I had some deliveries coming in related to Debra‘s impending visit. I’ve visited with a number of people who’ve come from the States for their own reasons but haven’t been able to cajole any of them to come to the house…visitors in Oxford couldn’t be bothered with a twenty minute drive to Swindon, or those stopping in London for a week or so couldn’t take the Tube out to Ruislip, and so on.
But, our Deb actually isn’t interested in the touristy things and just wants to hang out with us her entire trip — cooking, partying, hiking, boating. But, when it comes to sleeping we didn’t have a second bed in the second bedroom. This probably wouldn’t have fazed her in the least as she would be happy to snuggle in ours with Jimi and both (or either) of us; alas, we are all too old for such shenanigans so we ordered in a futon.
It and some other items key for this trip (it is still a couple of months off) arrived between 7 and 10 the morning I had taken annual leave to work on some of the interior trim so, after tidying, I had the afternoon to myself. I decided the day was too pretty to waste indoors and suited up for a run, had a shot of Bulleit to brace against the windy cold, and headed toward Dudley for a bit of lunch and a couple of beers.
Just past Great Bridge I sensed a presence and realised I was being shadowed by another runner, a fellow in his mid-40s (why wasn’t HE at work?) jogging easily at my pace. He was speaking in my direction and, after checking that no one else was at my other side, I removed one of my earbuds so I could answer with out interrupting the storyline of my podcast. He asked how far I was going and I told him Dudley and back ‘there’ whilst pointing vaguely toward West Brom or, possibly, Barcelona. He told me where he was going but I wasn’t listening and just said, “ooo, that sounds nice” and replaced my earbud. He said something else and I bit my lip and nodded in my least reassuring way then he said loudly to have a good day. He sped off and I hope he realised that my pace would have probably caused him injury had he kept to it.
In Dudley, my target pub, the Castle, has closed down so I got some fish at Sofi’s Plaice across the street and ate it as I wandered toward the Dubliners about a fish gobble away. After there, I headed toward the canals via Bunns Lane (a name which makes me happy) and stopped en route at The Wonder. But, the canal path I intended to use is closed and under repair so I had to make my way back through an industrial park.
On my return, Jimi had already claimed the futon as his. At least Debra will have someone to cuddle.
Endless British Pub Crawl (Part 3) 