A political encounter

We have been in Buckinghamshire this weekend to celebrate Russell's 50th birthday (a week early so he's still a young man in his forties!) I left work fairly promptly on Friday and got a taxi to the airport for my flight to Birmingham. James had already been in Warwick for the day so he collected me and we picked up a hire car. James goes down there so often that the staff at Avis all know him and were chatting away to him. 

It was lovely to see Jennifer and Russell - I got a tour of Jennifer's "she shed" which was her birthday present from Russell last year! Josh and Ben have grown a LOT in the last year and Josh has developed a gruff man's voice. It was great to see them all. We went out for lunch to the Plough at Cadsden - I have been there before with Jennifer and it's just the kind of English pub that I like, very traditional with excellent food. It is also David Cameron's local when he is at Chequers, and since my last visit he has taken the Chinese Premier there for a pint - I remember recognising it in the news. Apparently this has resulted in a recent increase in the number of Chinese tourists who visit the pub. Replete from our delicious meal we decided that a walk was required, so Jennifer and Russell took us to Coombe Hill where we had a beautiful view of the Vale of Aylesbury. We then walked along the Ridgeway, chatting and admiring the views. And guess who passed us on the path? David Cameron! He was wearing a flat cap and was in deep conversation with another man, while a couple of security guys walked behind him. They were all dressed casually and if Jennifer hadn't pointed him out we wouldn't even have realised that it was him. I was quite excited! We descended into the grounds of Chequers, which are bristling with security cameras. Apparently if you stray off the path a car with security people arrives to give you a telling off. We then arrived back at the Plough at Cadsden where we had refreshments before going back to Jennifer and Russell's house. 

In the evening we went to the cinema in Aylesbury to see the unspeakably outrageous Grimsby - one of Sacha Baron Cohen's creations so we knew what to expect. Josh and Ben were with us and we were all laughing out loud in a mixture of amusement and horror! Subtle it was not, the jokes were very hit and miss, but it gave us plenty to talk about over supper back at the house!