Long Good Weekend

After a full day at work on Friday, my wife and I went to our favourite Thai restaurant in Greenwich, the Kum Luang (it's our favourite Thai restaurant and happens to be in Greenwich). We have been going there on and off for ten years. I have never had a bad meal but haven't been as impressed on my most recent visits. I'm pleased to report that it was back to it's best for my birthday. For me, no nation on earth combines tastes and aromas as well as the Thais and the Kum Luang's as good as I've come across outside Thailand.


On Saturday morning I was out after 7am on my bike with mate Pete and we did a 60 miler down do Gravesend and over on the ferry to Tilbury and a spin around Essex before heading home. Outside Stanford-Le-Hope we came acorss a car on it's roof and a young boy racer complaining unconvincingly about having swerved to avoid a fox. Four of us managed to roll it back onto it's wheels but it wasn't going anywhere and the cost of a new windscreen will probably mean it's a write-off. We had already passed an ASDA lorry on it's side just past the Mercedes garage at Dartford and there was more drama to come. Any regular cyclists will tell you that falling off is a common occurrence but I have scoffed at this since I last did it at 15 and that was due to a cog shearing off my gear casette. However, coming down the hill from Greenhithe to the McDonalds roundabout at the Bluewater turn I managed to skid on slowing when I hit some water on the road and down I went with an unceremonious splat. No major harm done but I've skinned my elbows and shin and was fortunate not to break my collar bone or shoulder blade. If it's thirty years until I do it again, I'll be more than happy.


I spent the afternoon in the garden with the family and got the base coat for my Summer tan. I cooled off watching the Championship play-off which I thought was a very entertaining game with the right side winning. 


The evening was spent with my two best mates in the riverside pubs of Greenwich and we had the pleasure of meeting two Blackpool fans who had been at the match and were making their way home to Greenwich. They had obviously had a day to remember, were both surprisingly sober and were overcome by home much goodwill there was for them having shaken hands with "the whole of London" on their way home. We reassured them we were pleased for them in their own right but had to explain that beating Cardiff probably had as much to do with it.


This afternoon I have been down at my Aunt's fantastic country garden in Sevenoaks Weald with my immediate family. A great lunch and a walk around the village and up to her allotment to collect eggs (she keeps chickens) topped it off nicely.


To finish, I'm enjoying a glass of cold white on the sofa watching Come Dine With Me that happens to be set in Greenwich. They managed to get a salt-of-the-earth Millwall fan (he was alright), a well-heeled Blackheath resident, a local female caberet singer and a young eccentric who lived in Deptford by the look of it. Dave Lamb the voice-over man was marvellous, as usual. 


Looking forward to watching the Millwall v Swindon match on Saturday that I think might just match the Cardiff v Blackpool game for entertainment. We might have ditched another half-a-dozen players by then....