Weeknote 55

Northbound, Watching bicycles, Hidden anxiety

Northbound

These past couple of weekends, I've made a couple of visits to The North to visit my parents. It's been a pleasant break from living in the city and being able to breathe somewhat cleaner air than in my recently ULEZ enforced home borough of Merton. The first weekend, I was joined by X and my parents to have a brief day trip to Wales, a first-time in Wales for X. We stopped off at the charming border village of Holt for lunch. We then drove on to the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, for a walk and some obligatory photos/Instagram content creation opportunities.

The following weekend I headed to one of my favourite English market towns, Newark-on-Trent, providing the opportunity to visit an old favourite, Gannets Bistro, for lunch with my parents. It brought back fond childhood memories of visits to the town following times we used to visit the International Antiques & Collectors Fair at Newark Showground.

Watching bicycles

Also over the weekend, the first stage of the Tour of Britain cycle race took place an hour's drive from my parents' home. The parents willingly came along to watch the race pass up the steepest hill of the race route at Ramsbottom, just north of Manchester. Over the years, we've all grown quite a fondness for watching cycle sports, and learnt the best spots to choose for viewing the riders slowly struggle up the steepest of hills, which not surprisingly result in the best photo opportunities.

Hidden anxiety

It's now been a year since I'd the first in the series of visits to private dentists with less than palatable news, both for my mouth, and wallet. A combination of over-pressured brushing and awkwardly positioned teeth since childhood has resulted in a few more fillings over the past year, and new lengthier cleaning routines that took some getting used to. This all resulted in an ongoing period of anxiety that I find heard to handle, but am slowly improving with better oral health, confirmed by the dentist on my most recent visit.