Sheffield – 28th July

I managed to work for 5 hours on Sunday 28th July so that I’d done 35 hours this week, as I only did 17.5 last week. I was back on track but I did feel like I was never drinking again when I woke up. I had tea and a toasted tea cake for breakfast and I was astonished to see Dad was fine. He had no recollection of him being a handful last night and he wasn’t hungover! Mom was still mad with him for being so drunk. I could see he’d been so excited to be out that he’d overdone it.
I read in the Vietnam news that the train I’d got from Dong Hoi to Danang, and one Captain Caveman gets fairly often had a carriage come off the track and people were evacuated. I also messaged Captain Caveman to help me with sorting out how I was going to get to my next stop off. Claire had invited me down south to stay with her for a week and was initially going to pick me up but there were dog arrangements which prevented this. I was a bit concerned that I had a 20kg suitcase as well as 8kg of hand luggage (including a wine bucket!) to cart through the London underground and I would struggle. Captain Caveman recommended the National Express which he had got as it avoided the tube and I could get a train from London Victoria, straight to Sevenoaks, where Claire lived. It was also a lot cheaper than the train so I left him with it to book my tickets for me. I had a cheese toastie for lunch and carried on with work until 3pm.
In the afternoon we had a little reunion for Briony planned at The Phoenix in Ridgeway.  Sara had managed to get some of the old Aviva Sales Support team out and I’d invited Paz from the Berlin 10 crowd.
My parents walked as far as the back of the Ridgeway Arms with me and, when they turned back, I continued on to The Phoenix. I was the first there so I got a drink at the bar. I was still feeling quite delicate and the walk up the big hill had not helped with my dehydration. I decided to have a pint of water with cordial which cost £1.85 and went to find a seat outside. It was so busy inside and only 3 or 4 tables left outside but it was 4.30pm on a Sunday.
First to arrive were Sarah Saynor and Mick. Sarah had not changed a bit in either looks or mannerisms as she flicked her hair and told me she’d just had an expensive hair cut but still wanted to do her fringe herself! Mick was still the same funny bloke and was only slightly older looking and had filled out a bit more (Sarah’s words, not mine). Next to arrive in the taxi together were Sara, Helen and Briony. As they walked over to the table, it was like I’d been transported back in time to when we all worked together in Nick Reynold’s face to face team. We all hugged and got drinks, I was still sipping my cordial while the others were on it. I just couldn’t face any alcohol after yesterday’s party. Paz arrived and I instantly remembered that they all worked in the same building now at Aviva. I also realised that my old team may just be a bit ‘too much’ for Paz to take, on a nice relaxing quiet Sunday. It was great to see Paz and she looked so well, she’d driven all the way over just to catch up which was lovely. The conversation topics got more and more crude as the day went on and we all had some funny memories to share with each other.  Once again I was in a position where I didn’t really get to speak to anyone one on one but we did have some laughs reminiscing of some of the tangles we all used to get ourselves in. It turned out that I was still remembered for forcing my team on to terrible low budget team building events (camping) as well as hiring a boogie bus to a Christmas party. That boogie bus stank of debauchery which really wasn’t pleasant on the way back in to work the following morning. They also took the mickey out of the time I drunkenly agreed to play my violin at Briony and Shaun’s wedding, thinking I was only doing the wedding march but the CD player wasn’t working and I had to improvise without any written music. Our cheeks hurt from so much laughing and we had a great time! After saying bye to everyone and walking home through the field path just as it was getting dark, I noticed it was quite cold but I had Captain Caveman’s down jacket on.
When I got in at 9.30pm, having had no alcohol at all, I was a bit peckish so I made myself some noodles with chicken and vegetables, then went to bed.