The many and various ways I pass the time now has a new addition. Usually it involves drinking coffee whilst sitting at a computer keeping in touch with chums, or sipping wine sitting on our tiny terrace catching the sun, and wondering what else I can do to avoid any cleaning or tidying or putting away of stuff and things that aren't even MINE. And now I am going to type this blog. Provided that doesn't become a chore as well, in which case...


Tuesday, 21 May 2013

Days Out and Jollies

The Husband and I are going to take the Little Green Dragon and the Small White Dog to the seaside today, probably to Barmouth where the little furry fellow can have a proper run on the firm pale sands, and then we can lunch in The Last Inn.  Aberystwyth is a bit pebbly for The Dog's taste, and a the sand is a bit grey for mine, but it has other charms, namely The Glengower Hotel with its wonderful sea views. 

Decisions, decisions. Which resort?  Which pub? Such are the vexing daily concerns of early retirement...

In a little less than a fortnight we have two rooms booked at The Glengower, two rooms with sea views, for the night of 1 June.  This is because our tenth wedding anniversary is 31 May.  So why TWO rooms, then?  That's hardy a second honeymoon, sleeping apart!

Well, originally a couple we know were going to come with us, so the second room was for them.  These are very dear friends of ours who actually met at our wedding and have been virtually inseperable ever since, to the extent that they also got married three years later.  So 31 May is our wedding anniversary (and also my birthday) and the anniversary of their meeting so we have often spent it together doing double-date weekends.


However, there has been a major development in their lives.  The wife retired from the police force in December of last year, and now she can be at home much more the time is finally right for them to have a dog.  Just over two weeks ago they got a puppy, a miniature Schnauzer they have named Erik.  So they are in the throes of new parenthood and very understandably cannot make the weekend after all.

So instead The Daughter is coming over to join us for a few days, and to use the room so's not to waste the booking.  One Friday 31 May we are having dinner out in our local town in what is reputed to be the the best restaurant in the area.  Certainly one has to book a long way in advance, so that is an excellent sign, and its reputation precedes it.  We've wanted to eat there for years, but only just got round to it, with this milestone anniversary as a spur.

Then the next day we are off for a weekend at the seaside, to stroll on beaches, paddle, take the furnicular railway up the cliff and view the camera obscura at the top, have a ride on a narrow gauge railway, eat ice cream, all that trad stuff.
  All of which, I have checked in advance, can include The Dog.

I cannot imagine The Husband will be happy to leave the MGB behind, so he will have the intense pleasure of driving The Daughter over to Aberystwyth, and having a pretty young woman in the passenger seat next to him, living out the stereotypical middle-aged male fantasy, while yours truly devotedly follows behind in the Peugeot with the Dog, the bags, the picnic kit and (woohoo!) the heater, the stereo and the power steering!  I am not blind to the charms of the Peugeot so I think it will pan out that he is my car (it's a definite he) and the MGB is the Husband's.  Seems a fair division of spoils.

I have warned The Daughter to bring trousers and a leather jacket and a scarf or a hat as the sensible clothing options for open-topped motoring.  I fully expect her to come downstairs the morning we set off eye-catchingly accoutred wth huge sunspecs and a (cough cough knock-off) Hermes scarf, a latter day Grace Kelly or Audrey Hepburn.  She is a bit of a stunner, The Daughter, with a fabulous sense of style.


Here she is in Rome, on the weekend of her 30th Birthday, in 2010.


Well, breeding will out... 

9 comments:

  1. Hari OM
    You boast well my dear - for that is one very lovely looking girl you have! What a wonderful time you have lined up... anticipation is a goodly portion of the enjoyment is it not? I'm sure there will be a few good days between now and then though! YAM xx

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    1. I do appreciate how very fortunate I have been with my one-and-only child. She is also a very good and conscientious person, and a thoroughly worthwhile member of the human race. The Husband has no children, his first marriage didn't produce any, and we didn't strike up a relationship until I was almost 43, so he has taken her to his bosom as well, and they adore each other. The three of us together laugh and laugh and laugh; we all "get" each other, which is marvellous.

      Today is set to be fine. I have a new swimming cossie, but I doubt I'll plough into the waves just yet. However, I could try it out under some shorts sitting in the garden if it's warm enough, and "work on my tan."

      Oh, the EFFORT!

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  2. Way to go, Baby Sis! That is what I call a REAL celebration and very well-deserved too. Knowing the restaurant in question you will have a superb meal and I'm crossing everything that the sun will shine on your anniversary trip.

    My niece and god-daughter is such a beautiful young woman. :-)

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    1. Not just me who's justifiably proud of her, then, Auntie Perpetua? Our parents' grandkids are a great bunch, and devoted parents themselves, most of them, now. And so the genes carry on...fascinating to watch.

      There is an Azores High on its way up travelling South West, and this should improve matters for the UK by the very end of May, or certainly the end of June, bringing some warm settled weather. So keep those fingers crossed, cos it's working!

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    2. dur BEGINNING of June...

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    3. Ooo, hadn't heard that. :-) Do you think it could arrive early and give us some fine weather to take the grandsons out and about next week?

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    4. Seems it will be half-way decent on both Saturday and Sunday of the BH Weekend. Will that do?

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    5. They arrive on Saturday afternoon and Saturday is looking good now. Sunday (when parents head home after lunch) is cloudier but at least dry. Let's see what the Bank Holiday brings....

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    6. Well, whatever it is, no doubt we will (as our sainted mother was wont to say) "get what we're given"!

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