A bit shaken up.

I had booked for Sophie and me to go to the Northampton Filmhouse today to see Ticket To Paradise starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, and we decided to go to Zapato Lounge for brunch first. I managed to park in Albion Place and we walked to the market square in lovely sunshine. I was dismayed at the state of the town, to be honest. The once modern and upmarket Peacock Place shopping arcade was closed up, and in front of the doors were sleeping bags and piles of litter. A lot of shops were closed down and For Let signs adorned the front of the buildings. The town looked a bit sad and rundown.

As we neared Zapato Lounge, we could see two men standing outside. We could see through the windows that it was busy and we could also hear a screaming baby... Rather than wait and see if they had a table we decided to leave it and visit St Giles Street where we hoped there'd be some cafés open for coffee.

St Giles street was always a lovely street lined with independent coffee shops, and small businesses, however, today it looked as seedy as the rest of the town. We managed to find one place open and ordered two flat whites, deciding to have an early lunch at Pizza Express at the other end of the street.

Sophie ordered the drinks and while I waited I saw a cycling accident outside where an elderly man was knocked off his bike by another cyclist. At one point I didn't think the older man was going to get up but he was helped to his feet and seemed OK after a little while.

We drank our coffee and the café filled up which was no surprise as it was the only place that seemed to be open! At 11.30am we strolled down to Pizza Express and were their first customers. We ordered a pizza to share and some halloumi bites. The coffee we'd enjoyed had filled us up slightly so our appetites were muted!

We didn't have time to linger in Pizza Express and left to walk the short distance to the cinema. While we were walking we could hear a man shouting loudly but we couldn't see where he was. It was frightening as we couldn't see him and had no idea what he was shouting about or why. The man seemed to get nearer so we stood behind a large coach parked outside the theatre and waited until the noise lessened a bit, then walked quickly to the cinema. One of the staff came out to see what was going on and I was a bit shaken up. You hear so many stories of people on the street that have mental health problems and commit crimes, but he was probably harmless. We didn't want to wait about to find out, though!

We had a glass of wine and an ice cream while we watched the film, and there were only six of us in the whole cinema! The film was very enjoyable and the scenery was spectacular. It was a few hours of escapism that we both loved!

Back home, it was time to relax and then have a game of Scrabble with another glass of wine. Sophie made a minced beef and potato curry for dinner. It was delicious and spicy!