Monday 27 April 2009

Recipe for a lovely evening

For the first time I turned on the air conditioning in my car as I made my way in the sunshine. I was as usual later leaving home than I had planned, driving along the familiar motorway then turning north on the A road that I have driven many times before but this time watching out for the side road that I had never taken before. The winding country lane I found myself going up and down hill, I noticed the Ancient Farm off to my right. I had always wondered where that was although I had believed it to be a mile or two further north on the west side of the A road. Well now I know exactly where it is, perhaps I will visit it one day.

Cautiously racing on up and down turning left and right as the lane meandered between farms. I soon found my destination, parking in the one obvious space left, I checked the time…..only a couple of minutes late……..not bad seeing how I had left it so late to leave. Scanning the tables set out in the garden I could see them through my rear view mirror.

As I walked across the car park they both looked around, I waved to indicate that it was me. They both stood up to greet me, I had remembered as I was driving that he no longer sports the facial hair he has worn for most of his adult life. One of the first things I noticed was that like me, she was wearing red and black. We sat talking about our children and the problems of bringing up our teenagers while he went inside to buy my glass of cider. Where I don’t feel the cold so much these days my companion was feeling cold especially when the sun was hidden by the building cloud. Such a shame as until now it had been a lovely sunny warm day.

Conversation with both my companions was easy and relaxed. So much to talk about, so little time. We made a move inside to get out of the chilly breeze, another round of drinks more chat about the differences between life here compared to where my companions live. We talked about blogging, of course we did after all it was blogging which had brought us together. Time was passing hunger pangs were making themselves known so we decided to have a meal, although there were some interesting dishes on offer none of us were in the mood for these, I plumped for a jacket potato with fresh beef chilli topped with cheese. Both my companions plumped for hoisin duck wraps but ended up with baguettes.

Eating did prompt us to discuss the diet plan we had been on last year and agreed that while we have continued to try keeping to the diet plan in the year since we had started we had slipped in our resolve but do try to avoid bread where possible. My female companion told me about her experiences of trying to cook dishes from her native country whilst here and how difficult it is using the ingredients available.

I did enjoy our time together but all too soon it was time to part company as my new friends had another hour to drive before reaching their destination for the night. Driving home I was enjoying the space on the roads with such little traffic, very different to my normal drive home among the rush hour traffic. As I was passing the city a car came speeding past me, its occupants waving, together we raced up the hill and down the otherside until I reached my junction and waved goodbye for the final time.

I wonder if any of you can work out who my companions were. Trixie is banned from answering.

17 comments:

Mel said...

Oh shoot. Don't have a clue....but gosh, sounds like it was a wonderful meet for everyone!

MarmiteToasty said...

Wow thats not far from me, I think your talking about Butser Ancient farm, its a great place to visit especially when they have one of their special weekends or the Burning of the WickerMan..... we love all those country pubs down those back lanes....

Sounds like you had a lovely time......

x

Fire Byrd said...

The Fat Controller and his partner perhaps.The clue was in Trixie being banned from answering.
Or DJ and Chopper
xx

Heather said...

Are we banned as well? ;-)

nitebyrd said...

I'm also going with Fat Controller and Heather. Only because I vaguely remember him saying something about shaving.

It's fun to meet with fellow bloggers, isn't it?

Dark Side said...

I did think DJ and Chopper too but now the others have made me think Fat Controller and Heather, that would be such fun..xx

trousers said...

Not fully sure who who you met, but I can't ever imagine meeting any fellow bloggers. Oh - hang on...

Ignore me - I'm glad you had a good time anyway, it's always nice when these things go well.

Lady in red said...

Mel it was a lovely evening....both the venue and the company

Lady in red said...

Marmite

yes it was butser but I had always believed it was nearer to the country park. but now I know where it is I shall no doubt find my way back there.

Lady in red said...

Fire byrd I met DJ and chopper back in January lol

Lady in red said...

Heather you are only banned if you have insider information ;0)

Lady in red said...

nitebyrd at first I wondered what you had been reading about shaving but I soon clicked what you meant.

Lady in red said...

DS I am happy to tell you that I have met all four of these people you mentioned.

Lady in red said...

Trousers it would seem you were leaving your comment at the same time I was experiencing your storm.

hmmm not sure you can imagine meeting fellow bloggers.........I will remind you of that when we meet again in a few weeks ;-p

Anonymous said...

I am going to write about this myself when I get a chance, but I don't think I can do it better than you! It was indeed a lovely evening and the fact that my own lady was also wearing red was a complete co-incidence!

As for the driving, you were off like a rocket as soon as we reached the main road. We were several miles onto the motorway before we caught you up. LOL

Lady in red said...

Anon as you have now witnessed I do love to drive fast (when it is safe to do so) especially if it is warm and sunny and I can have the windows down with the wind whipping my hair, my music up loud so I can sing to my hearts desire as I drive.

Trixie said...

See you shouldn't have even MENTIONED my name, lol!

I thought of you when I met Heather in her red glasses!

They make great couriers for me. Don't forget to mention your package in the blog that it came from FB...and pass it on to another blogger when you finish!