Tea for One

Last week, I did something, I have never done before. Yes, I stepped right out of my cosy little comfort zone, complete with it's soft furnishings and soothing music and headed out in to the big scary world, in the hope of becoming a strong, independent woman. Who am I kidding? That is never going to happen. I may be strong, some of the time, I am certainly independent, to the point of being plain stubborn, but a woman? Nope, never, I will always be an overgrown teenage girl! Well I say overgrown, I'm not even that, most teens are far taller than me, but hopefully you get the idea.

By now, you are probably thinking, 'For goodness sake, would you stop waffling and just get to the point!' I apologise, I am very good at going off on a tangent, it's just the crazy way my brain works.


So off I set on my little adventure. I began with a shopping trip, which I hasten to add is not the 'new' thing. I've been shopping many times, though since having children, it's fair to say I've not shopped alone for quite some time. It was so liberating to wander around the stores I wanted to visit and look at the things I wanted to look at without having someone ask if they can have, this or that or wander off bored and sulky.

The solo shopping trip was a great success, but I still had an hour to spare before I had to be at my next appointment (a.k.a the school run), so I decided to buy a magazine and take a big leap in to the unknown. I headed back to the car and took a short drive to a local garden centre to have a pot of tea for one.

Apologies for the horrendous photo, the lighting where I sat was rather subdued, to say the least. Having queued up, for what felt like forever for my pot of tea, I didn't really take in to consideration the quality of  lighting whilst trying to find a table amongst the elderly couples and mums and toddlers. In hindsight, this was a bit of an error on my part, as it made reading my newly purchased magazine a little tricky; thankfully, it didn't have a detrimental effect on my ability to destroy my super scrummy millionaires shortbread, that would have been a disaster!

So there I was, for the first time in my 46 years on the planet, having my very first pot of tea in a cafe, all alone and do you know what, it wasn't at all scary. I thought I would feel, self conscious and a bit conspicuous, being alone, especially given how busy it was because I don't cope well with crowds. Let me explain with a simple equation...

Stress(Me + Crowds) = Meltdown

People who don't know me very well, find it surprising that I feel so uncomfortable around crowds of people, but I really do, which is probably why I have never been to cafe alone. I've also never been to the cinema alone, but that is definitely on my list of things to do before I'm 50! It's good to step out of your comfort zone from time to time and the millionaires shortbread was a definite bonus.

Oh, and before I end this piece, let me show you some sinks...bear with me. Now, as you know ladies, after one too many cups of tea a visit to the wee small girls room is a must and at this particular garden centre, you really need to visit the 'ladies' just for the sinks.

Aren't they fabulous? I would love to have one of these in my bathroom, perhaps I'll have to take a bigger bag next time 😁