On the road again

Croissants with Sue and John, and Lorraine and I packed up and made our fond farewells to Sue and John, who had been wonderfully welcoming as usual. After two nights with them, Lorraine and I felt more relaxed than I had done in a while. 

Then we drove the half an hour or so off to see Maxine and Simon (who arrived after work), and Emelia who was back from University. Long chats sitting outside in the sunshine, in their increasingly lovely garden, with the field next door just having been mown, and the grass drying ready for baling. Maxine, who is Lorraine's cousin, is always so welcoming and warm. Emilia, meanwhile, is really enjoying her degree in Psychology, and showed us a great tome of a family bible she had bought second hand. She loves books, of all kinds, including philosophy. She is also doing powerlifting, and loving it. Tay was doing a summer job so we didn't see him. Simon arrived in his chef's whites. Interesting chatting to him about his love of independently published Horror books.

We were fed a feast of with salads, and a delicious Quiche Lorraine (made for Lorraine), and lamb koftas, and cheesecake. Meanwhile Zippy, another small bouncy dog, kept dropping its ball for me too. I seem to have done a good deal of cavorting with dogs in the last couple of days.

Fond farewells, and then Lorraine drove us off to Llandrindod Wells, a town about an hour away across the border in Wales. It was a lovely sunny drive, and the Metropole hotel was a large and green, and had clearly been a grand place at one time, perhaps when the town's Spa was in vogue, but had settled down to a fading pleasantness. A good sized room. There was a pool too, so Lorraine and I slunk downstairs and went for a swim. Lorraine also sat in the steam room for a bit. I did for a short time, but didn't find it particularly comfortable. 

Having got out, I had locked myself out of my locker, but the one other person who had been in the pool helped me out. He goes there all the time, and apparently it happens all the time, and the reception guy came and keyed in a secret passcode. My new friend was from Manchester, and told me that every day was a Sunday in Llandindrod Wells. 

Lorraine and I then had a light dinner of caesar salads. I had a pint with mine, and had to send it back because it was off. Replaced with a nicer pint. Then we sank gratefully into a very large bed, and slept like babies.

I didn't do very well today with taking photographs. Instead of snapping people, I snapped an impressive house leek growing in Maxine's garden.