Categories: christianity, cafes, relationships, milton-keynes, travel, life-stuff, entertainment
Tags: Church of England, TractorGirl, Birmingham, GCN, Fireworks, Fun!, Travel
Date: 08 November 2010 13:42:32
This weekend consisted of some much needed chilling out and relaxing. On Saturday, I headed to Birmingham to meet up with TractorGirl and go to a GCN gathering. We had an hour to catch up and chat before joining the others for some time praying in a church near the Bullring and then on to a French restaurant of the relaxed variety for a meal. The food was nice (I had some cheesy garlic bread and vegetarian risotto) and the company lovely. I learnt a lot about Eastern Orthodoxy and being in an Irish folk band!
I was feeling pretty knacked after food (think I'm coming down with something, which makes having to wait for my passport to come through before I can register with a GP more than a little annoying...) so we retired to the hotel for a happy few hours of just chatting and chilling and, for the first time in what seemed like ages, a good catch-up. The hotel in question was the City Inn, which is in the heart of the Irish district. The staff were friendly and the room was spacious, clean and comfortable. I was sad at not being able to pinch the shampoo and shower gel (from the White Company, so good stuff!), which is after all the main reason for staying in a hotel! The only downside was the location, and it was quite noisy till late with all the clubs around and about, but ear plugs sorted that out. Worth the money!
On Sunday, we had breakfast in an Italian place near the Bullring. They did nice bacon and egg butties with accompanying cheesy Italian power ballads! Next, we went to the church we'd visited the previous day for a 'Crossing Service', which was basically Common Worship Order One with modern songs. Enjoyed the latter half, but the sermon was full of business cliches and "purpose-driven prayers" and life coaches and "making an impact" - if I ever preach such dribble, shoot me! Afterwards, we went to an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet place, which was nice enough (I'm fussy about places being too crowded). TractorGirl, new book in hand, headed off early and I retired to the pub at New Street station for a pint and to read my book, which is very funny. Dawn French's wicked sense of humour comes through and I think I unnerved people around me with suddenly laughing out loud!
On getting back to Milton Keynes and after a quick pit stop to layer up (it was freezing!) and unpack, I was off to the fireworks with some people from church. They (the fireworks, not the church people!) lasted about fifteen minutes and were pretty, just about justifying standing around in the cold. We then had dinner at an Italian place in the shopping centre, and I got pasta down my tie, which was annoying, but the food was good and the company interesting, so it didn't matter.
Overall, it was a lovely weekend which reminded me exactly why I'm head-over-heals in love with TractorGirl and how much I like the GCN folks, and showed me that my current location and choice of church are pretty good :)
Just wish the long-distance relationship thing was easier - I miss you, darling!