We were meeting Tracy, Dave, Matt, Nic, Richard and Jo at McDonalds on the East Lancs at 10 sharp, so we had to be up and out to drop Penny with nanny, then we were off to pick up Tracy and Dave at 9:30 and onwards to Ronald McDonald's Restaurant for breakfast.
We were there just before 10am, Matt and Nic arrived next and then Richard and Jo. We had breakfast, I burned my mouth off on a latte that was far too hot, and then were out the door and off to the Raddison Park Inn just outside Leigh. We checked in and called a taxi. Neil was the driver who turned up in a big silver minibus. Big enough for the eight of us.
You may be asking "what are you doing? You haven't said where you're going." And you're right. I haven't.
We were going to "Bent & Bongs Beer Bash" at Formby Hall. No, not that Formby Hall, a small church hall that probably doubled as a youth club on most week nights, about 15 minutes drive from Leigh town centre.
We knew the doors were due to open at 12pm and had decided to get there early so we could get in the queue. Unfortunately, so had everyone else, and everyone else had gotten there much earlier than us. The queue was MASSIVE. It looked like there was more people in the queue than would fit inside the hall.
Still, they did. It was £6 entry and you get a programme and a commemorative pint glass, which you use to get your drinks in, thus negating the need for washing up. The glass was marked 1/2 pint and full pint levels. I drank half pints so I could drink loads of different things. There was a LOAD of real ales, ciders and foreign beers available. From what I can remember I had the following :
Timothy Taylors Landlord (Old favourite, give the stomach something familiar to lay a foundation)
Gollums Revenge
Stargazer
Jaipur
Golden Ale
And many more. I'm sitting here trying to remember the names of them and they're not coming back. Melissa drank mainly the ciders, the weird and wonderful fruity ones. All silly strength.
As you can see, it was packed.
A little after 3:30pm we phoned Neil and he came and picked us up in a different, pinker mini bus and dropped us back at the hotel where we freshened up (and drank more) and met in the lobby at... Err... I don't know, 6pm?
Neil was back to pick us up and drop us in the town centre where we proceeded to drink more and more.
It was 10pm when we decided to call it a night and went to the kebab house. Noms.
Neil, once again, picked us up and took us back to the hotel. We said good night to everyone and then Melissa and I retired to the bed room to eat our munch and watch The Rock. Perfect.
Sunday morning, for me, started at about 5am, when all the sugar in the cider I'd enjoyed the night before decided to wake me up and not let me back to sleep.
I tossed and turned, unable to get comfortable, for about 4 hours, then we got up, showered and met Tracy and Dave in the lobby and headed to Little Chef. More noms.
One Olympic Breakfast later, we headed home. We dropped T&D off and went to collect Penny from nanny, and not a minute too soon.
It's easier to make out in the bigger picture, but she's got a massive scratch on her nose. Nanny didn't put her gloves on her last night and as a result she's scratched herself.
We've gotten the hang of the "I don't want a bottle" behaviour and have started to feed her real food more often and give her bottles less often, and she seems to be more keen to take the bottle that way.
Emma's just turned up to drop off Melissa's birthday present, so at least she's got something to open tomorrow morning. I was hoping Penny would do the leg work, and she assumed the same of me. Whoops. Poor mummy.
This evening Melissa and I plan to watch a lovely film together, and hopefully get an early night as we're both knackered.
Thank God I'm off work tomorrow.
See you then!
