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Family reunion part 2
10 October 2016 22:31


The birthday lunch worked out well. The food was good and we had a nice catch up with relatives and friends – some of whom I haven’t seen since The Aged’s 70th birthday. His oldest friend was there; they’ve known each other since infant school, which is a pretty good length of time – especially when you think that this was pre-internet days, and the friend lived in various places around the world.

The Aged had a bit of a panic when we were checking the table layouts. I’d noticed he’d loaded the printer with half-used paper (the half that was used being the other side), which was ideal for draft copies so I’d printed on that. How was I supposed to know it was a copy of his tax return? Stupid man. If it was confidential, why didn’t he shred it straight away?

The hotel manager and staff worked really hard and had everything well under control (even after the frequent changes of numbers). But we still had to force her to accept a tip. “If you’re happy with the service, we’ve done what we are supposed to”, she said. Yeah, but that’s not the point. You’ve worked over and above what you were supposed to and deserve to be rewarded.

About a dozen of us stayed in the hotel overnight. The restaurant wasn’t open in the evening, so we ordered a mass of pizza. There was a piano in the bar, and CGF played that while CS3 played her cajon and the rest of us had a sing – we even got some other guests to join in. It was a fun evening.

Sunday I had a day out with Little Sis and BiL. BiL’s ancestors (not sure how far back) were part of a semi-noble family that came from a village about an hour north; BiL had been in touch with a local historian who had offered to give him a tour of the family house – now a private junior school. Little Sis and I were just along for the ride (OK, I was chauffeur) but we ended up having a really good day. The historian and his wife were friendly and interesting people – they know their stuff, but not in a nerdy way. We started at the small village museum, then had a private tour of the building – including onto the roof (via a narrowing spiral staircase), a trip to see some other local sites of relevance, and ended up having a late pub lunch.

Little Sis had bought one of those pre-payment cash cards for her trip, and was trying to find what the balance was. She phoned the customer service centre and the conversation went something like this:
“Can you tell me the balance on the card?”
“It’s $970”
“No, that’s the amount I originally loaded. I need to know how much is left”.
“Oh, do you want the current balance”
“Yes, that’s the general idea”
“You have £850”
“But that’s just the sterling equivalent of what I started with. I need to know how much I have left ... Goodbye, you’re obviously too stupid for me to deal with”.
She then checked her receipt and discovered that she’d originally only had £780 – so how that had increased to £850 is anyone’s guess.

Monday we had a day out at Warwick Castle and Stratford-upon-Avon – another fun sibling outing (the oldies stayed at home).

Warwick Castle is brilliant, though the admission price structure is a bit odd. Apart from quoting VAT separately, which is a bit unusual for the UK, it was £25 for castle, grounds, and dungeons or £20 for castle and grounds only [these may not be the actual prices, but you get the idea]. So far so good, but underneath the second price it read “upgrade to the dungeons for £9” (owtte). Is it me, or wouldn’t it be better to buy the £25 all-inclusive ticket than a £20 ticket plus £9 upgrade?

Anyway, we’d bought our tickets the night before, so had a small discount on those prices (had we bought them five days earlier we’d have got a bigger discount) and went to the dungeons. They were worth the money – a series of different rooms where guides/actors told us (with “assistance” from members of the audience) about tortures, trials, and other spooky stories. Then we went for lunch!

We also watched a birds of prey display. Better than your average village fete falconry demonstration, this one had kites, eagles, owls and an Andean condor.

After that we drove over to Stratford-upon-Avon and had a walk through the town and round the canal basin. The town is pretty, but the theatre is dead ugly. Sisters had to visit far more shops than was strictly necessary – obviously, as this was a sightseeing trip, no shops were strictly necessary.

When we were kids Dad would often embarrass us by singing along to background music in shops etc. Imagine our surprise when we found ourselves doing just that while walking round the castle! And in Stratford-upon-Avon, Little Sis and I spontaneously broke out in a rendition of this song:

Tuesday was the actual birthday, and we went out for a family meal in the evening. Sprog had found a smart restaurant for the occasion. They had a Taster Menu available, which gave a set meal of two small starters, a main course, and two small desserts, and all for only £20. Bargain!! We all had that – it was excellent. They offer that menu Monday to Thursday, and it seems to work as the place was full and most diners seemed to be choosing it. I’m now trying to work when we can go back to The Aged’s midweek so we can go there again!

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