Exploring Cambridge: Punting, Ittou, Heavenly Desserts, and Jesus Green - Writing Wednesday
Hello everybody and welcome back to another blog post,
As you may have already seen on my Instagram a few weeks back, I took my sister Alice and my Polish friend Teresa out on a punting tour along the river Cam. Being a river tour guide can be quite a tough and demanding job at times but I suppose one of the great perks of doing it is that you can take your friends and family out on a self-punt along the river for free. The day after me and my parents had returned home from Seville, Teresa came over from Poland to stay with us for a couple of days. Really, she was just off to see her boyfriend Miles in Loughborough after her visit but since she was there and had never seen the backs of the colleges before, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to take her and Alice out on an informal tour around the Backs.
Teresa arrived back in England on Friday the 9th of September at Standsted Airport. Me and my dad drove up to the airport that evening and waited in the McDonald's car park until Teresa messaged me to say that she had got through customs and was ready to be picked up. At Stansted Airport, they feel the need to charge you extortionate rates no matter where you park so my dad decided to wait at McDonald's, which was free of charge, until Teresa had actually arrived. When we had returned from Seville, we had actually got a taxi back to Cambridge and our driver said that most taxi drivers wait at McDonald's before going to Stansted because it saves money. It turned out to be a good tip because Teresa had eventually found us and my dad didn't have to pay so much money to be there. I felt a bit bad for my dad that evening because I knew that he would have to wake up pretty early the next day to get back to Stansted to pick up Alice and her boyfriend who were returning home from Prague. But he assured me that it was no bother since he liked having Teresa around because she always brought such a positive atmosphere with her. And that was certainly a true statement because we had a lively conversation with her in the car on the way back, catching up about Seville, jobs, and her travels.
When we had arrived back at home, Teresa got settled in nicely and said hello to my mum, before we both made our way to the living room for a further catch up. Ever since we both finished the IB and left sixth form back in May, we hadn't had the chance to speak together in person since we were both out there starting to do our own thing in different countries. The last time we spoke in person, was when we hung out for the last time at Maia's host family during the final days of school, but since then we had only caught up with each other via text. So it was nice to speak in person together again. I find that it's difficult when you have friends that live abroad because you don't get to see them as often as you would like. But I'm glad that everyone is making a conscious effort to keep in touch because I do really think that I made the best group of friends that I ever made in sixth form, and it would be a real shame to let that go. And from the conversation I had with Teresa, she seemed to have had an adventurous summer (to put it lightly 🤣). She told me that she and Miles travelled through Macedonia before they spent 3 days in the mountains, sleeping in a tent, and crossing the border with Greece over one of the mountains. She said that she and Miles almost got attacked by a bear whilst they were sleeping in the mountains and they had to play really loud music on their phones to scare it away, which apparently, seemed to do the trick! Then apparently they both hitchhiked to Thessaloniki and from there, they went to Athens. I asked Teresa if she was actually with Miles at that point because for months, I was kind of confused by the whole situation to say the very least. She said that yes she was with Miles but she wasn't looking to be with him in the long-term because apparently they are both just a little bit too similar to each other. I thought that was probably the most Teresa thing to say!
I booked a shift at work the next day on Saturday as I wanted to get a shift in after my holiday in Seville. I felt quite bad for Teresa because this meant that she would have to occupy herself for the day but she said it was a good thing because she would get to spend some time in Cambridge after being away for so long. And to be honest, this turned out to be a good thing. Me, Maia, and Teresa had all been trying to get a hold of our good friend Audrey during the summer, who had also taken the IB with us at sixth form. It turns out there were personal situations at home that prevented Audrey from getting in contact with us and I shall not get into what they were today because it's not my place to say and I quickly recognised anyway, that it wasn't her fault that she didn't speak to us. But whilst I was at work that day, Teresa actually went to Audrey's house and was able to speak to her in person. And long story short, when my dad came to pick me up from work that day, Teresa brought Audrey along too. It was great because I got to catch up with Audrey as well and tell her about my new job and all the challenges that came with it. That day at work, I was touting on the street like I usually do, when things got a bit heated between these two other river tour guides from Scudamore's, Tom and Alex. Tom was touting on the street in the zone that gets the highest footfall and he got annoyed at Alex who had called over to a group of customers that were in Tom's zone, even though Alex wasn't standing in that zone himself. Long story short, Tom basically accused Alex of stealing his touts even though Alex was taking the opportunity to speak to people that Tom had missed out. I was expecting it to be a small argument that would be over in a couple of seconds but it ended up dragging on for a good few minutes and culminated in Tom slamming his tout board on the ground and walking off, muttering to himself as he went past me "Alex is such a little ****," and I'm sure you can fill in the gaps. It sounds like a serious situation and the manager did have to intervene to tell everyone to calm down but I think it was merely just a petty moment of heightened testosterone. And to be honest, I found it quite hilarious to watch anyway. When I told Teresa and Audrey the story in the car, Teresa said "Oh my God did Tom break up with his girlfriend or something?" And it certainly seemed that way, although I think they were both just being a little bit immature. Thankfully, they both got over the situation in the end which was good. I actually think both Tom and Alex are really nice people but sometimes, especially when you're making sales at Bridge, it can bring out the worst in you. Thankfully, no grudges were held!
That evening, we ate dinner together which was a plate of ribs with a salad that my mum had made. Then I taught Audrey how to play chess, whilst Teresa, Alice, my mum, and my dad were having an in depth discussion with each other. I thought that Audrey had actually picked up the rules of the game really well, considering it's a game that requires a lot of careful planning and thinking ahead, which I struggle to do myself sometimes! But I thought it was quite funny because before every move that Audrey did, she was thinking out loud to herself most of the time and she kept on saying "No I'm not going to move my piece there because otherwise you'll eat me!" I feel like a lot of people feel that way when they play chess for the first time!
That evening, Audrey went home and before long, everyone went to bed. The next day, me, Alice, and Teresa woke up, had breakfast, and watched an episode of Pretty Little Liars. PLL can be characterised as one of those teenage murder mystery series from the early 2000s, that hasn't got the best acting in it but seems to be so binge-worthy at the same time. Teresa may be a year older than me but she's still a part of that generation when these TV shows became a part of popular culture. So when she told me that out of the plethora of other TV shows she's watched before, she's never seen Pretty Little Liars, me and Alice took the opportunity to re-watch the first episode of PLL with her and she seemed to enjoy it in the end. I have a feeling that she'll return home and watch a few episodes herself!
That day, me and Teresa played a game of chess together whilst we were getting ready. It was around 4 months since we left sixth form and Teresa said that she wanted to take the opportunity to see her host family again. So before me, Alice, and Teresa went to go punting, we allowed Teresa to see her host family again in Histon. Then around 1:30 in the afternoon, we went to pick up Teresa on the way to town. When we arrived at Bridge Street, I walked down to the Quayside punt station to book my tickets. I probably looked a bit unrecognisable to everyone else who was working there that day as I wasn't in my usual uniform. I was actually almost touted by a guy called Ollie who thought I was a customer walking down, but he quickly recognised me, asked me how I was, and then I was able to walk down. At first, I wasn't sure if I would be allowed to book tickets because I had never taken a punt out for myself just for fun. However, although it was busy, everyone seemed happy for me to take a punt out and in the end I was able to get my tickets that didn't cost any money at all! I ushered Alice and Teresa down the steps too and soon we were able to go down to the end of the pontoon and get ourselves onto a self punt. Boats that are used for the guided river tours along the river, in contrast to those used for self hire, tend to be bigger and wider than the self hire boats because they have to fit more people on them. So I found myself kind of being a bit of a fish out of water at first, trying not to fall off this really slim and wobbly boat. Alice and Teresa were shrieking a lot at first too because they thought that they were also going to fall in. But soon I found the technique that I needed to use and aside from it being a very busy Sunday on the river and me nearly losing my pole again, it ended up being a very enjoyable tour. I didn't give the full detailed description of everything that we passed but I think it was a nice way for Alice and Teresa to see a part of Cambridge that would otherwise be hidden from them, and they both seemed to really enjoy it too.
Teresa was very thankful to have been taken on a tour of the College Backs and so was Alice and when we arrived back at Quayside, they were both skipping off the boat very happily. After punting, we decided to have lunch at Ittou, a tucked away Japanese restaurant along King's Parade. A lot of people had been raving about that place and Audrey said that she even worked there at some point herself too. So we all decided to stop off there for a bite to eat. It was a very hidden place, inside in alley way, and out of view from most people. You would not expect such a restaurant to be so popular amongst people in Cambridge but apparently a variety of people we know have been there many a time. In the restaurant, we ordered a bowl of ramen as well as a side dish of gyoza. I thought it was very nice but apparently, when my mum and dad went there, they actually didn't like it so much. My mum said that she found the soup for the ramen to be a little bit too milky and I would have to agree, although I didn't think it was terrible and it seemed to fill us all up after the punting which was good. I think when a lot of people rave about a place, it will rarely be the best restaurant that you will ever eat at. But the food was decent and I will never turn down a bowl of ramen.
After lunch, we took a walk around the town centre and digested for a little bit before we decided to find a place to have a dessert. In the end, we stopped off at Heavenly Desserts near the Grand Arcade to eat. I'll be honest, it wasn't to best place to eat because the service was quite slow and not the best. But I think the place seems to make its money from being quite an Instagrammable place to eat. In the end we decided to have a dessert tapas so we ordered various different small desserts that we decided to share amongst each other. We had mochi, baklava, donuts, and cookie dough which we shared amongst each other. It was very nice indeed.
After having our desserts, we went for another walk but this time along the river by Jesus Green. It was really nice because it was approaching the evening at that point and it was really calm along the river. We decided to go for a walk to digest and also eat up some of the time before Teresa had to go to Loughborough to see Miles. At first, I thought Teresa would be taking the train in the evening to Loughborough because that seemed like the safest and easiest way to get there. However, Teresa being quite frugal-minded, decided that she would basically hitch-hike her way there. She found an app and found someone to basically drive her all the way to Loughborough. Apparently, this was a lot cheaper than taking the train. If I'm being completely honest, I wasn't entirely comfortable with Teresa doing this because she was a young Polish girl getting driven to Loughborough by a complete stranger. Alice and my parents felt a little uncomfortable with the idea too, which was understandable. However, Teresa is quite strong-willed and also a bit of a risk-taker too, so there was no stopping her really. I suppose at some point, you've got to live your life, although I would never do that myself. In the end, after our walk, my dad came to pick us all up from town and we went to the Royal Papworth Hospital, which we thought would be a safe place to drop Teresa off. I gave her a hug goodbye and I asked Teresa to text me as soon as she was in Loughborough safe and sound. Thankfully, sometime that evening, I got a text from her saying all was well and the journey was fine, which was a relief.
All-in-all, it was a great weekend and one that I will remember fondly in the future. I will be booking my train tickets to Brussels for February to go and visit Teresa at university so this won't be the end of the days out with Teresa. Stay tuned to see what happens next!
What's the best day out you've had recently? Let me know in the comments below and I'll be sure to reply to them. I ♡ hearing from you!
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