Friday 16 February
Once again Sally offered her house for a weekend of schoolgirl fun and frolics and once again Mark sensibly found somewhere else that he needed to be!
Over Friday afternoon and evening everyone started to arrive and Sally welcomed us with balloons!
Bags, beds and booze were unpacked and the catch up began.
It was lovely to see Pam and Alison who were staying nearby.
Pat had retired the day before (and then been asked to work the following day!) so Janice had made her an appropriate cake! Delicious.
Sally made a wonderful meal for us - aubergine cheesecake and chick peas with sweet potato and spinach with yoghurt tahini sauce. All were so tasty that we asked for the recipes.
Then we scoffed sumptuous desserts made by Joyce, Janice and Alison.
Everyone settled down in the lounge for more chatting, eating nibbles and drinking. So much noise with several conversations going on at once - but such a happy sound!
Saturday 17 February
The trip today was into Chester but before everyone could set off we needed to sort the cars out as Sally's car had been blocked in front of her garage when everyone arrived and parked behind her.
To make it a more interesting process Linda, Jeanette and Joyce had left their car keys when they went over to sleep at Diana's the previous evening.
So everyone prepared for the car shuffle. Keys were distributed and cars selected. Once it was established that the red car with no keys or driver belonged to Janice (who was trying to dry her hair) everyone was off.
Cars reversed off the drive, manoeuvred around each other and then those which weren't needed went back to park in tidy tightness!
Once the car situation was resolved everyone headed back inside to gather up hats, coats and handbags and to make last minute trips to the loo. They then trooped back out (well apart from Wendy who had been accidentally locked in!) and then there was another keystone cops moment as everyone milled around in the road trying to work out who was going in which car.
So with Sally in the lead car and Pam following we all set off. At one point the cars became separated and Pam's carful watched as Sally, caught up in the flow of traffic, sailed off without them. As everyone craned their necks trying to work out where she had gone she performed a nifty manoeuvre, sailed round the roundabout to where Pam's car was waiting at the lights and appeared behind her!
Without further incident both car loads arrived in Chester to meet up with the Diana contingent and Bridget who had come by train. More meeting and greeting then a short walk around some of the sights before we all went for a meal.
We stopped to take a group photo and realised soon after that we'd lost Sue! So she's not on the group picture! Not sure what had happened but she'd been left on the castle walls so Sally went to find her.
We had a lovely meal in Carluccio's and then split into two group - those who were going to ogle the men in tights at the ballet and those who weren't.
The ballet breakaway (BB) group went off on their own culture tour to explore the Cathedral - very beautiful in the sunshine.
We had time for a warming hot chocolate before heading back to meet up with the ballet buffs.
Shame that they couldn't sneak any photos for us to look at - though it did sound as though some of them were so super relaxed (the lunchtime drinks perhaps?!) that they managed a little zizz in the quiet bits!
So we'd all had a good day of food, fun and culture and it was time for everyone to head back to Sally's - apart from Bridget who was going home by train.
She said her goodbyes.
Very funny as we segued into an impromptu receiving line across the square and Bridget walked along like royalty giving 15 hugs!
The passersby were quite bemused!
So it was back to Sally's for more fun and games - and of course more food and drink. Rosemary had made a 'chic' torte - which Jeanette had carefully carried in from the car to ensure it arrived in one piece.
We decided to play a game that we had attempted in Bruges. On separate pieces of paper everyone writes down one thing that they love and one thing that they hate.
So far so good...
This is where it becomes a memory game when you have to remember who has been asked what etc, etc - not our forte!! And not helped when people go off at a tangent when having a little thought about whatever is written on the paper they've pulled out!
Good fun even though we cheat monstrously after a couple of hours when we get fed up with it and want to finish!
With the game over we got down to the serious business of more drinking and chatting.
Sunday 18 February
Once again Sally offered her house for a weekend of schoolgirl fun and frolics and once again Mark sensibly found somewhere else that he needed to be!
Over Friday afternoon and evening everyone started to arrive and Sally welcomed us with balloons!
Bags, beds and booze were unpacked and the catch up began.
It was lovely to see Pam and Alison who were staying nearby.
Pat had retired the day before (and then been asked to work the following day!) so Janice had made her an appropriate cake! Delicious.
Sally made a wonderful meal for us - aubergine cheesecake and chick peas with sweet potato and spinach with yoghurt tahini sauce. All were so tasty that we asked for the recipes.
Then we scoffed sumptuous desserts made by Joyce, Janice and Alison.
Everyone settled down in the lounge for more chatting, eating nibbles and drinking. So much noise with several conversations going on at once - but such a happy sound!
Carol had brought some of the old school magazines and people found them very interesting - although some of the schoolies had not even realised that they existed!!
The trip today was into Chester but before everyone could set off we needed to sort the cars out as Sally's car had been blocked in front of her garage when everyone arrived and parked behind her.
To make it a more interesting process Linda, Jeanette and Joyce had left their car keys when they went over to sleep at Diana's the previous evening.
So everyone prepared for the car shuffle. Keys were distributed and cars selected. Once it was established that the red car with no keys or driver belonged to Janice (who was trying to dry her hair) everyone was off.
Cars reversed off the drive, manoeuvred around each other and then those which weren't needed went back to park in tidy tightness!
Once the car situation was resolved everyone headed back inside to gather up hats, coats and handbags and to make last minute trips to the loo. They then trooped back out (well apart from Wendy who had been accidentally locked in!) and then there was another keystone cops moment as everyone milled around in the road trying to work out who was going in which car.
So with Sally in the lead car and Pam following we all set off. At one point the cars became separated and Pam's carful watched as Sally, caught up in the flow of traffic, sailed off without them. As everyone craned their necks trying to work out where she had gone she performed a nifty manoeuvre, sailed round the roundabout to where Pam's car was waiting at the lights and appeared behind her!
We stopped to take a group photo and realised soon after that we'd lost Sue! So she's not on the group picture! Not sure what had happened but she'd been left on the castle walls so Sally went to find her.
We had a lovely meal in Carluccio's and then split into two group - those who were going to ogle the men in tights at the ballet and those who weren't.
The ballet breakaway (BB) group went off on their own culture tour to explore the Cathedral - very beautiful in the sunshine.
After examining the nooks, crannies and displays in the cathedral the BB group continued their own culture tour looking at the towers and views from the city walls.
Rosemary, Sue and Wendy decided to walk round the rest of the city walls in the sunshine and the rest of the BB group wandered off to look at the shops and have a coffee.
And Rosemary tried her hand at selfies.
Shame that they couldn't sneak any photos for us to look at - though it did sound as though some of them were so super relaxed (the lunchtime drinks perhaps?!) that they managed a little zizz in the quiet bits!
So we'd all had a good day of food, fun and culture and it was time for everyone to head back to Sally's - apart from Bridget who was going home by train.
She said her goodbyes.
Very funny as we segued into an impromptu receiving line across the square and Bridget walked along like royalty giving 15 hugs!
The passersby were quite bemused!
So it was back to Sally's for more fun and games - and of course more food and drink. Rosemary had made a 'chic' torte - which Jeanette had carefully carried in from the car to ensure it arrived in one piece.
So far so good...
Then turns are taken to pull out a paper to try to guess who has written the love/hate.
This is where it becomes a memory game when you have to remember who has been asked what etc, etc - not our forte!! And not helped when people go off at a tangent when having a little thought about whatever is written on the paper they've pulled out!
Good fun even though we cheat monstrously after a couple of hours when we get fed up with it and want to finish!
With the game over we got down to the serious business of more drinking and chatting.
Sunday 18 February
Breakfast at Tilly's. Less chaos with the ordering than last time. Pam and Alison joined us for a coffee and then headed off before we remembered to take a photo.
After a leisurely breakfast we headed back to Sally's and said our goodbyes to those who were making their way homewards.
So then there were five...
And off we went to have a walk round the lovely grounds of Dunham Massey.
It was a little bit dull (the weather, not us!) but we had a lovely wander amongst the snowdrops and other early plants and trees.
So then it was once again back to Sally's with time for a final cuppa before hitting the road.
As always it was a pleasure to spend a weekend with great friends after a difficult and emotional few months for several of our group. Such a tonic to forget about things and just enjoy the moment. Janice summed it up perfectly saying that the date on her calendar for Sally's weekend was 'the light at the end of the tunnel'.
More schoolie memories made!
More schoolie memories made!
Many thanks once again to our lovely host Sally! xxx
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