Friday 30th December (Day 1)
So off to Pleshey for the New Year. We overslept though! We were due to leave at 10.00am but with a bit of effort we left at 10.15am. The weather was not nice, rain and wind, and this is forecast for the next few days, we will see. We arrived at midday and were soon set up. It was then over to the village hall for a cup of tea and a chat. The hall was not overly warm and at our table we were quite cold. This was not helped by having to use the fire exit next to our table to avoid the muddy grass. Having said that the decision was soon made to close this access and all had the ‘long’ walk around the building to the correct entrance avoiding the grass. We all congregated later on for the evening's first ‘event’. Quite low key as usual. A game of bingo, the selling of raffle tickets, a musical bingo game and a version of ‘Blankety Blank’. All this with the usual nibbles, drink and chat and jollity. Around 10.15pm news came that Resa and Eric were grandparents for a second time. Meg had given them a grandson. No name yet but Eric has Patrick Clifford as the front runner; we shall see. Much cheering and toasting the baby and then Eric showed us all a photo, followed by the correct one. We strolled back to bed around 11.30pm.
PS a few days later the baby was named as Port Patrick Clifford Gabittas
Saturday 31st December (Day 2)
A dull grey start and we started really slowly getting up well past 9.00am. A shower and yoghurt and fruit for breakfast. We then thought about a walk but it started to rain, quite lightly it must be said. The decision was to go over to the hall and play a game or two and see if the weather improved. We played the Mexican Train Game and it attracted some attention and eventually Gill and Tina joined us. Meanwhile, Dave was filling their motorhome up with water (why both he and Eric travel almost empty still bemuses me) and while doing so found he was working in near monsoon conditions, he was so wet he had to change his clothes. Just after 1.00pm we returned to our motorhome for lunch. and the rain was still falling and with quite a strong wind also so a walk is looking less and less likely. The afternoon was back to the hall for a general chat. While there I helped blow up balloons and fixing a netting for the balloons for the New Year party this evening. After a short time we went to Resa and Eric’s motorhome as they felt oblige to stay in there as they have been ’dog sitting Snoops’ while the grandchild event took place. (They actually have had Snoops since before Christmas.) About 4.30pm we left them and tootled over to our motorhome to get ready for the evening event. Then 6.00pm saw us return to the hall in our DJ and ‘posh frock’. The rain had stopped but we still needed to be careful not to get muddy. The doubt about whether the buffet would be delivered (as the local pub owner supplying it had moved to a London pub) was smashed out of sight. He delivered a really excellent buffet (cheaper and better than the Christmas one two weeks ago). So food, music, good company and dancing was on offer and all took up this with alacrity. Midnight struck and the balloons, kissing, “Happy New Year”, and Auld Lang Syne (with watching the London fireworks on the TV) occurred as expected. Eventually we walked back to the motorhome and bed was about 1.30am having left many still partying.
Sunday 1st January (Day 3)
A sunny start but we also had a very heavy bout of rain for a few minutes. A cooked breakfast and a tidy up in the motorhome followed. Then we went to the hall before the ‘Magnificent Six’, and Snoops, went for a walk. I had a circular route planned but warned it might be muddy (it was). So we abandoned that and just strolled along the lane away from the village and then back, about two miles in all. The others returned to their motorhomes while Chris and I continued into and around the village. We met a local in his eighties who was obviously quite lonely. We stood and chatted with him for about fifteen minutes and discovered in that time that he ran marathons in the past, gave up smoking to do so and subsequently drink also. Back in the hall we all chatted until we had left for a late lunch of cheese and picky bits. By 7.00pm we all congregated in the hall again for background music and socialising. During the evening we played a game of chair raffle. (Five chairs each with a mystery prize under them. We all have two raffle tickets. When your number was called you sat on a chair. All chairs taken and you evicted someone. Last five got the prizes.) This was followed by Play Your Cards Right and then around 11.00pm we all tiredly made ourway home.
Monday 2nd January (Day 4)
The best day, weather wise, of the meeting - bright sunshine! After a simple breakfast we started our preparation to move off. That said by 10.30am we all met for the last time in the hall for a cup of tea, biscuit and the ‘Chairman’s Waffle’. A quick put away of tables and chairs and sweep of the hall floor and then off. We left by 11.20am and opted not to go by motorway as this morning I found our front nearside tyre had only about 30psi instead of the 70psi. We had a very pleasant trip home stopping once to recheck the tyre pressure which was fine. We will have to wait and see if it stays inflated but if it does in the next week or so then the only alternative explanation was some person letting the air out. Home by 1.25pm after filling up with diesel.
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