BATH TIME

Have just returned from a gorgeous bank holiday weekend in Bath down in Somerset. Can't believe how lucky we were with the weather either. In the words of one of Bath's most famous daughters - novelist Jane Austin - What Can One Make Of Bath? Well - when One and One's Hubby disembarked the coach at Bath Spa Bus Station at around 6pm on Friday evening - it looked like we'd dropped into the middle of a giant building site, as the area just outside the town centre undergoes some major renovation work. We could have let that cloud our vision, but being the Nice People we are, we decided to look beyond the rubble and not allow ourselves to be prejudiced. This confidence was knocked however when a cab driver charged us almost £9.00 to get to the Old Mill Hotel in Batheaston instead of the £6.00 we had been told it would cost. Still, this was our first weekend away for some time and we were determined to make the most of it, so we let that go as well.



The hotel itself is lovely. It is on the bank of the River Avon, surrounded by hills and fields and has views to die for; though we also let pass the fact that we didn't actually get the room with the river view we had asked for, and settled for our room with the Car Park view instead, because this was our first weekend away for some time and we were determined to make the most of it (!).



Having unpacked, freshened up and changed, we went down to the dining room for the one evening meal we had booked at the hotel itself. We were seated on a tiny table for two in the corner overlooking the hotel's picturesque garden, with its weeping willows and enormous mill wheel that still turns. We noticed a wedding going on and watched the proceedings as we waited for our meals. When the waiter brought my Vegetable Wellington over he mentioned that the plate was warm. Still watching a particularly sweet little bridesmaid, I went to move it slightly aside in order to reach the salt and pepper and was so shocked by its searing heat that I yelped. And sent my fork flying across the carpet in a fair imitation the late Concord. One's Hubby was not amused! And he was even less amused when I collapsed in a giggling heap.

Giggles aside, we enjoyed the meal and decided to round off the evening with a quiet drink in the bar. No chance. The majority of the wedding guests had spilled out of their banqueting suite and into the bar and we felt decidely out of place as we hunched in a corner with our budweisers. This was Wedding Crashers with a touch of Elephant Man as we felt numorous questioning glances being thrown our way. "Let's go for a nice walk," Hubby suggested as we finished our beers too fast and put ourselves at risk of severe hiccups. After all this was our first weekend away for some time and we were determined to make the most of it (!!).

The Old Mill is quite rurally situated so there was not a huge amount we could do once we left the bar but as we walked, we saw a shooting star (so romantic) and, just down the road, we found a little over-hung path and clambered over the stile. Venturing into a vaccuum of darkness, we stuck closely together and, for some reason, spoke in whispers. After a while we could hear the weir on the other side of the trees. We didn't want to risk falling in and going for an unscheduled drown so we turned round to head back. "Oooh look," said Hubby. "There's another path." This one was even tinier and I felt a little bit alarmed - not a Psycho/Slasher/Watcher In The Woods kind of alarm, you understand; more a fall-down-break-ankle-end-up-in-hospital alarm.

Hubby stood like a Great Explorer at the mouth of the Amazon between two rather squat bushes. "Let's have a look ..." he said. "I'll light the way with the camera," I said in a moment of pure brilliance and held the camera up so that the little red light that heralds a flash made the path at least slightly vivible. "Damn it!" I muttered as the flash went off. "That wasn't meant to happen." I decided to turn it off; we'd just have to manage. I scrabbled in the dark to press the button and looked back up a moment later to find that Hubby - who just moments before had been inches in front of me - was now nowhere to be seen! Suddenly it did feel very Psycho/Slasher/Watcher In The Woods- ish and I was frozen with terror. "Steve," I squeaked. "Where are you?"
To Be Continued