Greetings BlogPickers!
Sunday morning came quite quickly for your little disco
bunnies. We could be found peeking over
the covers at around 7.30am at the Zig Zag Cottage, wondering what there was to
eat for breakfast! Yes, dear readers, we
are always ruled by our stomach and the memory of the previous days breakfast
was still shining brightly enough to make us leap out of bed (well, David
anyway), shower, and be downstairs in time for the fabulous Mary-Ann to deliver
more grub. The breakfast was just as splendid
as before and the setting just dolly. The little pots of Tiptree jams and jellies,
together with a bottle of fabulous Tiptree brown sauce, even gave me the idea
for making my own and selling it. My
imagination at breakfast is clearly at its best, especially as I even came up
with a name for the comanpy, “Poofters Purveyors”. Ah the stuff of morning…..
With breakfast done we packed up our belongings, paid the
bill, leapt into our trusty Vauxhall Corsa and sped off into the distance. As always we had places to go, people to see,
and things to do! There is never a dull
day in the travel life of your intrepid friends and today was to be no
exception. We were first heading to Ware
in Hertfordshire to meet up with two beloved friends, Margaret & Shirley, their
daughters (also beloved), and then the whole lot of us were heading to the pub
to meet up with more friends in a sort of wedding reunion bash from last
year. What fun, I hear you cry! We dashed across country, marvelling at how
fast the trees seem to be going, and came to a rest in the car park at Tesco’s,
somewhere outside of Hertford.
You will know (if you have been keeping up with our blog
over the years) that one of the things we always do in England is to stock up
on food stuffs to take back to the USA.
Having stopped at Costco earlier in our trip for some of the bulk items,
we now felt compelled to pick up those little delights that just make our
hearts sing while we are away from England, namely OXO cubes, spice mixes, Pizza
Express salad dressings, Sharwoods egg noodles, digestive biscuits, and other
goodies. We grabbed a cart and entered
the fray. With only about 15 minutes to
spare, it was a little like we were in an episode of “Supermarket Sweep”, but
with concentration and without lingering
to long over the snow peas, we were in, out, and back on our way in no time,
complete with bunches of flowers for Madge and Shirl too.
20 minutes later we finally arrived at our destination. Margaret lives in a fabulous old mews house,
built in the 1600’s and there awaiting us was Margaret and her daughter
Maria. We deposited bags, kissed
everyone in sight, and then all piled into Margaret’s car for the drive to the
pub to meet the rest of the gang. I had
chosen “The Beehive” in Epping Green for us all to meet as it was highly
recommended in the Good Pub Guide and seemed to be a good location for all to reach. Maria, driving Margaret’s car, deftly whisked
us through the woods in her chariot (well, a Ford Fiesta) and after 15 minutes
we were there, gasping for a drink and eager to meet the rest of the gang. Entering the pub we found that Janet and
Stuart, Alison, Martin, and their two children Mia-Louise and Luke, together
with Shirley, Sarah and Claire, her two daughters had already arrived. There was much more kissing and hugging to be
seen, and before long we had all grabbed drinks and re-arranged the entire pub
to accommodate all of us for lunch. A
few moments later, Louise and Andrew, together with their daughters Natasha and
Francesca arrived to complete the party.
Eloise and Stephen were unable to attend due to other commitments and
were sorely missed. But otherwise we
settled in for an afternoon of catch-up, food and fun!
Everyone was on fine form for the afternoon and once
everyone had ordered lunch people started to move around and chat even more,
swapping stories of the past year and talking about upcoming plans too. It is times like these that make me realise
how much I value the friendships that have stood the test of time. We all get to see each other so rarely but
when we come back together it is as if no time has passed at all. Truly magnificent! Everything was going swimmingly until the
smell started……
A smell, I hear you cry?
Yes, dear reader, a smell of the highest magnitude indeed. It almost certainly seemed to be emanating
from our collection of tables too. The
pub was dog free (apart from a few moments earlier when Rodger, Sarah’s Jack
Russell, had made a surprise entrance into the bar, having slipped the leash
from outside and leapt all over Janet and James) so everyone quickly did the
very strange looking dance of lifting their shoes up and looking at the soles
but to no avail. The smell continued, at
times strong (deathly so), and at times receding a little. But most definitely it was there and with us,
a little like the Holy Spirit if you will, present (or so you think) but
impossible to know for sure!
After a while, said smell was narrowed down to the area of
the table occupied by James, Maria, Claire, and Sarah. It seemed to be stronger whenever James was
talking, which was a trifle alarming to say the least, and certainly was very
off putting. James was banished outside
to verify this, and instantly the pong was gone. Upon his return, the pong returned. It soon became evident that the culprit was
James’ fleece. Sarah suddenly realised
what it was. Rodger, little darling, had
found some fox droppings, something that Jack Russell’s are apparently fond of,
and he had rolled in them. When he had
made his dash into the bar and leapt onto James’ lap he had transferred this
country delight to James’ fleece, thereby allowing the whole pub to participate
in the fox poo craze. It was on one
sleeve only, so when James had been talking and gesticulating, the scent had
been wafted across the table. With the
problem solved, James’ fleece was banished to the car, along with Rodger, and
the afternoon commenced once more. Never
let it be said that all of us are not capable of creating mirth and merriment
wherever we go. The country just
provides so many more opportunities for us to make memories. Thanks to Rodger and Reynard we now have a
new story to carry us through the years!
Sadly, though, it was soon time for all to depart once more. We paid our bills, kissed and hugged, and departed
The Beehive, burnished with the glow of alcohol, food, and conviviality, an
afternoon well spent in fabulous surroundings with fabulous folks. Huzzah!
With that, we piled into Madges car once more and sped onwards through
the countryside back to Ware for the evening.
Once back at Madge’s a quick nap was had by all and then we
all repaired to the fireside with some more food, wine, and begun the process
of catching up some more. Rodger
re-appeared, freshly bathed, and smelling of lavender and pine, and Margaret
and Shirley regaled us all with stories of what they had been up to since we
saw them last. Maria filled us all in
on how her horses are, the latest happenings with her husband Bob (a pilot,
temporarily based in Russia), and her business activities, which seem to be
going well, and Sarah told us all about her hypnotherapy sideline too. And then there was a knock at the door.
Enter Vivienne. Newly
moved into the mews was Vivienne Johnson, actress and wife of a QC (Queens
Counsel (Posh Lawyer)), and she swept into the house wearing full make up….and
a full length blue velvet snuggie (for those unaware of the item, google it),
clearly the outfit du jour for aging
actresses. For those of you who are unfamiliar
with the name, Vivienne was the nurse in “Are you being served” for many years
who looked after Young Mr Grace. This is
her most famous role, though she has also played many other parts over the
years too, including appearing in many Carry – On Movies. Now a drama teacher at school, she is just
about to be re-launched by her son and management company, a story that we were
treated to for the next three hours. It
transpires that Vivienne is very much in demand, has been signed to a top London
agency, and is currently going through the auditioning and “putting it out
there” process once more. Now that her
husband has retired, she has decided that she needs to get out of the house
more, hence the re-launch. Vivienne is,
however, rather nervous at her re-found fame on the London circuit and so felt
it necessary to have us all live through it with her. She told many hilarious stories about actors
and actresses that she had worked with, all washed down with large glasses of
white wine and interspersed with random breakouts into song in her husky alto
voice, honed by years of smoking. Life
is never dull with us, dear readers, is it?
About halfway through “An Evening With Vivienne”, said
actress decided that she needed to go and fetch her dog from next door. Enter Boadicea, an exceptionally large
Wolfhound…….who smelt of fox poo. I kid
you not. Feeling a rush of nostalgia,
deja-vu, and alarm, we all tried to fend Boadicea and her noxious fragrance
off, while trying to persuade Vivienne to remove the splendid but whiffy
hound. Vivienne, however, had had far too
much wine to care, and so we all had to endure both the smell and stories for a
little longer until Shirley announced, at 12.30am, that it was time for
bed. This triggered one more round of
stories from our illustrious thespian friend, about Kenneth Williams and
Vanessa Redgrave (an odd combination) and then off she swept, Boadicea in tow,
exiting in the same formidable style with which she had entered.
And that, dear reader, was that. Our day was at a close once more. We did the dishes, tidied up the fireside,
and furiously sprayed air freshener everywhere before climbing the stairs once
more to duvet heaven. The next day was
to be our final one in England and we had all planned to go into London for the
day. David, James, Madge and Shirl do
London town! An episode not to be
missed!
Big love to you all!
D&J
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