Do they know it's Black Friday weekend?

I'm guessing so. This is Cheltenham in  festive mode. I had to go to John Lewis to collect something (my new Bose QC earbuds) and it was not a pleasant experience for those of us who do not like crowds. Once I'd looked at the jigsaws (!) and the very expensive chocolates, I did not linger. My friend D says there was no lighting-up ceremony this year. I sad Grinchily that that's ok, there's no money in the council purse for parades.

I digress. I'm staying at a cheapish, comfortable hotel in the centre, at D's expense, because we were going to the panto and I wouldn't have been able to get a bus back to Stroud afterwards. After I'd  got myself checked in, I went to a couple of shops, then off to meet D at the Everyman Theatre. It was not busy in the cafe. There was one other man there, and when D expounded his latest theory (that British women are becoming more like Muslim women and they don't want to go out any more: they just want to work from home and shop from home, and in ten years' time there won't be any women on the streets of the UK), I told him he was talking absolute rubbish. The other man got up and left. This often seems to happen when Dave and I are talking, and I get cross with him. I told him I'd rather work from home than in a different office every day, but then he got onto the subject of the CoVid enquiry, and started sticking up for the Liars..... At this point, I suggested going to a pub. We went to a pub. It is impossible to have conversations like that in a pub, and there's more of a buzz. I admit, I am dreading the thought of spending four days with D when we go to Germany. 

The pantomime (Mother Goose) was tremendous fun. It always is, because they have Tweedie the clown from Gifford's circus in it. I thought the second half wasn't very long, though, and D said that one of the dancers wasn't very good. I was surprised that there was so much dancing, but I live in a cave and don't watch Strictly....

Afterwards, we went to one of D's favourite restaurants, The Spice Exchange. I ordered Lamb Afghani. It did not taste like S's cooking. Then taxi 'home' to hotel. I tried out the earbuds. I have not quite got the hang of them yet.