A Wonderful Day with Richard and Tessa.

 Thursday 1st July 2021 in Guildford.

The mooring just above Millmead Lock was perfect for the visit of Richard and Tessa today.

There is a large grassy area between the lock and the river, and some handy picnic tables. R "reserved" the nearest table by sitting Guy on it with our folding chairs. Because the grassy area attracted lots of visitors as lunch time approached, M joined Guy as we waited for Richard and Tessa to arrive.

While M waited, she watched a day hire boat crewed by a number of pirates struggling to moor up but finding it rather difficult. Their boat seemed reluctant to do what they wanted - at one point, it was broadside - but they didn't care, they were enjoying themselves!

R had arranged for Richard and Tessa to use one of the disabled spaces outside the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre as it is really close by, so he went up to wait for them and help bring their picnic down to the table. After a while, R re-appeared with Donovan, their lovely Afghan hound.

Soon Richard and Tessa appeared with Tessa's carer, Chipo, and their friend Mary. They had kindly supplied everything that a real upmarket picnic requires, including a table cloth. We provided the champagne!

After a few glasses of champagne, Mary and Richard laid out a feast of Indian food with one delicious Indian delicacy after another. Richard loves Indian food and Mary clearly knows what she is doing as she showed us how to combine the many ingredients of each element of the meal. It was all based on Indian "street food", so ideal to eat with the fingers. The food kept on coming!

What a very happy occasion for all of us to be together, even Donovan and MM were in the picture!

The original intention would be that they would stay for only a short while, but we were all enjoying ourselves so much that we didn't notice that time had flown by and that it was now evening! Eventually, after a tour of MM, it was time for them to leave and we helped them all back to their car.

Such a wonderful afternoon and so nice to see them all so relaxed that nobody noticed the time go by.

Even Guy joined in! He was a tad tipsy after the champagne and ended up wearing Richard's sunhat!

MM was much admired but had another day off.