Auntie Shirley's Birthday in Weymouth

On Friday, April 23rd, Sid, Sonia and I hopped in the car and headed down to Weymouth again. This time it was to celebrate Auntie Shirley's birthday and hopefully see the honeymooners, Charles and Gemma, back from Mexico. Thanks to the volcano in Iceland, they ended up staying three extra days at their all inclusive resort south of Cancun and it didn't cost them any more money...not bad really! They were not due in until Saturday midday so that Friday night, Shirley, Sid, Son and I had a nice dinner and then headed to one of the local pubs, the Spice Ship, to celebrate St. George's Day. This is essentially England's national holiday for celebrating their country, yet it isn't actually a day off of work for most people. A bit of a difference from Canada and many other countries. I have to admit that Canada Day, on July 1st, is one of my favourite days of the year.

The place was fairly packed and soon a band humourously called "The Crack" started playing (were they plumbers during the day?!?). We had mixed reactions in our group, Son liked them, Shirley warmed up to them and poor Sid just could look past the lack of timing between the drummer and the bassist. We raised a glass to my grandfather, Shirley's dad, who would have been 95 today.

We opted to check out the other local pub, the Springhead and it was a more sedate yet well decorated atmosphere there, definitely an older crowd. I had fun trying to find the equilibrium point with a helium balloon and the plastic St. George's flag hanging from it so it would float gently around the place...unfortunately it helped in throwing off Sonia's equilibrium!

Celebrating St. Georges' Day:

On Saturday morning, Sid and I headed out to the Wessex golf course for another round (we had played here with Brad and Matthew a few weeks prior). Having been to the driving range a few more times since the last round, we both felt confident we could knock a few strokes off of our last showing. Well did we ever, I ended up shooting a 42 and Sid a 47. Last time we were out I think we were 60 and 58 respectively...I even parred 2 holes! The shot of the day was Sid's though with a spectacle chip in from 23-24 yards out...what a beaut!

The honeymooners did arrive around 2pm and we sat outside in the sunshine catching up on their last few weeks. They had had a fantastic time. That evening, Charles' mom Leslie and his sister Kate came over for a coronation chicken dinner followed by a fire in Shirley's new firepit (although the inaugural fire was the night before). Many drinks and many laughs...very fun evening!

Sitting around the fire:

Charles and his mom Leslie:

Sunday was officially Auntie Shirley's birthday so we began with a gift opening once Shirley had returned from church. This was followed by a lovely roast beef lunch and then Sid, Sonia and I had to get on the road back to Aldershot. On the way back we stopped to take a look at a campervan. Not bad...but I hope to see one or two more before I pull the trigger on this one.

Opening presents:

The newlywed couple back from their honeymoon:

Another great weekend...Happy Birthday Auntie Shirley!