Blimey, I think I shoe-horned just about every ingredient of a weekend into this one – no wonder I'm flat on my back in bed with a certain throbbing in the rear torso. Did I maybe squeeze just a little too much in?!
Friday night was date night with the hubby. Got an Uber to Earlsfield only to discover that the main cocktail bar there was in darkness and looking very much permanently shut – bad start! Thank god for the magic of iPhones – one quick Google end we were nestled at another cocktail bar all of 100 yards further up the road – with a handy Happy Hour no less – within minutes. Raspberry caipirinias went down rather well. Hawksey did the old 'so how long have you been open?' chat with the barman, obviously expecting the answer to be 'oh, three weeks' or something, only to get the 'you're too old' look and the answer '7 years….'. We clearly need to get out more.
Went on for Thai food at Amaranth, but got very distracted by a stray dog outside. Staffie type, fairly big, but wandering on the pavement by itself…, then across the busy Garratt Lane. God knows how nothing hit it. It then waited outside the little Tesco, looking hungry – so I had to go out to check its collar and see if I could ring its owner to come get it. Poor thing had no collar tag, so I was stymied. I went back into Amaranth, at which point some other women tried the same, then rang what I assume to be the rspca. They ended up walking the dog off, hopefully to safety, so think all ended well. Lucky as Scrumpy might have had a sleepover furry friend if not.. I just don't think I could have just left it there, poor sad doggle.
Saturday was my last chance to watch Aces play hockey as the season is coming to a close. We lost 1-2, poo, and headed back to EPSOM's clubhouse for teas and beers. Quite a lot of the girls I know there had just come back from their game, having won the League, and as I walked in a chant of 'Sco-tty, Sco-tty' went up with a round of applause. A really nice welcome back – a teeny bit embarrassing as all eyes on me (and me feeling a bit over-visible, with my 'clearly got no hair' hat on), but definitely overall a good moment. Followed by lots of hugging, 'how are you' chats and not too bad a run in with the perennially grumpy woman who does their teas.
Hunkered down in the bar with the Aces to watch the – pretty crap – rugby matches and more catch ups with hockey bods, then eventually back to Caro's for G&Ts, pizza and an introduction to Grand Theft Auto. Give me Train Conductor, Solitaire, Killer Suduko and my much loved Words With Friends any day.
Sunday has been chores day – Waitrose, looking after Mum, tidying, H jet spraying the garden. Then walking the dog with J&R before knocking out a late lunch roast dinner for Nurse & Hannah and Banners and Schneebs, his new other half. Maaaaaan, she's posh. But seems very nice and they seem v loved up, so all rather cute. It's deffo the way forward to invite people for 5pm so it'll still be lights out by 10.30pm. Oh god, we are getting old…..
Most excitingly, H has asked me for the brief for my 'if anything was possible, what and where do you want to be for your 50th birthday?'. Sure, it's not for 18 months and god only knows what lies between now and then, but it's nice to have the first inklings of a 'maybe, maybe it might be possible ' dream, it's been a while since dreams were allowed to even lightly twinkle. The Amazon man duly delivered what I'm hoping could be the start of that great white hope – two books on the South Pacific and Papua New Guinea, let's see if the twinkle can be turned into a very shiny 2018 birthday star x x