Monday, July 17, 2017

My weekend with "picnic"

As mentioned at a few places, I was going away for what a few days which included the annual Ikklespace Picnic but it wasn't as planned starting with being pawley the day before with bad milk making me sick and feeling generally yukky.
Thankfully I had packed mainly the day before so I only had the toiletries to pack and a quick check before leaving Friday by bus to the very best rail station in the North-west Midlands to catch my train to meet up with one person before setting off the next day.
Seeing I was travelling across mealtimes I had a light lunch before setting off and consumed a Oat Flapjack on the station while waiting for my train to come in on time, which it did, observe one that was running thirteen minutes late and another ultimately get cancelled at Nantwich!
When I arrived it was sunny and I changed to my maroon pleated skirt that matched by sweatshirt, settling down to colouring in my "Coloring for girls" colouring book while sipping tea and talking.
Seeing it was not going to be long before our Evening meal, it was time for to help out with preparing  it so I scrapped and chopped the home grown potatoes and cut the cabbage to be put on the boil while the beef was cooked with its own fat for an hour and twenty minutes.
I also made Rhubarb pie by cutting the rhubarb into bits to boil until soft before making the pastry with 6 Oz flour, 3 Oz fat kneading together and adding 2 Oz sugar to caramelize the pastry.
The pie was served with ice cream and was delicious while the beef turned out really well.
In the evening, we watched the highlights of that days Tour de France as person I was with is a keen cyclist apart from being good at looking after me and First Night of The Proms.
The next morning I got, washed and dressed  ready to deal with the overnight washing up, fix my cereal and make some tea for both of us although I didn't find the Tea Cosy that keeps it warmer for longer.
We set off at half past Nine having noted the traffic issues in Birmingham and domino effects across the motorway network across the Black Country and onto Worcestershire.
It was there we noticed the weather that had been forecast to better toward the South East didn't seem to be what was forecast and indeed outside a period in Oxfordshire it proved to be very much mizzy with constant light rain
We stopped at a one village for the General Stores before arriving at the venue only to find understandably it had been moved into Sammy's house which had I of had cellphone on spotted I'd of  spotted a text message advising of the same. There's probably a lesson in that.
So we had to travel a few more miles on, using the stat nav and maps to get to the house.
While it was a disappointment to not be able to play outside with bubbles, kites, teddy bears and the like, actually as the group number was a bit lower people mingled around sharing in interesting conversations while others went out to look at the garden and some big electric  train related equipment her partner has.
It's also the reason rather having a picture of playing with things there's a picture of train instead on this post!
This combination of a smaller gathering probably helped people to feel more together rather than being in small clusters with the food people had brought to event being shared in the kitchen area such as pies, scotch eggs, banana's, crisps and assorted tasty cupcakes and lolipops which it has to be said I'm a great fan of.
We left at half past four after saying our goodbyes as we needed to travel back to South Staffordshire where it was noted as soon as we got toward Worcestershire it was quite bright bringing the thought maybe a picnic up here be an idea?
We called in just leaving Stourbridge to a Fish and Chip shop for Cod and chips for our evening meal that night to save cooking so enabling a relaxed end to what rain aside had been a great day with friends and anyway Fish and Chips always goes down well when you're a Catgirl!
It was scrumptious.
We watched some more Tour de France while sipping tea and fairy cakes followed by listening to some eighties music when I made may way to bed on all four paws.
I woke up about half six after a good night's sleep tm, got dressed  and did the overnight dishes before fixing my cereal and making tea.
I left around of twenty past Ten having left the person I was with a present wrapped in teddy bear paper and catching the Eleven o clock train home plus a a cab to the door well not quite as he overshot the turning for my house so I had a two hundred yard walk!
I'd like to thank Sammy and Mr. P for opening their home when it was clear the outdoor picnic wasn't going to work, everyone there including the new in the flesh to me Miss L and Miss Green for looking after mes on what was a most lovely weekend.
x

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