Easter weekend and beyond

Easter weekend had the potential to be fantastic - we were travelling up to see Ali's brother and sister in law in Manchester, Ali's Mum, Dad, sister and nephew were also to be travelling down from Hawick, and the only foreseeable blot on the horizon was that Stuart and Alison's new bathroom wasn't due to be fitted until this week, so we were showerless for the weekend. We were both really looking forward to having all the family together and enjoying a spring weekend full of chocolate, catching up and generally having a ball.
On the Wednesday prior to us travelling up however, I came down with the nastiest bug I've had for ages. I took the day off work on Thursday and hoped that by dosing up with Immodium (nice, hmm?) I could recover before the weekend and not put a dampener on things. Not to be though - it took me til Tuesday evening to properly feel better and keep some food inside me, and til Friday last week to feel even 80% of my usual self.

The weekend wasn't totally ruined however - I still managed to spend a reasonable amount of money in Manchester's finest shops on the Saturday (every time I go shopping with Alison I always manage to find loads of perfect things that are just right for me and that I can also scrape together the money for - she's either a curse or a blessing, that one) while 'the boys' took Liam out to a farm park. Sunday was the inevitable choc-fest, for everyone else apart from me anyway, and Liam very generously shared out his eggs to those of us not fortunate enough to receive one from our loved ones, are you reading this Ali........ All that and a brand new Dr Who episode on Saturday evening where Liam hid behind the door at the scary bits (evoking happy memories for those of us who remember being similarly scared in our childhoods) and overall the weekend was excellent.

Back to work on the Wednesday after still being ill on Tuesday, and nothing else of note to report til this weekend just gone. Went to see Midlake at The Zodiac in Oxford on Friday night (Friday 13th for those with supersitious natures) with Phil and John and 2 mates of theirs. The band were amazing, the atmosphere just right, and we had a good old moan beforehand about the imminent change over to the 'Carling Academy Oxford' and 'remodelling' of the different floors of the venue. It just won't be the same, corporate bastards, etc, etc. To top the evening off Ali and I had a quick drink in The Bear before getting the bus back to Abingdon, and what beer did they have on but his favourite, Timothy Taylor's Landlord. Pretty near perfect evening.

Ian and Gayle came up for a visit on Saturday night, and it would have been criminal not to sit in a beer garden by the river, so we got off the bus at St. Aldate's and managed to find a table at the heavingly busy Head of the River. Ian and Gayle had great fun critiquing the rowing style of some novice crews out in the early evening sunshine, before we all went off to sample the delights of the cocktail menu at Raoul's. I'll save the eulogising about this place (the best cocktail bar IN THE WORLD, EVER) for another time. Calamari and steak at Branca before wearily wending our way back home on the bus for an earlyish night.

Breakfast outside on Sunday morning in the beautiful, beautiful warm weather, and after Ian and Gayle had headed back to London we paid the ritual weekend visit to Homebase to buy a strimmer (rock and ROLL) and then I pootled about in the garden potting up herbs and mowing the lawn etc. A quick G&T in the evening with Nerys and the weekend was almost over.

Two absolutely top weekends, then.

(Word of the day today on Dictionary.com is 'efficacious'. A really good word.)