Madame Guillotine

One of Felix’s first questions after being told that his granny is dead, was to ask if everyone else was okay so today we took him to his granny’s house where Dave’s father, brother and sister are currently staying while they sort things out and prepare for the funeral.

It was really weird being there without Dave’s mum – especially as they now have her car back and it was parked outside the house again. I looked inside as we went in, wondering what happened inside it all those weeks ago.

It is funny, but I remember walking to pre-school to pick Felix up after Dave called to tell me that his mum had been found and felt so profoundly sad and miserable that I was sure that everyone I went past must surely know what had happened.

Being there in her house, surrounded by her things made it feel even more surreal and unlikely, not less.

After leaving Nailsea we caught up in a massive traffic jam which was apparently literally caused by an excess of spilt milk and drove to the Mall at Cribbs Causeway where we decided to have lunch at Frankie and Benny’s. It wasn’t too bad actually. The music was a bit loud and our table was slightly sticky but the food was okay and the service was pleasant, which makes up for a lot of sins, I think. I had the mushroom and goat’s cheese calzone while Dave had the meatball one. We followed this with the shared ‘Godfather’ desert, which I opined was very unlikely to have been eaten by the actual Godfather. I changed my mind afterwards when replete with an artery clogging excess of squirty cream, I recalled that Marlon Brando’s Godfather had died of a heart attack at the end of the film.

It didn’t look much like this picture. The component parts were all there but, well, you can imagine how it was.

We then went shopping at the Mall. Apparently Katie Price was there at the same time as us. We didn’t see her but this may account for why it was eerily empty inside. Dave bought clothes for the funeral and I looked at vegan foodstuffs in Holland and Barrett, T shirts for Oscar and Felix in Baby Gap and books about baking, Venice, Paris and Rome in Waterstones. We are going back next week so that I can do some proper shopping.

Had a lovely citrus Frescato drink in Costa, which was slightly ruined by two over tired small boys who were demanding to go home and have their bath. Even so special mention should go to its intensely citrussy and tart deliciousness.

Came home to an email from my friend Hester, telling me that my blog post about the second episode of Desperate Romantics was quoted in the Independent today. I feel like a proper blogger now!