What a Difference a Day Makes!

Lets have a weekend away Lady Ann said, but the pressures of being of a certain age are that when you want to do something you enjoy is often dictated by Hospital and Doctors appointments. Now I am not complaining and I am sure glad of the NHS even with its chronic underfunding and the chaos that ensues every winter.

So bearing that in mind we decided on a midweek break Tuesday to Thursday, inbetween the Doctors and   Diabetes clinic appointments.

Now when I was a teenager like most people I thought I would live forever and that I would always have a pep in my step, how wrong was I then. It’s not that I feel any different inside, (Lady Ann often comments that I need to grow up) but my body is beginning to creak a little. It’s not the knees groaning under the strain of exercise but more like my lungs running out of puff just when you need it most.

So after a quick sit down and a brew after loading the car up we headed off to Wales, our nearest other country neighbour, only a couple of hours down the road. First stop was Llangollen, a beautiful little town tucked on either side of the River Dee for a lunch with some friends.

As beautiful as it is Llangollen has one serious flaw in that if you are on Vodafone your phone suddenly becomes just a piece of plastic and glass cluttering up your pocket. Trying to find each other was a nightmare without a signal. To make up for this though a lady in one of the many shops Lady Ann stopped in kindly lent me her mobile to give them a call.

After a great lunch and much chatter we were off to our hotel in Llandudno. Now I know what you are thinking Llandudno is hardly a romantic place but it has two things that appeal to us, one its flat and easy to get around with plenty of retail opportunities for Ann but more importantly it is surrounded by great roads for me to pretend I am a rally driver.

Driving up to the summit of the Great Orme is a great way to spend a morning. We had a great day eating, shopping and driving so what’s not to like.

Now Thursday was a different proposition altogether, it was the day Storm Doris came to call. It was really wild, not just a little windy but driving on the coast road the sea was epic and very scary so we headed homewards early just because we thought if this had hit Eccles Hall we would need to be there to sort out if anything blew off.

In theory this was the right thing to do, in practice it was a mistake. People driving far to fast without lights on in a storm is always an accident waiting to happen and having spent an hour sat in a rolling roadblock looking at the back of a police car I discovered it would probably have been better waiting for the storm to pass. But you live and learn.

It was lovely when we got home, it was as though nothing had happened, it was calm and nothing had blown off the house, which living in Diggle is always a bonus. So our adventures are now over for a while and I am sat here with a brew looking at patches of blue sky and even though it’s freezing its still better than sitting through a storm like Doris.