a grand day out…
And a happy Easter Monday to all now that the main festivities are over with, although if the word around the campfire is to be believed many folk in civvy street are taking these coming three days as holiday, and therefore won’t be back in the office for another week thanks to events on Friday – good luck to them! Being someone who avoids weddings at all costs even when they involve people I know (and who would rather stick wasps up my arse than attend that of somebody I don’t) this holds no interest for me whatsoever, but each to his/her own. My usual day-to-day activities already allow me to spend plenty of time looking at expensive dresses.
Today is a relaxing one after a fun-filled weekend trip to my old stomping ground of Newcastle with an equally fun-filled gentleman of several years patronage, and having arrived to glorious sunshine and a hotel bed loaded with gifts (including the largest Easter Egg I have ever seen outside a charity raffle and an Easter bunny as interpreted by Ann Summers, as well as treats from Lush in the form of fizzy bath bombs, whose barmy exuberance never fails to cheer me up) I settled in immediately and celebrated with a very nice tuna fish sandwich and a look at the cheap and cheerful womens magazines I found kicking about on the train. As with internet porn I have long convinced myself that no-one actually pays for these nowadays, and they are instead distributed strategically about the carriages by publishers’ representatives to encourage us to buy books rather than read any more of the vapid, platitudinous crap within, but having forgotten my Kindle it was them or weekend-early-evening TV and you have to draw the line somewhere, after all.
Needless to say, some things never change and an after dinner stroll up Grainger Street provided reassurance that despite all media claims of doom and gloom there are still plenty of folk getting their glad rags on and hitting the town (to zealous exponents of tiresome Government anti-binge drinking campaigns which paint every working class British adult as a pissed-up simpleton: warning, people enjoying themselves – look away now) and a spot of fresh-ish air/kebab-dodging later, having decided to give the Bigg Market a miss on grounds of sobriety/dress code (I was wearing one) we settled back down at the hotel for Match Of The Day and a good old catch up; good enough that we missed the end and had to get up for the repeat, which officially marks the earliest I have been awake and compos mentis on a Sunday morning since packing in my shelf-filling job in 2005. And thus my hotel-karma was restored!
Following breakfast (including tiny mini-croissants and Danish pastries as well as black pudding, faultless toast and proper marmalade) I said my goodbyes and set off for home newly enlivened, deciding on a pit-stop at York for some fresh air, a cornet and a look round the shops; there are probably safer places to explore with an overnight fee in one’s bag but as it turned out, being Easter Sunday most were shut – oops! Sarah Coggles was not, and superhuman strength was required to drag myself away from the new D&G mimosa-print pleated sundress (£925) sobbing piteously (on the inside at least, the outside remaining as imperious as it is possible to be whilst travelling home after a late night carrying a gigantic Easter Egg and with forgot-That-Brush-again hair that would frighten a police horse). I did have the sense to take the dress off first.
To this week, and the next few days I am spoken for entirely – sorry! I will be free on Friday if anybody else is at a loose end, but that aside and bar any changes of plan my next Scarborough availability will be a week today; next stop is Heathrow for a brief flight of fancy (sorry) midweek and I will not be back until late Thursday evening. Add on the race-training inbetween and availability will be extremely limited between now and the 9th May but fear not, a special offer week will be announced shortly to celebrate (and apologise to) all of those who have or wish to make a donation to my Race For Life fund, so all is not lost!
Back soon – have a great week everybody!
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