TMTW: July and August 2022

What happened:
It's been a busy few months! July started with a trip to Wimbledon on day six of the tournament where we got to see the matches on No. 1 Court. It was our first time there and whilst it was fun to experience, apart from the endless queues, it's not something I'd do every year. Good to tick off the list though!

I headed to the theatre twice; firstly with a friend to see Only Fools and Horses (second time for me), and then went with Olly to see Life of Pi. Yes, something that's not a musical. I know! But Life of Pi was very enjoyable, and worth a watch. Only Fools and Horses still felt like a warm, nostalgic hug watching it again. Which was nice. 

We headed to the Tower of London with Olly's mum and nan to see the wildflowers that were planted in the moat for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. I hope they keep the moat seeded - and we even planted some wildflower seeds in our garden to attract some more bees! (My blog post here.) And we had a quick mooch to St Dunstan's in the East since we were in the vicinity. 

I had a work team away day at the Design Museum, followed by a scavenger hunt around Covent Garden. Went to The World of ASMR exhibition, which I didn't really get, but something I think I did get from this away day... COVID! I've finally officially had it (suspect I had it in late March/early April 2020 but couldn't get tested back then), and I felt really rubbish for about 1.5 days but did recover quite quickly, thank goodness. This did mean though that my work trip to Leeds didn't happen - although it wouldn't have happened anyway as London hit 40°C and all the trains were cancelled. (A fever in 40°C weather was not fun.)

I did, however, make it to Malta. Hurrah! We spent a week on the island of Gozo in a farmhouse in Munxar - this one, if you're interested - with some of Olly's family to celebrate his mum's 60th, then Olly and I headed to the mainland for five days to see some of Malta itself. Blog posts coming soon. (I promise! I know I have a bit of a backlog!) 

When we were back in August we had lots of people come to stay at the house, both friends and family. My brother, his wife and two of the three niblings came to stay, so we did a tiny bit of touristy stuff - including going to my work's family day, which had fairground rides and what not - but mostly hung around at home. We even managed to successfully see the Perseid meteor shower, two nights in a row! 

My dad then came to stay, which was lovely for him to also see the house, and then I finally made it up to Leeds for my work trip. Had a bit of a disaster with the trains going up, amongst other calamities, but it ended up as a successful trip, overall. Finally, on the bank holiday Monday we had a family BBQ with most of Olly's extended family. Including us, we hosted 18 people at home, which was quite something!

What I ate:
Headed to Hideaway for brunch which was most excellent (and returned there in August for dinner), had ramen at Japan Centre, an awesome roast (as always) at Blacklock, went to the Seven Dials Market for Bad Boys Pizza Society and Truffle Burger (super yum), Tobiko for a chicken katsu curry, had brunch at The Eclectic Collection, plus a family dinner at Maxwells. 

In Malta, on Gozo, a big shout-out to Casa Vostra and Cardamom, both in Victoria, and Country Terrace in Mgarr (we ate at other places but these were my faves on Gozo). On the mainland, we had an amazing dinner at Hammett's Mestizo (one of our courses pictured below), a fabulous brunch at Crust Bistro & Bar (above), a yum brunch at Manouche, a tasty dinner at Kuya and a delicious dinner at Wigi's Kitchen - all in the St Julian's area - plus excellent cake at Fontanella Tea Garden in the Silent City (Mdina), an incredible dinner with an incredible view at Chophouse in Sliema, and epic pizza at SOTTO in Valletta. 

Finally, in Leeds: a yum fried chicken, mash and gravy lunch at Nation of Shopkeepers, a decent dinner at The Restaurant Bar & Grill, a cheap and cheerful breakfast at Riveresque, plus a yum lunch at Mowgli before we caught the train back to London. 

What I watched:
Finished watching WeCrashed, watched Ms Marvel (liked it), season 5 of Better Call Saul, and started season 6 of Better Call Saul and also House of the Dragon. Also watched the final ever episode of Neighbours - for the nostalgia! - which was awful, haha. 

Films watched: Men in Black 3, Olly watched various Thor and Avengers films ahead of the new Thor film, which I half-watched so aren't counting them, plus we watched Spider-Man: No Way Home. We really aren't watching very many films at the moment. And didn't actually make it to the cinema to see the new Thor film! 

What I read:
In July I read 21 books. The Library by Bella Osborne got a 4* rating from me, as did The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune, and my reread of Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan. 

In August I read 11 books. I really enjoyed the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers. 

How have you been? x