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| Our house in Markeaton Street |
I got in touch with the girls - Lou was up for it. Debbie less so, she is suffering from anxiety, so I had to go down to Wigan to try to convince her - it worked. We then tried to find a weekend when we were all free - there was one in the whole year where we could do it - and it was May so that was good. I then dug out the last contact details I had for Mark and asked him if he and Clive wanted to come too. I expected them to say no, so was very surprised when he got in touch to say that they would both come. 
It took me ages to find a hotel that would do a 3 bed room for us girls, it was out of town but as there was only 1, that is where we booked. I arranged to pick Debbie up from Wigan and drive us both over (she isn't capable of driving so far by herself at the moment!) Lou was taken up to Derby by Tim - was surprised to hear that Lou wasn't confident in driving up by herself either - where has everyone's confidence gone? Tim then headed up to see Jacob in Nottingham where he is a student.
We met Lou at the hotel, and then I drove them both into the city. We found a car park and then headed to The Standing Order for lunch and to meet the guys. The pub was massive - we certainly didn't remember it being so big. Was it even a pub when we were there? We got ourselves a table and waited for the guys, they turned up. Everyone was looking a little older and fatter and in Mark's case balder (everyone agreed that I had looked after myself better - ie was thinner) We soon settled into our old banter, we had so much to catch up on and only really scraped the surface. Clive now works for the NHS in the liver specialist wards and loves it - putting something back rather than sitting at a screen making someone else rich. I had forgotten how gentle and kind he is. Mark works as Climate Emergency Programme Manager for Somerset Council - so is using his degree. Lou is in charge of Heath & Safety at a Vets. Debbie is on benefits for her anxiety and earns the same from benefits as she would if she was at work?! I am expanding my chocolate business - so probably earning the least and also the most Northern which no-one predicted!!!
We were 3 hours in the Standing Order talking, talking, talking. I wanted a walk around, so Mark took us for a tour. Turns out he went back to Derby to live for a couple of years after our degree. He returns quite often so knows the place quite well. Just as well as we had forgotten quite a bit. We found one of our old houses, it hadn't changed but across the road, was a huge hole! Everything had been knocked down. 
Wow, Derby is down on its luck. When we were there it was a thriving city but it is old and unloved now. So many empty shops, pubs gone, night clubs gone, the Assembly Rooms burnt down and are now covered in fencing and graffiti, there is boarding everywhere. Certainly not a pretty place to be. There is a huge new shopping centre which has engulfed the Eagle Centre and killed off the city centre. We walked through it and it was empty too. So sad, we all have good memories of the place but the place is poor and unloved at the moment, certainly not one to visit unless you live there. 
We went to the Keddleston Road campus of the university for a look - wow - that had changed too - it looked high tech, maybe all the money in Derby has gone to the university (although it still isn't known as a university town, so I'm guessing it isn't any more cutting edge now than it was then - it was certainly a university for those who never expected to go to uni when I was there - everyone was first generation to higher education and from state school) I certainly enjoyed my time there and I liked my course, but as an adult it is sort of embarrassing to say you went to Derby uni as no-one has heard of it - especially amongst Matt's friends and family who all went to top universities! Listening to other people's experience of university - ours was very different - not at all like the top universities, we didn't have tutors or sports etc but it was right for me at the time.
We returned to the hotel for a rest and to get ready for a night out. The plan was to visit some bars and go for an Indian. All of use had brought Prosecco with us, so we cracked the bottles open (I had been driving so couldn't drink at lunch. Debbie and Lou had had plenty at this stage!) got ready and then got a taxi into the city. We went on a bit of a pub crawl, but didn't get to any old haunts because they had all gone. After a couple we headed to The Bless which was still going - we knew this as it was opposite the car park we were in earlier in the day. We walked in and it was like turning the clock back 30 years! The place hadn't changed at all - everything was the same - the decoration, the bar, the sticky flooring, and most importantly, the MUSIC. It was all 90s music: Oasis, Pulp, Blur etc etc. We really were transported back, so we stayed for the night - curry was out of the window! We had a great time, singing along, dancing on the stage, just being us on a night out. We all thought we were 20 again! Looking around the place there were two age groups - 20 somethings and 50 somethings. We were looking at the 50 somethings wondering for a split second why they were there, then realising we were them too!!!!! Turns out that 1990s music is 'in' at the moment, we were dancing on the stage amongst the 20 somethings - who also knew all the words to the songs, but they weren't even born when that music was in the charts!!!!
We had the best time, but our age got the best of us and by 1am we were needing to go home. So, we went to a chippy for some food and then got a taxi back to the hotel. Then straight to bed - a great night out.
The next morning Debbie refused to get out of bed, so we left her in bed and then went for breakfast with the boys. Then we got our swimming stuff out and went to the spa and pool to chill out for the morning. Not Debbie though - she still refused to get out of bed! It was a good morning. After swimming we said goodbye to the boys (they live in Somerset and Devon so had a long trip back). Debbie finally got out of bed, so we said goodbye to Lou (who was having to wait for Tim to come back) and headed back home.
I had a lovely time, I was sad to see Derby so down on its luck. I would have liked to walk some more around the city to see other places I had lived, but Debbie was not up for it and it seemed that whatever Debbie wanted, Debbie got! She was quite badly behaved during the weekend, she hitted on Mark who was very unimpressed, she wanted to be centre of attention the whole time, she even took the double bed in the room, when it was my weekend and I organised everything! I was very close to loosing my patience with her especially when I had spent so much time convincing her to come as she was so anxious. I loved reconnecting with the boys and think that Mark and Matt would enjoy each other's company - Mark and his son, Tom, and his daughter play a lot of cricket too. Shame we live so far from each other.
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