Roast sweat potatoes

I had arranged to meet Charlie for breakfast in Chorlton, this morning, and set off early thinking I'd get in a chapter of my book over a coffee while I was waiting for her.

The satnav took me a different route from usual, which was fine; I use the satnav on routes I know precisely in case of traffic hold-ups or whatever. However, having reached the ring road, I found the prescribed route blocked by a 'Road closed' sign, at which point I belatedly remembered the signs the Minx and I saw yesterday warning people of today's run.

Thus I joined a collection of frustrated drivers, moving around Manchester in a vast game of vehicular pinball until, finding myself by the Museum of Science and Industry, I thought "I know the way home from here" and bailed out of the whole exercise.

Happily, Charlie came to me instead, taking a route involving the outer ring road, and we had an al fresco breakfast of coffee and croissants on the university campus.

Later on in the afternoon, after swimming, I headed back home, taking the route via Barrowford, which is the same distance but takes twenty minutes longer. It's a more peaceful and scenic journey, and I prefer it if I have time. It also takes me passed Settle, which has a petrol station that is off the beaten track, which meant I only had to queue for five minutes to get some diesel.

Whilst I didn't want to contribute to the panic buying, I'd weighed up my journeys over the next seven days and I needed a full tank. Of course, if the government planned ahead and communicated their contingencies - rather than playing their own destructive game of policy pinball - then I might have been confident that fuel would be available later in the week and not gone out of my way to fill up today.

Anyway... home to record the radio show and then I cooked supper for me and Abi. Now, my food photography is another area of weakness but this was delicious: roast sweet potatoes, stuffed with mozzarella, served with a basil and garlic sauce. Abi went as far as to say we should have it again: the highest praise!