A day out

We took B’s car round to R & S’s to collect them and Olive and headed off on a trip with R driving. B’s car doesn’t get much mileage these days, so this trip is for the benefit of the car, as well as many other purposes. 

Heading south towards Stafford initially to visit a posh venue. Job done we then headed towards Nottinghamshire, via Derbyshire. A route that was new to me, very different countryside, interesting!!! I sat in the front with R so that I could catch up on the news. I’ve barely seen her during the past 3 weeks so lots of ‘bits and pieces’ news to share and jobs to plan. B & S sat in the back and chatted ‘blokes stuff’. I discovered that S doesn’t travel well in the back seat, so we swapped back for the journey home. 

Amber and Olive had a great time in the boot and behaved themselves. When we were parked at the first venue a cat walked past the car and Amber ignored it !!! She normally goes bonkers, Olive must be a calming influence. 

We visited friends at a jewellery business at Thoresby in the Sherwood Forest area. I haven’t been there for ages, so it was good to see how things had survived and developed since the Covid period. 

A Conqueror tank at the entrance of the Courtyard, a small brewery was new and fascinating. I was especially interested in the wallpaper ( how weird am I) !! It reminded me of the William Morris Strawberry Thief. I had a conversation with the chap behind the bar and it transpired that the wallpaper came from Dunelm and was chosen by one of the other business owners, who is in to Art Deco. I wasn’t viewed as a weird old lady with my observations, but as as an interesting customer. We bought some cans to take home, as we didn’t have time to stop for a drink. 

We finally headed home a slightly different route seeing more of Derbyshire and into Staffordshire. We drove through Ashbourne once again, third time this week, never having been there before. 

Exhausted with all the mental stimulation we dropped to troops off at their home, shared a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale between the 4 of us, just a taster to keep us going until dinner and had a quick summary of our achievements. 

R had popped into the house ahead of us to put the kitties in a place of safety, the lounge, before Amber entered the kitchen. She can smell the cats but with Olive and the rest of us present she doesn’t start on a big game hunting exercise to look for them. 

We were home and had dinner by 8pm. It was a struggle to stay awake until bedtime. Knowing that the clocks go back an hour tonight we didn’t want to be in bed too early and up awake at the crack of dawn!! I sat and did some hand sewing, finishing a job that has been on the go for a very long time.