Eating, boating and golfing
I meant to write a blog post earlier in the week to say what a lovely time Babel and I had on Saturday. I have to admit that I was slightly apprehensive about the day, because we were scheduled to meet up with some old friends of mine from uni, who I hadn’t set eyes on since we all graduated together nearly four years ago. It was a bit of a strange situation, as last time I saw them I was obviously still with my ex who was also a good friend of theirs. Also because having not seem them for so long, I wasn’t sure I had a lot to say to them. But we went to our local Harvester which also happens to be their local Harvester, and managed to get through the two hours it took us to get served a main course and pudding without too many awkward silences. Thank you to Babel for coming with me 
There came a point at which we had both had enough, and Babel helpfully saved the situation by saying that we needed to shoot off to find a Mothers’ Day present for his Mum. He did genuinely need to pick up a card, so we decided to head to Stratford-upon-Avon. We had actually been to Stratford the previous week and had a very pleasant walk which I think I forgot to blog about, but Stratford is an excellent place to go on a sunny afternoon and Babel had the excellent idea that we could try out one of the rowing boats.
There’s a stretch of river at Stratford which is quite calm and safe (well, as long as you stay away from the weir!) and it’s possible to hire both rowing and motor boats by the hour. Motor boats go an awful lot faster but rowing boats are perhaps more pleasant, or at least they are if you’re not the person who has to row 
We had previously been in a rowing boat when we were in Szombathely for the IJK last summer, where Babel demonstrated that he could row surprisingly well and I demonstrated that the complexities of the sport were a bit beyond me! Contrary to what one might expect, the rowing boats at Stratford didn’t seem as new or secure as those in Hungary, and I wasn’t 100% convinced that they couldn’t capsize if we moved around too much, plus there seemed to be a real risk that Babel might accidentally drop one of the oars. Nevertheless, he did a sterling job not just of rowing but of steering us around the branches and bridges alike and ensuring that we didn’t crash with any of the other traffic on the river – no mean feat when it’s as busy as it was on Saturday.
He did suggest at one point that I had another go at rowing but I didn’t think that this would be a good idea or, more accurately, I became paralysed with fear and was unable to stand up to swap places with him 
That aside, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and it was especially nice to get so close to the swans and other wildlife on the river, although the ducks seemed to be taking the mating season very seriously!
As if that wasn’t exciting enough for one Saturday, from our boat we caught sight of a mini-golf sign and having returned our vessel, we decided to investigate it on foot. By a stroke of good fortune, it just so happened that when we arrived we were able to scrape together enough spare change for a contest, and so the battle commenced Babel seemed to be under the impression that he was going to win hands down, and by some sort of fluke I did indeed come second, but not by much! Babel scored about 58 whilst I scored 80, and in any sensible game it would be the person with the highest score who won anyway
All in all it was a lovely weekend, made even better by a discussion of our finances which seems to indicate that we’re in a much better position for the future than we expected