot eating, and sun was out; and when I popped down to the end of the garden – Willow the chicken was enjoying the sun and had laid an egg (and I apologised we weren’t here when her announcement would have been made – as she enjoys doing loud clucking after laying her egg each day).
Then the towel and brush came out for Soots spa treatment, meaning loud purring started up; he had a good munch from both his bowls, Mum went horizontal on the sofa, I got jumped on, snoring rapidly started from the cat and the human, my phone said it was 16°C and I lost consciousness too.
It was 4:10 PM when movement occurred; the kettle was boiled, then I sampled a bit of the baklava, and thought it tasted a bit like a gone off sausage roll. Todays notes got reviewed – with their illustrations; I put my pyjamas on, and as we were both feeling quite stuffed, it was just fruit consumed for supper; and Soot and I were dozing and not paying much attention to what was on TV.
