May began with a lovely long walk to enjoy what seemed to be a crazy abundance of buttercups this spring, as well as some more lambs.
It is also a month of many birthdays including Himself’s. I took him out for dinner at our favourite pub on the night before.
We took a lovely long walk on the day itself, calling in on The Red Lion in Blewbury where he managed to take the picture for what has become his birthday tradition for over ten years now. A picture of him out celebrating a birthday drink with ‘all of his friends’ (i.e. an empty pub!)
It started when we happened to be out for the day on his birthday and called into a pub for a drink. It was early afternoon on a weekday, so after any lunchtime rush and the pub was empty apart from us.
He’s been doing a short every year since and I’m not going to lie they do sometimes take some staging.
This year for example was a frantic quick snap as a couple of families left the beer garden and just before some other people walked into shot and sat down. I was also standing pressed into a hedge clutching my pint so I was out of shot!
Goodness knows what people thought we were doing.
May also started with a pretty intense property visit. The woman arrived with what I assumed was a pair of latex gloves in her hand, which seemed a bit judgemental, but I guess not every property is clean.
They actually turned out to be those elasticated shoe coveralls and she did also don gloves!
I come to the conclusion she was a frustrated CSI because not only did she kit herself out like one, she also walked around the property taking pictures of every room from every angle, whilst talking into her phone!?!
I have to confess I was not, and am still not, happy with this process. In all the 20 plus years of renting I have never had anyone taking pictures of my belongings in what is essentially my home!
I did contact our rental agency afterwards to ask exactly what happens with the photos and who gets to see them. Apparently, they are to ‘assess the condition of the property’ and are kept on file for a time with a limited amount of people seeing them. Hmm....
I did an amazing queer history walking tour of Oxford through work the next day, it was absolutely fascinating, and the guide was super engaging and entertaining. Having done various walking tours of the city now it ranks up there with the best of them.
The following Friday I had a half day to meet my friends Carole, Liz and Simon for lunch. We went to a pub we like where they serve yummy food and they allocated us ‘our ‘ table on arrival, which considering we only go every 6-8 weeks shows you how much of an impression we must make (oh dear!)
The pub was fairly quiet when we arrived, but busy by the time we left. The landlady made a point of coming over to say it had been lovely to hear all our laughter filling that corner of the room and that it had been a joy to serve us. I must admit we do tend to get a bit lively when we do get together!
The next weekend was another bank holiday and thankfully I was working from home on the Friday, so no commute when I finished.
There is an ice cram van that stops right outside our house in this new street we live in. As it was a hot sunny day I decided to start the weekend early and nipped out when I heard it arrive. I got served a 99 literally as big as my head, this is going to prove dangerous to my waistline….
As it was a bank holiday and the weather was lovely, we decided to take ourselves off to the seaside!
We realised we hadn’t been to Weston-Super-Mare for a very long time and it is somewhere you can get to directly from our train station, so that is where we went.
Surprisingly there was a thick sea fog when we arrived even though the morning was already warm. We walked along the seafront and by the time we reached the far end the fog was clearing and it was getting super hot and very busy. We decided to keep on walking, going past where the old pier is being restored.
Sand Bay was much more chilled with sand dues and a huge expanse of beach without all the shops and food stands.
By the time we got back to Weston it was absolutely packed, you could barely see an inch of free sand and all the pubs on the seafront were blaring out music or karaoke.
It was just too much. Too much noise and sweating humanity I hated it so we swerved away into the town centre in search of a drink and some quiet, but it has become sadly rundown like so many of our once grand seaside towns.
We ended up back on the seafront managing to snag a table inside Brunello Lounge (a UK wide chain that are all called ‘something’ Lounge.) We had a lovely long cold drink or two, cider in my case, before braving the seafront again.
We had thought about playing the pirate crazy golf, but as it was late afternoon by this point, we decided to head home instead.
Not sure I will be hurrying back to Weston any time soon, it was not for me. I loved all the amazing street art though and also bought a very cute new design Lifeboat Association bear to go with my others; I now have 4 different ones.
They are a charity that are very close to both our hearts, and I do love a teddy bear so it was a no brainer.
The month ended with a day of to go to the In Bloom – How Plants Changed Our World exhibition at The Ashmolean Museum with Charlotte.
The blurb for the exhibition says ‘Beyond their beauty, many have hidden histories – tales of exploration, obsession, and knowledge. This major new exhibition takes visitors on a journey from Oxford to the farthest corners of the world and back, uncovering the global stories behind some of Britain’s most beloved blooms – from roses and tulips to camellias and peonies. Featuring over 100 artworks and objects, including drawings, paintings, rare prints, and ceramics, In Bloom explores our changing relationship with the natural world. From the fascinating stories of curiosity and ingenuity of early plant explorers to the networks that shaped global trade, this exhibition reveals how the pursuit of exotic plants transformed landscapes, economies, and cultures, leaving a legacy that still shapes our world today.’
The entrance to the museum has this gorgeous decorative arch outside. The partner of one of my colleagues works there and said they had a load of complaints about the plastic flowers outside and how environmentally unfriendly it was, shame on the museum for using them etc etc. They aren’t plastic flowers and they actually have a sign to say they are not. If only people would read…
The exhibition itself is fairly small but very interesting. Our enjoyment was slightly marred by a man who was there with his parents and a toddler, who was of course bored stiff after about 5 minutes and then became noisy and very disruptive despite the father and one of the gallery staff trying to distract them. Instead of taking the child out and maybe waiting in the play area downstairs whilst his parents finished the exhibition at their own pace, he insisted they all stayed together, eventually the child became so disruptive they had no choice but to leave, not before they had thoroughly disturbed everyone else to the point, I found it hard to properly concentrate on the rest of the exhibition.
I did love these flowers that had been made out of decomissioned old bank notes.
After a browse round the shop we took ourselves off to lunch in Georgina’s the little Greek café in the indoor market, before having a browse round some shops and a cup of tea upstairs at John Lewis.
It was also my brother’s birthday so in the evening I met with the family at a little pizza place in town to celebrate with pizza and wine. I had already had his present delivered to his house, a selection of different pork pies with a special chutney and vintage cheese to go with them. He is a big fan of a pork pie.
So that was May. As with April I know for a fact I bought things but it's too long ago for me to remember exactly what. Erstwilder brooches for sure to add to my ever expanding collection and maybe a frock or two...
I've started to type up June which was epic and migth end up being two posts. I'm determined to try and catch up with myself and this year.
This crazy heat has been too much for me but I did find my fashion imitating life.
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