I was happy to wake up to sunshine on Saturday, okay it
didn’t take long for the rain to start falling but it was nice to see a bit of
blue sky for a change and in spite of forecast, the weekend weather wasn’t
bad. You may think that I bang on about
the weather all the time and that’s because living in a caravan, you really
feel quite close to the elements, especially the hail and the thunder. We are at least though, beginning to feel
the temperatures rising in the van. We
still need to have all heaters on in the bedroom and lounge but for the last
few days, we have had to turn off the heaters during the day because it just
gets too hot. The heaters go on in the
lounge at teatime but last night we didn’t even put the gas fire on.
We have been pretty horizontal this weekend. I went to the
gym on Saturday morning leaving Phil home alone to write some more on his
book. He’d said he’d had a productive
morning and he was in good spirits when we drove off the park. Thankfully he’s feeling much better, he still
has his rash together with the swelling but he hasn’t finished his course of
antibiotics yet. On that subject, I
need to put the record straight. Phil
does not have a virus, he has an antibacterial infection.
Anyway, I diverse, we had decided to treat ourselves to
lunch out and went The Stags Head at Gt Doddington on the recommendation of one
of our neighbours. It took about 20
minutes to get there and I can’t say I was terribly impressed when we drew up
in the car-park. The car-park was fairly empty, not a good sign for a popular
pub and I mentioned this to Phil but he told not to be so negative. The Stags Head was very oldey-worldey inside
and a bit tired and dated if you ask me but Phil thought the building was
charming. I was slightly amused by the
uniform worn by the bar staff, black shirts with pink silk waist coats and
matching ties, all a little pretentious if you ask me.
I am afraid to say that the menu didn’t impress me much other,
the usual pub grub fare at vastly inflated prices. In the end I went for the beef pie and Phil
chose chicken in a sauce. The food, when
it came, was disappointing; frozen oven chips with my steak pie but the pie was
lovely and tender. Phil was not happy
with his chicken which looked like it had been hanging around for a few days,
as did his potatoes and vegetables. The sauce was from a packet and so were the
condiments. Two mains and 2 drinks with
no change from 30 quid, we will not be going back. The rest of Saturday was uneventful. Phil watched the highlights of the qualifying
at teatime and then in the evening we watched The Voice and BGT like most of
the nation. We really do have to make
more effort to get out there and live life a little.
It was sunny and mild on Sunday morning and after breakfast;
we went for a walk in the woods. This
was nice but last time Phil explored the woods, he got lost. I was worried the same would happen again so
after following a mushy path we decided to head back on another route to the
park. We were under a time pressure so
we will have to explore the woods another time, preferably when the ground isn’t
so soggy. We got back to the caravan
thinking we would have plenty of time before leaving for MK but Phil got
engrossed in watching the marathon and I got caught up with internet orders, so
we were very late leaving camp. We picked
up the papers and post from the Manor so by the time we time we got to Newport
to pick up Sue, it was almost quarter to twelve. No time for tea and a chat, it was straight
to Cineworld to watch the film which started at midday.
We watched the ‘The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel’, a film about
a bunch of British retirees who decide to outsource their retirement to the
less expensive and seemingly exotic India.
Obviously things don’t go to plan and things are not what they appear
when they arrive. But it’s a story that
shows you that life and love can begin again after you let go of the past. Thankfully we all thoroughly enjoyed the film
and the 2 and a half hours sat in the cinema flew by. It makes you feel good when you walk out of a
movie smiling. We decided to go the Old
Beams in Shenley Lodge for lunch. It was
Phil’s choice and it turned out to be a good one.
Sue had never been there before so it was
somewhere different. We looked at the
menu but in the end we all opted for roast beef. It had been a long time since we’d been to The
Beams and we enjoyed it yesterday. The
pub ambience aside from the screaming kid on the table next to us was chilled
out and the service was good. It was a very pleasant Sunday afternoon. After lunch we dropped Sue back at home, unfortunately
there wasn’t time for a cup of tea because Phil wanted to get back to the
caravan so he could watch the highlights of the Grand Prix which started at
5pm. We just about made it in time. Not
great shakes last night, telly, papers and bed before 8pm. The
weekend, aside from the intermittent April showers was a good one.
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