have photos so must write........
Monday morning I travelled to Nottingham by train for work purposes tommorrow. Decided as I had never spent a great deal of time there that the opportunity was too great to miss. Got there just after lunch only cos i messed around once I got up - bout 1.5 hrs from St Pancreas and £40 return if i could have booked in advance. Hotel was pleasant enough - Rutland Square Hotel right next to Nottingham Castle and 10min walk uphill from the station - bout £55 per night including breakfast but not wifi. Anyway discovered the Castle wasnt open on Monday so walked into the town centre and had a look in a few shops and the Visitors centre and read my travel mag at Costas. Went for another amble around and then back to the hotel to continue flirting online with my latest - me Maid Marian - him Robin Hood who would rescue me from the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham when I visit the castle tommorrow - bit if silly nonsense really but fun at the time.
Tuesday - Nottingham Castle. A beautiful day today and frost on the ground. it was very hard to tear myself away from the sun to go inside the castle but I did. £5.50 entrance fee. the grounds were lovely and great views over Nottingham itself as set on a small hilltop. The inside had a variety of things for kids as well as adults. The history of Nottingham part was well put together and very interesting. Then with a sandwich and coffee back outside to bask in the sun for an hour before retrieving my bag and back to the station to go and actually do some work. Those who know me know that i like to be early for things to cover for all eventualities and this was one of the times it was good that I am this way. i discovered at the station thinking my work visit was to a suburb of nottingham that it was not. Newark is a separate town in the north east of Nottinghamshire and a 40 minute train ride thru beautiful countryside. On the train I hopped - one mostly every hour - nice walk to where i needed to go assisted by an older gentleman whom i think thought it was his lucky day and i wasnt really there for work and that I would spend the afternoon sightseeing with him in Newark. Anyway nicely got rid of him and to businesss for the next few hours. pleasant walk back to the station at 1700 to discover i had just missed a train and that another one wasnt due for 55 minutes. The sort of train station with an outside open cold platform and nothing else there. The remnants of my sandwich from lunchtime helped as well as a drink. Back to nottingham and another wait for a train only because the train due to leave for London stopped at every stop and the one 35 mins after that only stopped 3 times - i have learnt it is better to wait for more direct trains. Back into London by 2100 and a quick stop at my fave food shop at the station before getting home bout 2130.
Wednesday night Mel, Kathryn and I plus some other friends of their's met at tower Hill Station to do a @jack the ripper and other ghosts' walking tour. Planned this the previous month but it was raining so went and had a drunken night and curry in Brick Lane instead. brick lane has more Indian restaurants in it than NZ all together. Anyway it wasnt raining. a group of about 15 of us - £9.00 - 2.5 hours of walking and got to hear all about Jack the ripper and his victims as well as other gruesome stories around the whitechapel area. i really enjoyed it. Started at 1800 and finshed bout 2030. Then we walked the 5 mins to brick lane again and indulged in a curry - very good one it was too. Then only 15 mins home for me by bus. so nice being on my side of London inside of the usual 60-75 mins travelling back home.
Thursday - worked late and not home until 2000 and then did washing, internet and in bed by 2200.
Friday - an eagarly awaited day - the Battersea Beer Festival. yes I do still hate beer and cannot drink but i had done my research and heard they may be selling fruit wine. Eric who sits next to me at work goes with his friends every year so i decided the rest of us were going to join him. Eric takes the entire day off work to indulge - he has a wife and a son who is nearly 2 so is only allowed out occassionally and when he does go out he makes it a good one. I left work at lunchtime as had time in lieu owing and did some shopping before meeting others there at 2. Girls - dont do speed dating - just go to a beer festival - wall to wall men and very few women - I do have to admit quantity did not mean quality but there were some pickings and quality turend up later in the afternoon. Found the wine and indulged in 3 glasses over a 6 hr period - not much but enough to get me reasonavbly drunk and a bit loud and inappropriate - chatted up a few men - just having fun. Robin Hood was texting all night - hadnt actually met him yet at that stage but i think he was a bit worried Id find someone else. eric was so drunk he couldnt actually string a sentence together so he was bundled off home by his friends and the rest of us left about 2200. I managed to get myself home ok by about 2300 but managed to walk into a pole at the bottom of the DLR stairs - it was because Id used up all my concentration getting down the stairs safely - sustained a bleeding nose but fortunately no bruising.
Saturday during the day I kept it quiet. Went for a walk. Out again that night to a work colleague's 30th birthday party - a bit of an upmarket affair. only a few of us were invited and me only because i had commiserated with her on several occassion when her long term boyfriend left her several months earlier. It was way over in SW London and took about 90 mins - Mortlake. Her house was lovely - just doing it up. Lots of people there but very moneyed - evidently there were several MPS and other such like people. I spoke to a few but mainly stuck with the few people I knew. Lots of young trendy couples. Wasnt planning to drink but the sort of 'do' that your glass keeps getting refilled and canapes keep coming your way. I was not loud and inappropriate - very circumspect and sedate really - I do have the ability for this. Just missed atrain when I got to the station so another 35 min wait and managed to get the last tube from Waterloo and finally home about 0100.
Sunday - well I was exhausted and just felt like dying all day. I am too old to have most nights in a week out as well as drink too much on 2 nights in a row - although having 3-4 glasses of wine in a whole evening is really not overdoing it but i guess it means I could be a cheap date. Talking about dates I had one for Valentines Day. Adam had planned a big night for our first meeting - I wasnt so sure but hey what girl could say no to a guy who was funny and interested in her. He was texting and emailing all day with various suggestions and plans etc. Tell you about it in next weeks installment.