Two Mothers and a Dozen Hens

Bar Buvette

The weekend needed to be special after the effort (and additional expense) that had been spent in getting there! It was! Our wonderful chauffeur dropped us round the corner from the hotel. To walk there with large wheelie bags was nerve-racking (and very cold!)  After thawing out we went down to the bar to meet Chloë and Jack. and told the tale! We agreed to proceed with the planned evening and that meant more treacherous walking through deserted city centre streets - including some ridiculously rough "short-cut" steps . We went to The Strawberry Thief for some interesting beer, and then to Bar Buvette for supper:- simple and very French! Then we took a safer route back to the hotel's bar with its raging fire. (Two nights earlier Greyrocks had needed to run the fan in the room)!

Saturday was all about Chloë and the first of four(!) wedding related events. She had planned the day with precision and it went like this: First there was brunch at Brace and Browns in Clifton. Ruth got a lift with Jack's sister Alice who was invited along with his mother, Janet, Ruth and ten of Chloë's closest friends. 

There was another weather-related close shave over the arrival of three from Oxford. This included Charlotte, who had reached there on Thursday from her workplace of South Sudan - but no further! But road conditions had eased and they arrived. The prosecco flowed freely as did laughter and to finish there were "a few words" from  Chloë and then Ruth. 

Somehow we then all made it to The Beauty Box in Westbury  As Janet works very close by there were discounts and exclusive use for all. Ruth opted for a massage and promptly fell asleep, blaming jet-lag or was it the prosecco - of which there was now a further supply!

The theme was "Feline Femmes Fatales", so the next phase was billed as an opportunity for a catnap at Janet's house. She also had the sewing machine at the ready for the creation of ears and tails, and much mutual face painting happened. And there was no shortage of prosecco to accompany some Motown classics. This all went on for much longer than intended, Ruth had another unintended catnap and then the pack of eleven cats - most in slinky catsuits - went off to hit the city centre. Ruth was delivered safely back to the hotel. Bob had - as expected - spent the day in the warmth of the Waterside cinema!

Greyrocks had a short shopping list of items for Fuerte, so after breakfast on Sunday morning we wandered over to what Ruth still thinks of as  "Broadmead", only to discover opening time is 11 am - not 10! Time killed and jobs eventually complete we checked out and left the bags. The next appointment was lunch with Chloë,  Jack  and the parents-in-law-to be. We had requested a place with good rare roast beef, and that selected was The Ox - a close neighbour of the Register Office. It is in a dark basement - which is rather bizarre for a Sunday lunch; but the food was well up to scratch, and part of the conversation was around the detail of wedding day itself.

We parted company, had another drink and collected our bags. The coach we had booked was on time (fortunately - as we were frozen!) and took us back to Gatwick Airport for a good night's sleep, and an uneventful departure on an afternoon flight home. Quite a weekend, great fun and success rescued from the jaws of a meteorological disaster! But Ruth was sneezing and coughing, and Bob was a few days behind, so we were not "up and at 'em" as might have otherwise been the case after almost eight weeks away!