Lunch with Mum and Mas

Monday morning, and up with the sparrows. I have had lots of troubling dreams lately, in dark cities, trying to get somewhere and being lost. Last night's episode was vaguely connected with University and going back to it again, to do better at my studies this time.

A day of mothers... Lorraine off to Ashford to see Maureen and Pat, and me up to Elstree and the Waggon and Horses to meet Mum and Mas. 

My journey there good, and passed in a fraction. I am listening to an audiobook about anxiety at the moment, called Bold Move, A 3-step plan to turn anxiety into Power, by Dr Luana Marques, who reads it in a charming Brazilian accent. Although it is quite basic and plods along quite slowly, the book is thorough and excellent. I wish there were books like this when I was in my twenties and needed advice. Now they serve as a refresher of good practice, and are based on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.

Off at Elstree and Borehamwood, and scampered off to meet Mum and Mas, whose sporty car was already in the carpark. Mason looking much perkier than when I last saw him, and Mum seemed fine. The pub fairly empty, being a Monday lunchtime, and the normal cronies were not there. But it was good to hang out and chat. The food fairly awful, but you go to the Waggon and Horses for the history and the fact is serves boozes. We wondered what sort of food Romans ate dipped no doubt in garum a fermented fish sauce, and if there was a watering hole there and if the food would have been more appetising.  Quizzing Mum about the names of her grandparents, Lionel and Agnes. Sadly neither of us know about the name of the monkey that he brought back from the Boer war. I would love to know its name and species, but these are details lost to time.

Fond farewells at three, and I galumphed back to Elstree and was soon on a train heading south. I was home before six. Lorraine home a little later.  Beans on toast. And we watched a movie on TV called Space Cowboys with Clint Eastwood, fairly dire, but diverting.

Below, Mum and Mas in the Waggon and Horses.