Many meetings, (apologies to Tolkien)

Monday dawned bright and clear, it was lovely day, so we decided to walk into Rhyl. It was a bit noisy crossing the Voryd bridge,as they are working on it. We popped into a couple of antique/junk shops in Wellington road, but we couldn't have got anything much  in the car had we decide to buy. A few more shops had closed in Rhyl, very depressing, one was gift shop that has been there for years, as long as I can remember; we bought our Daughter's teddy Edward there when she was small. I expect the owners had retired.
Deciding it was too cold for sitting out with M&S sandwiches, we had lunch in Costa, then husband went off to the barber's. he doesn't get much time for visiting barbers, and he always complains they are too busy on Ssturdays, so there are a couple of barbers that he goes to on holiday. In between muggins has to try and tidy him up. We wandered around the town, then decided we'd had enough , so nipped down to the bus station, and got the bus back. Sadly our bus passes are not valid in Wales. I had picked up pork steaks and lamb steaks in M&S, so we had a fairly easy quick meal.
On Tuesday we drove over to Llandudno. There is a lovely independent shoe shop there, and I wanted to look for a replacement for some brown shoes, which are feeling their age. Unfortunately they didn't have much in brown, so I had to pay a fortune for a pair made in France. They are comfortable though, and for me, walking a lot as I do, comfort is worth paying for. We had lunch at the Cottage Loaf again, in fact we both had a cooked meal. Can't remember what husband had, but I had fish with prawn sauce, which was delicious. They have  some new wooden sculptures In Llandudno, Lewis Carroll had links with the town

The White Rabbit

The Red queen

We had seen Alice round by the station on the way in, but I didn't have the energy to walk that far!.

We did our usual, separate, tour of the shops, I didn't buy much more, but did pick up some small items in the lovely kitchen shop. Then  I bought some food from M&S as family were coming to visit on Thursday. 

Having finished my tour of the shoe shops, I made my way back to the car where husband was waiting, having finished his charity shop tour. We had been fortunate enough to find an on road parking space, so saved a couple of pounds. As you can see, the weather was still good, we had a fairly easy run back, had tea and spent the evening with my sister, where we chatted and kept one eye on the goings on at Holby City.
On Wednesday we went to Chester, it was a dull day, so we had lunch in M&S. We then wandered around the shops, popping up on to the walls for a peek in the antiques shop.

Statue artist

Great nephew's dig

end of Northgate Row

 I didn't buy much, the stuff in M&S was rather overwhelming, I just bought food there. I bought a couple of small items in Lakeland, again there were shops that had closed down including one called Nauticalia. Great nephew was not at his 'dig'. I rang husband and waited for him by the town hall, and we went into the market, which is looking better than before. We sampled lots of cheese, and bought some, there is such a variety. Then we went and got the park and ride for Boughton,and headed back, just at the beginning of rush hour.
On Thursday it was pouring with rain. Oh dear, my niece was driving up from Brum with her Mum and Dad. I spent part of the morning making cheese, ham and egg baps. We had a cooked meal for lunch, then afterwards I packed the sandwiches, quiches other snack items, mini welshcakes and  coffee walnut cake into the cool bag, and drove to my sister's house. As usual I had overcatered. We had a good time chatting, my  Rhyl niece and her son were there, he had finished the Chester dig. We spent most of the afternoon nattering, then had tea. All too soon it was time for the Birmingham crew to leave, and we had a couple of photos taken. They had a bad journey back weatherwise too. The A41is not terribly well lit, but they arrived home safely, praise the Lord.
Sadly the photos seem to have vanished from my card, that didn't happen with film!  Friday morning I bought flowers, and took them to the cemetery. it was a fine windy day, but the graves were waterlogged. I found Mum and Dad's straight away this time, then we packed up, had lunch - more quiche I'm afraid . Then we deposited the key, and went to see Son and Daughter in law in Sandbach. They had a friend round for the evening, and we all went out for a meal, then got desserts from Aldi! They know how to do things in style!. We had taken the mattress topper with us, and used it on the bed so had a reasonable night's sleep. They were off to a wedding so we left before lunch, and arrived home at about 3.30. After we unpacked the car, I had to go to Sainsbo's and stock up for the weekend,  back home back to normal (whatever that might be).