That white fluffy slice of heaven below is my cousin’s cat, Luna. AIN’T SHE GORGEOUS?
Last weekend, she needed looking after whilst her parents were away and so G and I headed over to Berkhamsted for a spot of cat/house sitting.
We didn’t really have any plans for the weekend other than ‘show up and feed Luna’ but do ya know what? It was freakin’ GLORIOUS.
It was slow and peaceful and made me feel all calm and actually like I was prepped to do battle with Monday. Which is a good job, cos it’s been a hell of a week.
So I thought I’d detail all the domestic beauty so that next time I’m all like I NEED TO GET AWAY, I don’t cripple my bank account by attempting to get back to NYC, and remember that it’s just as restful to take time out in your local surroundings.
SATURDAY MORNING
As per our usual routine, I woke up in an empty bed because G always gets up about an hour before me despite the fact that Saturday morning is lie-in time you cretin. We had breakfast, ran some errands, hoovered the flat and packed our overnight bags.
On the drive over to Berkhamsted, it rained so hard that I actually voiced my fears that the rain was going to crack the car windscreen. It was raining that hard okay.
I insisted we stop at Aldi on the way because I absolutely had to get my mitts on those Jo Malone-copycat candles (G still does not understand why these are so exciting). We actually split up when we got inside the shop because Aldi is chaotic and I was not leaving without those candles. We found them eventually and I came out with all 3 flavours, as well as stocking up on Aldi’s chocolate cos sorry, it’s actually my favourite chocolate ever and who even needs Hotel Chocolat? We also came out with 3 pots of hummus, crisps, cheese, ham and sausage rolls cos snacks.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON
We arrived at the house and, yes, I immediately scooped Luna up for a fluffy cuddle because cats are basically the best thing in this world. She smacked me on the nose and licked my hair so that’s love, right?
We dived head first into the pots of different-flavoured hummus, discussed how we would decorate our house when the time comes, marvelled at how quiet it was and then relocated to the sofa where we played with Luna, read the paper and blogged. And ate chocolate of course. It was so nice to not feel distracted by life admin or chores, and like we were allowed to laze the time away.
SATURDAY EVENING
We took a wander into town via the canal path and it was so picturesque and cute, even with the rail tracks being right there. I liked that, one second, we were walking past the lock and the canal boats, and then suddenly we emerged right in the centre of town.
We were going to try out one of the local, independent restaurants but we didn’t organise ourselves to book a table so we ended up in Ask instead and the food was actually super dreamy. We had these dough balls full of mozzarella and chilli and pepperoni and oh mumma, I’m still thinking about them. Although not as much as the pistachio and olive oil cake which I am 100% going to try at home.
We wandered back down the canal, watched a film on the telly and tried to persuade Luna that she wanted to come sit on my lap (she was having none of it).
SUNDAY MORNING
I woke up far too early because I’d forgotten my sleeping mask but G let Luna in and I spent a good couple of hours allowing her to jump on me in bed (she seemed to mistake my feet for a mouse or summin’). She also thought it was very entertaining to attempt to catch my ponytail when I was tying my hair up and then try and chase the runners on the TV when G was watching the world championships.
Can I get a kitten pleeeease?
SUNDAY AFTERNOON
We headed off to nearby town Tring because we’re still on a hunt for places-we-might-want-to-live-in-Hertfordshire. It kind of only occurred to me after we’d been there a while and decided we liked it, that it would be a bitch of a commute for G’s new job. Sigh.
We wandered round the park, down the side streets and into a homeware shop (I managed not to buy anything) before stumbling upon this quirky café called Black Goo; we had slices of cold pizza and an enormous slice of lemon and pistachio cake (it was aaaall about the pistachios that weekend).
And then we went back to play with Luna some more before giving her lots of treats and saying goodbye.
AND THAT WAS OUR WEEKEND. No exotic locations or plane journeys; just a twenty-minute drive down the road. But a mini holiday all the same.
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