Nearly normal

Our lockdown finished over a week ago, then we had some restrictions, including wearing a mask, until Sunday. Amazingly we had no new cases of community transmission here and so life returned to nearly normal on Sunday. Mask-wearing was annoying at times but we made it through that short period. I feel I can’t complain about it since we’ve only had a tiny taste of what most of the rest of the world has dealt with.

The Scientist and I went off to a local market/food fair for lunch on Sunday. It was pretty busy but our timing seemed to work out well since the event started in early morning and the stalls weren’t particularly crowded. It was a good thing as it was really hot and steamy during the day. We got our food and found a shady place to sit on the grass and eat our yummy foods. Afterwards, we walked around the stalls, bought a plant in a handmade pot, bought some brownies and fudge and then I got a really delicious smoothie that had raspberry, banana, mango and several other nice ingredients. It wasn’t sweet at all and was really refreshing on a stinky hot day.

Later we went home where I finally had to wake up Lego Lover to go out. He’d asked the night before and I said possibly okay. We went to a shopping center that is about half an hour away. I like the fact this place has five or six bubble tea places. I also hate making decisions on where to get a drink, lol. We walked up and down the place and stopped in the usual spots. We stopped at Nando’s to get him some lunch since he didn’t have time to eat before we left. It was super crowded at the shopping center so we were both relieved to get out soon afterwards. There was a stop at a toy store that has taken the space left from Toys R Us and then we headed home. On the way there and back we listened to the No Such Thing as a Fish podcast which we enjoy and learn a lot from.

We arrived home and there was still Game Fanatic to feed. There’s a shop where we used to go regularly for charcoal chicken and then it suddenly changed to a kebab shop. Then months later it added the chicken back in. So we went there and again they are only doing the kebabs. I think that one is a lost cause. Then we thought to go to the fish and chip shop but we wanted to watch the latest Wandavision episode first. So we did that and pondered on various parts of this week’s show before heading to the fish and chip place. Which was closed for the upteenth time. We nearly came home when the Scientist thought of a Thai restaurant we recently discovered and liked. It was a bit out of the way but surely was open.

And that’s how we found ourselves sitting in a park, next to the little strip where the Thai place exists. We had a half hour wait for our order and we’d wandered around the playground and tried out the swings. I tried to take a photo of the Scientist but the growing darkness and the movement meant it was all a blur and it wasn’t an aesthetically appealing one. We laughed at the notion that some would claim it was a ghost if they saw it. :D

We eventually sat on a park bench and took photos of each other and then of both of us together. He has a Samsung Note and I have an iPhone so we have mostly different apps for photography. After several false starts we both got a couple of decent shots. It just happened that a car’s headlights were on in one of mine, which lit his hair from behind and caused a bit of a glow. And overall we both looked decent. I found most of my other ones had me and/or him with closed eyes. Anyway, we had such a nice time for such a simple thing as waiting for take away order. And that was the highlight of my Valentine’s Day.