Lunch

The tyre was flat again this morning. It seemed unlikely that we could get it sorted on a Sunday, and we’re returning the car tomorrow anyway, so we decided to do without it. We took a taxi to the care home, where S’s mum was surprisingly wide awake, no doubt because the carers had got her out of bed to have her hair washed and blow-dried. She was quite chatty, although conversation is still difficult as her hearing is so poor. S told her I’d been swimming, complete with arm movements to illustrate, and she thought he was talking about fish …

From there we took another taxi to Great Ayton, where we met R, H and A for lunch at the Persian cafe Pomegranate. Here’s one of the starters of baba ganoush — everything was very nicely presented. I’d have happily gone for a vegetarian main too, but on Sundays they do barbecue, so I ended up with a grilled lamb kebab, which was good, and copious. We could have done with one main course between two of us.

R and H gave us a lift home, and we digested for a bit before going for another swim and gym. Thirty lengths and hammam break again. I’ll miss having a pool at the end of the road — it’s great just being able to pop down there (in the car — it can manage that far). Then bits and pieces for supper, trying to use up the fresh food. At least we managed to give the Christmas pudding away.