Down by the River.

Today = spontaneous Cambridge outing. Literally, the most last-minute decision ever. I was out, I was about, then I just so happened to take the wrong tube - no thanks to the strike - and BAM, I was at King's X station, buying a day ticket and hopping on a waiting train to Cambridge. I rang Harry, he was surprised, he was on his way out, so it fell to my own poor navigational skills to find a way to the river. I asked a man at the station and he was very vague about it, so I started walking in the direction that was more or less the one he'd told me. I broke my journey with a visit to Tescos, not realising that the Cam was all of two seconds around the corner. But it was fun all the same: I bought some lunch and some vanilla slices and noted that other supermarkets are remarkably cheap in comparison with Sainsbury's.

Eventually, I happened upon the river, only to find that the boat racing/ 'bumping' was already in full swing. I walked along the bank for a while, bumping into Ruth + boat in the process, before hearing Harry call my name from the other side of the water. Obviously (typically) there was not a bridge in sight, so I ran a few hundred miles down-river in order to find one. Harry was involved in heated team-morale talks and stretching when I finally arrived, so I bought a 99 from a conveniently situated ice-cream van and set off to find Harry's mum and step-dad. We watched Harry's final race of the day, in which he rolled-over, or rolled back down again or something of the sort (I'm still not sure whether I understand the rules of 'Bumps') and then we went to the pub to wait for him = pints of coke and merriment abound.

In the evening I had a horrible journey back into London. The only negative aspect of a day-trip to Cambridge, it seems, is that you have to go back home again on the same day. There were precisely FIFTEEN stops between Cambridge and London Liverpool Street, which apparently extends the usual forty-five minute by HOURS. Then, to make matters worse the tube station was shut due to strike or plague or general bad-luck, and I had to catch two whole night-buses back to New Cross. A delightful experience, if ever there was one.

Harry's boat

Ruth's boat