The weekend just gone was yet another really brilliant one, which started last Wednesday in actual fact. When I received the phone call from Claire on Wednesday afternoon that they were on the train and on their way to Bath I was so pleased. They timed their arrival so that I could get to Bath after work, between my two jobs, to pick them up and it was great to see them again, back in Bath with me again like before. We loaded the equipment in the car and Claire had to get a bus to Bristol immediately from there for the first rehearsal of Carmen. She would be playing in the orchestra for 4 nights at the Old Vic theatre in Bristol. I said that Colin and I would pick her up after that first performance as we were planning to see Pearl Harbour in a Bristol cinema.
I just had time to drop Aquiles back at the house before going on to my second job. Then after I had finished that I dashed in the supermarket for provisions and upon arrival at home I just had time to cook a huge chicken stir fry for us all before Colin's arrival. About 15 minutes before his planned arrival time Colin phoned to say the film was too long - a 3 hour one - so we decided to give it a miss and go for a drink instead.
I left Aquiles with Adam who was also delighted to see him again and Colin and I had a very pleasant evening at our favourite pub - The Bear and Swan at Chew Magna - until it was time to drive into Bristol and collect Claire from the theatre. In the car going back she told us all about it and was happy to produce three tickets for Colin, Aquiles and I to watch the performance the following evening.
That Thursday was an incredibly busy day. I was up before 5 o clock in order to tidy the house as there had been no time that whole week, every day was so busy, From work I went straight to the hair salon for a perm and Colin met me there at 6.30 and we both drove into Bristol. We met Claire and Aquiles in front of the theatre and he loaded all the equipment in my car (having had to manage it from Bath to Bristol on the bus that day) and we then parked both cars and got inside the theatre in good time for the start of the show. We were in the upper circle which although quite a good view was very high up. The show would be a long one but we knew there would be two intervals for refreshments in between. Actually when it started we were all amazed how much we enjoyed it. It was a more modern version of Carmen, improvised in many ways and the singing was lovely and a lot of humour thrown in as well. At the first interval as we left the circle, the steps were of uneven heights and I almost fell flat on my face (and Aquiles laughed his head off and said it reminded him of when I tripped over the tent peg rope in Edinburgh). Claire joined us downstairs and we all had a beer until the next part started. In the second interval we all enjoyed ice creams - and you would never believe it but I almost fell flat on my face again! Luckily Aquiles was in front and didn't see it that time! We decided to sit closer for the last part and sat in one of the side boxes which was empty and would be really expensive normally.
After the show Claire joined us and we went to a nearby pub and had a drink with some of the actors and musicians afterwards. It really was an excellent evening. Claire was surprised at how much Aquiles enjoyed it - thinking he would be asleep before the end of the first act!
The next day Friday I had off from work but it was still an incredibly hectic day. I got up at the usual time as my first job was to make the spicy Kashmiri meatballs for my youngest sister's barbeque the following day for her daughter's first birthday. Once that was done I further tidied and hoovered the house as we were expecting yet another Peruvian guest to arrive later in the day - Ricardo - a friend of Aquiles - the one who was with us during two recent weekends in London. Then I had to go and do my second job and luckily they didn't mind having it done early morning instead of in the afternoon. Then I went to Great Mills and bought a barbeque as we were planning a barbeque for Saturday evening, then into Tescos to get the food necessary for it. Back home I just had time to put the shopping away and be on the way to Bath - dropping off the Kashmiri meatballs at Tracy's en route and then picking up my sister Kathryn from the hospital where she works in Bath and then brought her back to my house as we were going out to lunch and luckily I didn't have to drive into Bristol for that as Colin came over and picked us up and drove us to the restaurant (TGI Fridays which is one we both love). He dropped us off about 1.15 and promised to come back three hours later to pick us up.
We had a nice time there. Although I'd only planned to have one large glass of wine with the meal, I ended up having three which is the equivalent of a full bottle as I can never resist Californian white zinfandyl which one doesn't come across terribly often. The meal was brilliant - my diet went completely out of the window. We ordered things we both liked so that we could share everything and the ice cream dessert was so huge it was a meal on its own.
Afterwards Colin dropped me off first and then took Kathryn home, and I said I would phone him later regarding Ricardo's arrival time as our plan for that evening was to go for a drink in Bath so that we would be handy to meet Ricardo from the train station when he arrived.
I had to get busy at home preparing as much as I could in readiness for the following evening's barbeque and I managed to get the chicken marinading, and make three different salad accompaniments by the time Aquiles arrived home. Colin came to pick us up at 8.30 and by this time we knew Ricardo's arrival time and we got to the station first, about 10 minutes before his train arrived. He was so happy to be in Bath, having not seen anywhere other than London since his arrival from Peru 9 months previously. We decided to go to the village pub in Timsbury and we had a really brilliant evening there. Colin really enjoyed their company too and I couldn't believe it when they called time, the evening flew by so fast. Both Aquiles and Ricardo are really worried about me going off to South America on my own and of course their misgivings made Colin worried as well. Aquiles gave me his Dad's phone number and said that if I have any problems anywhere while I'm in Peru to phone his Dad who would happily go anywhere and rescue me if it should prove necessary. Ricardo is also going to arrange for his brother in Lima to help me if it should prove necessary. He also said he would make the arrangements for his brother to accompany me to Ayacucho.
After Colin dropped us off and went home we went in, put the music on and carried on drinking until Claire's arrival home on the last bus from Bristol and it was probably almost 2 am before we all went to bed. All three of them were sleeping in my lounge, two on settees and Ricardo on the reclining chair, which collapsed when he got on it and we were all so hysterical with laughter it was unbelievable.
Next day we were all up bright an early, as they wanted to go to Cheltenham that day, Saturday being the best day to play. After juice and coffee we were on our way, both Ricardo and I looking forward to a day out. It took about an hour to get there and we dropped Aquiles and Claire in the centre by 10 am and Ricardo came with me to park the car so that it would be two heads instead of one to remember first where it was parked and second how to find the way back to the closest point to pick them up again at the end of the day. (During our travels to Edinburgh this proved a nightmare at times as I got hopelessly lost in strange towns).
After parking the car we passed a Littlewoods store, came to a skidding halt and went in as they were offering large breakfasts of 8 items plus toast and a newspaper for less than £2 per person. We really enjoyed our breakfast which we supplemented with orange juice, crusty baguette and butter and capuccino coffee. When we left Littlewoods afterwards we took a wrong direction and ended up walking in a complete circle and arriving back at Littlewoods again about 20 minutes later. (As you can imagine this meant I completely lost my sense of direction and wasn't sure how to get back to the car again later!)
When we caught up with them, Claire and Aquiles were in full swing and the shoppers were enjoying the music and they sold quite a lot of CDs throughout the day. Ricardo and I spent quite a bit of time walking around the town, shopping etc. In one shop I bought shorts and T-shirt and ended up putting them on after they were paid for.
Then we came to Blacks camping shop as I needed a few items for Peru and whilst in there I fell in love with a pair of trekking boots that were reduced from £90 to £70 in olive green nubuck leather. We left the shop and went back to Claire and Aquiles but I couldn't stop thinking about those boots and had to go back immediately. Luckily out of the two pairs left one was my size and when I tried them on they were so brilliant I just had to buy them. I wore them back to Claire and Aquiles and even though they were playing they both noticed immediately! They really liked them as well.
They played until about 5 pm and luckily Ricardo and I found the car okay and easily managed to get to an accessible point and park properly so that the equipment could be loaded back in the car. We were on our way by ten to six but had to hurry as Claire's last night at Bristol Old Vic was that night. I drove back about 90 mph and managed to drop her off in King Street by 6.30. From there I had to drive to Bath as I had invited Benjamin to the barbeque and we had to pick him up as he doesn't have transport. He brought his guitar and charango and a small amplifier with him and we stopped at an off licence and stocked up with loads of booze.
Back home, after having lit the barbeque, the men relaxed in the garden with some beers whilst I got busy to part cook all the meat as well as make another couple of salad dishes as accompaniments. After a while I could hear this wonderful music and when I investigated it was Benjamin on guitar and Aquiles on charango and I really enjoyed listening whilst I was cooking. Once everything was ready, the table laid and parasol up, I put music on and Aquiles started barbequing the meats and we had a very pleasant evening indeed. It was quite cold unfortunately and eventually everyone at the table was wearing one of my fleeces - Aquiles in a lime green one with sheep embroidery - Benjamin in an orange and cream one - and Ricardo looked the funniest in a deep violet one! I had on my blue one from Jersey and after a while a poncho on top as well but despite the chilly weather we stayed in the garden for at least three hours. When it got dark we organised a system whereby the outside light would keep coming back on. Every time it went off Adam (who was indoors) called the dog who when she went running and approached the door the light came back on. This worked for a while until she got fed up and then Colin and Ricardo took turns at light duty! About an hour into the barbeque Benjamin played his guitar for us and it was so lovely and relaxing. He played a wonderful selection of music. When we finally went indoors later on, he played for us again until 2 o clock in the morning.
Also during the evening we were all chatting and planning the trip to Peru in February. Claire and Aquiles and I are definitely going and by the end of the evening Colin and Ricardo had agreed to go as well and Benjamin is also going to try and save up the money. That will be really fantastic and among other things we are all going to do the Inca Trail together. Aquiles has also promised to show us the Aquiles nightlife. We'll spend time in the Urubamba valley as well as a horse and cart ride by the river (which Claire said because of the rough terrain you feel as though you'll be tipped in when you go over some of the bumps)! At the end of the evening Colin took Benjamin home and we all had one last drink together before going to bed. We didn't have to get up quite so early the next day as they were planning to play in Bath.
Next morning I was up at 9 am and managed to wash up the previous evening's dishes before they awoke. After juice and coffee and some restful music we finally left the house about 11 o clock and I dropped them off before parking the car, with my first port of call before rejoining them a half an hour in an internet cafe to read and reply to my messages.
Back with the band we relaxed on a bench beside the band and listened to their music whilst enjoying the warm sunshine. Later in the day Ricardo and I walked up through the town and in the process came across another Peruvian friend - Oswaldo - who was playing in a different place. We listened to him for half an hour, chatting to him as well, and before we left him I told him that Claire, Aquiles, Ricardo and I were going to Las Iguanas to eat after they finished playing and asked if he would like to join us and he happily agreed.
We were all at Las Iguanas by 5 pm and sat in the outside courtyard for our meal as it was still quite warm and sunny. We had a very pleasant time there - and an excellent meal. We ended up sharing three bottles of wine with the meal (two of them my favourite Argentinian Syrah rose) and the puddings were so delicious we all ended up having two each!!! Claire left us at that point as she was returning to London because she was teaching early next day and had a lot of preparation to do. Then once we'd collected both cars, I followed Oswaldo and he dropped his equipment off at his home and then he followed me to my home where I dashed indoors for a 5-minute change into shorts and Tshirt as I didn't fancy ice-skating in a sundress in case I fell down. I left my car there and we all went in Oswaldo's, all of us looking forward to a fun evening of ice-skating. At the rink Aquiles decided to watch and Oswaldo and Ricardo got skates and were eager to try their luck on the ice - it being their first ever time (I don't think they even have ice-rinks in Peru) and thereafter we had the most incredibly funny evening. When both Oswaldo and Ricardo got on the ice and were strugglingto stay on their feet (at times Oswaldo hanging off the barrier!) Aquiles laughed so much and so did I. At times our sides ached and we could hardly breathe where we laughed so much. For the first hour I let them find their feet, skating alongside them at times and offering suggestions to help them find their balance and laughing a lot as well, especially as Oswaldo fell many times (probably about 60 times during the evening - sometimes landing with his feet completely in the air - and just watching Aquiles hysterical with laughter at them was funny as well. Not content with sitting in his seat and looking through the glass barrier, he was standing on his seat looking over the top so that he wouldn't miss anything! After a while though he couldn't fail to be impressed as they were both doing well, skating round without holding the barrier. Ricardo was brilliant on balance as even when he almost fell he managed to stop himself and I took his hand and we skated round together and he even tried dancing on ice. He fell a few times, one time taking me down with him and on another occasion I was standing still but laughing so much I fell over! I also took Oswaldo by the hand and took it in turns with both of them. Neither of them took a break the whole evening, both were so determined to master the art of ice-skating, and in the last quarter of an hour Aquiles and I got Ricardo and Oswaldo to have a race around the rink which was also fun. Afterwards as we walked to the car to go back to Timsbury I asked Oswaldo how he enjoyed it and he said he enjoyed it so much he was going back there the next day to have another go! Ricardo too looks forward to going there again the next time he's in Bath and they both made Aquiles promise to join us on the ice next time as well. (We let him off this time as he had a sore throat and thought the cold of the ice might make it worse!).
Back at the house Aquiles was hungry and as I'd promised to make his favourite Peruvian dish - Rocoto Belleno - during his visit and until then didn't have time. I started preparing it at 11.30 and we were enjoying beers and music whilst I did so. I made two lots of fillings - one with beef and the other with Turkey and filled 12 peppers with them and we finally tucked in at 1 o clock in the morning!
They returned to London next day and the next time I see them will be when I come back from Peru and I will look forward to it because whether in London or Bath we all always have such a fantastic fun-filled time!
