Today, we did something I’ve been longing to do since I found the park just down the road from us. Go for a picnic in the park. Initially, we didn’t because it was, well, January in Manchester, which featured some sleet, some frost, some rain and some other inclement weather. Then, we didn’t do it because we were being good and staying inside as much as possible due to the [redacted] [redacted].
Going outside has been a bit of a big deal for me, even for the tasks that we are legally permitted to do. Alex and I have been avoiding going outside on the weekends, because people descend on ‘our’ walk space with their whole households/plus other households (because it’s been kind of obvious that they weren’t just a household). Going to the shops to stand in a queue for 20 mins to carry heavy groceries home – not awesome. Going for a walk and seeing bunches of terrifying teenagers at the quay basins like it’s a big summer holiday? Meh.
But on Saturday, we had a bit of a mutual household funk. Feeling meh. Feeling cooped. And we are pretty happy homebodies for the most part. We needed an adventure. So, we planned a Sunday breakfast picnic in the park, with books, our picnic blanket (which I’m glad we packed), and cups of coffee/tea in our recently-less-well-travelled travel mugs.
To make sure it was extra delightful, I also spent some time on Saturday baking croissants for us, and while they certainly weren’t pretty, they were very buttery and very delicious. Baking misadventures included: letting them cold-prove without covering in the fridge so they kinda dried out a bit, then putting them on the kitchen counter for a while, which made them go a bit flabby and melty. Next time I will use more care, but hey, I’m not complaining about the taste.
So on Sunday, I packed us a picnic, featuring grapes, nutella, butter, croissants and real plates to eat them off, coffee for Alex and tea for me in our awesome travel mugs, picnic blankets and peak caps to keep off the sun, and we toddled down the road to sit and people watch.
And it was glorious.
Everyday Adventures 