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Published: December 9th 2020
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Empty Reading station
Reading in a major junction My social life was zero because of the pandemic restrictions. Being fed up, I decided to visit familiar Swindon. In a flash, I realised a school friend lived another 30-40 mins train ride from Swindon. A tight trip to capture three locations at one go.
I had booked the fastest train so I spent minimum time in the train itself to a max 45 mins. The trains and stations were pretty empty. With train tickets and bike reservation, a small overnight bag and some gifts of Indian sweets for my friends as it was the festive time of Durga pooja, I ventured out like a lone warrior.
As soon as the connecting train arrived at the platform, I panicked when I spotted the only
cycle symbol in the first class compartment. Thankfully, the train guard approached me and said that the cycle space was at the end of the first class coach. I had to move to second class coach through the interconnecting door. Another kind man had offered to help me the load the cycle.
A helpful lot of Brits for sure! Swindon was the same quiet town. I knew the town in and out. I
jumped on my cycle and went to Halfords for a cycle check up. The technician informed me that the gear system had to be replaced and the
cost of labour and parts would be 95 GBP. Well,
this second hand cycle itself had cost me 100 GBP. An older Halford staff said that it was fine as long as it worked. Yeah, I thanked and started off to cycle about the town like crazy as I went to see my old house share, the Bangladeshi shop, my local beauty parlour among others.
Meanwhile, I realised, I had forgotten my comb (as I no longer carried my purse because I hardly left my house because of coronavirus). Hopped into Primark and bought a lovely hair brush. Discovered that the brush bristles massaged my head and was gentle to my hair too. My new quote-
Necessity is the mother of welcome changes in life. Thank you! Next was to cycle to Coate water park to see the Autumn colours. There were peculiar smells among the trees one of which was that of toffee. Some trees had rich red orangish colours while others were the late ones, still lingering in their greens. It had started to get dark because of shorter days.
In the midst of my trip,
Boris Johnson made a sudden announcement over the afternoon television that there will be another lockdown because of spike in coronavirus infection rates. So plan changed to hot chocolate with a friend at hospital canteen as visitors were suddenly not allowed into residential complexes. While cycling back, I ordered a Thai takeaway of Chicken Padthai and papaya salad from my old favourites. By the time, I covered the 6 km (3.7 miles), it was
delivered at the reception- Just In Time. This was the
agile section of the trip.
Next morning, it was train to
Weston-super-mare to meet my school friend after 23 years. I sat in a quite compartment and away from others. I carried a breakfast parcel from the hotel.(Earlier, the hotel used to serve an excellent hot breakfast of sausages, bacon, egg and assortment of breads but Covid-19 meant takeaway pastries and a packet of orange juice). I had understood
Weston-super-mare as Weston Superman. I was excited. Thankfully my friend had sent his photo and I was the only woman around his age at the station. All social distancing went out of the dock and we hugged. Met his shy 9 year old daughter and his lovely wife. Had a gorgeous south Indian breakfast cum brunch at his beautiful home.
Now ready to drive down to Cheddar village to see the famous Cheddar cheese factory and the Cheddar man.
A beautiful village with lots of water bodies, Cheddar was less crowded because of pandemic but I thought there were good number of tourists mostly white people. The
paid exhibition in cheese factory showed how cheese was prepared by hand. It was a repetitive, tedious task. Yeast and salt were added.
I lost count of the number of times cheese was cut, rested and pressed. Interestingly, the older or more matured cheese have a more tangy, strong taste than the fresh ones. We tasted all the varieties of cheese in the shop and bought none 😉
Cheddar man and other exhibits were closed. The gorgeous Sun was out and it was a perfect day for photography. There was a popular ice cream shop. Due to coronavirus scare, there were glass barriers in the shop and quite impossible to taste and select. We ended up choosing the same pistachio ice cream but it was
not green and my friend correctly
smelled and tasted the almond essence. The gorgeous Sun was out and it was a perfect day for photography.
We were carrying 4 cameras between us and I don't think so many photographs of me was ever taken at one setting. His wife was fed up and finally I understood the feeling 😊
Drove down to
Wells, which claimed to be the smallest city in UK. It is famous for its cathedral. I was praising the Malmesbury cathedral but this one was far more magnificent.
As we were a bit tired and hungry, we ate cheese with cranberry chutney and tea/coffee at a cafe sitting in the open. My kind hearted friend paid a few coins to the man who was playing beautiful music for the tourists. We spoke about our life in UK and folks back home.
We stopped at a
strawberry farm and the strawberries were so expensive (4 GBP per packet when the same quantity in the supermarket was 2 GBP). The quality was far superior to anything from the supermarkets. There were massive pumpkins in the farm shop.
I had a train to catch and missed the sunset at Weston-super-mare beach but my friend can be trusted with excellent photographs; hardly a miss.
We hugged a good bye and hopefully he and his family can make a trip to London to see the amazing Natural History museum and Science Museum.
I changed trains at Bristol. Back in Swindon, I ordered another Thai dinner and
reflected on a day well spent. Next morning, I shopped a nice jumper at Swindon shopping center. Then a
lovely get together with my Bengali friends and collectively lamented a virtual Durga pooja in 2020. Ate some excellent bread pakora followed by homely lunch. It was my first meeting with friends during the pandemic and the first get together at this friend's house. Relaxed afternoon. Later, visited another person. It was lovely to eat Chana curry, Quinoa and spiced rice for dinner.
I did regard him as a friend but he had slightly different ideas. Each to their own.
I returned to hotel, picked my bags and took train back to Hayes and Harlington.
The night lights flickering off my cycle was an amazingly new experience and I rode confidently. It was not yet chilly but a beautiful strong night with a moon and some puffed clouds pampering it.
It was a great trip. I learnt how people value you. While for some people you are a long lost treasure, for others you are a piece of meat. Often the packaging is so attractive that you are duped into believing the actual goods are fantastic as well.
After this trip, I was afraid that I might have caught the infamous coronavirus and was alert for symptoms
. Thankfully, nothing happened and
brilliant to be negative. I was energized and ready for any number of lockdowns. A
generous sprinkle of an old friend, a few new friends and a friend more suitable to unfriend; a 2020 captured smartly over the weekend. It was an experience of
being Swindled with Cheddar with a Weston Superman at Wells.
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