What
a week! As I said, on Sunday evening I was headed back to
John and Kate's home to watch the
Oscars. The red carpet didn't start until 11:30pm; so
we knew we were in for a long night. We had a Chinese take-away,
and then we settled in for things. The actual show started
close to 1:00am, and John departed shortly, leaving Kate
and I to carry on, which we did until 5:30am! I scurried
home, grabbed 2 hours' sleep, then was up and getting ready
for work. Everyone was amazed how "with it" I
was all day......until nearly 4:00pm when I started to slide.
I did make it through the last hour, then hurried home to
heat up dinner, have a hot shower, and then head to bed.
Oh no! The water was off! Come to find out, the construction
workers who are remodelling the 5th floor into flats had
turned off our valve by mistake. They did return to correct
the problem, but that didn't happen until close to 7:00pm.
I did manage to get into bed about 8:30, and what a sleep
I had. I felt like a different person on Tuesday!
On Tuesday I headed for my session at Northern
College of Acupuncture, and did I feel
good afterwards. They did some needling to keep up my energy,
and it sure worked.
The rest of the week went along without incident, and then
arrived Friday! A number of us were off to Hill
Top Lodge, outside of Askrigg,
in the Yorkshire
Dales. I've been there several times, and what a special
spot it is! Anyway, I had booked off half a day, and I packed
and then picked up Tracey Riby, who had also booed the half-day
off. We laughed, as we filled my trunk and talked about
all the stuff we were taking for just 2 nights. We set out
for Hilltop Lodge, and we had
no problems along the way.
We were
there in about 1½ hours, and Liz and Richard Kirby
had already arrived and greeted us and helped haul in all
our stuff. We got all sorted, and then sat down to chat
and have a few drinks. Liz was preparing seafood lasagna
and vegetarian lasagna, and I prepared a mixed salad and
had chocolate
profiteroles for dessert. About 8pm, Richard and I journeyed
back to Askrigg to the King's
Arms pub to meet Kerry and Matt Gillies.
There they were, awaiting us. We waited awhile for John
Coulson and Kate Addy, but we finally decided to head back
to the house. What a surprise! We arrived, and there they
were! We all gathered around the large dining room table,
talking, laughing, drinking, etc. After the meal, we continued
doing the same, and then we all started heading to bed around
midnight.
Next morning, we were up had a good breakfast, and then
decided what to do. Richard, Liz, Matt and Kerry were off
to watch the football in a pub somewhere, and I was taking
John, Kate and Tracey touring around. We headed to Hawes
and to the Wensleydale
Creamery. We took a tour of the creamery,
then hit the tasting room, and of course, we couldn't resist
buying some, could we? Then, we headed back into the village
and walked and poked around in some of the shops. Following
that, we headed to Reeth
and looked around there a bit, stopping at a tea shop for
some coffee, etc. We then headed back to Askrigg and to
our house, arriving around 4pm. That evening at 8pm, Gareth
Dadd and Peter Gibson arrived, thus completing our 10. We
had roast duck and leg of lamb, steamed vegetables, tomato
and mozzarella
salad, and Victorian rum cake. All declared it a good
meal. We were also busy getting up and watching the lunar
eclipse, as from there, it's BLACK at night, and we
could see it very well. A great evening!
Today, we were up packing, having breakfast, getting things
sorted, and then some were headed back home qnd others over
to Bruce and Sally Corrie's country place, Fairacre. As
we were leaving, my exhaust pipe came loose! Fortunately,
John, Gareth and Peter were able to push it back into place,
but we took it slow over those country roads. We arrived
at their place, and what a lovely restoration has been done!
Sally has been overseeing the project, and it is definitely
one of vision, love and beauty! We were all amazed! We had
coffee there, got the grand tour, and then we set off for
The
Wensleydale Heifer, where we had lunch
reservations. Our group had dwindled to 6: Peter, Gareth,
Tracey, Kate, John and me. Tracey called the AA,
who said they would have someone with us by 3:05pm. Wonderful!
We had a
drink by a large, roaring fire, then were escorted to our
table and had a delicious meal. Afterwards, we adjourned
to the lounge again, and Tracey called AA
to see what had happened. They said the guy was close. John
and Kate had to head off, and eventually so did Peter and
Gareth. Anyway, the man arrived close to 5pm, he reconnected
the exhaust, and off we set for York. I dropped Tracey back
at her home and arrived at mine around 6:30pm. What a fun,
but different, experience! Just glad nothing major had happened.
So that's my week. What about yours?
Love,
