Our month-long series of weekend activities culminated with a trip to Cheltenham to see our very good friends who’ve lived there for 7 or 8 years, I reckon. Getting to Cheltenham was easy as pie and my wife had even booked us in first class (although I was disappointed that GWR charge for alcoholic drinks – the East Coast lines ply you with ample booze for no extra cost).
The weekend was John’s birthday and he loves a hot-tub, and Fran had found a firm which rents them out and delivers them (JB HotTubs). Very nice to enjoy a beer in the tub in the open air on a Friday evening. Well, under a gazebo as the weather continues to be unspeakably bad and rainy. The rain did pause occasionally so we had a good outing to Sudeley Castle (well, a walk near Sudeley Castle, given we weren’t going to drop £45 per family to pop in to the playground and try to interest four children under six in the interiors of a stately home (even if it’s a very nice one). 6YO got stung by a nettle, which is a milestone of sorts. There was also a 5 star meltdown when we removed the muddy boots when getting back in to Fran’s brand new car. Fortunately the journey to the Royal Oak pub in Gretton was not far away and served up a splendid array of food, including one of the nicest (although perhaps not the largest) steak and ale pies I’ve had in a long time.
It’s always wonderful to see the kids playing together so well, and when Andy came round later with his kids who are a fair bit older, everything meshed together into a perfect little proto-society microcosm. Heartwarming stuff.
We ate and drank like royalty and everyone had a splendid time. I even managed to fit in a run on Sunday morning which was a loop a couple of miles longer than I’d intended, but remarkably the rain held off until I’d finished.
A trip to the park to give the kids a run out too, a hearty brunch, a last quick dip in the hot tub, then back to the station to return to London. This final phase of the weekend was (and is, as I’m writing this on the train) less enjoyable.
For starters, our train was cancelled. This was not entirely a surprise as a) this happened last time we visited Cheltenham and b) Thetrainline hadn’t allowed seats to be reserved, so they must have known about this, although the excuse given was staff shortage. Very brusque staff in the station. The alternative option was to first go to Bristol, then onwards from their to Paddington. Everything shit (every train seems to be very late, replaced by bus or cancelled), busy, broken (the train I am on has 2 toilets out of service) and the rain continues to fall in torrents. Still, it won’t take the shine off an excellent weekend! (it could be worse of course – the train we are on is in fact on time).
Timsformational 