Out on the town!

So, the end of another week has arrived and tonight Sophie and her friends went out to town, for the first time. I'd been dreading it to be honest but as she's now 18 and can do what she wants, I don't have any say any more!

It was bad timing in a way as I was also going out with my friends Lynda, Andrea and Fiona, to The Rose and Crown at Yardley Hastings, somewhere Lynda had recommended because of the good food. Today has involved a lot of taxiing about as Sophie and her friend Danni had been in town all afternoon, so I picked them up at 3pm, took Danni home, filled up with diesel (again!) and then went home to get ready for the evening.

I think Sophie was a bit nervous about going into town and I told her about my own experiences when I was her age. Of course, the pubs and bars were a lot different then and my favourite was a place called Camilla's Wine Bar in Northampton's Gold Street. It was the place we made for first before going on a trawl down Bridge Street. Ah, the memories!

Sophie had a shower at home and packed a bag with all her make-up and clothes as she was getting ready at her friend's Laura's house which is nearer to the town. They would then get a taxi home to Laura's house and spend (what remained) of the night there.

My evening was much more subdued so I was ready in under thirty minutes! We drove through gorgeous evening sunshine to Danni's house again, where another girl, Daisy, was being dropped off. Now, I used to have an enormous crush on Daisy's Dad when I was about 16 as he was at the same school as me (a couple of years older, though) so it was really funny when he dropped her off! I didn't dare tell Daisy and I'm not sure her Dad would even recognise me, but it's funny all the same! I never dreamed that my daughter would be friends with his daughter!

I drove the giggling, slightly nervous, girls to Laura's house and then set off to pick Lynda up before going on to Yardley Hastings. When we arrived, the pub was very busy indeed, with lots of people enjoying the summer sunshine in the garden. We bought ourselves a drink and then sat outside to wait for Andrea and Fiona who were coming together. Andrea was doing a Race For Life event the next day so she was not drinking, which made two of us. Keith had volunteered to drive me, but my poor car had done enough miles today without him making the return journey home and then coming out again when I was ready to be picked up!

Lynda showed us her photos of New York (she'd visited in May) and then we were called to our table inside. The Rose and Crown is a lovely old pub, dating from the 1700s (I think) with low beams, fireplaces and an uneven stone flagged floor. The menu was very tempting and I went for the warm black pudding salad served with potatoes and lardons to start, followed by Ballotine of chicken stuffed with sausagemeat, wrapped in bacon and accompanied by a Porcini sauce. We'd shared some ciabatta bread and olives beforehand so we certainly didn't leave hungry! The food was delicious. All four of shared just the one bottle of a Chenin Blanc from South Africa and we had a good gossip.

During the evening Sophie texted me to say that they'd ordered pizza (this was at 10pm!) so I was pleased she had a full stomach to absorb the alcohol she was planning to drink!

I took Lynda home and then had a quiet drive back to my own house. Although it was 11pm, the sky was still dark blue and not quite dark, and I remembered that tomorrow is the Summer Solstice!