spring, Mr and Mrs Wetherby and a bit of Leeds in Feb

In no particular calendar order the photos this month , oh, and those in the last blog page, cover most of what we got up to in February 2012.  This snap is of the no-expense-spared Comedy and Curry night we went to at the Wetherby Racetrack.  A rather funny night with rather funny comedians, and funny curry.  Things we learnt, it pays to know someone in the queue for drinks at the bar.... Poms queue for drinks at a bar at wetherby races..... and Wetherby supplies the whole of Englands supermarkets with every brand of pre-mixed gravy from a company called Golden Fry.... and other things we learned I forget because I wasn't driving home and could enjoy the night.

This pic is of Gail and the Alliance girls gone to the dogs.  We went to Manchester dishlickers mid week because of two reasons, we got cheap tickets in and were told it would not be a busy night.  The tickets were cheap but it wasn't a quiet night. In fact it was full and we didn't get to sit all night but we did have a jolly time watching very happy pups run really really fast.  Not the ones we chose mind you but the other dogs all ran really fast.

Oh, here is a tip, if you book a twin room at a Holiday Inn  , don't presume you can push the beds together and try to roll over to your partner's side of the beds.....  And when you are stuck between the mattresses with no way to get up don't presume your partner is getting up to help you......... at least not before she has taken a photo and gone to the bathroom because she is laughing so hard she is afraid she'll wet herself. 

 And sometime around the 14th we went to the Wetherby Lions' Valentines night do.  A rather fun night with a bunch of other old farts intent on having a good time.  All the blokes sang a song to the ladies...... Well two blokes knew the words and some of us recognised a bit of the chorus but the girls thought we were fantastic.  And we gave them each a red rose.

There was other entertainment, some of the blokes were asked to dress a lady.  A rather pneumatic type called Helga or Gertrude.  Inverted pantyhose technique proved more successful than karate chops to the gusset but far less amusing.

And by dint of having been together for over 34 years now Gail and I correctly answered more questions about each other than any other couple and were rewarded with chocolates, bubbles, a trophy and crowned 2012 Mr and Mrs Wetherby.  A title we feel most appropriate.

 And Spring came to our back yard  encouraging the early bulbs to bloom.

And as it was Spring we decided we would spend some time in Leeds.  We joined some sketchers drawing the Corn Exchange in the city then went to find a special bar we had heard of.

 

On our way we spotted this business =>    and immediately doubted its credentials.   Maybe they are classy hookers ......

We managed to find our way down a little cobbled back street to our destination, The Dock Street Markets.  It's not a market realy, more of a cafe/pub/bakery sort of thing.
We were attracted there because of a special being offered on teapot cocktails and a mezzo plate.  Teapot cocktails,,,,, We chose a rum cocktail of dubious alcohol content.  It is surprising how much cocktail a chilled teapot holds.  We were very happy when we were then told the special included TWO teapots......

Anyway, after we loitered over the mezzo plate for a while we decided a walk through the streets window shopping would be an entertaining thing to do.  After all,  the Spring sales were starting and everything was dropped.

And other than a little bit of snow for a few days, that was February really.  Except we did head of to find Yorkshirs most northern vinyard.  We found the vines, and a shed, shed was closed, it looked a bit, well, um, ah, let's say, closed and uninviting.  The limited info we found before we went was that the vinyard was open 'most days'.  Not that day. The business does not have a web site and while we have drunk their wine at Oulton Hall, (refer previous blogs by searching Oulton), and it was ..... interesting...., The vineyard is not a destination we would recommend.  However if we do ever return and the shed is open, we will let you know all about it. 

ON THE MATTER OF OUR TENURE IN THE UK;

Her Liz has taken our money for our application to stay and told us not to call her. 

I called her and her recording said, .... "I told you not to call.  If it has been more than 6 MONTHS since you lodged your application, then I may talk to you, but not before."   She went on to say that she would send our passports back to us if we needed them, it would take up to 25 days, and she may decide to retract our application..... I'm not clear on that but I don't think she offered to return our money in that case.  She's a nasty bit of work that girl.  No wonder she's always at war.

Anyway that means we can't leave the country, so our planned trip to Europe this month is OFF. As are all other trips until we learn if we will be allowed to stay or will be required to leave the country on 30 days notice. 

We continue to live in exciting times.