Cabin fever started to bite & the government announced a scheme to get people eating out to boost the economy so no brainer then, time to go out.

Hubby is an old petrol head who’s current machine is a Triumph Bonneville & on special occasions I am allowed on the back.

With the promise of buying coffee & cake we set off across the old Servern Bridge into South Wales. Whizzing along the lush green country roads past Tinturn Abbey to arrive at Monmouth. Parked up we ventured on foot to find a cafe & passed a rather tempting pasty shop on the way. The other half is not normally one to pass up a pie so I could tell we were going to be picking some up on the way home.

The allure of a care free life is the prospect of just being able to ‘pick up & go’ which is all very well but meant we had no bag to put the pasties in. Hubby kindly suggested me placing them inside my jacket. On a normal UK summers day this might not have been an unwelcome suggestion but not in temperatures of 30degrees plus! I wasn’t thrilled at prospect of adding to the bag collection however impending pasty purchase meant a shop foray was in order. Buff up around my face in lieu of a mask I went in.

Clutching the lurid pink plastic bag I joined a queue to pay & felt really conspicuous. Not because I was in half a bikers suit or attempting to buy a kids bag but it occurred to me I was the only one wearing a face covering of any sort. It really is entering a new phase of strangeness when you are uncertain of the etiquette of mask wearing. Perhaps I should write one?

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Anyway pleased to report the pasties made it home unscathed and we enjoyed them very much. The cake was good to & since then have been trying to eat out more. The irony though on the day of the dentist appointment (yes I finally got one), I bit into a piece of seeded bread & knocked the ‘repair’ out & accidentally swallowed it so mask stayed on firmly until I reached the surgery.

Stay safe until I tell you more next time.