Good times
Well for the last three days we've had a couple of guests in Chez Jones. One of our friends from Horley, and one of our friends from Ohio have been to stay. Their visit was slightly interrupted on Saturday evening because we attended a friends wedding, but during that time our guests went and visited another one of friends in Southampton, so it worked out almost fine.
So yes, Tom (Argolich) and Kelly (Dahbienhwa) turned up early Saturday afternoon, and we sat around and just chatted for a few hours. The politeness of Americans always amazes me. Not that it's not welcome, and of course it's far better than the alternative, but I end up feeling bad that I'm not as polite, but I have to wonder that if I spent that amount of time being polite, how much else would I get done? Then they headed off to Southampton to see Lou and Kay and I headed off to the wedding reception.
The reception seemed at first like it was going to be a bit of a bust, I didn't really know anyone there except the bride and groom, and obviously this is the day when everyone wants a piece of them, so you don't really get too much time to chat. But then Kay and I found another couple to talk to and then the evening went swimmingly. There was dancing, and drinking, although not so much much of the latter for me as I was driving, and fun was had, we then got back to find that Kelly and Tom had already returned and were fast asleep. Cue sneaking our kebab shop burger meal up to our bedroom for late night scoffage, and then there was unconsciousness.
We got up relatively early Sunday morning and once again sat around and chatted for a while. For two countries that have so much similarity, the level of difference in the minutae is mind-blowing, and chatting with Tom highlighted this so much. So we decided to take Tom on a visit to Frome, just to show him Frome really, Kay and I love it so much. So we did, we walked all over, showed him the architecture, and the structure of the town. We did want to show him The Sun, he said he wanted to visit a traditional pub, but time got away from us, and we needed food, so we went to The Olive Tree for Thai. As we were eating Tom mentioned that he had hoped to see the Roman Baths at Bath. He also happened to mention that he and his cop buddies back home were huge fans of Hot Fuzz, and then we commented that most of the filming had been done locally in Wells. And so off to Wells!
We spent a few hours wandering round Wells, we took in the church where the journalist got squished, and then the market square where the big shootout towards the end, and then we took a wander to the cathedral and round the bishop's palace. It has to be said that the architecture is absolutely stunning, and that's an undeniable wrong that I have never been to see it before, given how close we live to it. Tom was rapt at seeing it all, and it was a really good day out.
We then proceeded home and began a barbecue that was frankly way too large for the 4 of us, with premium butcher's burgers, buffalo burgers, premium butchers pork sausages, venison and red wine sausages, hot and spicy chicken wings and chinese drumsticks. As well as a rice dish and salad. It went down really well, everyone enjoyed everything, there was just too much of everything. Kay also took it upon herself to make up a proper pitcher of Pimms or two, to introduce Tom to the most English of drinks. It went down very well.
Previously when Kelly had visited us, we took her to this really old and very cool pub, well whilst we were there both her and I got really spooked for no reason and I definitely felt the presence of a woman there. Kelly had told Tom about this pub and Tom decided he definitely wanted to see it. So off we set for Norton St Philip and The George. We got in there, went up to the bar and ordered some beers. We spoke briefly to the manager and asked if the pub was known to be haunted. He checked around the room for guests (it's a working hotel) and when he could see none, he answered, "yes". Then began an evening of wierdness. Tom used his camera relentlessly and we captured many images of "orbs". We got talking to the manager some more and he told us about the different ghosts that people have reported. He was very obliging and really couldn't have been nicer. He even took us down to the dungeon (now a function room) and we had a look around. It was again much fun (this seems to have been a theme for the weekend) and we then set off for home.
We got back, Kay forced us to watch Jonathan Creek. Kay then disappeared upstairs to go to the loo. A few minutes later Kelly asked where Kay had gone, I went upstairs to check and she had climbed into bed. When I asked her if she was ok and why she hadn't said goodnight, she replied that she hadn't meant to go to bed, and that it had been an accident. God I love her.
So then Monday morning arrived and we had discussed the possibility of going to Bath but it wasn't a certainty because they needed to leave and get back to Kelly's and also after two days of unbelievably gorgeous weather it was raining that morning. Eventually we worked it out, the weather dried up and it was a go. So we drove to Bath, parked up and then Kay took us on a brief diversion to get breakfast at Ben's Cookies. Not exactly a traditional breakfast but enjoyed by all. We then moved on to the Roman baths. Kay and Tom went inside and Kelly and I waited outside. They intended to be quick, it didn't work out that way. Whilst we waited the skies turned blue and the sunshine beat down.
Now I love the sun, but 90 minutes, with nothing to do was a bit much, still, had a good chat with Kelly which was nice, but because of the enlongated visit to the baths we didnt have time to show Tom the weir, which was a shame. Whilst in the pub we saw that Tom had taken a lot of photos and on a lot of them were more orbs, and some of them are unbelievable, and I mean seriously unbelievable. When I get a copy of the images I'll probably post them. We then popped into The Crystal Palace for a quick bite to eat and set off for home. When we got back to Westbury it was pretty late and Kelly and Tom set off straight away, having packed the car earlier they didn't even come into the house.
It really was a great weekend and it's a shame it had to end, and what is saddest about it is that we had a great online friend has become a great friend, and the chance is that we're never going to see him again. Wow talk about ending on a downer. OK, upbeat to finish, upbeat...
Ah yes, another nice thing that happened at The George, the manager actually gave Tom a pump badge to take home with him. Seriously the staff there are awesome and anyone in this neck of the woods should give the place a visit.
Well, until next time...
So yes, Tom (Argolich) and Kelly (Dahbienhwa) turned up early Saturday afternoon, and we sat around and just chatted for a few hours. The politeness of Americans always amazes me. Not that it's not welcome, and of course it's far better than the alternative, but I end up feeling bad that I'm not as polite, but I have to wonder that if I spent that amount of time being polite, how much else would I get done? Then they headed off to Southampton to see Lou and Kay and I headed off to the wedding reception.
The reception seemed at first like it was going to be a bit of a bust, I didn't really know anyone there except the bride and groom, and obviously this is the day when everyone wants a piece of them, so you don't really get too much time to chat. But then Kay and I found another couple to talk to and then the evening went swimmingly. There was dancing, and drinking, although not so much much of the latter for me as I was driving, and fun was had, we then got back to find that Kelly and Tom had already returned and were fast asleep. Cue sneaking our kebab shop burger meal up to our bedroom for late night scoffage, and then there was unconsciousness.
We got up relatively early Sunday morning and once again sat around and chatted for a while. For two countries that have so much similarity, the level of difference in the minutae is mind-blowing, and chatting with Tom highlighted this so much. So we decided to take Tom on a visit to Frome, just to show him Frome really, Kay and I love it so much. So we did, we walked all over, showed him the architecture, and the structure of the town. We did want to show him The Sun, he said he wanted to visit a traditional pub, but time got away from us, and we needed food, so we went to The Olive Tree for Thai. As we were eating Tom mentioned that he had hoped to see the Roman Baths at Bath. He also happened to mention that he and his cop buddies back home were huge fans of Hot Fuzz, and then we commented that most of the filming had been done locally in Wells. And so off to Wells!
We spent a few hours wandering round Wells, we took in the church where the journalist got squished, and then the market square where the big shootout towards the end, and then we took a wander to the cathedral and round the bishop's palace. It has to be said that the architecture is absolutely stunning, and that's an undeniable wrong that I have never been to see it before, given how close we live to it. Tom was rapt at seeing it all, and it was a really good day out.
We then proceeded home and began a barbecue that was frankly way too large for the 4 of us, with premium butcher's burgers, buffalo burgers, premium butchers pork sausages, venison and red wine sausages, hot and spicy chicken wings and chinese drumsticks. As well as a rice dish and salad. It went down really well, everyone enjoyed everything, there was just too much of everything. Kay also took it upon herself to make up a proper pitcher of Pimms or two, to introduce Tom to the most English of drinks. It went down very well.
Previously when Kelly had visited us, we took her to this really old and very cool pub, well whilst we were there both her and I got really spooked for no reason and I definitely felt the presence of a woman there. Kelly had told Tom about this pub and Tom decided he definitely wanted to see it. So off we set for Norton St Philip and The George. We got in there, went up to the bar and ordered some beers. We spoke briefly to the manager and asked if the pub was known to be haunted. He checked around the room for guests (it's a working hotel) and when he could see none, he answered, "yes". Then began an evening of wierdness. Tom used his camera relentlessly and we captured many images of "orbs". We got talking to the manager some more and he told us about the different ghosts that people have reported. He was very obliging and really couldn't have been nicer. He even took us down to the dungeon (now a function room) and we had a look around. It was again much fun (this seems to have been a theme for the weekend) and we then set off for home.
We got back, Kay forced us to watch Jonathan Creek. Kay then disappeared upstairs to go to the loo. A few minutes later Kelly asked where Kay had gone, I went upstairs to check and she had climbed into bed. When I asked her if she was ok and why she hadn't said goodnight, she replied that she hadn't meant to go to bed, and that it had been an accident. God I love her.
So then Monday morning arrived and we had discussed the possibility of going to Bath but it wasn't a certainty because they needed to leave and get back to Kelly's and also after two days of unbelievably gorgeous weather it was raining that morning. Eventually we worked it out, the weather dried up and it was a go. So we drove to Bath, parked up and then Kay took us on a brief diversion to get breakfast at Ben's Cookies. Not exactly a traditional breakfast but enjoyed by all. We then moved on to the Roman baths. Kay and Tom went inside and Kelly and I waited outside. They intended to be quick, it didn't work out that way. Whilst we waited the skies turned blue and the sunshine beat down.
Now I love the sun, but 90 minutes, with nothing to do was a bit much, still, had a good chat with Kelly which was nice, but because of the enlongated visit to the baths we didnt have time to show Tom the weir, which was a shame. Whilst in the pub we saw that Tom had taken a lot of photos and on a lot of them were more orbs, and some of them are unbelievable, and I mean seriously unbelievable. When I get a copy of the images I'll probably post them. We then popped into The Crystal Palace for a quick bite to eat and set off for home. When we got back to Westbury it was pretty late and Kelly and Tom set off straight away, having packed the car earlier they didn't even come into the house.
It really was a great weekend and it's a shame it had to end, and what is saddest about it is that we had a great online friend has become a great friend, and the chance is that we're never going to see him again. Wow talk about ending on a downer. OK, upbeat to finish, upbeat...
Ah yes, another nice thing that happened at The George, the manager actually gave Tom a pump badge to take home with him. Seriously the staff there are awesome and anyone in this neck of the woods should give the place a visit.
Well, until next time...