Chapter 3: Birthday/Ben leaving

My birthday in early September was Ben's last day in London. The Sunday before my Tues birthday I had a pub lunch with some friends and family (Mum and Dad were over, from late Aug to mid Sept). My previous housemates didn't realise it was lunch, however, and after we had all gone back to our place for cake and tea I got a call from them demanding that I go back out to the pub and have a drink with them! It was very nice to see them though.

On the day itself, Ben took me to buy a bike. We went to this lovely shop in Victoria Park that recycles bikes and builds custom-designed bikes for disabled people. Then we walked through the park, a whole section I have never seen before (it is a huge park!) and we saw deer and numerous squirrels. In the evening we went to dinner with my parents and Fliss at a nice Sardinian restaurant nearby. It was lovely, but knowing that Ben was leaving the next day I started to get a bit weepy by the end of the evening and just wanted to spend time with him. Ben left early the next day, I couldn't go with him to the airport because I had to work. I walked him to the street, where he said I should go back inside. I watched him from the window as he trudged to the bus with his backpack. I won't see him until Christmas, a 3 1/2 month parting, the longest so far.