After much planning and preparation, last night we managed to escape together for a night out in town with W’s brother. It was our second night out together since the girls arrived in February last year, and a reminder that we should do it more often (I’m guessing all parents say the same thing).
The evening started at the “Slug and Lettuce”, a very swish bar in the centre of town where the food was wonderful; although we’re not exactly subjective any more - anything that we haven’t made ourselves is going to seem spectacular. I had originally opted for a “Mexican Burger”, but (in true male fashion) hadn’t read any further down the menu than it. When the waitress informed me that they were out of Chilli, I just pointed at anything. My brother in law then ordered some kind of burger that sounded huge and fantastic, so I interrupted the waitress and said “I want one of those too!””.
The burger was satisfyingly huge, tasty, and probably heart attack inducing. Suffice to say we will be going back.
At about half past nine the so far great experience took a huge hit - as most town pubs are want to do, they cranked up the music to 11, and made conversation almost impossible. Slightly annoyed, we decided to leave. Mindful of our total lack of recent knowledge of the various pubs in town - several of which had changed hands and been revamped, we wandered into the night to try “The George and Dragon” out.
All I can say is “wow”. What an amazing place! I’ll have to take a camera next time, because words don’t really do it justice. They have subdivided what was a huge, cavernous pub into lots of quiet corners - it has to have been done in a computer, because although you are always “away” from too many people, you can see them through holes in walls, between pillars, and so on.
Just to cap off a great night out, while leaving I heard somebody shout “Jonathan!”, and discovered some great friends that we don’t see anywhere near enough having dinner out too. Excited high speed conversation was made congratulating each other on escaping our respective children for the night, and huge hugs and toothy grins were shared by all as we said our farewells.
To many, last night would have seemed like a humdrum night out - just something to eat, followed by a drink. When you have been buried in children, work, more children and more work for the last year, it was the best night out either of us could remember.
We ended the night playing Wii Fit until 2:30am, but that’s another story.