the LOVELI­EST day

Noth­ing spe­cial to report: just that the Food Fes­ti­val at Hamp­ton Court was very nice, with a cou­ple of reser­va­tions: one, it was called the “Food­ies Fes­ti­val,” which does bug me, hor­ri­ble word, and two, it was jol­ly, jol­ly hot. Not even! By any Mid­west­ern Amer­i­can stan­dards it was cool to say the least, but for Lon­don, com­ing about all of a sud­den, the 26C heat was a sur­prise, and Avery for one was unpre­pared: woollen Burber­ry skirt, fuschia tights, high leather boots, long-sleeved sweater: there was only so much she could shed and not break any laws of decency.

We had a great time, though: sam­pling cheeses here, olives there, actu­al­ly paid for two dish­es at Bus­a­ba Thai from Soho, which I remem­bered from Taste of Lon­don last year. Deep-fried prawns, super crisp and crunchy, with a man­go chilli dip­ping sauce, and grilled duck slices with Chi­nese broc­coli… sim­ply lus­cious. The best of the day? Yum­my Lol­lies, quite sim­ply the BEST, FRESH­EST, cold­est and most refresh­ing frozen treats you’ve ever had, and 100% fruit. “Lick your way to five a day,” is their mot­to, and the two very yum­my mum­mies who run the con­cern are just addic­tive on their own. So enthu­si­as­tic, heart­felt, young and love­ly, and the fla­vors of the lol­lies are irre­sistible too: I had apple and man­go, John had black­cur­rant, and Avery orange. Pure, pure frozen fun. They alone made the day worthwhile.

No, I lie. What made the day worth­while was being with my two lovelies, as you see, hav­ing the time of their lives teas­ing each oth­er as they do.

Home to fetch Avery’s friend Lille, for pier­rade for din­ner, Eton Mess for pud­ding, and tomor­row: the Cotswolds for a rid­ing les­son, an after­noon and evening of non-cred­it-crunchy lux­u­ry, then anoth­er day of walk­ing and feed­ing ducks, then the best high tea in Great Britain at our hotel… a com­plete treat for these girls in advance of their first senior school exams at the begin­ning of June. But I’m total­ly disin­gen­u­ous: it’s a treat for ME, to see every­one so hap­py. Long may it last. Life can be (has been, will be) dif­fi­cult, but for now, all the lit­tle pieces are in place for every­one to be hap­py, to feel lucky, and to say thank you.