Jul 23 - 5 hour grace period

I just realized that I hadn't blogged yet ... BUT ... I have a five hour grace period when I'm on this side of the pond !

Yesterday ... one major errand and then a major trip.

The errand of the day was ... get a haircut.  I went to Allan's barber, who got rid of the shaggy mop that had developed.  Then we picked up quiche for dinner and returned home.

Then ... the real activity of the day started.  We left just before 10am for Formby to see Harry and Eric. Eric lives about 1/2 hour away in Bootle, a Liverpool suburb.  His house on Shakespeare Street is the one that they group up in.  I visited there in 1975 when Auntie Kathleen -- mother to Harry, Eric and Allan, was still alive.  At that time the house had coal heat but now it's been upgraded.

Anyway ... it's a 2+ hour drive to Formby, which is north of Bootle close to the west coast.   Harry is recovering from a fall down some steps a few days ago so he has bandages everywhere.  In spite of the fact that he's completely blind in one eye and has only peripheral vision in the other, he's in great spirits.  He has lots of memories of time spent with "Buddy" (my Dad) up north and in Florida.

Once Eric arrived, the five of us went to lunch at The Pheasant.  Allan maneuvered us into a far and bright corner to maximize Harry's ability to eat unaided and to cut down to noise to ease conversation.

Back at Harry's, we planted a rose bush that was a gift from Allan and Christine to Harry, then relaxed out the back yard for a bit, chatting.

The day wearing on, we took a brief diversion to a park by the coast, just to see the water, and then headed back.  Part of the drive is on the Motorway and quick; a lot of it is on "A" roads with reasonable speed limits but two-lane.  It was a bit hairy with periods of heavy rain, but we made it back to A&C's about 7:30.  It was then dinner time, which Christine prepared and then we watched the news seeing William and Kate proudly presenting their new Baby Cambridge.

Everyone was falling asleep at that point, since it was already 10:30+, and I headed to bed.  Since they'd already snoozed in front of the TV, I think that they stayed up a bit longer.  I'd snoozed in the backseat of the car while on the Motorway heading back to Harrogate.

The scenery is wonderful.  I'm looking forward to LEL.  The rain ... no doubt we'll get some of that ... not so exciting.

Yesterday was rain; tomorrow's prediction is rain; today's prediction is dry.  I'm going for a bike ride with the Wheel Easy club at 9:30.

Onward !