The boring part of the trip
So the fun part is over, and now we are just acting normally. I worked Thursday and Friday while mom read. We got out for a walk each afternoon, as the weather has continued to be kind. We watched Strictly Come Dancing at night and an interesting documentary about Michael Parkinson's career – we enjoyed his show back in the 1970s. The documentary marked 50 years since the first show. Some of the interviews highlighted were with Sir Billy Connolly, Muhammad Ali, and a very young Mick Jagger. The Rolling Stones were two years old and he reckoned they'd keep going for another two years. LOL
Friday's accomplishment was booking an airfare and AirBnB to go to London Nov. 2-4. I can't get over how much time it took to find a suitable flight, how much time to book the flight (multiple tries, multiple websites), how much I struggled on AirBnB's site (cross referencing locations with the DLR line), and how unnerving the booking process was. The place I booked is managed by a rental company, which sent me to a third party site, where I was asked to provide a photo of my drivers license, and a photo of myself. There were pages and pages of rules and privacy policy and deposit info, and fines if you don't arrive within 30 minutes of your stated arrival time. I did all of this around 10pm, then lay in bed wondering if I've given a lot of personal information to an illegitimate website? I really dislike doing business on the web because I am never sure who I'm dealing with. I had to reestablish an AirBnB account because I don't remember my password. Then I had to figure out why I was being billed in Swiss francs. I booked an AirBnB in Zurich in 2015, so my account defaults to Swiss francs. When I tried to change my settings I had to read dozens of currencies because I couldn't find British pound. It's under P for Pound sterling. Hours of this stuff.
Saturday I did a few chores (including digging five holes to plant what I bought at Rowallane) then we went out for lunch (pizza) and visited Sainsbury's in the afternoon, probably my overall favourite grocer. Saturday evening we dined with neighbours Marian and Brian McLoughlin, a lovely evening of chat. They are both very busy despite being retired. Brian is doing a history degree at Queen's and is a keen hiker. He is also very involved with St. Vincent de Paul's, providing furniture, food, vouchers for utilities to low income people in East Belfast, including refugees. Marian is a keen golfer and is helping a former colleague deliver a curriculum aimed at teens struggling with depression/anxiety and another expert providing education about people with autism struggling to be understood. Long story short, they are an interesting couple. Brian had to do a paper on toxic masculinity with two women who are 10 years younger than his youngest daughter. They wanted to write about an incel attack that killed several women in 2014. I asked about this being somewhat recent for a history class. Brian said his contribution was on the historical role of hegemonic masculinity – an alpha figure in each society against which other men measure themselves. It's interesting that a trans woman in Australia developed this approach--trans women have a unique perspective on gender roles, having played both roles.
We were up late Saturday night so mom surfaced close to noon on Sunday. After brunch, we did a walk around St. George's Market, where mom got some presents. Then I left mom home while I played 12 holes of golf in a mixed foursome. While I was away, Thea and Eddis visited, so mom was well entertained. I got an order from a local farm Saturday, so I left carrot cake with passionfruit icing out beside the kettle and tea cups for company.
While I feel like mom's weekend wasn't very interesting, I also am often guilty of packing too much into each day, so maybe the slower pace is a good thing. Strictly continues to be highly entertaining. We have gone from 12 to 4 couples. The standard of dance is very high, so I don't envy the judges their task.
Oct. 14-17