Wordsley, Stourbridge, England: 23 degrees, hot, sunny and beautiful blue skies.
Quite a productive and enjoyable day.
I am gradually getting ready to return to Brazil. I won’t see Julie until the middle of the afternoon; I have promised my mother to have lunch with her. I know and feel that she might not genuinely appreciate it, seeing it more as an obligation than sincere gratitude.
I also think, as her son and since it is the last weekend in England and the final Sunday here, it’s the least I can do. Before lunch, I want to go to the Lidl supermarket in Brettell Lane and perhaps also to Stourbridge to buy the last of the presents.
I walked along the canal to Lidl, where I bought gym clothes for Yasmin, Jessica, and Nalva. I also bought some simple makeup kits for some women friends and colleagues in Brazil. I love Lidl because, in a way, it is similar to the Mundial supermarket for the lowest prices in Rio, but better, as their centre aisles with steel crates and shelves that sell everything from clothes to garden equipment, toys, etc., are so interesting that every time I go there, it feels like Christmas again.
It truly is fantastic!
I left Lidl and walked back to the canal and towards Stourbridge. I entered the lower High Street and headed up to the upper part of the town. I went into Tesco’s and the clothes section. I bought the same beautiful long green dresses in different sizes for Jessica, Nalva, and Cibele. I also bought a pair of Bermuda shorts for Mario.
I then went to the Rye market shopping precinct, entered Peacocks, and bought him two more pairs of shorts. I like Peacocks because I think some of the clothes are beautiful, reasonably priced, and of good quality.
I left Peacocks and had a cappuccino at the Costa Coffee stand in the middle of the precinct. There were a few people there, and it was a quiet, quintessential moment for me as I enjoyed a decent coffee on my last weekend in my hometown in England.
It was peaceful, contemplative and calm.
After the coffee, I stopped off at B&M before walking back home and bought two wireless headphone sets for Jessica and Yasmin. They’re not the most expensive, but the sound quality is excellent. I had told my mother I would be back for midday, and I was. I stopped off for a last pint of lager and lime at the Rose and Crown before arriving at my mother’s.
My mother had prepared a simple but very tasty lunch: a pork chop with roast potatoes, green beans, peas, and carrots. As I mentioned, it was straightforward but delicious. However, after the disagreements of the past few weeks, it was not as pleasant as it should have been.
I also insisted on having a small plate, which goes against her beliefs; she prefers to pile as much food as possible onto your plate, which, for me, is now extremely uncomfortable and unpleasant.
I also believe she killed Roger, her late husband, unintentionally and indirectly, by stuffing him with food. I think she does it unconsciously as a way of overcompensating for not knowing how to love and respect someone properly. Therefore, stuffing a loved one with as much food as possible serves as a substitute for affection and for loving someone properly, and as a means of self-validation, as if doing the right thing.
Julie picked me up early in the afternoon. She was hissing a little because she wanted us to have the whole day together, not just the afternoon, but it was good for her to learn to value me a bit more, as she hadn’t in the past.
Fortunately, Austin was with us, and off we went to Bewdley, probably for the last time in a while. As I have said many times, the town of Bewdley is one of the most beautiful little towns in the region, if not all of England.
We parked the car very close to the centre and took a walk along the path that runs beside the River Seven. This path links both sides of the bridge, and if you walk far enough, you come out into fields, farmland, and an old, abandoned bridge.
We are in the heart of England.
This, for me, is very nice. The sun is shining, there are lots of typically large open farmland fields with wild grass and flowers blossoming, and this is precisely what fucked me up.
Hay fever is a major problem in England during spring and summer, when pollen levels are high. When I was a child, I had it a lot, and probably for the first time in over 40 years, I’m having it again today.
The irritation was so intense in my eyes, more specifically my left eye, after rubbing it so much that it swelled up like a golf ball; I thought my eye was going to explode out of my head. We got to arrive at the old, abandoned bridge, and on the way back, we stopped at an Inn facing the river with tables and chairs outside in the street.
All this time, Austin was in his element, what a dog!!!
This exact inn was one of the places I looked up on the Internet for Julie and me to stay for the weekend, but unfortunately, it didn’t happen. We were confused about where to eat, so we finally decided to buy some fish and chips from the local chippy, where we had bought them the last time we were here. We sat on some steps by the river and ate.
How English is that?
We later had a quick walk around Bewdley’s High Street, and we bought some sweets at Teddy Greys, an old-style sweet shop where all the sweets are in large jars as they used to be 40 or 50 years ago, and you would buy them by weight.
This reminded me of my father’s newsagents when I was a child: one wall was just shelves with jars of sweets; the other wall was for tobacco; and, further back on the opposite side of the shop, were birthday gifts and greeting cards.
But that was a long time ago, as if it were another life and another person.
We finally got back to the car, but my hay fever was worsening, and on the way back, we had to take a detour through Stourport to get home. An hour later, as it has been for the past two months, Julie dropped me off. It was a pleasant, productive day, and I am very grateful.
In bed by 10:30 p.m.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Please explore my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Richard
