Day 222 and 223

Saturday, early start after a good nights sleep from all of us, and before I knew it  I was at Ormskirk station a little before 10am and on the train.

I listened to some Gene Harris on the train, then switched to Radiohead when I got into Liverpool. I marched to Starbucks, got a coffee and a croissant and headed over to Lime Street station to meet "the boys".

I was, as usual, really early and milled about for almost an hour before John and Ant turned up, then Lea arrived, and then Stew and Mike ran through the station, conscious that we had about 5 minutes to get on the train.

Then we were off to :

Sheffield!

We dropped the bags at the hotel and headed to the theatre, stopping at the Old Monk for some lunch first. Then it was on to The Crucible (where they do the snooker) to see an incredible production of Othello. Lester Freamon (Clarke Peters) and Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West) were Otello and Iago respectively. We were right on the stage and it was incredibly intimate and powerful. Highly recommend it for anyone who likes that sort of thing.

We were in Sheffield ostensibly for Stew's 30th (which was about 3 weeks ago) so after the play we went back to the hotel, spruced ourselves up and headed out on the town. We went to Las Iguanas for something to eat, and though the service was a little slow, the chicken enchilada was really good, so you know, swings and roundabouts. Ant left us after dinner (about 10pm) as he wasn't feeling great and Me, Stew, Lea, John and Mike hit the bars. A lot of this is a blur, but we I do remember slapping a middle aged woman's arse (at her request), I remember the sambuca, the Jagerbombs, and the glass of Scotch back at the hotel.

John, Mike, Lea and Stew

John, Lea and Stew

Me and Lea shared a room, as is tradition, and, as is tradition, I kept him awake with my snoring all night.

We checked out at about 10am and the 6 of us wandered to the train station. All of us (except Ant) feeling slightly worse for wear. I think it's fair to say we all had a pretty good night.

I met Melissa, her mum and dad and Penny in Liverpool and we went shopping. I bought some comic books and looked after Penny while Melissa and her mum wandered round Primark FOR AN HOUR! Afterwards, we went for a late lunch (scampi and chips, winning) and then came home.

Once we got home Penny kicked off properly. She was doing some epic screaming we think due to wind/acid reflux. She's calmed down now after a bath a bottle and she and Melissa are watching TV now.

I think we're going to watch An Idiot Abroad tonight, and then hopefully get an early night.

See you tomorrow!