The 1st & 2nd;So much fun, but so much pain.

The 1st of October.  Even more pain tonight, but for a good reason - London trip for Christine's birthday! Had to be awake ridiculously early so we could be at New Street for 8:40. I bought a Guardian and a Pumpkin Spice latte for the train because I am so very basic, and we sped down the country to Euston. 

Christine met us there, and we got a cab to Berner's Tavern. Had it not been pissing it down, we would have walked/wheeled. Not today. The restaurant is within The London Edition Hotel and it is niiiiice. Very fancy. We were early for our reservation, so sat in the lobby, had coffee and gave Christine her presents. Just token things because we're giving her a voucher for a fancy cooking lesson of her choosing, so I gave her a crocheted mini manatee and whale. She is going to add them to her crochet corner at work. 

We moved through to our table, and I already knew what I was having, so while everybody else perused the menu, I just looked at all the pictures on the walls and watched the other people coming in. I was the only one who went for a sweet brunch dish - buttermilk pancakes with Nutella and bananas (no hazelnuts, I had those omitted). They were so good, but I couldn't quite finish them. Curse my tiny stomach. I had a curly kale, apple, cucumber and lime juice to go with it, so I had some of my five a day. Plus the banana of course. Then everybody else wanted pudding, which I most definitely did not, so I had a flat white while they ate their desserts. I'm fairly certain Liam Gallagher came in while we were there - I tried to take a stealthy photo but it didn't work out very well. 

By the time we left, the rain had stopped, so we decided not to get a cab to the theatre, where we were seeing Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in No Man's Land. On the way, we happened to pass a Crosstown Doughnuts, so I went in to buy a cinnamon scroll to eat later, and while in the queue, I petted a dog called Cherub who was a chihuahua/Japanese Chin cross and I was happy as a clam. 

We arrived at the Wyndham's just after two, so we stashed the wheelchair and found our seats. We had an excellent view, but it is an old theatre, and the seats were not good for my back. For the most part, I managed to forget about the pain, because the play was so good. I have not seen any Pinter before, so being introduced to his work by two of the world's greatest living actors was pretty cool. Obviously it was an incredible performance from all the four actors involved (there are two younger men as well), sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes funny (and some lines taking on new meaning in current context) and overall amazing. Standing ovation at the end, and I found myself welling up for no reason that I could think of. Maybe because I just felt so lucky to be there. 

From there, we went to Picturehouse for a drink and a nibble before returning to Euston. I just had a St. Clements because I still didn't want any food, but I did get a Mini Egg cookie to take home and eat tomorrow. We talked about the play, found that Daddy had nodded off a couple of times but not missed too much, tried to work out why the man sitting in front of us had left in the interval, and before we knew it, it was time to get a taxi back to the station. Hailing one wasn't yielding results, so I whipped out my phone, and within five minutes we were on our way home. 

We were sat in the quiet coach on the train, but I put my earphones in anyway, and listened to a Flatshare Slamdown podcast while wishing the journey faster so I could lie down. 

So much fun, but so much pain. 

The 2nd of October.  

I don't feel quite as awful as I thought I would, but still not great. I think I was helped by the Zopiclone I took last night, and I made no effort to get out of bed before I wanted to. I was up by ten though, I'm not an animal. 

I threw on my huge green polo neck for the first time this year, and spent what was left of the morning curled up in the armchair, writing about yesterday. Long post ahoy. I did get it finished by the end of Sunday Brunch, and to take my mind off my stiffness, I had scrambled eggs on one of my rainbow bagels for lunch, then my Mini Egg cookie. It definitely helped. 

This afternoon, Mommy took Grandma to get her hearing aids adjusted, and while I waited for her to return (so we could watch last night's Strictly), I have just sat and crocheted. It is not super interesting to write about but I've made a good amount of progress and I don't think it'll take much longer to finish. I do look forward to being able to reveal it after Christmas. 

Going to lie down on the floor again now. I am going to be doing lots of stretching until I see the pain team.