This and That

21 years on...

So we got home on Monday, via a stop off at Queensferry (just under the Forth Bridges) where we met up with an old friend of Matt's from his time in Japan.  They hadn't seen each other for 21 years!  He got a message out of the blue from him whilst we were in Ullapool saying he was in the country and could they meet up.  Luckily, his friend, Michael is Australian, so a 300 mile trip to meet up is 'just round the corner'.  This meant that they could meet.  Apparently neither Michael nor Matt had changed at all which was useful.  We went for a walk and drink and lunch in a pub.  Michael was with his girlfriend, Cassandra - who I guess is a 'citizen of the world', she carries a Dutch passport, but hasn't lived there since she was 4, since then she has lived in Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia, Australia etc etc.  Her Dad worked for Philips and didn't stop anywhere too long.  She now lives in Bali designing top end jewellery made from fragments of ammunition shells, bullets etc she gets from Cambodia.  She has certainly had an interesting life, and as you can tell, whilst Michael and Matt were chatting away, we were too.

Anyway it was a good couple of hours, and then we said our goodbyes and headed back home.  The rest of the day was spent driving, then unpacking, cupboard tea and a night in our bed - lovely.

Tom and his chum

I liked him too!

Playing

Riding a rather small donkey

Tuesday I had made plans to meet up with the Holmans.  We headed to Greenlands for the day.  We hadn't been there for over 5 years and it had changed quite a bit, however, it still felt a little tired and old.  We went to the farm, where we had a cuddle with a bearded dragon, a miniature piggy, hold of a barn owl and stroke of a donkey.  There was a massive slide so the kids had a great time sliding down on it and getting burns on their legs and arms!!!!!

Unfortunately the weather wasn't the greatest, one minute it was fine, then it was pouring down, so we were ducking and diving a little.  Anyway, the kids had a good time, they got to ride a donkey and we had a good lunch, and played a game of very average mini golf in the rain.  It was the company more than the venue that made it - and it was good for Tom to get some friend time.

The evening was also spent at the Holmans - we had arranged tea with them before we went away.  As always we had a fabulous evening - good food and good company and plenty of laughs along the way whilst playing ridiculous games.

Relaxing in the cinema

Wednesday, not a great day again so we decided to head to Barton Grange to go to the cinema at the Flower Bowl as we all wanted to see the new Lion King and we all wanted to try out the new cinema.  We weren't disappointed - the cinema was very lovely - huge, huge sofas to lounge on.  So large that the 3 of us fitted comfortably on 1 double sofa - with space left over.  Would happily visit by myself get a sofa to myself and watch a film by myself, you even get lovely plump cushions. The evening was spent in Settle, where Matt picked up a new (24 year old) motorbike, a model he's been wanting to own for almost that long.

The new bike, a 1995 Honda RVF400

Thursday was a boring but necessary day - the dreaded school uniform shop.  Tom and I went to Kendal and spent the day finding school uniform for next year and also some bits and bobs for the Norway holiday.  Tom and I then went round the Bickerstaffs for the evening for play time and holiday chat.

Friday we headed to Manchester for the T20 Clash of the Roses Game that Bob had got Matt for his birthday.  On the way we went to The Airport Pub and spent 3 hours plane spotting in the sunshine.

Airbus A380 landing at Ringway

We then headed to Salford Quays, got ourselves our room at the Premier Inn and then headed to the stadium.  It started to rain, it rained lightly, it rained heavily.  We stopped at the stadium and stayed undercover.  We got ourselves something to eat whilst hiding from the rain and then got our seats - wiped them down, sat down and held an umbrella over us in the (pointless) hope it would stop raining.  We then asked some ground staff what the likely hood of something happening would be - they said there was no chance anything would happen.  We decided to cut our losses and head back to the hotel.  The heavens then opened and we got drenched in torrential rain.  We went to the pub next door for a drink and to gently steam.  Such a shame - it would have been a good match to see and our seats were in a good place.  Oh well, it can't be helped.

In the rain at Old Trafford

Saturday we decided to walk up to the Imperial War Museum for a look around.  I have been there before, but a long time ago - and it was for setting up an awards night, not to see the museum.  I remember it being a big airy museum so was quite surprised at how many displays there were to read and look around.  Every hour there was a film presentation in the middle of the museum, meaning you could sit down and rest.  It was a different presentation each hour and they were extremely well done - worth a full day at the museum just to take them all in.  Anyway, very good for free and will happily go back in a couple of years to take in some more (Tom's attention span is still not great for museums, although there were some interactive displays for kids)

We then headed to Wing Yip for an Asian shop before heading home.  We didn't go to the Glamorous as we had pigged out big time at breakfast time and were still stuffed. We drove through some atrocious weather back home, watched the second Harry Potter film and then had steamed Chinese buns for tea.