After a somewhat challenging week, yesterday was an oasis amongst the chaos because we celebrated a sixth birthday, mine from the day before and got to see in real life a broadcasting hero of mine, Monty Don.
Aurelia (our eldest granddaughter) turned six yesterday and her birthday is so easy to remember, it’s the day after my own on the 17th April. So no excuses! Our daughter Alice having been a keen, really good dancer and teacher of the art for many years before she switched to accountancy has been extremely keen to introduce her two daughters to classes. However Aurelia, though good at dance is much more destined for gymnastics. So she joined a local club.
The really cool thing is that the gymnastics club based out of a local school with fantastic facilities run birthday parties for kids, where they have a good three hours to invite all of their friends for a jolly good runabout!
Us adults had a go too but mainly to keep tabs on our offspring. Having normally seen all of the kit from a distance, I had a lot of fun bouncing around on the mats plus I was highly impressed by the setup. Everything was bolted in place, proper professional gear, a huge difference to the stuff we had at school in the early 80s.
Much energy was spent and we were later told that all of the girls were in bed before the sun had even set. Wiped out. Exhausted. Smiling!
Later that day Tina and I escaped to do our own thing and headed into nearby Reading. It’s a town that we go to less and less these days, despite being the closest. It has its problems and there are nicer towns to spend time. However it has some great places, great restaurants, cool music venues but the gaps in between are ones of deprivation, sad old boarded up pubs and once beautiful old houses. Homeless camps have sprung up in the oddest of corners, even down by the venue we ended up spending the evening at. The story of many towns.
Thing is down by the River Kennet, there are some lovely historic buildings including the former Toll-house that would have made its income from traders travelling along one of the main routes through the town.
It’s a toll-house no more, because for the past near 3 decades it’s been home to London Street Brasserie, an award winning restaurant serving British and French inspired cuisine. I had one of the loveliest meals I’ve had in ages, as did my wife Tina. Mine was a delicious duck breast served in red wine jus, dauphinoise potatoes, green beans and though classic and simple; the duck was seared exquisitely. I could’ve ate it three times over. It was ample though. However when they gave us the dessert menu, I liked the look of all of it. If I had been a time travelling Edwardian, I’d have ordered it all but I opted for a Wakefield Mess, a more Northern version of the Eton variety and after all Eton has slowly destroyed this country thanks to most of its alumni wrecking our economy, I prefer the more honest Wakefield!
Again it was very good.
Tina had a beautiful crab and herb encrusted Hake with muscles and clams, looked great too and she loved it.
They have a great range of wines and beers too plus some really nice looking cocktails too.
Apparently in summer, you need to book in advance as they have a private river side terrace which gets packed on those sunny days.
Last night we had a nice cosy alcove with a sunny window.
We left the restaurant to make way along the river to the Hexagon, a theatre that is almost exactly the same age as me, to see Gardeners World host, author, broadcaster and occasional host of Have I Got News for you - Monty Don.
He’s currently on tour around the UK to promote his book based on the TV series about great British gardens.
He was fantastic, as great on stage as he’s on the TV. Very engaging and through a series of photographs taken by photographer Derry Moore, who joined him for the second half of the show.
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