A (Mostly) Relaxing Weekend

Friday was my older sister's birthday, and Tuesday is my younger sister's, and on Thursday I got a message from E (Younger sister) inviting me to visit for the weekend, and telling me that she had invited K (Older sister) too.

The plan was to have a "Spa Day" at a hotel near her home, then go out for a meal in the evening, so I drove up to Birminham on Friday evening, and on saturday morning the three of us headed off to Henley in Arden for a day of relaxation.

The deal was that for the day-fee you got full access to the liesure facilities (pool, hot-tub, sauna, gym, squash courts), plus lunch, and then various treatments could be booked in addition.

Due to a few organisational delays, E's friend P & I I didn't have any treatments booked, although E & K each had a facial, and E a massage, too.

On the whole, we had a very good day; after a little healthy exercise in the gym we concentrated on the serious business of relaxation - moving from pool, to sauna, to seam room, to hot-tub, with lots of lying on loungers, talking, and reading the selection of magazines which P brought with her, and light novels.

The hotel spa could do with improving their customer service a little, though - the spa was quite busy, and seemed rather understaffed, and then at the end of the day, when we were all in the final stages of getting dressed to leave, one of the staff members came into the changing room to chivvy us up to check out & pay, because they wanted to close up the tills! Bearing in mind this was more than 15 minutes before the end of the day, and it was very obvious that we were leaving (we were all fully dressed and packing up our bags) it seemed rather gauche, and not terribly condusive to a nice relaxing day. The fact that we then had to wait while they finished their conversation before they could be bothered to actually process our payments did add insult to injury just a tad...

Still, poor staff aside, we enjoyed spending time together and the facilities weren't bad!

Then for the evening the three of us (Self + 2 sisters), together with K's fiance C (Who had spent the day working hard on essays, rather than coming with us and sharing in the girly bonding...) but without P, who had othr commitments, we went out to a great Indian resturant - Asha's - where we had supurb food, some lovely cocktails, an excellent waiter, and, when they heard we were there to celebrate K & E's birthdays, free chocolate cake. it was an excellent night out, alhough having eaten late and well, we were all far too full to go straight to bed, so ended up sitting around, talking, and half-wtching the Star-trek movie until past 2 a.m. ..

A lovely day, and we decided that another Spa day might make for an excellent hen-party for K's wedding, in due cours, and that perhaps we we owe it to her to do some practical field research, to ensure we find the best possible spa day/weekend...

Of course, I am now utterly exhausted, having spent the pst 2 nights (a) staying up foolishly late socialising with my family and (b) then trying, with limited success, to sleep on an airbed.. I think an early night (or 2) is now in order.

But I am glad I went.

And just after getting home I had a call from my cousin H to say she is pregnant, and so she and her husband will, all being well, having their first child this autumn. VERY good news!