There’s a nice cafe across the road from the Greenfield Tesco. They do an excellent chocolate Guinness cake, something Granddaughter Number Two has been missing, indeed for which she has been pining, while away at the University of York. We went there after she and I did the Christmas food shop last Friday but they sold the last slice of her favourite cake just before we placed our order. Yesterday while out and about we hatched a plot to meet there for a late breakfast this morning. She even checked on line to be sure of opening time.
So this morning I got up, had a bit of fruit and my vitamins and set off walking. I was half way to Uppermill when a bus came along and I hopped on it, getting off in Uppermill village to walk the rest of the way in order not to arrive too early. And then, when I arrived at the cafe I found a notice on the door saying they are closed until next Tuesday, January 3rd. Botheration! Of course they are entitled to time off but really, how hard would it have been to put a notice on their website about closing between Christmas and New Year?
I contacted the family, who were already en route, and we arranged for them to meet me at Tesco and rethink our plan. Fortunately I was able to wait in Tesco’s entrance and shelter from the cold wind for my daughter’s idea of “I’ll be there in five minutes” is always a little optimistic.
When she arrived we decided she would park next to the playing field in Greenfield and we would all walk, with her dog, back towards Uppermill and along the canal to the Limekiln cafe in what used to be the Brownhill Visitor Centre. So rather later than planned we sat down to what had by now turned into brunch. The food is more than acceptable there. They also had a chocolate Guiness cake - we wondered if they misspelt Guinness because they had not used proper Guinness - who knows? Granddaughter Number Two sampled it and declared it inferior to the one served at her favourite chocolate Guinness cake venue!
I was offered a lift home but as this would have involved walking back to Greenfield once more, I thanked them kindly and set off up the hill to Dobcross and down the other side. By the time they would have reached the car I was already happily at home having another cup of coffee.
And now it’s raining again. Our timing has been immaculate.
But I fear we don’t need more rain.
The rivers are bouncing along.
But the small boy has enjoyed the puddles.
A prodigious number of people were out and about exercising their dogs on the playing field in Greenfield. These dogs were clearly not suffering from the crisis but I read that huge numbers of dogs are being abandoned, the luckiest of them being handed in directly to rescue centres but others just left on the streets to be rescued and handed in by passers-by. Two factors affect this: some people bought dogs during the pandemic and cannot cope with them but others are abandoned simply because their owners cannot afford to feed them.
This article shows that it is not just dogs. Cats are also being abandoned, in some cases because their owners have not been able to afford the vet’s fees to have their pets neutered and suddenly find they have a bunch of kittens on the way! Rescue centres are overrun with kittens. Poor little moggies!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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