quick weekend away

 

When I should have still been fast asleep in bed on a Saturday morning, I was actually freezing to death ( slight exaggeration there), on the platform of Darlington station waiting for a train to take me south and back 'home' for a party.

And not just any old party, this was to celebrate the 100th birthday of my friend Harrys mum.

That is some achievement and a reason enough for a celebration.

I tried to make the best of an early start and had provided myself with champers for the journey and a mini charcuterie  breakfast. Well there are standards to keep and I now feel that the law of having champagne at the airport  should now cover any form of transport for travelling , obviously the exception is if you  are the driver of a car, when coffee or peppermint tea needs to be the order of the day.

Not only was the party in my old home town ( Moor Park/ Northwood), but also in my old work place ( Merchant Taylors School).

The party kicked off at 2pm and was scheduled to finish at 9pm, I now feel that this is going to be the template for any future parties for me, it is very civilised

Ellen looked stunning, belying her 100 years

And she was obviously enjoying being surrounded by family and friends.

I was back at my B & B before 8pm, it had been a long day.

I stayed in a lovely house in Kewferry Road in Northwood which was wonderful, the lady in charge of all things was called Jessica and was efficient and very friendly.

With feather pillows and duvet, I slept so well that I felt like staying another night..................and how I wished I had.

Sunday dawned with a red sky, I should have known!

Set off on the Met line to Kings Cross and then it all went wrong, cancelled trains, so many people trying to get on any train, an hour after my original time to leave I finally got a seat on a train and was off.......................only to then end up in Leeds, York and finally nearly 7 hours later arriving in Darlington the home of Steam, which had this weekend been celebrating 200years of train travel.

I felt like I had been on the go for 200years and honestly if I was travelling for 7 hours I really would have wanted to be somewhere other  than Darlo!!!!!

And as for getting a refund from LNER, well there website is experiencing high volumes ( no!!! how on earth!!!) so I doubt I'll every see a penny back.

Last holiday of the year sorted

 

As if I needed any excuse to book another holiday!!!

Well  I have decided to take myself away for Christmas, and why not.

It involved some early morning calls to and from Australia, and just like that everything is in place, and I have also booked a city break at the end of January. All very exciting.

And in true Lainey style I am not disclosing where I am going, but its really going to be a busy few months. After my op in June and being unable to fly, drive for longer than an hour at a time or go any distance on a coach, I am filling every month with an 'away ' trip.

I'm away in October and for my birthday in November and now filled up December and January.

I might as well just keep a suitcase full and pick it up as I need it!!!!

I also have some other exciting plans going on before the end of the year, but more about that later.

At the moment I am emptying the wardrobe onto 'guest room1' bed ready to be packed.

'Guest room 2 ' is currently the ironing room for said holiday!

Happy Weekend

Lanzarote the debrief

 

Well what a pleasant surprise, I have always shied away from the Canary Islands, ( usually for  hols in Africa), in fact in recent years I have shied away from the Balearics, and this is due to me loving mainland Spain, so a long weekend in Lanzarote has been a bit of an eye opener for me.

We were far enough away from the mad nightlife, to have peace and quiet, but close enough if we wanted to dip our toes in.

Weather was exceptional and that's a huge bonus for me

Atlantic  swimming is highly recommended.

Even though we were  close to the airport, the 99 flights a day never really bothered up, it was just interesting to see them come in nearly piggy backing each other.

No fighting over sunbeds here, there was plenty of room for everyone, and a seawater pool  too.

It was probably easier to tread in rocking horse poo, than find a Dry Martini, come on Lanzo, get with the programme!

Food in every restaurant I tried was exceptional.

Jazz Bistro  in Tias/Matagorda, exception, highly recommend the Chicken breast in port and mushroom sauce. Great location , 5 minutes stumble back to the villa.

Emmas Cantina in Puerto del Carmen great service, and great Mexican food.

Serenity, Puerto del Carmen, roof top dining and a great array of food to suit all. Perfect evening out.

O'Sheas Irish Pub , Tias/ Matagorda. You know what you will be offered and it was typical pub grub. Steve and I  had a roast dinner, which was great , lots of meat and good veg assortment. Service was very poor though, would not recommend in the height of summer.

Supermarkets were incredibly reasonable, and I do love a supermarket abroad.

I loved this break,  and have no doubt that I will be going back again.

And next time I will venture out to see more of the island.

Last day came too quickly

 

Well my mini break was over too quickly and as Tracey and I headed up to get me a taxi to the airport at 7.45am, I was close to turning round and going back to the villa, it was definitely going to be a scorcher.

We said bye and I was off to start my journey home, oh joy!! first thing I see when I get into the airport is that the Leeds/Bradford flight, delayed! I was through security in record time ( typical) and then decided to head to the loo, I was feeling quite tearful a it would have been my sisters birthday. A bit of a cry in private was just what I needed.

I had nearly made it through the door to the toilets, when I was stopped by a lady from the Lanzarote Tourist Board, asking me if I would fill in a survey, I politely said no and headed off for a blub. I emerge from the toilet cubicle , red eyed and ready to fix my make up, and I kid you not, she was waiting for me. 

She thrust a piece of paper and pen at me and said ' fill!'.

I looked at her and politely said 'no'.

She then followed me to the basins and said 'you must'.

By this point I was nearly on the verge of tears again. I told her in that I did not want to fill in a survey, I wanted to have a cup of coffee.

I escaped and went to the far end of departures, got a coffee and sat down to just soak up the chaos that was the airport.

Five minutes later she sat down opposite me and thrust the paper and pen at me again.

I was by this point rapidly losing my patience with her, I asked her why had to fill in this survey, she just kept repeating 'you must'.

Well very long story condensed. I got up and walked away I kept finding somewhere to hide from her, I watched her harassing other and chasing people up and down.

They called my flight and I headed to gate 9, closely followed by persistent Lanzarote woman. She was still thrusting the paper at me as I got my passport stamped and was trying to get through to the plane.

Not a great end to a fabulous few days.

Sadly the return flight seemed to be so much quicker  than the fight out, and I was back in Blighty in the blink of an eye.

And that's it for a few weeks at least.

More sun

 

Sunday dawned hazy and very warm, after a slow start all round, Steve and I headed out to the beach for our morning swim.

It was busy, it was Sunday, lovely to see families enjoying time together at the beach.

The sea was surprisingly warm and just what was needed to wash away the cobwebs of sleep.

We took a slow walk back to the hotel and headed to the pool. Tracey was going to go for water and then sort out the washing, I said (as keeper of the holiday kitty) I'd go for it.

Off I popped, got the water and then to my horror realised the kitty purse wasn't in my bag.

This purse also contained the electronic key to get into the compound. Oh my god! My dodgy heart nearly stopped.

I had my purse so paid for the water and then headed back to the pool. it wasn't under my lounger!!!!

I retraced my steps, it had been definitely been dropped inside the gate, because we'd got in. As I looked at my beach bag I realised how easily it could have slipped down the side between bag and beach cover up.

I asked a couple in a villa by the gates if they had seen it, she said no, however a lady  nearby said, 'its there on top of the fire extinguisher box, one of the work men found it".

I could not believe it, there it was completely intact. My faith in human nature restored and my heart rate returning to normal.

I had earlier in the holiday been honest at the bar over the cost of some drinks, she was going to under charge by €14  but I did say she'd made a mistake.

So what goes around does come around.

The rest of our day was spent laughing, sunbathing and have the odd 'Sex on the beach' or two.

My last evening saw us having a lovely stroll for dinner, watching the last of the daily 99 flights onto the island arrive. 

Families were still at the beach, enjoying the last rays of Sunday.

we ate and the had a slow meander back to the apartment and an early night all round.

Early morning dip

 Saturday dawned hazy and warm, Steve and I took ourselves off to the beach for an early morning dip.

We wandered through a little area with stone built creations, it was really lovely.

The beach was fairly deserted when we got there

 A couple of ladies 'saluting the sun' and a runner.

We headed off into the Atlantic.

Now I want to say it was bracing, but truth is it was warmer than the swimming pool!

A lady came in as we were making our exit.

We headed off to grab a coffee, I got waylaid by a 'Spar'.

Those of you who know me well, know how much I hate doing my shopping at home, but as soon as Im abroad I love a supermarket.

I could write a (very boring) book on my favourites in various countries. I can see that on The Times best seller list!!!!!

Steves favourite coffee shop was closed so we wandered back to the 'ranch'.

On the way we saw the lady who had been in the sea, she was with her husband, they acknowledged us in French.

Nothing strange there, but these two had come up with an ingenious idea. How to dry your towel.

They were walking up to their hotel holding the towel between them letting it blow in the breeze. Genius!!!!

Pooltime was now the order of the day until Tracey disappeared, we all got a text message summoning us for lunch!

Two grazing boards were on the dining room table when we got in. This was  part of Steves birthday celebrations  and very  good they were too.

Made locally by an English lady, very good idea!

We went back to the pool for more swimming and sunning, its a hard life!.

We were dressed and ready for dinner in record time as we're going to 'Sanctuary ' 

We were on the rooftop restaurant which also boasted, hot tubs and loungers.

The food was exceptional, my caprese ravioli with so good as was the creme caramel 

We sat watching  a 'million ' flights coming in, amazing how many there were, and then wandered down the strip, before getting into a taxi and heading home.

A bit of TV and bed time.

Day 2 on the windy Isle

 

After a very early night and a lovely much needed sleep, it was time to start the holiday properly.

After doing my 'chefy'thing and poaching eggs for breakfast, Tracey Steve and I headed out for more supplies, getting side tracked on the way by the lure of peppermint tea in the sun.

It was decided that this was a pool day, as probably all my days will be (and I'm good with that, lots off r and r).

A swim was on the menu and after lunch more swimming and sunbathing.

We were invited to join the last bingo session of the season .......and I won

Before we knew it, it was 6pm and we took our sun tortured bodies back to the villa, where quick showers and changed and off in a taxi to the harbour.

We headed off for a Mexican meal at Emma's cantina.

Wowsers it was good and finished off with a chocolate tequila.

We had a bit of a hairy taxi ride home, I am sure in all my days I've never been in a taxi that overtook 5 cars on a pitch black road  but hey, there's another tick on the 'things to do' box.

And with a fabulous moon shining down on us, bed was calling before I knew it.

And now day 3 begins

Off again

 

It always seems like a good idea to go on holiday, even just for a short break, but at 1am Thursday morning, I was not so sure.

I'd not had much sleep Tuesday into Wednesday due to wearing the 24hr ecg, so thought I'd at least get a couple of hours kip on Wednesday night. Ha, ha, said my brain (and also that of the rest of the crew), so taxi arrived at 2am and four very tired souls set off to Leeds Bradford.

Leeds airport is a little bit of a mess at the moment as they do major renovation but after the first sip of champagne in The Saltaire  bar, it was all forgotten.

Our flight boarded and we were on our way.

We were all desperate for sleep, but it was fairly illusive for all of us except Cathy.

We arrived in Lanzarote and 'oh joy' now not only do you queue to get your passport stamped you now queue to go through the electronic gates too.

Anyhoo long story, put to rest, we were in a taxi and short hop to  our home for 4 nights (11 nights for the others).

We decided to get changed and go and have lunch, and it went bit awry. 

They did cocktails, they didn't do Dry Martinis but they did 'sex on the beach' and boy did we go for it.

A nice afternoon swim to shake off tiredness was followed by heading to the villa and unpacking......not! Cava and hot tub.

We eventually decided to get ready to go out for dinner. And headed to Jazz Bistro, where the sliced chicken breast in port and mushroom sauce comes highly recommended by the 3 of us that had it.

A quick trip to the supermarket and a walk up the hill to the villa.

I had my face cleansed and nightie on before 9pm and was asleep before my head hit the pillow.