North, South, East & West

Monday (11th September), left the Lodge (‘North’) and drove the hire car back to Liverpool, the weather was not great, but the traffic was not to bad, so an uneventful drive.

Returned the hire car, walked to the train station to get a train to York, our train was cancelled again! But as we were at the station early we managed to get the earlier Trans Pennine Express train to Leeds (rather than direct to York), so we had to change trains in Leeds, but we still got to York sooner than we originally planned, and managed to get an earlier bus back to Pocklington.

Spent Tuesday unpacking and repacking! Rog was the ‘IT Helpdesk’ working up to Parents upgrading their phones. Had Flu jabs in the afternoon.

Wednesday, Rog spend the morning dealing with travel plans and the associated admin, New Zealand electronic Travel Authorisation (not Visa ??) and the Australian equivalent, buying travel insurance, checking all the baggage allowances on our flights to ensures we pack the right size and weight of bags! Booking a hire car whilst we are in Spain. It all takes time!

Thursday we went out for lunch with both sets of parents to celebrate 2 birthdays. We went to the North Star at Flambrough, a lovely lunch all round.

Friday, we drove south to Kent (‘South’) to see Nic’s brother and family, and yes, surprise surprise we spent the weekend eating, drinking and watching the rugby! We did also get out for a walk around Knole.

We were watching the weather forecast for the Irish Sea, and after chatting with our friend on Island, we decided to swap our ferry booking for Thursday, and booked a flight from Manchester instead!

Back to Pocklington (‘East’) on Monday (25 September).

Tuesday we had our fifth Covid jab! Spent Wednesday doing a couple of jobs to help out.

Isle of Man Steam Packet, still couldn’t decide if the ferry was going to sail on Thursday, so they offered to change our booking at no cost, so that’s what we did! By keeping the ferry booking for our journey to Liverpool, and booking a return to the island for next June.

Thursday, back to York train station, by bus with a very jovial bus driver, who had a selection of rubber ducks displayed on the dashboard.

Then the train to Manchester, an interesting journey! Our reserved seats were right behind a group of young women, who had started drink at 12noon and were really enjoying themselves, very loudly. Unfortunately they were also going all the way to Manchester.

We walked from Manchester Victoria station to Piccadilly station, for a train out to the Airport.

The flight was uneventful to the Isle of Man (‘West’) and our friend was there to meet us.

Friday, we started the day with a visit to the dentist, all good!

Rog then met a friend for lunch, and Nic also met a friend for lunch and a bit of retail therapy.

The evening was spent with friends, having a few drinks, a takeaway, and some Harry Potter film watching in honour of Micheal Gambon!

Saturday saw us meeting more friends for brunch. There is a theme to the week emerging! Then after a lazy afternoon, and a nap for Nic. It was off to the pub for a few drinks and a very good Pizza at the Restaurant next door.

Sunday, a leisurely day, a good home cooked brunch, a walk to Fleswick bay and saw Seals. More sport on the telly, horse racing and rugby.