My social life was zero because of the pandemic restrictions. Being fed up, I decided to visit familiar Swindon. In a flash, I realised a school friend lived another mins train ride from Swindon. A tight trip to capture three locations at one go. I had booked the fastest train so I spent minimum time in the train itself to a max 45 mins. The trains and stations were pretty empty.
With train tickets and bike reservation, a small overnight bag and some gifts of Indian sweets for my friends as it was the festive time of Durga pooja, I ventured out like a lone warrior.
As soon as the connecting train arrived at the platform, I panicked when I spotted the only cycle symbol in the first Thankfully, the train guard approached me and said that the cycle space was at the end of the first class coach. I had to move to second class coach through the interconnecting door. Another kind man had offered to help me the load the cycle. A helpful lot of Brits for sure!
Swindon was the same quiet town. I knew the town in and out. I jumped on my cycle and went to Halfords for a cycle check up. The technician informed me that the gear system had to be replaced and the cost of labour and parts would be 95 GBP. Well,
this second hand cycle itself had cost me 100 GBP. An older Halford staff said that it was fine as long as it worked. Yeah, I thanked and started off to cycle about the town like crazy as I went to see my old house share, the Bangladeshi shop, my local beauty parlour among others.
Meanwhile, I realised, I had forgotten (as I no longer carried my purse because I hardly left my house because of coronavirus). Hopped into Primark and bought a lovely hair brush. Discovered that the brush bristles massaged my head and was gentle to my hair too. My new quote- Necessity is the mother of changes in life. Thank you!
Next was to cycle to Coate water park to see the Autumn colours. There were peculiar smells among the trees one of which was that of toffee. Some trees had rich red orangish colours while others were the late ones, still lingering in their greens. It had started to get dark because of shorter days.
In the midst of my trip, Boris Johnson made a sudden announcement over the afternoon television that there will be another lockdown because of spike in coronavirus infection rates. So plan changed to hot chocolate with a friend at hospital canteen as visitors were suddenly not allowed into While cycling back, I ordered a Thai takeaway of Chicken Padthai and papaya salad from my old favourites. By the time, I covered the 6 km (3.7 miles), it was delivered
Next morning, it was train to to meet my school friend after 23 years. I sat in a and away from others. I carried a breakfast parcel from the hotel.(Earlier, the hotel used to serve an excellent hot breakfast of sausages, bacon, egg and assortment of breads but meant takeaway pastries and a packet of orange juice). I had understood as Weston Superman. I was excited.
Thankfully my friend had sent his photo and I was the only woman around his age at the station. All social distancing went out of the dock and we hugged. Met his shy 9 year old daughter and his lovely wife. Had a gorgeous south Indian breakfast cum brunch at his beautiful home. Now ready to drive down to Cheddar village to see the famous Cheddar cheese factory and the Cheddar man.
A beautiful village with lots of water bodies, Cheddar was less crowded because of pandemic but I thought there were good number of tourists mostly white people. The paid exhibition in cheese factory showed how cheese was prepared by hand.
It was a repetitive, tedious task. Yeast and salt were added. I lost count of the number of times cheese was cut, rested and pressed.
Interestingly, the older or more matured cheese have a more tangy, strong taste than the fresh ones. We tasted all the varieties of cheese in the shop and bought none 😉
Cheddar man and other exhibits were closed. The gorgeous Sun was out and it was a perfect day for photography.
