HOVE ACTUALLY

No jokes, (about not living in Brighton but in Hove, actually)  this time around as we had a cracking three days with our good friends Mr Neal Ball and Mr Robbie C Wells (alphabetically listed, of course). We knew that it was going to be very sociable and definitely ‘acofrolic’. To assist in this regard they imported two friends for the evening so that we would be in ever better company. Amanda is a work colleague of Neal’s and Peter alias Pooks is his personal trainer. This did work exceptionally well as the bottles became empty very quickly and were lined up for disposal like soldiers on parade!

Apart from the above need to consume something liquid, there was also a need to eat (it helps to keep one upright, you know) but in addition we had to bring three songs along which we thought were the most favourite/important/or because we just liked them. Then say why these were the chosen ones from our pasts.

 It was easy for me as ‘Bat out of Hell’ would always be top of my list. Meatloaf and I have shared some tearful days together which was then followed by ‘The Famous Final’. You may not even know about Bob Seger and his Silver Bullet Band but it makes no difference to me for the lyrics deserve a good listening to. My third choice was Don McLean’s ‘American Pie’ which keeps coming around and around and seems timeless. It was the most popular song for the boys to sing when we both worked in ‘The Darlington’ in Camelford. There you are three great tracks but the choices are wide.

Interestingly American artists featured heavily with two Beatles tracks featuring later on.

Michelle chose ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’ by Bon Jovi (it had to be one of theirs, of course), followed by ‘Baker Street’ by the late Gerry Rafferty and her third choice was ‘Looking for Paradise’ by Alicia Keyes and Alejandro Sanz. This one was the only one that was 21^st Century!

Amongst the others were Tina Turner, The Eagles, Michael Jackson, Pulp, Abba and Bowie and after that our memories have faded away. However, all bloody good choices.

Our short train journey on The Bluebell is included in a separate article which was written on the request of Neal to be sent to the railway, and is going to  be published in the next Bluebell Railway News.

Sunday saw us visit the old town of Lewes. The main purpose was to go to Argos and to lunch in one of its fine watering holes. It certainly is an interesting place with fine old buildings, a castle and with a river running through it. It was all good.

Robbie did us both proud with his efforts as a host and chef. He was rewarded when we found a suitable novel and film to keep him occupied while he is ‘home alone’ during the week.

Thanks for your company and for some super days when we were all together again.

We will see them in Spain on our return but there is a lot more to look forward to before then