Cafés and Packs

 The weekend passed fairly quickly and uneventfully.  I  firstly met up with a lady from the Women's Institute who invited me to join her for a late coffee on Friday afternoon.  She suggested a café in the town where I had last summer been having coffee with the young date guy.  It was one café we had not reached before we stopped what we were doing.  (It is a town of linear settlement with many cafés stretched over a mile long street so it would have taken us several months of coffee on a Saturday afternoon to get to the end).  

It was a pleasant little place which I remembered as a jewellers many years ago.  It was like a tardis being tiny and happily and comfortably squeezing in several tables in a nice bright atmosphere.  It appeared to do everything from coffee to burgers to milk shakes to herbal teas and a steady stream of regulars came in whilst we were there.  This lady is new to me and we passed a pleasant hour.  It certainly makes a big difference to the day to meet up with someone when living alone.  She also lives alone.   

It was a pity that I had not got to this café with the boy.  However, it was a good summer whatever even if we didn't manage to visit every single café in town and he gave me lots to write about in my poems.   I believe it was meant to be that he came into my life at that point in time.  There is always a reason for everything I think. Fate, a power beyond human control.  I was writing my dissertation which included a collection of poems.  I was presented with this bundle of happiness in the form of a short but happy relationship and the words flowed. 

I received a new backpack on Friday.  I ordered from Amazon one weighing less than a pound and having a 40 litre capacity.   I had become fed up with my one weighing 4 lbs empty, also 40 litre capacity.   4 lbs is a lot to start with empty when you are filling a pack for a two week holiday.  I took a chance with a £20 thin pack with good reviews. 

I was not disappointed and yesterday packed as if ready to go and the difference was startling, 4 lbs is like lugging around two bags of sugar and that was no more.  Here is a picture of the new pack.  I have sorted out my things and it will work for me.  I took a walk around the garden with it fully packed to sort out straps and the pull on the  shoulders which is important when using rucksacks. 

 

The weather will be quite hot and the necessity for lots of different outfits  is not relevant for me.  Travel within the country will be by buses and trains and air.    I feel comfortable that I have made the right backpack decision.