Today we meet Caroline in the garden centre. And garden centres in England are so much more than just suppliers of gardening tools. There are heaps of decorative items, tableware, clothes, pet supplies, pottery classes and much more. We also like to come here because of the restaurant with its large covered outdoor area. Here Gabi and I share a pie with mash, tender-stem broccoli and lots of gravy. Yes, of course we share, to ensure that there is still room for a piece of pie afterwards.

And we are really glad about the wind and weather protection. Because suddenly it starts to pour with rain… and only a few minutes later the sun is shining again.

In the Christmas department, we take a closer look at a luminous reindeer family. We really want one of these for the balcony – life-size, of course, so that the animals look right. You can’t buy anything like that in Switzerland. I wonder if we can tie one on the roof for the return trip.

After the garden centre, we accompany Caroline to Costco. And in the members-only wholesale market, everything is huge. The boxes of croissants and other sweets, the meat packs, the mountains of books, snacks, sweets and much more. We try not to buy everything we see.

In the late afternoon we say goodbye to Caroline and drive on to Camberley. Here we want to make a quick visit to Primark, and take supper from Wagamama back to the hotel room. I wouldn’t have thought that my ramen noodle soup would still look so nice after the drive back to Fleet and not be a wild mess! Gabi eats a spicy katsu curry, and we share bang bang cauliflower. Delicous!