The Mill (aqua), A Lot Of Mud (XC) and a Hen do for Rachel.

Small Margaret had her birthday meal at the Mill. These lovely aqua ladies rarely miss a Tuesday morning aquarobics class, so I went along to join them. It is always nice to see them all smart and dry with their gladrags on because I only ever see them wet. Well, that isn't strictly true because some of them DO, actually, manage to keep their hair dry for the entire duration of a splashabouty water class and I think this has something to do with them nattering at the back and not splashing hard enough...HMMMM....

Anyway I love them all to bits and we had a lovely lunch with a lot of laughs, Franniiieee was on top form as usual.

Jude, Marg and Frannieee above and Charlotte, Marg and Frannieee below.

The lovely Helen and I had a good chat about Istanbul and weddings. 

Josie told us all about being in the audience on DEAL OR NO DEAL.

They had to wear black, they saw 4 shows, someone won £10,000 and Noel Edmonds was fabulous.

Tall Marg, Sandra and Val are always good fun.

Chrissie with a beautiful and very smiley Tall Marg.

We should have put a candle in Small Marg's cheesecake!!!

The ginger sponge was hilarious!

"THE NORTHERNS"

Cross Country Championships in Knowsley Safari Park.

 If there is nothing quite like ♫ ♪  ♫ ♪ MUD, MUD ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ GLORIOUS MUD ♫ ♪ ♫ ♪ for cooling the blood, then it's a wonder all the cross country competitors actually managed to move their little legs at all last weekend, there was SO much of the stuff they must have been frozen solid.

It was definitely NOT ideal running weather. I know if I had entered the race I would have 

A) NOT RUN.... or

B) Cried all the way round.

Slippy, sloppy, slimey mud.

As well as torrential rain, the wind was strong and we saw the marquee rise up onto its 2 back legs, the hot dogs suddenly open to the elements, the sweatshirts soaked, and the men frantically hanging on to the marquee tent poles - we thought it was going to end up in the lake.

Pixen started off clean enough...

...but after a 20 yard warm up run, the Pixen's trainers weren't blue any more.

What was even more more surprising was the amount of people who had turned up and had stripped off ready to run. BRRRRRRR!! Runners are a crazy breed! 

If I remember rightly, I think the Pixen muttered "I think I'll stick to swimming" at the finish!

Clean boots and trainers and mugs of hot tea were the best bit! So much for "Oooo I will get some nice photos of the Pixen running past the elephants for my blog"  Haha. That was a bit optimistic!

AFTERNOON TEA HEN DO 

WILD BOAR HOTEL, BEESTON.

This little lady is about to become Mrs Harrison -Exciting!!

So I painted her and her hubby-to-be a couple of mugs and plates

Where they met, where Oli proposed, where the wedding will be, where the honeymoon is, and their love for all things EFC and PASTRY!

and then I went to the Wild Boar for a sandwich and a scone (or 2!)

It was really nice to see Mandy and Madeleine again and they haven't changed a bit... Mandy is more like her brother than ever!

Did we have a nice time? YES!

Did we have a lot of laughs? YES!

Did we get a bit saucy? YES!

Charlotte asked us to make a model of Rachel's ideal husband out of PLAY-DOH.

Oh my goodness... the SMELLof PLAY-DOH !!

 I think I temporarily went to heaven for a few seconds. I definitely went down Memory Lane for a bit.

These were the only decent ones I could publish! OUR HUBBY  WON!!!! 

The EVER FAITHFUL COMPANION. EFC. He had  chunky thighs, liked a beer and had a fig leaf (watercress) to keep him decent (oops looks like it fell off)

Rach wasn't even tempted by the surfing dude with his Hollister shorts...

A great fun afternoon, thanks to Charlotte for organising it all. They are going to have a great time at the wedding.

"Bubble and Squeak" 36 years after we first met...THIRTY SIX!!