Cool In Llangollen

Lack of WIFI at the caravan site and a couple of days on the road has meant a near blogless week for me. But we're just back home in Framlingham and, having spent twenty four hours getting straight, I finally find myself with a bit of time to spare.

The cool in today's heading doesn't refer to the weather in the famous Welsh tourist spot but rather to Jools Holland and his rhythm and blues band who closed the annual Eisteddfod on Sunday night. I don't think we've ever seen such an array of cool people in one place as Jools and his musicians to a man (and woman) epitomise the word. It was a fantastic concert and we had a wonderful evening. Jools has that something that gets you involved and on his side. He came on with a broad smile that stayed with him for the almost two hours that he was on stage. It became infectious and when the band performed "Give Me Sunshine" for their encore, it had spread to the entire audience. The show was performed with amazing professionalism and covered a huge rage of musical styles including plenty of blues and, my favourite, reggae. 

David Wareing with brother and sister in law Mike and Ann and business partner David with his wife Carol

Marion, Janet and David's stepmother Joyce

We were in Llangollen courtesy of our old friends David and Janet Wareing. They have owned a beautiful cottage retreat nestling on the hillside between the castle and town for twenty years now and their Eisteddfod parties have become the stuff of legend. We have been blessed with wonderful weather on several times when we have been fortunate enough to join them and Sunday was possibly the hottest we have experienced. 

Three generations of David and Janet's family came to the event and I am annoyed that I didn't get a chance to photo the younger generation who are now in their twenties as I have some photos of them from a party in the nineties and it would have been good to show how they have all changed. On that similarly hot day they were all playing in a paddling pool and with a sprinkler. This time they all disappeared later in the day to swim in the River Dee.

Poor Marion has been suffering from a terrible cough for the last week but I thought that she looked great at the party. She had a relax between the horrendous bouts of coughing. 

En route to Llangollen we stayed over with other dear friends Dave and Jane Haworth. We've been friends for over thirty years and miss our regular get togethers with them. Jane prepared a great meal for us in her fabulous new kitchen and then got us envious with their photos of a holiday in The Maldives. I don't think I've ever seen sea so perfectly blue. It was fabulous to see then both looking so fit and well and we're really looking forward to catching up with them again soon.

What A Swell Party That Was

This is the beautiful countryside in which we found ourselves on Sunday. We were invited to a summer party in celebration of our dear friends David and Janet Wareing's pearl wedding anniversary held at their lovely home in Llangollen. As always with David and Janet, the hospitality was amazing and we were served a magnificent meal accompanied by a fabulous selection of wines. The weather stayed fine and we were able to enjoy the party outside where we remained until well after dusk. I somehow managed to walk (stagger) down the steep road from the house to the pleasant Cornerstones B&B where we stopped for the night.

David and Janet with daughter Lizzie and son William 

Lizzie & William

On our way home from Llangollen we stopped off in Liverpool to buy some more bits and pieces for the caravan. Since our last visit, this monument has been erected in Liverpool One. It is the gates from the seamen's mission which once stood on the site of the new John Lewis store. They are beautifully cast with the city arms amidst nautical motifs and they have been very nicely restored. Things like this continue to add to the character of the city which is increasingly becoming a good place to visit after years of neglect and dilapidation. This is the opposite of our home town Southport which has taken another knock in the announcement by Arcadia that they are closing not one but four stores on our second major shopping street in a couple of weeks. Just after Chapel St started to look up with the Woolworth store being refurbished and filled with new occupiers this is a huge blow. I hope that the planners who pedestrianised part of the town some years ago are happy with the mess that they created.

While in Liverpool we nipped into FACT and bought tickets for a showing of Withnail And I. Although this is one of our favourite films we have never seen it on the big screen and we bought the tickets now despite it being a month away. I rarely watch any film more than once but Withnail is the exception. It just gets better and better with age, has a great soundtrack and the performances from Richard E Grant and Paul McGann are unforgettable. 

Hopefully there will be plenty more films before we go to Withnail. Tomorrow we're going to see One Day, the film adaptation of the best selling novel. It's a novel that I haven't read so I've no preconceptions. Marion has read it and she loved the book. I'll let you know what we think.

Disaster when I paid for the tickets at VUE. Our gift cards, kindly bought for us by family at Christmas, finally ran out. What a great present they were. If you read this blog you will appreciate how many films we have seen this year. Oh well, not long to Christmas or, come to think of it, my birthday is coming up soon.

If you haven't seen Withnail And I , here's what you are missing.