The best laid plans...

Well the plan for today had been we would all head to Whitby and get the North Yorkshire Moors Railway steam train to Pickering, perhaps getting on and off at different stations on the way.

The first thing to go wrong was my antibiotics giving me a bit of an upset stomach during the night, well just before sunrise.  That was me awake.  

D and Andrew were up just after 7am and I told them I didn't think a day on a steam train was going to be the best thing for me today.  I was more than happy to stay near a loo at the lodge where I could sit outside in the sun, read my book, paint and crochet.  They headed round to Alan's holiday house at 11am to meet up with the rest of the gang to head to Whitby.

I had a lovely time by myself (as an only child I do enjoy my own company :-)) and after having my first attempt at painting a bird (a toucan just incase you can't identify it!  lol) I started my new crochet project (my efforts in extras)  I am having another go at a Hexi Cardi and I am determined not to let it get the better of me this time, and to complete it a bit quicker than its predecessor.

Thankfully by the time D got back, I felt much better, and it's the last day of the antibiotics so hopefully no more side effects!

Things had not gone according to plan with them either.  

After arriving at the train station with minutes to spare before the train left the platform (you're supposed to arrive 30 minutes before the departure time for the steam train but they got held up in traffic) they all had to run hell for leather to get on.  This apparently caused great hilarity as the Guard was shouting "Don't run!!!" at them, so they slowed down to fast walking which of course looked ridiculous! 

The ramp was brought out and they all piled on to the train breathless and red faced, apart from Alan who was only red faced from laughing at the mad dash! 

Once on, they sat...and sat...and sat...with the train making rather strange noises.  Eventually after half an hour, the guard came on and apologised and said they hoped the train would be moving soon.  In the meantime D had checked the timetable and realised in order to get back to Whitby, they'd have to sit on the train all the way to Pickering, get off for 10-15 mins  then have to get back on the same train to come back to Whitby again, a round journey of about 5 hours!  They decided to get off!  

In the end they spent the day in Whitby, had lunch in a nice cafe (Cornish pasties :) then after a wander round Whitby (Andrew bought lots of souvenirs) they went to the Abbey.  

David left them there as he had to be back in time to get to the pharmacy as Alan's antibiotic has finished but his chest still isn't clear, so our GP sent a prescription to the local pharmacy. 

We had dinner and Ally and Andrew arrived round to pick up the game of Monopoly that's in our lodge and took it back with them.  Vickie dropped Andrew off just before 10.30pm.  I saw them briefly as I headed to bed, shattered since being awake since just after 4am.