A Week Up North

I said that it was going to be hectic when I last blogged and I wasn't wrong.

We drove up to Southport on Saturday and spent a nice evening with my mum, my brother and his wife Val.

On Sunday we went to Liverpool where Dave Haworth, who worked with me in Barclays many moons ago and has been a firm friend ever since, had arranged a private lunch at popular restaurant 60 Hope St (above) to celebrate his 60th birthday. It was a fabulous lunch, with excellent food,great service and lovely company and it was extremely generous of Dave and his family to cater for such a big group of people.

From Liverpool it was back to Southport for a quiet night in front of the telly watching Sherlock (after waiting two years I can't believe it's over already) before heading to St Andrews at 6.30 in the morning to do a spot of babysitting for Sarah.

Sarah is the only Birthlight™ trained Baby Yoga instructor in East Fife and has just started her business Warm Hearts Yoga Babies running yoga classes for parents and babies. At the moment she's holding classes in St Andrews but if it takes off (and everyone seems to love the classes) she hopes to expand further afield within the East Neuk of Fife. It's a pity that we aren't always on hand to look after Rose while Sarah is taking her classes but that's one of the perils of today's lifestyle - so many families are spread across the country (or even the world). In February she's taking a further course which will qualify her to do yoga with older toddlers and enable her to expand the sessions that she can offer. Check out her website here.

We've loved seeing our granddaughters Rose and Melody. Yesterday Rose went to the hairdressers for the very first time. She quite loved all the attention and made no fuss at all as the stylist trimmed back her curls. 

Melody is growing too and it's good that we've had this opportunity to see her again before the caravan site closes for its annual February shutdown. Next time we're in St Andrews in March she will have changed massively.

As for the caravan. I worried that we might have some bad winter weather but it's been unseasonably mild and, although it hasn't been sunny like this very much, we've managed not to freeze. 

That's What Friends Are For

It's Marion's birthday this week and I wanted to do something special for her as she's had a rough year after losing her dear mum and then selling the house she loved, living in a caravan for six months and moving to a new place where she knows almost nobody. Presents are all well and good but I wanted something different so I secretly contacted Marion's best friend Jane and asked if she and husband Dave could come and join us at the caravan. It was a lot to ask for them to give up a precious weekend and drive hundreds of miles to stay in a cramped caravan but they did me proud.

I managed to slip a few extras into the shopping trolley while Marion wasn't looking and prepared a friday night meal for four without her noticing the unusually large portions and Jane and Dave turned up right on cue just before it was ready to serve. I can't thank them enough for giving Marion such a fantastic surprise. She was genuinely shocked to see them and we had a great weekend with a great couple.

On Saturday they joined us at the always excellent Seafood Restaurant for lunch. We hoped to be able to show Dave and Jane around St Andrews which is now our second home town but sadly the weather defeated us and we were restricted to a tour of the town and surroundings by car before heading back to the caravan to watch the rugby and spend a night in front of the telly.

On Sunday we went to see Sarah, Duncan and Rose and enjoyed some of Sarah's delicious home baking before a quick cup of tea at Mitchells after which Dave and Jane had to get back on the road south. They managed to get back safely despite heavy snowfalls in the Dumfries area.

As I write it is snowing yet again. I don't think I can remember a winter with more days of snow than this one. Weather permitting we're going to join Sarah and Rose. Later this week we hope we can get to Dundee to see at least one of the films on our wish list although my hopes of a day out with the detector are looking increasingly doubtful.

The Road Trip Continues

We left the AA Pub Of The Year 2012/13, The Black Swan in Ravenstonedale, on Wednesday morning after three nights of relaxation. It's a pub that's well worth all the accolades, with good food, pleasant surroundings and, above all, extremely friendly and helpful service. I think it's that side of the business that tipped the awards in The Black Swan's favour although a beer drinker might well tell me that the fabulous variety of fine ales that they serve may also be a factor.

From Ravenstonedale we had a leisurely drive to Sedbergh before a quick stopover in the lovely town of Kirkby Lonsdale for a coffee and a bit of shopping. We then headed for Ribchester to visit friends Mark and Nita who joined  us for dinner at The White Bull in nearby Alston before putting us up for the night in a very comfortable bed. Staying in a house was a nice change from the Premier Inn. 

On Thursday it was a short drive to nearby Southport where we stayed with my mum for the night and enjoyed some of her delicious home cooking. It was good to see Mum for the first time in four months and we look forward to stopping over in Southport again in a month or so en route to Suffolk again.

Friday saw us in Ormskirk visiting our old friends Dave and Jane Haworth. Marion headed off to Liverpool for a little bit of shopping in her favourite stores with best friend Jane. Dave and I joined them later for a dinner at San Carlo. It's an extremely brash and busy place - perfect for people watching. You would never guess that the country's economy is in some sort of slump; the place was heaving at five p.m. and was jam packed for the rest of the evening. It's a great place to go and we must thank Dave and Jane for their generosity in treating us to the meal.

After a good night's sleep in Ormskirk we headed back to Southport to collect our car which we had left for a service having done 14,000 miles in a few months. We got the garage to fit a full set of tyres; although they weren't quite ready to be changed it's getting colder and we're likely to see icy roads soon. I don't want to put our lives at risk for the sake of saving a few quid.

We were in Southport to attend our old Instanta colleague Nick Neal's surprise 50th birthday party. Nick, pictured above with his lovely daughters Laura and Millie who worked so hard to make the party a big success, enjoyed a great night with plenty of friends, colleagues and customers (who have also become friends) many of whom had travelled miles to be there. 

We enjoyed meeting plenty of old colleagues again (including Craig above) after Liz's party last Saturday. I won't embarrass anybody with photos of the later revelry. Suffice to say, a good time was had by all.

Today we headed off from Southport to Suffolk and I'm writing this from the Premier Inn in Ipswich where we are now regulars. Off to meet the builder in Framlingham tomorrow to see how things are progressing.