Weeknote 162

Easter in the East of England

• Somewhat pleasing news last week at work that the transition to Microsoft from Google for all our office apps, meets and email has been postponed for a few more weeks.
• Taking advantage of the long weekend over Easter I joined my friend for pizza, four years since we started the ritual of eating out only at pizza restaurants. We booked a couple of top-rated London places. For lunch we headed to Carmela's in Islington to have New York style pizza. Good crisp pizza base with a decent mozzarella and tomato topping but only a 7/10 from me. Second up in the evening was a long trek to Clapham's Renaissance Pizza, which we walked literally several miles for in order to kill some time and burn off some calories. Authentic Neapolitan-style pizza with the very best ingredients used for a delicious ragú topping, plus room for dessert. A solid 10/10 from me.
• Saturday I travelled up by train to Stamford via Peterborough to spend a few hours with my parents who'd driven down for the day. It's been around twenty years since I last visited Stamford. Good to see most of the town centre now filled with cafés, restaurants, art, crafts and antiques shops rather than empty abandoned spaces.
• Easter Sunday I spent once again with my friend, visiting Audley End House & Gardens and the pretty nearby town of Saffron Walden in Essex. Admission is on the expensive side if you're not an English Heritage member. The visit itself was pleasant but offered less than half a day’s worth of things to explore, which left us time to wander around the town centre and find a half decent lunch. Given that all the nicest pubs and restaurants were fully booked we settled on Zafferano Lounge (a chain pub).