October 20th, continued

So, after hauling Jed around all morning and his fussing, etc. I decided that I had been productive enough for one birthday and decided to go back to the vicarage and have some wine. So, after a quick stop off at the Oddbins for a bottle of "Musica en el Camino" - and yes, it tastes just like listening to music in an El Camino - I got back to the house. Stewart was in the kitchen having crackers and cheese, so after some vigorous arm-twisting, I convinced him to drink some wine with me. I went up to our room, put Jed down for a nap, and then went back to the kitchen. We sat there and chatted and drank wine, then Jonathan and Alison came in and joined us for a bit. They opted for coffee rather than wine.

After the wine was gone, I took my computer upstairs and did some more flat-searching in the lounge, and then, groggy from wine and walking around in the cold all morning, i decided, as long as Jed was asleep, I should nap too. This was probably about 5:00 or 5:30

Next thing I know, it's almost 9pm and Jen was waking me up. I had been sound asleep - so asleep that I didn't hear Jed get out of the crib, let himself out of the bedroom, and head downstairs. I have no idea how he got out of the crib. My theory is he tried climbing over the side, which tipped the crib over enough to lean against the bed, and then he slithered ont the bed, hopped down the floor, and headed off. He's already pretty good at opening doors, so that was no problem either. When Jen got home, Jed was sitting with Jonathan in his office, pulling apart a block of styrofoam.

Jonathan said Jed just walked into his office holding a chili pepper with a bite taken out of it, held it out to him and said "uhoh!". Presumably Jed went into the kitchen, sorted through the vegetable bin till he found something he liked, and then took a bite. So Jonathan gave Jed some styrofoam to destroy and the kid whiled away the evening ripping it into bits and putting the particles in a trash can.

(That's Teeny Houdini himself, holding a diaper. His expression accurately reflects the smell.)

I slept right through Jen putting Jed back to bed too. Since Jed was now asleep and I was up, we decided to go to the restaurant down the street - The Alice House. Time for my first fish and chips of this trip!

Fish and chips - or fish 'n' chips - are now 150 years old. According to The BBC, "John Lees opened a fish and chip shop in Oldham and in 1863 Joseph Mallin opened a Fish and Chip shop in the East End. (There is actually some debate as to which was the first to be opened). By the early 1900s there are more than 30,000 chippies in Britain."

It was pretty good, too. What's not to like about cod in batter? Jen had a burger, which she pronounced to be fantastic. We had a great time, though, despite my best efforts, I could not talk Jen into karaoke in the basement. Oh well. Afterwards we walked around for a bit, and I took Jen by this place:

(photo by Jennie Vincent)

Stew and I had gone there for lunch previously, and I had an amazing bacon sandwich. At this point in the evening, they were closed, but I just wanted her to know where it was, in case she was in need of an excellent lunch.

And then back to the vicarage. Jed was snoring away, and soon we were asleep too.