Dos viejas amigas.

#1D was going into Liverpool today on a mission involving trying to get information and assistance from an actual human bank employee at her branch. This was unfruitful as expected, but she did meet up with #2S who was up from Cardiff on a half-term visit, so they had lunch together. Before all this, I was dropped off at my best friend Sara's house, with the plan of going into Liverpool with our lovely OAP train passes, to take in some shops and culture as we always do. I soon realised that she wasn't her usual fit and healthy self, so although she was still up for going to town to please me, I suggested we just go to Dobbies instead for lunch and a catch up. After being initially overwhelmed by the C'mas tat and heady festive scented candles, and saying hello to a nice man wheeling his 2 small fluffy white dogs in a shop trailer (they love it apparently), we settled into the lunch routine of soup with sourdough bread, delicious cakes and strong coffee. One of the cakes was two-for-the-price-of-one, so of course we had to go back for the free one, which as it turned out was one giant fruit and cream scone too far - but we struggled through. Hard to believe we chatted for 4 whole hours there! Lots of family news, putting the world to rights and a humorous take on the foibles of the male of the species ("why do they DO that?" came up a lot).
Re the picture: I've bought a few C'mas presents while I've been in Ingerlund, so got some wrapping paper. S has lots of family to buy for, so she got even more. This pic also demonstrates the 2 different ways ladies of a certain age deal with greying hair; completely strip out any remaining colour or go for garish denial. The choice of comfy footwear however remains the same.
#2S picked me up from the garden centre and took me back to #1D's, where he was to stay over. The evening was taken up by the traditional family carve-the-pumpkin competition, with #2S + #1GS vs #1D + myself. #1D did all the hollowing out and carving of ours, as I'm not totally trustworthy with a knife (shaky hands) but I did the teeth and refined the other apertures. Similarly #2S did the lion's share of the work on theirs, while #1GS offered advice, criticised ours and watched a lot of TV across the table.