Blackberry's journal

I feel as though I've been much busier than usual this week, although I haven't really.

I went to work for Caroline on Monday then on Wednesday John and I drove down to Manchester to stay in the Central Park Holiday Inn prior to the CT AGM on Thursday.  The weather was beautiful all the way down, but Lucy played up and kept overheating severely, even though there appeared to be plenty of water in the system.  I had to spend most of the journey adjusting the controls of the heater and the fan to keep it under control.  I managed it, but it rather detracted from the journey, the last  third of which is through some very beautiful countryside I would rather have liked to concentrate on.  Luckily we seemed to miss the rush hour, although we arrived at the city outskirts at about 4.00 pm.

On the way down we stopped at the new Wetherby Services.  There was a choice of Costa Coffee, Burger King and a company called Eat & Drink.  We decided to try the latter and bought 2 Baguettes, a bottle of fizzy water, a lemon flavoured water and 2 x 16 oz Americanos which were unbelievably tasteless.  The baguettes were awful - horrid, soggy, flavourless white bread, with flavourless fillings, except for the bits of salad.  This little "feast" cost us £17.14.  Outrageous!

The hotel was very comfortable and we decided to eat there in the evening rather than get the car out and go looking for something else.  Holiday Inn restaurant food wouldn't normally be my first choice, but it was actually quite good.  The table d'hote menu boasted lambs' liver which John and I both wanted, but sadly they had none left, so we had to upgrade to the a la carte menu and have their braised lamb rump (which is a cut I've never heard of before) on a bed of roasted root vegetables.  That was very good, although accompanied by an extraordinarily ill-thought out bowl of extremely vinegary pickled red cabbage.  I had one mouthful of the red cabbage and couldn't eat any more because it was sooo acid.

John had pate to start with and I had carrot and basil soup.  They were both adequate.  Neither of us had any room for pudding, which was a shame because they had an Eton Mess-type pudding made with blackberries which I thought I would like, but I just couldn't force down another mouthful.  John had draught lager, which he wouldn't have touched under normal circumstances and I had a large glass of dry white whine which I couldn't drink because I was too full up.  John had to finish it for me.  We had a huge pot of coffee, but it wasn't very good.  We decided to call it our anniversary dinner, since our 43rd anniversary was the following day.

During the night a band of maurauding baboons infested the corridors shouting and yelling and banging doors.  The row subsided at about 3.00 am, but I couldn't get to sleep for ages, expecting it to start up again. 

The bed was blissfully comfortable, even more so than my own lovely bed at home.

Breakfast was quite good, but they still hadn't learned how to make decent coffee.

I went to pay the bill because the management had previously denied all knowledge of pre-payment by CT, although I was sure it would have been pre-paid, and while I was chatting to the receptionist, she asked if we'd had a comfortable night.  I mentioned the bands of baboons and she said that other people had complained and they'd actually turfed those responsible out into the cold cold night.  She remonstrated with me because I hadn't rung down to complain and I didn't dare say that I'd been afraid that some little girl on reception might be no match for the said hordes of drunken baboons.

I have to say that I was very impressed and highly amused by the thought of them being escorted off the premises at 3.00 am, too drunk to drive anywhere, standing around in the freezing cold wondering what to do.  The thought of it has me giggling again now.

We spent the next couple of hours driving round Manchester, goggling at the extraordinary architecture.  I had never been there before, and I was very impressed by the city.  There appeared to be hardly any traffic, even in the centre, although I understand it can get very congested during the rush hour.  I was also impressed by how many trees and green spaces it had.  It looked like a really interesting city to stay in for a few days.  I couldn't understand why there were so few people around, though.

We stopped at Manchester Fort Shopping Centre to buy newspapers and had a coffee in the Starbucks inside Borders.  What a great idea;  if I'd had more money and more time I would happily have stayed there all day reading and buying books while sampling every kind of coffee.  I had an iced Mocha which was heavenly!

The AGM was held in Manchester City Stadium and we were amazed at the lack of parking restrictions.  We just parked in a disabled bay near the front entrance.  There was so much empty parking that I could easily understand why the organisers had arranged for the meeting to be held there.  I bet it's not so easy on match days, though.

When I spoke to the accountant, he was cross because CT had already paid the hotel bill in advance, so I have to try to get a refund!

The buffet in the Mancunian Suite was a bit odd, though.  There was brocolli & stilton soup, which I didn't have as I've never fancied the idea of it, teamed with a handful of chips, which people were dipping in the soup!  The sarnies were doorsteps but fairly ordinary apart from that, and there was NO PUDDING!  The coffee, however was excellent.  I spent some time gazing at the hallowed turf which was so smooth and blemish-free that I was forced to the conclusion that it must be Astroturf, until later on we saw some banks of strong bright yellow lights playing on the turf, presumably as some sort of therapeutic treatment which I concluded would be unneccessary if it were Astroturf.  I've never seen such perfect grass before except on a bowls green.

After the AGM we decided to drive straight home.  Although it was 4.00 pm, we seemed to manage to miss the rush hour again, which was very gratifying.

Strangely, Lucy gave us hardly any trouble on the journey home.  After I adjusted the fan/heater controls a couple of times, she settled down until about ten miles from home, when she started overheating slightly again.  I can't believe it's anything too expensive, but it's very irritating.  Still, her MOT is due next week so Keith can see what he thinks is wrong at the same time.

Today I've actually done very little, but seem to have spent an inordinate amount of time on the telephone trying to sort out my car insurance and trying to ask the hotel for a refund.  The several conversations with the insurance brokers were very embarrassing because John, who was meant to be organising it has an ear-wax problem in addition to his normal level of deafness and he had to keep passing the telephone to me, after which the cord promptly fell out of the handset on three separate phone calls.  I thought they might decline to insure me on account of idiocy, but we seem to have sorted it out.  I was sooo embarrassed, though.

I'm also rather suspicious because these brokers have insured me with the same insurance company which the previous brokers had told me wouldn't insure me again this year because John was "over 69" as they so mimsily phrased it.  When I queried it with the new brokers, the chap said the old brokers had probably fallen out with the insurance company.  I feel very uncomfortable about the whole thing, so I suppose next week I shall have to raise hell with the old brokers to find out why they lied to me.

John's off to The Great Wen tomorrow for an Old Boys' Regimental Dinner, which he's getting free on account of his great age!  Giggle!  Charles and I plan to spend some of the day counting and bagging up the large quantities of change he's amassed over a couple of years, on account of hating to carry change in his pockets.  He says he has already counted it and it's over £40s' worth.  I wonder what the bank will say when I roll up with all that and my paying-in book!