Thursday, August 30, 2012


Yikes – I’ve overslept!

 

I dimly remember MTL rising about 6.30am and saying

 “If I were you I’d have a lie in.”

I drifted downstairs at tennish to find no husband and no car.  The calendar revealed  he had an appointment at the Warfarin Clinic at 9.30am (so that’s alright then) and I had an appointment at 11am – absolutely NOT alright then.

An abject phone call to my therapist earned me forgiveness and a postponement so I could breathe again.

 Yesterday was lovely and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.  The three of us had a faintly bone- shattering bus ride to Taunton, in grim weather, but everything brightened when we discovered Margaret – our fourth member, in Debenhams – having trained from Cheltenham.

 After a long coffee and catch – up we found the fashion floor – not as straight forward as you may think with four highly informed opinions which tend to differ where geography is concerned.  Joy wanted to find ‘Jake’s’ (translated - this turned out to be Jacque Vert aka Jack Green the fashion brand) to get an outfit for her grand –daughter’s wedding in October.

 We found a pretty floaty number in different shades of aubergine but there were no trousers and Joy was determined to wear trousers.  The four of us flitted from rival firm to rival firm taking stock from hither to yon.  (I did apologise to the assistants but they seemed glad of any activity on such a beastly day).  In the end we had to admit a temporary defeat and crossed over the road to the County Stores for lunch.

 Once we were sitting comfortably with a bottle of wine- and later food, the time passed pleasantly with photo swapping and presents for the birthday girls.  Margaret never allows us to forget that she is the youngest –actually ten years younger than Jackie so we were shocked to hear she had had a fall.  The day after travelling from Scotland she and her husband had been at a nursery and Margaret went to the car to put a plant in the boot- plant in one hand, keys in the other.  The next thing she knew she was on the ground and when she finally managed to get to her feet held her hands aloft crying,

“Where is the blood coming from?” (My telling her of the experience with the Lady Macbeth dress, see Le Weekend Part 2 - reminded her she had felt exactly like Lady M.)

In fact the wound was under her chin, she had to go to hospital for stitches and found she had dislocated her jaw. The medic got her to make extraordinary grimaces and all went back in place.  Had it been me I would have got them to gather up the slack at the same time as the sutures, but that’s just me.

 Her presents for the girls were those crystal things that you can hang by a window and they sparkle in the sun - in the shape of a tiny angel and a drink mat each with a sparkling design.  Such pretty items.  No-one seemed to mind that we had been sitting there for hours but eventually it was time to brave the deluge and part.  Hugs, kisses and – inevitably Margaret’ tears and we experienced once more, the sweet sorrow of parting.

 The journey back was bad –crawling through Taunton and visiting every nook and cranny of West Somerset.  Only one 7- seater taxi awaited us in Minehead.  One of us – who shall be nameless, said we shouldn’t take that - it would be too expensive. So like Ninnies we stood for 20minutes until one of us rebelled.  By the time he had dropped three of us the total cost was £4 which is incredible value.!!!!!
 
I had just changed into something comfy and the phone rang.  It was Jackie distraught because she had lost the bag with the present from Margaret.  As I said to MTL,

“She’ll be heartbroken if she has lost it”.

Ten minutes later the doorbell rings – it’s Jackie with a happy smile on her face.  Her daughter seeing the distress on her mother’s face rushed her down to Minehead and the bag was safely found in the taxi.
No wonder I overslep

16 comments:

angryparsnip said...

Such a day... weather does play havoc with plans and the ability to get about.
Happy everything turned out fine.

cheers, parsnip

OldLady Of The Hills said...


My My My! You all had yourselves a "DAY"! I know it is so nice to be together, but it sounds like your weather was pretty daunting! I'm glad to read everything came out alright....And I understand you "sleeping in", as we say here....! These times together are so very preciuos, I know. It's good that you conyinue to do this for as long as you all are able, my dear.

Pat said...

Parsnip: if we could just get the buses upholstered:)

Naomi: yes - it becomes increasingly obvious that abilities decrease as limitations increase.

Ms Scarlet said...

£4 for the taxi????!!!! Please give me his number.
I hate losing things. I have been known to pin my front door key to my bra.
Pleased you had a lovely day and I also look forward to hearing about the rescheduled meeting.
Sx

Pat said...

Scarlet: you and me both:)

mapstew said...

You wouldn't want to be getting taxi's too often over this side, one would need to take out a mortgage first!

@Scarls; Now I can't get that image of you trying to get yer key after a night on the town out of me head! :¬)

xxx

Unknown said...

See hen, you just listen to the Chef, he'll keep you right. Arms and appointments are made to be broken,but friends are friends for a very good reason.

Pat said...

Map: with all those images you may go cross-eyed.

Chef Files: it's all very well but you aren't always there.

mapstew said...

@Chef; Aye! :¬)

Pint?

lom said...

Never a dull moment with you, haha.

Hope Margaret is feeling better, falls are always horrible even when you don’t hurt yourself.

Pat said...

LOM: I'll probably phone her over the week-end to check.

Unknown said...

A pint indeed Mr Map, but first we must review our rota of looking in on the delightful Patricia more often.

Pat said...

Boys: just pretend I'm not here.

kenju said...

You do seem to have fun excursions!

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

Every time you girls get together and go out, oh my goodness...!

I love reading about you all, out and about. I still remember that birthday party.

So Margaret is the 'cryer' is she? I have a few in my family :-D

Pat said...

Judy and GG: it's so rare now for the four of us to be together we make the most of it.
Yes Margaret is definitely the most emotional although I do have my moments. The other evening I was telling my # 1 son about someone we know who has had a really unhappy time recently and I just keptrepeating her name. I couldn't get any further.