Sister Act

On Sunday, my little (16 yr old) sister came to visit Cambridge and the boat for the first time. It was lovely to see her and show her around my city and my home. It always make me appreicate where I live even more when I show it to other people.

She is a keen shopper, but to her credit, prefers charity shops and vintage places over high street names. So I took her on a tour of the charity shops and interesting little boutiques that Cambridge has to offer. My personal favourite is Emporium 61, a new RSPCA charity shop which is a bit different. It seems to take a lot of care about how it displays its clothes, and the result is a really attractive shop, with stylish changing rooms and a distinctly un-charity shop-like feel. Millie got a new skirt and cardi which she was very pleased with. We then did a few proper touristy things. Firstly I took her to Kings College Chapel, and then we went on a punting tour of the backs of the colleges, given by our resident Cambridge historian, James.


On the river

After that, we made it home just in time to see the boat and the mooring before it got too dark. Millie got to meet all the animal residents, including Pippin's new crew member, Tom Kitten. She is also the first member of my family to meet Lyra, and the two got on very well! After dinner, we all read the Sunday papers (Millie's favourite of course is the Sunday Times Style magazine!)


Lyra stops Millie reading the paper, while I cook in the background.

I made a family favourite for pudding: Brown Betty. Then it was bedtime. Since Millie isn't quite a full-sized adult, she was able to sleep on the sofa without having to undergo the laborious task to making it into a double bed. Phew!

Yesterday morning I put her on the train back to London, and she sucessfully made her way accross London and got the train back to Devon. I was quite pround of her managing this alone, since she'd never used the Tube by herself before. I had given her a lesson on how to use it when I picked her up from Paddington, but nonetheless its different on your own!