Hobgolblins and ghosties

 'Tis Halloween so it was not surprising that my planned train trips were blighted by delays on all four trains. The spirits from the nether world were clearly at play and wanted to aggravate my trip to and from Sheffield for Anita's Halloween party. Having a new phone found out I hadn't uploaded my old dears' rail pass and it took an age with a bad connection to prove I had really got one.  At least arriving at Tamworth after my connecting train should have gone would have been a whole lot worse. Apart from being rather wet weather, waiting outside for a train wasn't too bad. 

I like Sheffield and, of course, I love parties so I really looked forward to my visit to Anita's. When I finally got there (no thanks to Avanti) we started the decorating. We shrouded the house in cobwebs for atmosphere and put out some expertly carved pumpkins. All we needed were the guests. Duly, the Grim Reaper, Dracula, a few witches and other suspect characters turned up along with some "Trick or Treaters". The mark of a good party is how long the guests stayed. A couple let themsleves out after Anita said she had to go to bed. So on that note, it had to have been a really good one! Something even changed in me over the course of the evening. My name changed ever so slightly. To Sheffield, I think I will be an Angela for this day hence. Definitely there was magic a foot.

On Wednesday morning it was clean up time. The two cuddly Kittens, Babet and Bobby - recent additions to the Ingham household - ran amok, attacking brooms, and darting around. I mopped the floor and then slipped on the wet - ouch. I came out of that remarkably lightly. The worst was I hurt my wrist, I now have a faint bruise on my thigh as well but no other damage. 

In fact, I woke up on Thursday morning wondering why my wrist hurt and then I remembered. Is this a sign of demetia? I asked myself. Nothing too untoward or lasting hindered my day so I conclude that the Good Fairy looked down on me this time round. My wrist held together for tennis and swimming so I am back in action.

The area in Sheffield where Anita lives is full of character and characters. We stopped off at an Italian coffee shop, run by a Yorkshireman with a flat cap and a strong Yorkshire accent. Anita and he started talking in Italian - apparently he has a house in Italy. Then a lady came in and asked for her coffee in hesitant Italian. The coffee shop is small so without much effort the whole place joined in the conversation in both English, broken Italian and fully fluent Italian. I told them I had come up from Milton Keynes just because I had heard what a lovely cafe it was  (In English) .Telephone numbers were exchanged and more Italian will be practised in the near future, no doubt.

Then later on in the day in the very same street as the Italian / Yorkshire coffee shop, Anita nearly knocked over a fairly famous aging rockstar. It was his fault. He opened the door of his posh car without looking and stepped out right in front of us. If anything had happened it would have made it into the national obituaries but we couldn't recall who it was other than someone from Simply Red. You must have heard of them?

The Hobgoblins certainly made it difficult for me to buy two Wouchers for a Bannatyne Spa Day for Danielle and Me. I tried to do it up in Sheffield but it booked a Barnsely Spa. I have since managed to get both vouchers booked for MK but I am in need of a good rub down as the whole experience has been fraught with hitches. The front desk at Bannatyne MK is run by two of the most obnoxious of people who couldn't give a toss because it wasn't their pigeon. They made me feel like I REALLY want to have a good day out in their spa or perhaps just hit my head against a brick wall until the memory of this encounter with them fades sufficiently.

Ezra-Mae the Witch in search of sweets

My grand daughter really got into Halloween this year. She has all the words for Halloween things too. She came and spent a night with me, got a little over-tired and said she wanted her Mummy. I said she could have, "A Squash and a Squeeze", "Winnie the Witch" or "The Cat in the Hat". She said she wanted her Mummy. I told her to listen carefully to the options again. Her Mummy wasn't one of them. I kept a straight face, read Winnie the Witch and all was well. In the morning the first thing she wanted was Winnie. So I can conclude that through the grumps she actually liked the story when the option of Mummy was off the table. The Good Fairy was by me once more.