A Memorable Saturday Night

Writing this on Sunday, I am still gobbsmacked at what happened to us last night. The plan was to meet up with friends at our local pub and then take a short train ride to a nearby town and try out some of their hostelries, picking up a meal on the way.

Hubby went on ahead and I followed at the allotted time, to find them all there, plus Bramble, the springer spaniel. Also in the pub was the former landlord, another friend we hadn’t seen for a few years.

I ordered a small shandy; I thought it might be rather a heavy drinking night so I should start light. As time went on, hubby asked our friend if he was taking his dog home before we went on.

“Oh yes, there’s plenty of time,” was the reply.

When hubby went outside for a smoke, my lady friend asked me if I knew anything about plants.

“Can you help me identify some here?” So we moved outside too. Strangely she had forgotten that the plants were above our heads in hanging baskets.

Then the barmaid came out and said she was closing the door because she was feeling cold. But it was quite a balmy evening.

Our friend came out a bit later and said he was buying another round. By that time I was resigned to having to wait an hour for the next train, but we followed him in to a crowd of people all laughing their heads off at something. Two large banners were slung up on the walls with our names on. On the bar were large silver dishes of hot and cold nibbles. Then out came a card with lots of signatures on it, a wrapped present for hubby (an engraved pewter beer mug, of course) and a big bouquet of flowers for me. It was a surprise farewell party before our house move.

And it was completely unexpected. We hadn’t realised, even with all the clues I’ve spelt out above. No train ride for us that night. We had a lovely time with more friends than we knew we had. A few hours later we rolled home with all our booty and some very warm feelings.