Scouting For Sarah

Yesterday afternoon SD and I were wandering around Taunton's very own department store Hatchers.

In theory SD was helping me look for a teapot because I feel like now I'm a year older it's really the kind of sensible thing I should own and also because it drive SD mad that I have a tendency to just dump used teabags in the sink rather than putting them straight into the bin.

Anyway, I say in theory because obviously, SHINY STUFF!!!

I was knee deep in kitchen aids and Pyrex and SD was ....  well, somewhere looking at something ... probably teapots because to be honest he IS a little more focused than me ...

Then from behind the Royal Doulton I heard him say - 'this is it!!' - I thought he'd found the perfect two cup teapot for Miss Mac and I to pour our morning cuppa from but no!

His attention had been caught by the background music and this song was playing:

'This is it he said - THIS is your theme tune'.

Tuh ...  What can I say ...  I'm feeling a little coy ...  I'd actually always though the Johnny Cash rendition of One Piece At A Time was more me to be honest but I'm sure, as ever, SD is correct ...  ;-)

It's actually been a pretty great weekend.

This weekend was my 'unofficial' Birthday - (listen, if it's good enough for Liz it's good enough for me ok!).

To be honest, I'd felt just a little cheated at having to share my Birthday with Mothers Day - I mean, I had a great day and all but really, my Birthday is supposed to be all about ME isn't it??

So, I decided to give everyone another chance to celebrate the wonderfulness that is me by having another Birthday this Saturday.  It also gave those who had inexplicably forgotten to wish me a Happy Birthday (actually, just the ONE person) a chance to redeem themselves (which I'm happy to say they did) so in fact it was almost entirely altruistic of me!

Anyway, once I'd decided to have an unofficial Birthday I thought, sod it, why not have a whole Birthday weekend?

It started out on Friday night with a walk to the other side of town to a pub that I rarely go in, The Plough - I even wore my punky dress again as no one I know generally goes to that side of town - I may show you a photo of that dress in a post soon  -  now the Plough used to be the place for all the movers and shakers which was always a pretty good reason to avoid it like the plague but it changed hands a few moths ago so we decided to give it another chance.

I don't think I've ever been to a bigger shit hole in my entire life!

First of all, to get in you have to walk up an ally way at the side of the pub running the gauntlet of all the smokers who puff merrily right in your face!

Once in the empty pub (because everyone is outside sharing carcinogen's) we found an empty table.  I say empty although it still bore the remains of someone's lunch including a dirty knife and  a used napkin and this was at 9:15pm.

There were also inexplicably feathers all over the floor where clearly some kind of avian carnage had enshewed.  As well there was an upended button backed Chesterfield leaning against the window which, as we sat and drank our beer a tiny man who could have been no taller than 5ft scaled like a rat up a drain pipe before reaching into the false ceiling and pulling down an electrical cable in readiness he said, for the band that were playing later.  Looking through the window next to our table which overlooked the smokers ally way I saw a man in a trench coat with a huge feather collar (black feathers as opposed to the white feathers strewn across the floor) talking to another man with a piercing between his brows and a pipe clutched between his (very few) teeth.

We decided to move on ...

We headed further into town, our destination being the Moat House (which I will never call the Apple and Carrot although that might not even be it's name ...) where a band were playing and the glasses were probably clean.

On the way we heard music blasting from another pub, The Black Horse - now no one in their right minds ever ventures into the Back Horse - it's like one of those tableau's you get in museums with wax figures standing with a pint in their hands never lifting them to their lips and strangers are eaten on sight but a guy sitting outside mentioned that the beer was cheap and seeing as it was my unofficial Birthday SD decided to treat me.

I LOVED IT!!

In fact, I loved EVERYTHING about it from the beer which was indeed very cheap, like almost 50% cheaper than The Plough, to the band who were belting out the Blues to the people who were frankly, really fucking odd!

SD was immediately clasped to the very withered bosom of a tiny lady who looked just like a pixie and who claimed to know him from the days of the gay bar across town many years ago.  Actually, we appeared to have inadvertently wandered into the latest gay bar in town which was fine by me because it meant that I could sit back and people watch while SD yet again stole my thunder and got all the attention.

There was plenty to look at from the lady who was possibly in her mid 50's sporting slashed skin tight black jeans, boots that laced up to her thighs and a corset top with a metal back bone to the gay couple in front of us wearing (possibly ironic) matching flat caps who were flirting with a very confused looking man mountain with muttonchops and a moustache who was further perplexed when one of them lay down on the floor in front of him and waved his legs about like an upturned beetle.

I REALLY need to get a new phone with a working camera so I can take some photos for you!

Saturday was far more sedate with a trip to West Bay in Dorset to admire the bikes on the seafront and eat locally caught fish and chips in the sunshine.  I can't believe I forgot to take the camera so here is a photo from my Birthday trip to West Bay last year when again, it was warm enough to wear shorts!

can you believe this was MARCH!

Saturday night was more beer with more friends for my Birthday weekend and Sunday afternoon was spent recovering in a pub garden.

You know what?  I think that despite the fact that it wasn't my official Birthday weekend it worked out pretty well really ...