Birthday Celebrations

Friday 13 April

We came to Darlington to celebrate Juz’s birthday today – she was born on Friday 13th too – and to start her day “in style’ for breakfast she ate cold curry and rice (!) especially left from last night’s meal! – her favourite. After a lazy morning, sitting around chatting and exploring more on the internet about marble flooring and holidays, we set out for Northallerton, to have lunch at the famous “Betty’s” tea shop. We had to wait a while for a table for six, but were then soon tucking into the delicious foods the restaurant is famous for – muffins, cinnamon toasts and scones, all with chips! It is one of the most expensive establishments we have eaten in for snacky type food, but it is worth every penny, when the plates arrive. There is also a huge range of proper teas and coffee – so that there is always something new to try. Poor Dave had to return to work, but the rest of us wandered around the shops – some making purchases - before making our way back to ‘Darlo’. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing games – the “Youngsters” trying hard to get their revenge over the “Oldies” at ‘Trivvers’ and as well as trying to guess the right words for “Taboo” – a few glasses of wine seemed to cloud our minds.

We started the evening early with champagne as Juz opened presents and cards, and were all very “happy” by the time we set about putting on our glad rags to go out and celebrate in the town. Friday night is traditionally “boys night out” in the north, but we came across quite a lot of ladies in “22’s” – a bar where even standing room is always at a premium, and later on our way to the restaurant – “Oven” – where Colin and I had tried to eat on two previous occasions, but never quite made it.

The food was delicious with a definite thumbs up for the oysters and my huge steaming bowl of mussels. For main courses between the seven of us we sampled the slow roasted belly of pork (me and Juz), steaks, sword fish and lamb and all were very temptingly presented. Only a few hardy ones had room for dessert but they were equally delicious and looked extremely pretty on the plates.

It was quite a rowdy crowd who piled into the taxi – the poor driver needed a “rider’ to tell him the way, and Colin was selected to sit in front – so it was quite lucky we went to the right address. We sat in the kitchen and chatted for a while, before we all retired to bed – Dave and Natasha having to be up early for work tomorrow – even though it’s Saturday.