We drove down to Gloucester and followed Rachel’s dictated over-the-phone off-the-top-of-her-head instructions that were incredibly accurate. We pulled up outside her front door and unloaded our gear. Mark had to take a quick leak in the garden as there was no water in the cistern then we bid them a hasty farewell as they wanted to get to Eastbourne as quickly as possible.
We only spent a short amount of time at Rachel’s – she apologised profusely for not being able to provide such services as a flush toilet or drinking water – so we packed all of our gear into Rachel’s little car and then we were back on the M5 bound for Staffordshire.
After an hour or so of traveling we arrived at Pamela and John’s house. John was out and about performing another of his good services for his friends, but we were warmly welcomed by Pamela and Simon. We had a lovely cup of tea (the first of many during our stay here, I was sure) before we took our gear upstairs to our bedroom. We discovered a Will-sized Tigger for him to play with which he absolutely fell in love with and dragged around with him (much like Linus and his blanket).
We let Will loose on the garden to burn off some excess energy before we put him down to bed. As he slept, Rachel took Lou and me to the Penkridge market where many a bargain was to be had. I found a new pair of jeans for ten quid and we bought some pork scratchings to sample and, if good, bring a packet home for dad. I found a cute toy for Will – a multi coloured moose called Moosey.
After Will woke up, we had a small bite to eat and then headed out to Edna’s (a friend of Pamela and John’s in the village) house for her 64th birthday party. We stayed for a while before we had to bring Will home well past his bed time. Pamela and John stayed on while Lou, Rachel and I stayed at home and watched a cheesy American movie called Rat Race and had half a bottle of wine.