It rains rather heavily. But it’s the first time since we arrived in Britain and we’ve been more than lucky with the weather so far. We had thought about visiting the London Aquarium but with the rain, a lot of people will be there as well. And it feels a bit weird to go and watch more water in the tanks while so much water is falling down from the sky. We therefore decide on skipping the Aquarium and continuing our trip to Aldershot, where we’ll be stationed for the next six days.

There’s some traffic jam and building sites on our way to Aldershot. Otherwise, it’s a pretty calm drive and we arrive in the early afternoon. We’re staying in the same hotel as several times before. After unpacking, we head to the cinema to maybe watch Bridget Jones’ Baby or Finding Dory, but the showings have already begun. So we enter the supermarket to get a light lunch and relax in the hotel. This feels great after a week with a lot of walking around and little spare time.

In the evening, we drive to Guildford where we meet our friends Peter and Caroline for my birthday dinner at Jamie’s Italian, one of our favourite TV chef Jamie Oliver’s restaurant chains. As always, this is quite a treat. For starters, we order a meat plank, an artisanal bread basket and polenta fritters with garlic mayo. For the main, I have the lamb ragout special while Gabi gets spaghetti bolognese. No wonder there’s only room left for a small sorbet to share for dessert.

We have an extremely wonderful evening. Thank you, Peter and Caroline, and also a big thanks to everyone for their birthday greetings on Facebook and Twitter or by e-mail, text or phone!