My weekend away:the ups and downs

On the whole I had an amazing weekend away, with just a couple of little hiccups.

We set of Friday morning having left my mum and dad ready to move into ours for a night to look after Little Man and Little Miss. Traffic was fine going down to London and we got to the hotel 30 minutes before check in time. They let us check in anyway. We stayed at the Hilton: Docklands. A huge, hotel situated beside the Thames. Based in 3 large buildings, we were in building number 1. With bare brick walls and gorgeous decor, this was a very comfortable room. Marble coated the surfaces in the bathroom and the television even welcomed us by name. Three minutes into our stay, hubby received a telephone call asking us if we were happy with our rooms. Er, let me think, YES!

We then took a stroll beside the river before returning to get ready for our evevning out. The hotel had a courtesy minibus service to take us to the nearest tube station. This was a blessing as if we'd have walked it, it would have taken us at least 30 minutes. Once in London, we rang home to say goodnight to our children. Bless them. They wanted to chat forever but we had to eat. Heading into Chinatown we found a lovely restaurant and ate to our hearts content.

A little wander around Leicester Square before we headed to Shaftersbury Avenue and the Lyric Theatre where we were due to see Thriller: Live. We turned up just as the doors were opening so booked our interval drinks and enjoyed the atmosphere. All was going well, then came the first hiccup. I'm claustraphobic and our seats were in the middle of a long row. I went to the toilet then couldn't make myself walk back into the auditorium. The member of staff on the door asked if I was OK and I explained I couldn't go in. He called for the manager who said they were almost full that night but he would see what he could do. Less than a minute later he came back and said he had booked out 4 seats for us on the end of a row and would that be OK? OK? Yes! he was so lovely even though I was so apologetic - constantly.

The show itself was brilliant - my review of it is here. We raced through London to get back to the bus station in time for the last few mini buses back to the hotel (the last one was due to leave at 11.30pm) which is where our, or rather my, last hiccup occurred. I needed the toilet. Desperately. The public toilets were locked and there were no MacDonalds or such like around. So, into the only few bushes there we went - and missed the bus - and got myself covered into nettle stings - all over my bottom. Thankfully there was another bus but I was so sore I couldn't sit down properly and had to hold myself up off the seat. Hubby, meanwhile, was trying not to guffaw at me.

When back at the hotel, my itching had stopped, well, almost. We sat in the outside part of the bar and sipped at our drinks watching the boats go up and down on the river. One held a disco and we found ourselves not to be the only ones laughing at the drunken dancing on board. Finally, we rolled into bed and woke what seemed to be only a minute later. Where did the night go?

Hubby drove off to get Maccie D's for breakfast then we headed off to Milton Keynes for lunch at Frankie and Benny's. Not eaten there before but we will again. Mmmmmmm. Beautiful food.

We rushed back to see the children - we'd missed them, you see, and there was the end of our time away. A lovely break, much needed and much enjoyed. Even if I did end up prickled on my bum!