Today was Sophie's last exam and we had planned to go out for a couple of drinks in town after we picked her up at lunchtime. Keith was given a hospital appointment for 11am, at quite short notice, but it still meant we could go out and celebrate. We just hoped we wouldn't have as long a delay as the other week!
We dropped our daughter off at uni after taking Mike and then returned home where I gave the downstairs of the house a quick clean while Keith had a bath. Sue was due to come around in the evening for a drink and nibbles and I really didn't fancy hoovering and dusting when I got back later!
I dropped Keith off at the hospital and then went to get my car cleaned in the half hour I had spare until I needed to pick Sophie up. She was let out of her exam a little early so we arrived back at the hospital at midday and must have missed Keith going in to see the Consultant by mere minutes.
He has been told that it's best to have his whole kidney removed to make sure all the growth is removed and will probably have to go into hospital in June. He seemed quite upbeat about the news and got on well with the Consultant so that was good news.
We parked the car in one of the town car parks and walked to The Lamplighter for a drink. It seemed strange to be going in there at lunchtime rather than a Tuesday evening! The menu had changed slightly and I promised that the next time Mike went to Army Cadets we would go back in and try it.
From The Lamplighter we walked to the Princess Alexandra. The weather forecast today was supposed to be cloudy and cool but we enjoyed a spell of warm sunshine which was a bonus! The Princess Alexandra was empty and we took a seat by the window. Keith had a pint of Hobgoblin and Sophie stuck to lager and they both planned to try a bottle of a very strong US beer that was 8.5% and was called Dirty Bastard! However, the fridge wasn't cool enough so they'll have to leave it until the next time they go! This sort of set the tone for the day as Keith hadn't been impressed with the beers so far and hoped that in The Malt Shovel, he would have better luck!
We walked back to the car and drove the short distance to the Morrison's car park. The Malt Shovel was a lot busier than the previous two pubs and we got there just in time to order lunch! Sophie and I had a cheeseburger with delicious chunky chips while Keith had a chicken and bacon baguette. Sophie had never been in the pub before and said she much preferred The Lamplighter and The Princess Alexandra as they were more "youthful"!!
We stayed for an hour and decided to call into The Old England on the way home. As we were driving along I saw a big black Mercedes pull into a car park belonging to Northampton's Drama school. The man driving the car was obviously an Elvis impersonator and he even had ELV on his car number plate!
After parking the car and walking the short distance to the pub we saw the Elvis man again and Sophie called out to him excitedly! He waved back and it made her day! Unfortunately The Old England was closed and Keith was gnashing his teeth about the lack of good beer so we returned to the car and drove to The Spinney Hill, a pub I hadn't been in for about thirty years! To Keith's extreme annoyance they were advertising Abbot Ale but it wasn't actually available yet so he settled for half a pint of Porter instead! Oh dear! Well, it is Friday the 13th!
Sue came over in the evening and we had a great time eating nibbles and drinking a lovely bottle of Vouvray. Her kitchen is now all finished but the garden still needs to be landscaped and she seemed heartily fed up of all the mess. It has been going on since early December!
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