Girl's Weekend Away

Saturday 13^th December 2008

10.45am

we’re sitting in the hotel in Billington, Clitheroe, Blackburn, we’ve been to breakfast and now we’re sitting chilling out. There are 4 of us here – myself, Catherine, Susan and Katie and we’re in 3 rooms between us. There was supposed to be 6 of us but Katie hasn’t heard anything from Jen and her friend Hannah so they’ve been written off as far as this holiday is concerned.

Katie had said to us to be ready for 5.30pm yesterday but my dancing lesson wasn’t supposed to finish until 5pm and then I had to get changed afterwards so I pretty much expected to get home just in time for Katie to collect me. I got home about 5.40pm and thankfully Katie didn’t get to mine till about 6.20 so I had time to get ready to go out and sit for a few minutes before I left. When we were driving along Catherine said I could thank her cos Katie turned up at her house at 5.20pm when she had literally just got home from work and wasn’t ready to go yet.

As is usual for us we got to very near where we were supposed to be and then got lost. Katie stopped at Clitheroe Golf Club so that we had a good landmark and then she rang the hotel for directions. She got directions and we headed off, another 20-25 minutes later we were still driving round aimlessly so we stopped at a petrol station and I went in to ask the man if he knew where our hotel was. He was very good, he knew exactly where the hotel was and gave me directions which he helpfully wrote down for us. The only bit that we didn’t quite get was the very first instruction – we had to turn right just before a roundabout and we weren’t sure if it was AT the roundabout. Once we’d found that correct turning all of the other directions were accurate and really clear :-)

When we got to the hotel we went and checked in. We didn’t get here till about 9.15 so the lady on reception told us to go for dinner as soon as possible. We basically just dumped our stuff in the rooms – we’re in 102, 103 and 105 and as happened in Blackpool I’ve got the room furthest down the corridor.

When we went to the restaurant we weren’t sure whether we were supposed to just go and sit or we had to wait to be seated so we sort of loitered in the bar area. Eventually a grumpy bloke came out and mumbled that he had no cutlery and told us to sit down. He then gave us the menu and we found that there were certain items we could have on the deal but we didn’t really want any of them so we asked when he came back if we could pay the extra and he (apparently) grudgingly agreed. We ordered our meals and he asked us if we wanted drinks, I checked with Katie if she wanted diet coke cos she was on the phone but the man took it as if I was ordering it 8|

When we went into the restaurant bit we were seated at a big table and the man brought our starters. Because we were chatting as we were eating we took longer to eat than the man would’ve liked. Where I was sitting I could see when he came from the kitchen area and a few times he’d look over and when he saw we were still eating he’d roll his eyes and go back. The meal was very nice and we went back to the rooms at about 10.30 I think, and it was obvious that he wanted us to have gone earlier.

We went back to Katie and Susan’s room to chat and basically just lazed around for ages. At about 11.30 I decided I was going to bed but then got into another conversation. Catherine was falling asleep on the couch and at about 1.15am she got up to go to bed and I went out with her. Breakfast was served from 8.00-10.00 and we decided to set alarms for 8.45. I woke up a couple of times and went back to sleep but when I woke up at 8.30 I decided I might as well actually get up and have a shower.

At about 9.20 I went and knocked on Katie and Susan’s door but got no response. I was considering going for a wander but then decided to knock on Catherine’s door – she was ready so I went and sat in there with her for a bit. While we were chatting Katie sent me a text to say they’d meet us at breakfast. Catherine and I went down for breakfast then Katie and Susan joined us about 10 minutes later. It was standard breakfast fayre but unfortunately not much steal-able food ;-D

After breakfast we just went back to ‘the’ room and lazed around again for ages. I went out to the vending machine to get drinks for myself and Susan and we also had hot drinks as well.

5.05pm

I’m now back sitting in the room with Katie and Susan, Catherine is in her own room we think she may have fallen asleep.

We were trying to sort out the telly so we could play DVDs through Katie’s machine but when we plugged the player into the telly, the picture just kept scrolling sideways :-( We tested it on both the living room telly and the bedroom telly but both were the same so they’ve obviously been rigged so you can’t attach DVD players >:-( We also realised we had no TV remotes so we Katie and I went to enquire at reception – it seems they’re kept at reception and you have to request them :-S I wonder if they get stolen :-S

While we were there we noticed on the CCTV screen that the pool was empty so I decided to go to the gym and the pool and to see if the others wanted to come too. Catherine and Katie said they’d come and swim but Susan decided she was going to chill in the bath instead. Eventually, after much faffing I finally got round to actually going to find the leisure centre. I was going to ask at reception but there was no-one there so I went exploring instead.

I found it and then realised I needed the code so I went back to the girls and got the code, I then went back to the leisure centre and spotted the sign that said you need to get towels from the hotel reception so I decided not to bother and went back to my room to get my own (hotel) towels. When I went back I realised housekeeping hadn’t been round yet so the towels I originally wasn’t putting in the wash I took with me and put the others all in the bath for washing.

When I finally got to the leisure centre I found the gym – one tiny room with 5 machines in. There was a cross-trainer, 2 treadmills, a very small multi-gym thing and a stepping machine. I got on the cross trainer first and if you do the quick-start thing it times down from 20 minutes. I’d only been on the machine about 7 minutes when Catherine came in. She had a go on the stepper machine and said it was really hard work, she then also had a little go on the multi-gym before going to get changed and join Katie in the pool. Once I’d finished my 20 minutes on the cross trainer I did about 5-6 minutes on the stepper and didn’t find it too difficult.

I then got in the pool with Katie and Catherine and started swimming in my normal style – quite splashy, but, as I thought, quite fast. Catherine was busy telling me I was too splashy and was drowning everyone around ;-D She was then trying to tell me a better way to swim so I was trying out her suggestions and she said it was better. We also explored the sauna and steam room for a bit.

At 3.15pm Katie and Catherine got out of the pool but I stayed there till about 4pm. When I got out of the pool I sat in both the sauna and steam room for a little bit before going to get a shower. First of all I tried the shower in the changing room but it was freezing so I tried the one by the pool – that was freezing too!!!! I decided not to bother and went back to my room for a shower instead. I threw on my shorts and t-shirt over my swimming costume – so obviously they were soggy by the time I got back to my room.

Once I was showered and changed I went back to the other room where I found Katie and Susan – Catherine was (and still is) in her own room. We’ve just sat round, chatted, snacked and drunk (non-alcoholic) things (that seems to be pretty much a theme of this weekend!)

7.20pm

X Factor has just come on the telly (which we’ve managed to work) so I’m in Katie’s bedroom with Goodnight Sweetheart on the DVD player. Catherine came in to see us about 20 minutes ago – she’d been in the bath.

11.10pm

Katie came in to chat to me and I was commenting that the series of Goodnight Sweetheart was one of the later ones and I didn’t like the newer actors. We chatted for a bit and I decided to change discs and watched Father Christmas instead ;-D By the time Fr Christmas had finished it was more or less the time we’d decided to go to tea. I went to get changed and while I was in my room Katie came along basically to tell me not to hurry cos the other 2 were in no rush 8|

We went back to the other room and Catherine and Susan were still not ready or in no mood to leave X-Factor 8| X-Factor got sooooo bad I literally walked out cos I knew Katie was ready to leave as well. We went down to the bar / restaurant area and ordered some drinks for all 4 of us and looked at the menu. The other 2 eventually came down and when we’d been sitting there a short time we ordered our food and it was almost the same meal 4 times – we all had the same starters as yesterday and for the main course the other 3 all had pork and I chose the lasagne, when it came I wished I’d ordered the pork too cos their meals looked really nice and mine was dried up :-( I sorted it out with lashings of tomato sauce 8|

We had the same waiter as last night (apparently he’s the duty manager) but he was a changed person. He was amiable and even commented to us that Liverpool won today :-o

We went back to the room when X-Factor had just re-started, we were talking about it on the way and some ladies at another table heard us and commented that they had planned their teatime around X-Factor as well ;-D

Because the girls were going to watch X-Factor again I went back in the bedroom and put The Snowman DVD on – I figured I’d had Fr Christmas so I might as well have The Snowman too ;-D Once that film had finished the others were still watching rubbish so I put on To The Manor Born – felt like some memories ;-D

Once X-Factor had finished the others wanted a DVD as well but I needed to take my lenses out so I went back to my room and also put my pyjamas on as well – and then wandered down the corridor in my pj’s and slippers ;-D ;-D

We then put “Watching” on the telly but before we got settled Katie went down to the machine for drinks for us – and that’s where we’re up to now!

7.40pm

I’m now back at home – and have been since about 2pm.

I went to bed last night after 4 episodes of “Watching” and got to sleep more or less straight away.

I set my alarm for 7am but didn’t actually get up till about 7.30. I got dressed and went down to the leisure centre. I planned to do 20 minutes on the cross trainer then 10 minutes on the stepper then about half an hour swim. My plans were thwarted when I got there cos there was a man already using the cross-trainer ggrrr. I just swapped the order of my first 2 activities cos he’d finished on the cross trainer before I’d finished on the stepper.

After I’d been in the gym I sat in the steam room for a very short time before going in the pool. When I got out of the steam room, out of curiosity I tested the shower and it was really warm :-o Yesterday it was freezing – and today I hadn’t brought my shower stuff with me, I’d planned to shower back in my room 8| I had planned to be out of the pool by 9ish so by the time I got in at 8.45 I only had time to do 50 (very short) lengths.

I went back to my room, had a shower and was ready by 9.35, when I went into Katie and Susan’s room Katie was ready and Susan was nearly ready. By 9.45 the 3 of us were ready but there was no sign of Catherine – even when Katie and I went to knock on her door. We went back to the other room and Katie rang Catherine – she was still asleep!! We headed off to breakfast and told Catherine to meet us there.

Once we’d finished breakfast we stayed sitting chatting in the restaurant until about 10.30 – they were clearing up around us. We then went back to our rooms to pack our bags ready for going home. Thankfully we had a late checkout so we had till 12pm to relax and chill out.

We checked out at 12, while Katie did all the paperwork we loaded the car and then I asked a random lady to take a photo of all 4 of us ;-D

We came home and got back without incident and didn’t get lost at all. We took Susan home first, then it was me followed by Catherine and obviously Katie went home after that.