exciting
i picked up my wedding dress in the weekend. it feels a little weird to think that it is finished, and hanging up at home, rather than being this abstract incomplete dress far away in Cheshire. Gerd has done a lovely job and she sewed a horseshoe of tiny blue roses inside the lining, which she informs me is a scandinavian tradition.

disturbing
those terrorists are at it again, but luckily they’re being fairly incompetent so far. however it looks like all summer leave is cancelled if you’re a police officer – they’re very much out in force on the streets and in the stations and airports and so on. i had a tiny twitter of nervousness when i took a bus at lunchtime today, until i noticed there were 3 coppers on the top deck, and i have to say it did actually make me feel a little safer.

disappointing
last night on our return from Cheshire, dad & i went for a meal at le pot lyonnais (formerly known as le bouchon) on queenstown road. ever since the change of management that came along with the change of name, things have been going downhill. the breakfast has slowly eroded in quality. they were once an extravaganza of taste and good value, but each time we visited after the change over, something had gone bad. first the juice, which was once freshly squeezed, changed to standard issue from-concentrate carton juice. the quantity of toasted baguettes provided dropped to about half. and the tiny jars of bonne maman jam – the yummiest jam there is – are the same jars but are now refilled with very ordinary catering jam of approximately the same quality that you can get on your toast from benjys.

anyway, back to the dinner. the menu used to be a large A4-sized hardback edition that gives you the impression that it is changed with some frequency. now they are a tatty triple-folded cardboard menu. the food still sounds good, however, so i tried not to let that deter me and we both ordered the moules frites. they do make delicious frites, i’ll give them that, and the sauce was delicious, but the mussels were holding onto an unecessary quantity of grit, which does detract from the dish somewhat.

of course i’ll still go to le pot lyonnais, because it’s so close and it’s a pretty nice place to have a pint of 1664 and some frites. i’ll still try the restaurant again, but i will probably skip the mussels next time. our favourite waitress is long gone, as is the slightly dim one (who once asked me, in all seriousness, how i’d like my chicken cooked), but they’ve always had a quick turnover of staff so it’s fairly irrelevant. and it’ll be an even nicer place for that pint now that we have a smoking ban.

but i do find myself wishing just a bit that something new would open up nearby, to take up the place that the old le bouchon held in our affections. somewhere to get our sunday breakfasts would be a good start.

exciting, again
only 19 days to the wedding!

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