Last time I went to Moffat I took my wife and a bike. This time I was travelling light. I even managed to lose my job the day before I went, so I you could say it was extra light.
If you're going to lose your job, what you really need is a holiday at 1950s prices, and the church 'Hostel Takeover' to Moffat is the ultimate recession proof holiday.
I managed to get my own room (with two plugs in it) for just over £8 a night, and then for the ridiculously cheap price of £5.50 I managed to get two evening meals of incredible quality courtesy of Sarah, the second of which left me physically unable to bend for approximately 12 hours. Even if you're me, and even when you know crumble is coming, if seconds and then thirds of mince and dumplings with veg are available, there really is no way of saying no. The night before it was lamb curry followed by about 19 kinds of chocolate. It might have been the most calorie dense 48 hours of my life. My stomach couldn't feel any heavier if I'd been eating dark matter (to be fair, that might have been one of the flavours of the chocolate we had).
I hadn't seen Ruth for 3 days until about 5 minutes ago and when she got in from work tonight she looked at me as if to say 'You look the same only wider' (or was that just my imagination?). That's how much I ate.
In the absence of Ruth in Moffat, my choice of daytrips was perhaps a bit questionable. I went on a day trip to Lockerbie on Saturday and then I went on a 'strenuous' walk with Graeme on Sunday.
Whether Sunday's walk was in fact 'strenuous' is debateable but we managed to make it so by walking about 3 times as far as necessary and being totally unable to find the spa we were looking for. It didn't help that we didn't know even what a spa was, and even if we'd been able to find it, we apparently would have needed a torch to see it, so I'm not sure our chances were that good anyway. Graeme didn't want to give up quite as easily as me, and this led to him clambering around on some rock face for about half an hour while I stood eating ham sandwiches and getting cold. I wasn't as well equipped in the waterproofs department as Graeme and when we got back he kindly told me I looked like a tramp and he made me sit on a plastic sheet in the car to get back to the hostel. As with all trips I go on with Graeme, I was just happy to get back alive.
As usual on these hostel trips, the highlight for me was the shared meals. Not just because eating is one of my main hobbies, but also because it's really nice to hang out with old friends and also to get to know some new faces too. I think I got to know who all the adults were, but I had some trouble telling all the children apart, especially all the small blonde ones. The one small blonde one I did get to know was Henri, and I wish I'd had a dictaphone with me to record his musings for posterity. I've seen less funny acts on Saturday night at the Apollo, he should probably get his own show. One of my favourites was his prayer that all the dinosaurs should stay alive (I take it he hasn't seen Jurassic Park). His geography needs a bit of work though as he seems to think that England is the smallest country in the world, and yet is still bigger than a planet. I'm happy to give him the benefit of the doubt though, because I did confuse him utterly by trying to explain the intricacies of custard to him, when he simply wanted a yes or no answer.
I generally don't like card games or any other game where rules need explaining to me, but I managed to be taught two card games by two children aged 8 and 11. They were called Poo and Speed (the card games, not the children). I almost got the hang of both, and I almost understood the rules.
Even allowing for the incredible cheapness of the trip, and the ridiculously good value of the food, the best bit is still the chance to hang out with such lovely people for 3 days. Seeing all the children running around and screaming so happily, and seeing all the adults neither running around or screaming but happily peeling vegetables and speaking kindly to one another, it makes me want to go and do likewise (well, except for the peeling vegetables part).
As an added bonus, I also got to recite my entire life story on the way up and down in the car. One of the advantages of being in a car with people for 2 and a half hours each way is that they're a captive audience.
And as if all that wasn't good enough, Ruth came in from work and she's bought me a Wii Fit for Christmas, but she couldn't wait to give it to me, so she's given it to me already. It's got one of those boards with it that you can sway around on to lose weight. I think I need to get that up and running as soon as possible, before I have to go out and buy the next size up trousers.
But before I do that, I'm just off to eat some more chocolate....
If you're going to lose your job, what you really need is a holiday at 1950s prices, and the church 'Hostel Takeover' to Moffat is the ultimate recession proof holiday.
I managed to get my own room (with two plugs in it) for just over £8 a night, and then for the ridiculously cheap price of £5.50 I managed to get two evening meals of incredible quality courtesy of Sarah, the second of which left me physically unable to bend for approximately 12 hours. Even if you're me, and even when you know crumble is coming, if seconds and then thirds of mince and dumplings with veg are available, there really is no way of saying no. The night before it was lamb curry followed by about 19 kinds of chocolate. It might have been the most calorie dense 48 hours of my life. My stomach couldn't feel any heavier if I'd been eating dark matter (to be fair, that might have been one of the flavours of the chocolate we had).
I hadn't seen Ruth for 3 days until about 5 minutes ago and when she got in from work tonight she looked at me as if to say 'You look the same only wider' (or was that just my imagination?). That's how much I ate.
In the absence of Ruth in Moffat, my choice of daytrips was perhaps a bit questionable. I went on a day trip to Lockerbie on Saturday and then I went on a 'strenuous' walk with Graeme on Sunday.
Whether Sunday's walk was in fact 'strenuous' is debateable but we managed to make it so by walking about 3 times as far as necessary and being totally unable to find the spa we were looking for. It didn't help that we didn't know even what a spa was, and even if we'd been able to find it, we apparently would have needed a torch to see it, so I'm not sure our chances were that good anyway. Graeme didn't want to give up quite as easily as me, and this led to him clambering around on some rock face for about half an hour while I stood eating ham sandwiches and getting cold. I wasn't as well equipped in the waterproofs department as Graeme and when we got back he kindly told me I looked like a tramp and he made me sit on a plastic sheet in the car to get back to the hostel. As with all trips I go on with Graeme, I was just happy to get back alive.
As usual on these hostel trips, the highlight for me was the shared meals. Not just because eating is one of my main hobbies, but also because it's really nice to hang out with old friends and also to get to know some new faces too. I think I got to know who all the adults were, but I had some trouble telling all the children apart, especially all the small blonde ones. The one small blonde one I did get to know was Henri, and I wish I'd had a dictaphone with me to record his musings for posterity. I've seen less funny acts on Saturday night at the Apollo, he should probably get his own show. One of my favourites was his prayer that all the dinosaurs should stay alive (I take it he hasn't seen Jurassic Park). His geography needs a bit of work though as he seems to think that England is the smallest country in the world, and yet is still bigger than a planet. I'm happy to give him the benefit of the doubt though, because I did confuse him utterly by trying to explain the intricacies of custard to him, when he simply wanted a yes or no answer.
I generally don't like card games or any other game where rules need explaining to me, but I managed to be taught two card games by two children aged 8 and 11. They were called Poo and Speed (the card games, not the children). I almost got the hang of both, and I almost understood the rules.
Even allowing for the incredible cheapness of the trip, and the ridiculously good value of the food, the best bit is still the chance to hang out with such lovely people for 3 days. Seeing all the children running around and screaming so happily, and seeing all the adults neither running around or screaming but happily peeling vegetables and speaking kindly to one another, it makes me want to go and do likewise (well, except for the peeling vegetables part).
As an added bonus, I also got to recite my entire life story on the way up and down in the car. One of the advantages of being in a car with people for 2 and a half hours each way is that they're a captive audience.
And as if all that wasn't good enough, Ruth came in from work and she's bought me a Wii Fit for Christmas, but she couldn't wait to give it to me, so she's given it to me already. It's got one of those boards with it that you can sway around on to lose weight. I think I need to get that up and running as soon as possible, before I have to go out and buy the next size up trousers.
But before I do that, I'm just off to eat some more chocolate....
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