The week that flew!

Hey all

I hope everyone enjoyed the Jubilee celebrations- they seem a long time ago now. We had a lovely time in Nice- I had not been before and it was lovely- a place I would recommend for sure. We got home at about 1am Thursday night (or Friday morning) and I was off for the hen weekend Friday lunch time, so it was a speedy turn around. I even managed a quick run on Friday morning before breakfast, before unpacking and packing.

I convinced my friends to go to the naked tea and coffee for some lunch, and of course some tea! I love the teapots.

We did a spot of shopping:

Lovely Zest pesto, teabags, and some coffee truffles for Andy.

Plus a case for my sunglasses- they are quite big and I have never found a case to fit them, so normally have to pack them in a tuppaware tub!

We went for a walk by the sea (and even had some ice cream) but it was so windy and the waves were huge! They must have been easily 6ft high!

Then headed to the house where we had a lovely evening (caterers in, games after).

Then events got rather dramatic- we all went to bed, and my friend (who was in a bunk bed above me) got up to go to the toilet at about 3.30- I heard her get up, and then I heard her say “Oh my God there is a fire”- I thought I had drifted off and so I shouted “Are you awake?” as I was a bit panicked, but also wondered if she was dreaming. I got up, and saw the orange glow coming from the garden. By then a few other girls had woken up, and we realised that the wooden surround for the swimming pool was on fire- it looked like a garden bench at first. She called the fire brigade (there was a fire blanket and an extinguisher, but we wondered whether it was electrical as it was in lines on the surround), and then we decided to wait outside in the road (we did stop to get coats and shoes on over our PJ’s even though we know with a fire you should not stop- we figured as it was not in the house we had a minute). My friend even called the fire service again as they seemed to take an age (the two calls were only ten minutes apart, but when there is a big fire, that seems a long time)- there were huge ashes and sparks and smoke pouring over the roof as it was really windy.

Finally they turned up, and as soon as they saw it they were getting axes to chop off the wood- the swimming pool was about a metre from the house and surrounded by wooden decking.

We did make the classic hen party jokes about strippers, and my friend even got her photo taken!

By the time they left it was about 5am (we had to call the land lady too), and so of course we all took photos of the aftermath.

All the wood they chopped off.

Some of the burnt bits.

And more.

The decking had burnt right through in places. Anyway, we eventually went to bed for a couple of hours, but no-one really slept, as an electrician had to come out (it was an electrical fire as some water had got to the plug under the pool), and someone had to come and re-fit and test the smoke alarms. We had taxis booked for the next day so we could not just lay in.

Anyway, everyone was rather shell shocked, and so relieved that my friend had woken up in the night and smelt the smoke (she thought someone was burning joss sticks and went to check it out) as who knows what would have happened otherwise.

Anyway, after some dozing we got ready and went for a walk on the pier before afternoon tea for lunch at this place. The decor is just hilarious, and I cannot do it justice, so check it out! We tried to have an afternoon nap, but I think the adrenaline was still going.

Then we got all dolled up and went to the Brighton Ballroom for an evening of dinner, burlesque and dancing.

It was fun, and we were going to stay til 2am, but by midnight we were all flagging (but trying to keep it up for the hen) so we decided to go back. Seeing as some people had only had about an hour of sleep on Friday night, I think we did pretty well!

Anyway, I think the tiredness hit me today- we had a good journey back but then I have been trying to do work this afternoon and my brain is just rather foggy! Ah well, it was a memorable one anyway.

I might post some Nice photos later this week, when I have caught up!

Anyway, please can you all go and check your smoke alarms right now. And what did I miss this week?