After another uncomfortable night’s sleep, I was up bright and early again. Sadly, though I found Graham & Jo preparing to leave to go home as Jo was not feeling any better. I sympathised as there is nothing worse than not only feeling ill in a strange place but also being surrounded by ‘strange’ people. They quietly said their goodbyes with regret before anyone else was up and awake.
It was such a shame as this morning, Sarah & Ian had offered to prepare a full English Breakfast for everyone which is always a big favourite of Graham. It was prepared quickly and efficiently and was most delicious. I had Graham’s sausage.
After clearing up after breakfast we took 2 cars to visit Lincoln City centre, somewhere I had never been before. We knew there was a steep hill and set the Sat Nav to take us to a car park at the top of the hill in front of the cathedral. The car park was much smaller than the online details had said but we found 2 free spaces.
Paying for the car park was far more complicated than it should be. None of the machines were accepting credit cards (or cash). Then we realised we could also pay on an app. Of course, it was not any of the 5 other parking apps I already had on my phone necessitating downloading yet another, registering and then eventually paying. A local was also having the same problem. It turned out he was an App developer and helped us to get it all sorted.
Surely there must be some standardisation or consolidation is needed in parking apps.
We wandered towards the cathedral which we decided was most impressive from the outside. The area around it had a feel of the Close in Norwich and was most pleasant. We walked all around the Cathedral before going in. Here we met the first less friendly Yellowbelly (apparently what you call someone from Lincolnshire). The lady taking the £10 admission fee (£10? – to enter the free House of God?) was abrupt and jobs worthy. We were glad to leave her behind.
The cathedral was very calming to wander around. The glass windows were impressive. We saw the 43m ‘Table for the Nation’ made out of 5000-year-old wood and then also the copy of the Magna Carta that was on display.
After this the courtyard café was calling and so we found a table in the sun and had some refreshing drinks. It was very pleasant and an hour quickly passed with some fun continuous idle chatter.
This was followed by a walk along the cobbled street with quaint shops before heading back to the cars.
The others headed straight back whilst Karen & I diverted to the M&S food store for a Meal Deal to eat later. Tonight, Vijai had volunteered to make everyone an authentic Indian Curry and once again the faddy Clare’s had opted out.
Back at the church we dragged some chairs outside to have some fizz sitting outside in the lovely sunshine. Our chat and relaxation were interrupted several times by locals who were curious to find out if we were the new owners of the church and what it was being used for now.
Then we all went for a wander along the delightful High Street stopping to look at the large Dambusters monument that was informative and thought provoking.
Once back in the church it was time for Vijai with his sous chef Val to prepare their Vegetarian Curry feast which consisted of multiple starters, main courses and sides. It was deemed to be amazing and a great success. There was plenty of left overs which were packed away to be delivered to Graham & Jo at home the next day. We enjoyed our comparatively boring M&S meal deal at the same time.
Following a big clear up of the kitchen & dining room we all agreed to have a movie night in the cinema room. The problem was that there were too many films to choose from. I tried to select 5 suitable ones but they were all rejected. After this we all crowded in the DVD library room to find a suitable one, we settled upon a film called ‘The Bookstore’ on the basis no one had seen it, Ian had read the book, it had Bill Nighy in it and that it was supposed to be set in Southwold.
The cinema experience was brilliant, sadly the film wasn’t. Karen & Val both fell asleep. The story meandered along ending without a climax apart from a small child turning into a pyromaniac and seemingly getting away with it.
It had been an opportunity squandered and those of us still awake said we should have gone with our second choice of The Blues Brothers. With that we all made our way to our bedrooms for the night.
The final morning was a lazy slow start for everyone as all had breakfast and then started to pack up all our belongings and loading the cars. We stripped the beds and made sure everywhere was clean and tidy before locking up for the last time.
We all said our goodbyes to what had been a simply lovely weekend away with some lovely friends even if the accommodation had been eclectic and perhaps less than ideal. It had also been a shame that Graham & Jo had not been with us all the time.
The others were going straight home (after stopping for photos in the nearby village bizarrely named New York). However, we headed back in the direction of Lincoln to pick up a Footstool we had ordered online months ago to match our sofa set. They had wanted £89 to deliver. Our original plan had been to collect in August when we are passing through Lincolnshire again, but then realised we could pick it up on this trip.
We found the store easily and were loaded in onto the back seat and were back on the road within 10 minutes.
The journey back was uneventful until just over 1 hour in the journey when Karen realised, she had left her necklace on the dressing table in our bedroom. We immediately phoned the cleaners who said that they were not going in until 2 days later and would look for it for us.
I could see Karen was distressed and suggested we turnaround and go straight back. But then I realised that I had an appointment at the Spire Hospital later and the time it would take to go back and then get home would not leave me little contingency for any road hold ups. So, we agreed to get home and that I would return directly after my appointment when hopefully there would be less traffic on the road.
Once home I managed to cut the grass and obtained permission from the church owners to go back into the church later that evening. Then one hour before my hospital appointment I received a called from Spire saying that the consultant I was delayed doing emergency surgery and would have to reschedule my appointment.
So, I headed straightaway on my own straight back to Woodhall Spa. I managed to get there and back in exactly 4 hours as the traffic was very light. The necklace was exactly where Karen knew she had left it. As I was locking the church up for the second time that day I was stopped by a passer-by about the ownership of the church.
Karen was very pleased when I got back. It had been a long day of driving but worth it. The necklace itself is valued as much for the sentiment as the cost. I glad to get back into my bed that night.
