I was up at 6.30am and I caught up with Grand Designs before Keith and I went out to get the newspaper. Sophie went off to the gym while I cleaned the downstairs of the house and swept up lots of leaves from around the back door. Today it's been windy again and Storm Callum has been creating havoc in the west of the UK with floods and torrential rain.
At 2pm Sophie and I set off for Henley-on-Thames as we were going to see Liane Moriarty at the River and Rowing Museum. It was part of the Henley Literary Festival and I had my copy of Nine Perfect Strangers with me.
The temperature climbed to 25c on the way to Henley and it was an absolutely gorgeous day with blue skies, fluffy clouds and a warm wind. Once off the M40 the countryside was beautiful and the colours of Autumn were stunning. We arrived in the town and found the museum but we discovered we'd parked in the council car park rather than the museum car park which was free. We asked if it was OK to leave the car there while we ventured into the town to eat, which was a bonus!
It was lovely to walk along the river into town and see lots of people enjoying the sunshine and warm temperatures. Henley-on-Thames is a beautiful town and I'd gladly visit again.
Sophie and I had had a look at restaurants while we were at home and we'd picked out a Thai eatery called The Giggling Squid which looked promising. We found it easily and were given two menus, a lunchtime and an evening version. Apparently, we could order off the lunchtime menu before 5pm which was great as it was a lot cheaper!
We ordered the two dish combo and Sophie ordered pork dumplings to start while I had chicken wings. We both opted for the Thai red curry for a main course and we ordered some prawn crackers to munch on, which were the best I've ever eaten. With a big bottle of sparkling water to quench our thirst (did I mention it was warm?) and two glasses of wine we were all set!
The food was delicious and very spicy! My chicken wings were lovely and came covered in chillis! The curry was also very good and we had soon polished off the food with still two hours to kill! We ordered a dessert to share and after lingering over our wine, we paid the bill (£48 including service) and meandered back along the river to the museum.
On the way we passed lots of boats that had been moored up and came upon a small, but very feisty Bengal cat who was affectionate one minute and a bit aggressive the next! We sat on a bench for a while and looked over at a small island that was crammed with houses. We couldn't make out whether they were just summerhouses or full time residences!
As the time was getting on we walked over to the River and Rowing Museum and I collected my book from the car. We made our way upstairs and took our seats opposite a small stage, discovering canvas bags on each chair, which contained a magazine ( bit disappointed!). The audience was overwhelmingly female and there were some very rude women there (a group of whom had been in The Giggling Squid earlier) which annoyed my daughter very much!
Liane Moriarty appeared at 7pm with a local writer called Amanda Jennings who seemed a bit over-awed with the author! They chatted for an hour which was very entertaining and at the end the audience was encouraged to ask questions. Half way through, Sophie realised that Liane Moriarty's sister, Jaclyn, was one of her favourite authors when she was a teenager, which made us both a bit amazed!
Before we left we queued up to get our books signed and I recognised Liane Moriarty's husband who had emerged from the loos when we were going in earlier. He looked a bit like Nigel Farage!
We had a chat with the author and we mentioned her sister so that was lovely. We had thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and evening and we had a good journey home, arriving back at 10pm. I had just enough time for a G&T before hitting the sheets!
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