"I'll try to get to your place 11am-ish," texted Andy on the Friday evening, "then back to the Dome for a knock." Next morning, another ping, "I'm in the Tesco customer car park," officially timed at 11:09. Man of his word, that lad.

Brunch then a bit of the old bat & ball was the deal so needed somewhere not too far from The 'Swich and, ideally, new. Step forward Flourish & Bean, opened by keen first-timer Catherine in August 2022 in the commuter village of Bramford. Nearest we'd been was a 2014 trip to the Waterfront Cafe, still going strong; previously there's been nothing for us in the centre. Easy parking thanks to the Co-op opposite and in we go by the bright red phone box: animal pics for sale, recycled furniture to maximise the seating and a corner counter piled with sweet and savoury goodies.

Sausage roll? Cheese scone? Couple of young 'uns took our "post toastie" orders -- goat's cheese and red onion marmalade for the driver, ham and red onion marmalade for his passenger -- then we squeezed onto a side table. Could have claimed the sofas by the window but that seemed wrong with just the pair of us, and there was a quartet then coming in. Brief sip of Fruit Burst then time to tuck into some decent bready goodness, me telling Andy that I used to bike down to Bramford of a Saturday in my youth. Visited a friend whose uncle would buy us a bag of chips for lunch from around the corner. Good times.

Sportsmen both and with ping-pong approaching, we skipped the sugary treats. Not really: loaded up with big ol' shared slabs of Mini Egg rocky road (yum) and Biscoff cake (ditto) with a hot Americano on the side.

Good for the the village to have a decent cafe right in the middle, especially one doing dementia mornings, art sessions, a book club, etc. May it Flourish!

If it was a car -- FLOURISH driverless car
If they were passing by -- Paul Merton.