Ready for Reading
Posted by Rick - 28/12/07 at 11:12:52 pm
The Friday morning of our last weekend in England started pretty much the way the night before had finished—looking for food. We awoke hungry for food and eager to get out of the city for a few days. The night before, while wandering about in search of food, we had seen a middle eastern place near Edgware Road that also offered variations on the full English breakfast. We decided to try our luck. We were the only diners and we very much enjoyed the generous portions, which we knew would keep us until dinner.
Once fed, we went back to the hotel to gather our belongings and walk the few blocks to Paddington Station to catch a train to Reading where we were meeting Mr. Tait. We had decided it was cheaper to check out of the hotel and book ourselves back in for Sunday in order to save money. After schlepping our luggage to the station, we bought our tickets and waited for our departure platform to be sorted. Sarah wandered over to a vendor’s booth and bought a Paddington Bear pin, while I watched pigeons and train schedules.
The train was on time, and we ended up on a “fast” train that had us at our destination in just under thirty minutes. When we arrived we called Tait to see if he could pick us up. He suggested we grab a taxi at the the station as we were at the further—from his place—of the two train stations in Reading. We easily found a car to hire and arrived at Tait’s shortly thereafter, where we had a cup of tea and enjoyed him showing off his delicious-sounding stereo.
We ended up going on a long walk, up and around the main streets of Reading as Tait showed us some sites. We made our way to the ruins of the Abbey before ducking into the Hobgoblin for a pint. We stopped at a butchers, a Halal market, a microbrew/retaurant for a mini keg, and at an amazing coffee place for an espresso before making our way back to Tait’s. Once at Tait’s we tapped the keg and relaxed while he made a delicious curry dinner; the recipe from a cookbook I had bought him seven years earlier! The meal was a spicy and tender chicken dish that went well with the Pale Ale we were drinking.
After dinner we watched Ross Noble on Tait’s laptop and laughed our asses off. There were times I was laughing so hard I didn’t dare take a sip of beer for fear of having it come out my nose—and let’s face it, that’s a waste. When the video was over, Tait broke out the backgammon board and I broke Tait’s spirit by beating him 3-1 in a best of five competition. I spotted him the first game and then beat him harder than a man really should beat someone who is putting you up and just fed you a tasty meal. But he needed to be taken down a peg, and it was all for fun.
Tired, full, with a bit of a buzz, and wanting to be rested for the next day’s roadtrip, Sarah and I went upstairs to sleep, while Tait stayed up to watch a movie.
Next: Magical Mystery Tor
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