Sorry all HT'ers to take so long over the second part to my story but wedding plans going a bit crazy at the minute. Only 3 weeks on Sat to go before the big day, can't wait. Anyway back to my story.
We arranged for my maid of honour to arrive at our house to set off at 1530 ish. We have a dog and cat (Bonnie and Clyde) and Ron (Ronaldo190172) had arranged for his mum to look after the dog and Cat while we were away. She lives in Sheffield, we live in Doncaster and she doesn't drive so we went to pick her up the night before.
All packed and ready to go, maid of honour arrived early, so we decided at 1510 that we should just get on our way and have more time for celebrations.
Off we go, I was driving, with Ron in the back and my maid of honour handing out drinks as necessary. All eager in anticipation of the weekend ahead.
We get onto the M62 towards Hull, as the P&O ferry terminal is based there. Laughing and joking as we go. I looked at the speedometer to make sure I wasn't doing over the limit, and saw a strange light on.
"Ron is it normal for the battery light to be on" I asked, because I had never seen it before. "No," he replied. Hmm dilema... do we stop, or carry on? My maid of honour piped up, "better stop and see, we don't want to arrive back from Brugges and not be able to get home," "true," I added. We stopped on the hard shoulder and Ron had a look. "The alternator belt is knackered," he shouted. Oh no! We'd tried a new garage man, it wasn't bust before but it certainly is now. Only one option open to us was to return home and my maid of honour to take her car... but would we have time? Final check in for the boat was 1730. It was 1540 and we had to get back to Doncaster, change cars and back. Now I am starting to panic.....
We arrived back at Doncaster, changed cars and are back on the road for just after 1600. Hmm... I went to Uni in Hull so I know it is normally a 45 minute run. But on a Friday evening at this time of day, traffic can be bad. Really starting to worry now.
Journey, luckily enough went without stress and we arrived at the terminal at 1700 ish. Everyone was there waiting for us and asking why we were so late. I just shook my head and told them to let me calm down have a beer and a cigarette and would explain everything.
The weekend was absolutely fantastic, we had a few drinks and the food aboard was wonderful, for very little money you can eat and eat to your heart's content.
We arrived Zeebrugge port on the Sat morning and disembarked at around 0830 approx.
We have some internet friends who we speak to all over the world but very few have we actually met. Luckily we have been on this trip before and our Belgian friend Kristoffe was going to meet us at the train station and guide us to the best shops, eateries and sights that Brugges had to offer. Another of our friends, Patrik from the Netherlands, who we had never met was also meant to be meeting us but we didn't know when and where. So off we went for a day of fun. Patrik eventually met up with us after a gruelling 3 hour journey on a train. I have to say he is one of the nicest men ever and to spend the money and time to join us for a few hours, for people he has spoken to over the internet and never met, for us meant the world. He arrived at about 1300 and we had to leave at 1700. I just felt bad about him travelling all that way for just a few hours, but can say he is a friend for life and without the internet, we would have never have that privilege of meeting him.
The evening home was a bitter sweet event. We had had a wonderful day and a wonderful meal that night in the posh restaurant. My mum (who I am very close to) paid for everything and when I asked why, she told me that had my dad been here (he died when I was 16) he would have made sure champagne was on tap and I would have had the best of everything. A touching moment, which I will never forget.
The journey home went without event and we arrived back at about 0900. Ron's mum was there to greet us and said how good the dog and cat had been. We had a cup of tea, then Ron said, "as the 4x4 is buggered, I'll have to take my mum back in the MGF." I was thinking, "oh I am so glad, I get to have a little nap while he is gone".... no such luck. Can you believe it, he went to start the car and guess what?....... The battery was dead... GRRRR can we have any more problems with our cars??????
We tried charging the instant starter we had bought but it takes 5 hours to charge normally. After 3 hours and 2 failed attempts with it, we admitted defeat. We had to pay 40 pounds for a taxi to get her home.
I hope I haven't bored u all with my story. The wedding is the 31st of March and we go to Goa 9th April to Lagoa Azul. Hopefully in between I can tell u all how the day went and look forward to seeing some of you in the flesh out there in goa. Especially you Gemma, who is stopping there at the same time.
Take care HT'ers speak to you soon
Jeannette and Ron
xx