My hubby has a very involved job. Being self employed he rarely takes any time off and it means we don’t get many holidays together.

If you read my blog frequently you will know I go away a lot with my blogging wifey, Boo. Short European City Breaks to tour the museums, castles and galleries all whilst trying the local delicacies… mainly the cake! Oh and the beer for me.

Vienna and Cake

He does however have quite a large group of friends and we catch up around once a year for a meal with all the spouses.

Hawaiian Night

Sadly, the recent early death of one of those pivotal friends pulled the friendship group a lot tighter. Realising that life really is too short, everyone resolved to get together a lot more.

Most of the group all live local apart from one couple who live near to Henley on Thames. So, it was suggested by them that we all had a short break down there to enjoy each other’s company, some good food and wine/beer and a chance to recharge our batteries.

Now, being that the suggested date was a Saturday/Sunday, I thought it highly unlikely that we would be participating. However, I was pretty surprised when he said he was going to take the time off and we could go and join the rest of the group.

So, the beginning of June came around and we duly packed our clothes. Now, he is someone that hates shopping. But more so he hates spending money on himself.

This comes easy to me, so I took him in hand and dragged him along as I put shirts, trousers, shoes, socks, and even boxers in the basket. Everything I suggested, he wasn’t keen on. But I really wasn’t giving him a chance.

We got to the till and were being served by a pleasant young lady. Making a joke I said ‘please don’t be alarmed if he gets a bit emotional when the final bill comes up, he hates shopping and spending money on himself’

As quick as a flash she replied with ‘Oh I know just what you mean, we have to do that with my Dad too……’

Well whilst I was giggling my head off at this, she realised the error of her words and was trying to backtrack, whilst he stood there looking shell shocked!

Eventually we got in the car and started the journey to Henley which was around 90 minutes away. The forecast was pretty good however it was a little overcast when we first left. However half way there the sun came out and the heat really kicked in.

Bird in the Hand

Graeme and his lovely wife Sam had organised rooms for the group in the lovely ‘Bird in the Hand’ pub/hotel. It was a beautiful old looking pub with gorgeous interior decor. Our room was based around a courtyard and was just lovely.

Gorgeous Room

We quickly unpacked and hung our clothes before going to join some of our friends that were already there. Sat, Kalpana, Nish and Chandi had all arrived first and were just finishing their lunch. Soon to arrive were Karen, Rob, Lisa and Ped. Now all we needed were the hosts themselves.

Fab toiletries

A few minutes later they arrived and we all piled into their cars to be driven to a pub by the side of the river; The St George and the Dragon. A stunning large pub with a massive patio right down onto the river. We commandeered a few tables and chairs and set ourselves in for the afternoon.

Basking in the Sun

All the men put money into a drinks kitty then the relaxing began. Gin seemed to be the drink of the day, especially the rhubarb variety. I stuck to my regular vodka and we all sat in the scorching sun and chatted away. It really was so fantastic catching up with everyone and not having any time barriers or agenda.

Catching Up

I have to admit, I was slathering on the factor 50 but I could still feel my pale pasty skin starting to burn. I commandeered the cotton shirt from hubby (he had a t-shirt on under it) and hid my shoulders from the sun. What a wimp I am!

Riverboat Ride

Several hours passed with us chatting and working our way through the drinks menu. Eventually all the men went off to the local snooker club which was booked just for them to use and all the ladies stayed in the sun imbibing more alcoholic beverages.

Allegedly the snooker was great fun and no friendships were put in jeopardy. There were three snooker tables for them to play on. The scores were as such; Graeme beat Rob 2-0, hubby beat Sat 2-0, Ped beat Nish 2-0 (we think) so it was all pretty close. They moved onto Darts and had a few beers themselves.

Eventually it was time for us to all meet up again as a curry was booked in a nearby town. The Bull was a five minute walk for us ladies and we made sure the men got the drinks in as we left our first pub. When we got there, we found out there literally was only 15 minutes until we had to get the train which took us five minutes down the line to the restaurant.

Off to The Bull

Getting a wiggle on, we necked our drinks and made a dash for the train station.

Well, I say station. It literally was one concrete platform with a ‘shelter’ on it!

The gang

Of course hi-jinks ensued, especially as I was trying to get my big camera to take a timed shot, something I had never tried before. Suffice to say it was NOT overly successful but we had such good fun doing it.

Using the timer….

It was then that someone noticed a huge traffic cone on top of the shelter. Operation retrieval ensued and then of course all the men took turns being silly with it.

Operation Retrieval

The train was coming into the ‘station’. Well, it was limping into the station. I have honestly seen a paralysed slug move with more speed and motivation. We literally were cheering it on, encouraging it to finally arrive on our platform.

Successful Operation

You can probably guess there had been quite a lot of alcohol involved at this point!

Oh dear…

We got onto the train and travelled all of five minutes to the next town, Twyford where the restaurant was located.

Curry Night

Haweli is a highly awarded Indian restaurant which has a lovely interior. The staff were lovely and welcomed us all with big smiles and friendly greetings.

All the Crew

Prior to arriving at the restaurant,  we had all talked about how w were ready to party. Gin, rum and wine were sitting in the bedrooms and  we were all planning on converging into one room to drink the night away.

By the time we had ordered out starters, I could tell this was not going to happen. Everyone had already started to flag and shoulders were slumped. Perhaps it wasn’t going to be party central after all.

Starters

We sat in the restaurant for  couple of hours drinking and eating. To be honest, I didn’t have too much of an appetite; I was melting hot and this was causing me to feel quite unwell.

Flagging…

Eventually we all finished our meal and headed out into the cool air to get our taxis back to the hotel.

To be honest, I genuinely didn’t think we would get back in one piece! The driver was a maniac who bumped off of kerbs, went on the wrong side of the road and even when we arrived, took 7 trs asking for the cost before he actually answered us.

I for one was happy to climb out of that taxi!

Everyone headed to ther own rooms the view to getting in to comfy clothes/pyjamas. We did the same and then went back to the courtyard outside our room to meet up with everyone.

Sat and Nish arrived… And that was it!

Selfie… kinda

The others had all decided to call it a night. The four of us sat and had a nightcap and then we too called it a night.

There were a few plans for the following day and we needed to be up bright and early.

Watch this space for the next installment…

SPSG xx