Busy Weekend

We’ve had a rather busy weekend.

On Friday we headed down to Leeds to see The Hawklords at the Irish Centre. We had a good journey down there (thank you to my lovely, trusty satnav, kissy kissy!); the hotel room was great; the hotel staff were really friendly and helpful (Leeds Vicar Lane Travelodge – highly recommended and a £19 bargain!!); the taxi driver who took us to the venue was really canny and the taxi fare was sooo cheap!!

When we arrived at the Irish Centre we were very pleasantly surprised at how cheap the drinks were! Always a good thing!

The support band, the Sewersuckers, were really good and might deserve some more investigation……..

The Hawklords were just fantastic! Really good. I haven’t enjoyed live music so much for ages! I took lots of photos and some videos too (personal use only!!). It’s the first time I’ve ever taken “proper” photos anywhere like that and I must say now I know why Himself enjoys doing it so much (I might be hooked!!).

The only spoiler in the evening was a strange lady who approached us to ask rather impolitely “what the f**k” Himself thought he was doing taking photos of people without their permission. She went on to accuse him of being Drug Squad and then apologised that she was “a bit stoned and paranoid” – just as well he wasn’t Drug Squad for her sake then wasn’t it? If by some very strange and bizarre coincidence she should be reading this, let me assure her that out of the 300-odd photos Himself took, there were none of her. In fact there were only 3 non-band pictures, one of which was a rather nicely posed shot by two young ladies, so go stick that in your pipe, deary, and if you can’t cope with the effects of drugs – don’t take them!!!

The journey back to the hotel was not the best as, rather than wait 20 mins for a taxi, we decided to walk. It was only a couple of miles but a) it was freezing cold and b) we got a bit lost. Again, we relied on the wonders of modern technology and my Blackberry directed us back to the hotel very nicely!

The next morning we were up bright and early (no choice, we had to be out the car park by 10:00am) so we decided to head off towards York.

We stopped near Pickering for lunch at The Fox and Rabbit. Another lovely place, albeit a tad pricey. However, you really do get what you pay for and we both had a fabulous lunch!  A pud would have been nice but I was far too full to even look at the dessert menu!!

We then had a slight change of mind and headed for Robin Hood’s Bay.  On the way we passed the Hole of  Horcum. My goodness what a sight it was. The photos just don't do it justice - it was mad!!  I'd never heard of it before and this is what Wiki has to say about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hole_of_Horcum

Now, Robin Hood's Bay seemed like a good idea at the time, especially after what my good friend Mrs B had to say about it (follow her, she's hilarious! - http://likenailingjellytoatree.blogspot.com/) and, had it not been snowing, it might have been very enjoyable. However, the narrow, winding roads with steep drops either side were lethal and we were sliding all over the place. A couple of times we actually got stuck and I thought that was us trapped in the middle of nowhere until Spring (a bit like in Misery!!). Fortunately, we managed to find a main road (eventually) and decided to give up for now and try again in the warmer weather.

Having extracted ourselves from that pickle, we stopped just outside of Whitby so I could catch my breath and calm down. I checked my phone and found a text from a close friend to say that her Dad had just died. That was such a shock. He had an operation last Tuesday (16th) and we all assumed he’d be fine. I spoke to her today. She and her mam are doing as well as can be expected. I think we are all still in shock. RIP Mr A, you were a very lovely man and will be very sadly mised by your family and friends.

After than I needed a drink but as I was driving, I had to settle for a coffee. We went into Whitby and I had a very nice coffee at the Dolphin Hotel.

http://www.thedolphinhotel-whitby.co.uk/

We had a brief look around Whitby and cleared our heads taking some photos. I’m a bit disappointed with mine as I somehow managed to have the camera on the wrong setting so they all have a blue tinge, plus I had them set on 3200 ISO which didnt really help!!. I’ve done my best to sort them out on photoshop and they are a bit better now.

Finally, we headed home. Himself’s mam had very kindly stayed at ours looking after the cats. They were all a bit huffy as we’d had the audacity to leave them for about 32 hours! We dropped her at home and then went to collect Ollie from my parents’. He’d been spoilt rotten and mollycoddled (mam tucks him into bed at night with a biscuit!!) but I think he was pleased to see us, judging by the waggy tail!