Finally some proper rain. It started about 6, eased off while Macc and I went for a walk at about 7.30, and then carried on until about 10. Still only 4mm — a lot less than the 30mm they had in some places.
Two of my former colleagues were coming to Oxford today so we could have lunch. Macc and I walked down to the station to meet Rebecca, who’d come on the train from Maidenhead. Macc hadn’t had enough of a nap during the morning and was rather all over the place. Tom had decided to drive up from London and use the Park and Ride, but arrived at our lunch spot at almost exactly the same time. We’d booked at The Old Bookbinders, just over the canal.
It’s a quirky place with a French menu, and the food was excellent, especially the coq au vin. I’d asked for a table in the corner because if Macc, and we were given the one by the open fire door, so even with the lead tied to my chair, Macc could still step outside. He was amazingly good; the waiter was very taken with him and took a photo, he had his lunch while we had ours, and mostly just sat laid down under the table. The table next to ours was a party of people dressed in French costumes. We speculated they’d all read French at Oxford and got together once a year — but maybe they just like berets and strings of garlic.
Back at the boat, Tom had the guided tour (Rebecca had already seen the boat at Windsor), and as we sat and chatted there was thunder and lightning, but without any rain. In fact it’s felt very warm. It was a really lovely afternoon, and we had loads to catch up on, not least because Tom has changed jobs a number of times since I last saw him. Of course taking a photo was a challenge; here’s Rebecca trying to get Macc to look in the right direction at the right time.
Menwhile, Adrian and Mark had a nice day sightseeing in LA yesterday. Their flight home is tonight.