Ladies Night

I caught up with domestics on Wednesday morning.  I had intended on going to the gym but time ran away with me.  Phil retreated into the office to work on his book.  I put baked spuds in the oven for lunch and then we drove to MK.  We had a fair few things to do.  First stop was Sue’s house to drop off overnight bags and laptops and then we made our way to Fast Fit station at Kingston to get new front tyres for the Chevrolet Matiz.  I had a major service way back in August and they told me that my front tyres were very bald and verging on being illegal so this job was much over due.  It wasn’t cheap, £123 but we like the fresh coffee and biscuits at FastFit and they are nice and friendly there.  When we handed over the keys, we walked over to Costco to buy some German sausage to take back to Melton for Phil’s dad’s friend.  Unusually, this was the only purchase we made in Costco and we had only just poured our first coffee when the receptionist walked through to say that the car was ready to go.

We drank our coffee, paid for the new tyres and then went to Harriet’s flat to pick up our post and check out a tiny leak in her loo.  Phil checked, and it wasn't really a leak, just a small problem with the overflow.  She was right to inform us though and it needed checking out.  After Caldecotte, it was off to Argos to buy a recorder for Phil’s mum and dad. Officially, we are not exchanging Christmas presents this year, but after chucking out their various video recorders, we figured they needed some kind of media so that they can record programmes on.  They will be cross when we hand it over to them on Christmas Day but they have done so much for us and have given us so much over the years and now its payback time.  Last stop of the day was Newport for keys to be cut and then back to Sue’s house.  Sue wasn’t there but we have a key so it was telly on and make yourselves at home.

The main reason for our visit to MK yesterday was because of ladies night with the Wednesday night boys club.  Wives/girlfriends/friends and partners are generally only invited in the month of December.   I had invited Sue so she could meet the many friends that I talk and blog about.  Harriet picked us up and we got to the Ship Ashore shortly after 7pm.  Steve and Jan were already there and Jim & Shirley arrived next, shortly followed by George, Chris and Alfie.   Although it was once-a-year ladies Night, Joan couldn’t make it because she was to busy sewing and Alfie said that Roz was knackered after lunch.    It was a shame but I was really sad not to have caught up with Vanessa.  Vanessa has the London to Brighton walk next week so I understand her absence or is that her abstinence because of her training.  Either way, if you’re reading this Vanessa, good luck with the L2B and we simply must catch up before Christmas.

Needless to say, it was a good evening.   Nice that Harriet stayed for a meal and not only picked us up, but also took us home.   It was lovely to see Shirley and great to see Kylie and Dan.  I am soo excited about their forthcoming wedding in October 2012.  Kylie’s ring was exquisite and I was impressed with Dan’s taste.  The boy has class!  We were a table of 15 so the staff had a job on their hands.  I can’t speak for anybody else, but I had the fish pie which was good and Sue had the sea bass which she said she really liked.  All the boys and gals were on top form and I was pleased, that when I asked after Alfie’s health, he said he was in fine form.  He actually said he was rude health but what the heck.

Wednesday ladies night was good fun and the evening went very quickly. I actually don’t remember leaving the pub so maybe it was a good job that Harriet drove us back to Newport and a good job that sensible Sue was there with her front door key. I slept like a log and for once, didn’t wake when Phil got up for a pee. When I got downstairs, Sue, as usual, was already up showered and dressed looking bright and sparkling. This girl doesn’t fail to amaze me, however much wine and however late a night, she is always up and ready to go at the crack of dawn. Whereas me, don’t even go there; I needed 3 cups of tea yesterday morning to even open my eyes!!! Sue made Phil a bacon and egg sandwich because he was starving as he didn’t eat on ladies night. I was very happy with my mug of tea and a piece of brown toast.



Hung-over and a little jaded,  I knew it wasn’t going to be a good day, when, whilst Sue was frying, I opened the window to get rid of the frying smell and the draught promptly flew all of Sue’s Christmas cards into the washing up bowl.  Oh dear. Sue had an appointment at the doctors at Walnut Tree so she left just before nine; Phil needed a number 2, so after he’d done his business I went upstairs and flushed the loo because there a piece of toilet paper that hadn’t been flushed away.  Unfortunately when I flushed the loo, water flooded out of the back of the toilet, so much so, that it was actually gushing onto the landing carpet. I grabbed Sue’s new towels and mopped as best as I could. I shouted Phil and when he saw water coming down from the ceiling into the hallway, he turned off the stop cock, whilst yours truly found bowls to catch the water.  What a nightmare and truly it was!  I phoned Sue on her mobile and surprisingly she was very calm.  I knew she had a friend who was a plumber and she told me he lived at number 4.  I literally ran and knocked at the door but he was out.  Sods law.   When the water stopped leaking form the hallway ceiling, Phil turned on the stopcock and we waited in case of any more leakage.  When the drips stopped, I mopped up some more, and deciding we couldn’t do any more damage, we decided to head for home.  God, I felt bad on so many levels.  Who needs friends like me and Phil???  Not only do we bag a bed, scrounge a fry up and then proceed to flood a mate’s house? 

The day didn’t get any better.  Not feeling great after the flood, we decided to go home only to find the high winds had blown over all of our pots. It wasn’t a big deal and the caravan was freezing, but you know when you are in that hung-over-morning-after-the night-before, then nothing ever feels good.   We put the heaters on and went to Overstone to buy supplies and then we went to Waitrose near Wellingborough.  Oh boy, I love Waitrose at MK but the Waitrose near us is one to die for.  Quite simply, it’s amazing. It’s not like the one in MK it’s a home-store which means aside from food, they have clothing and home stuff.   Also they have a café and I could have spent hours browsing but time was against us and we had to head back to The Griffin for 12.30 because we’d booked a Christmas lunch.

We got to The Griffin and guess what, we’d got the right day but the wrong week!  LOL!  It seriously wasn’t funny, we had a drink and a baked spud and Phil said he was feeling so rough that he was secretly pleased that we weren’t having the 3-course-Xmas special.  Hands up, it was all my fault.   We got back to the caravan and with the wind we were literally rocking and rolling.  It was a little cold in the caravan, even with the electric heaters all on.  They’d been a power cut on site and when we went out for lunch the barriers were not working.

It just wasn’t our day yesterday.  I was just glad to get home after The Griffin.  I threw together a stew to take to Phil’s mum today and Phil just slobbed out on the sofa.   That was it; I guess you could call it a duvet afternoon because actually we didn’t do that much.  To be honest, with the rain and the howling high winds I really didn’t want to venture outside.  Guess, at the end of the day, I am a home bird at heart.  Or is that a caravan bird?