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.