Is it a Nobster? Is it a Nobster?
Well, yes, it was.
We got up to Derby just in time for a quick beer or two before the local shut, and I even got to feel the barmaid's ankle. Well, she did offer. Sort of! :-)
Saturday began with a leisurely drive to the tea rooms at
Melbourne (great grub - highly recommended!), followed by a more energetic drive over to
Ashbourne to meet Vetty for a quick walk down
Dovedale and back over
Thorpe Cloud.
Slightly tired by all the exercise, we headed back to Vetty's hotel, where we met an unusual gent with an H-plate Rover P6, had afternoon tea and laughed a lot at an oddly sensual magazine cover.
The car was that wonderful shade of chocolate brown they cars in the UK in the early 70s. The driver may well have owned the car from new, but he clearly knew his engineering, and so does the Nobster, who, it turns out, happens to have a mate who collects old Rovers. So we left them too it.
The magazine was one of those lovely rural affairs things, and the cover featured a full-page photo of a pretty girl cheek-to-cheek, if not quite touching lips, with some prize-winning cow. The lovely Julia was 16, and a pupil at a nearby school. Wonderful stuff. If only I could remember what it was called.
All the fresh air was taking it's toll now (or was it the lingering effects of the night before?), so we bid farewell to Vetty and headed home. By the time we got back it was looking like a quiet night was on the cards for the boys, so that was the plan. Head into Derby (because the choice of eating is better than in the village), have a couple of beers, and then find a good curry house or something. Oh the best laid plans...!
It all went wrong... No, it all went right... Well it all changed... in the very first bar - Revolution. Somehow a quick beer turned into Mojitos, followed by raspberry shots of some sort sold to us by an enticing young lady with a tray. Then the mayhem began!
Off to another bar (White, I think it was called), in a square just round the corner. Beers this time, but again young ladies (in red & black vertical stripes this time) enticing us with more vodka shots. Two girls, two flavours. What could us poor boys do?
The Prankster was on fine form from the off. Out for a laugh, he was there, chatting up the bemused young ladies of Derby everywhere we went. And, equally bemused, we watched as they chatted back too ;-)
From White, we headed to
Barracudas, where it turned out to be a bit quiet 'cos the upper dance floor was closed. We didn't stay long, but long enough for the Prankster to ply his trade, and to run into Jude. Jude is a big-ish Japanese guy, who's only been in the UK for a couple of years, and who, the first time the boys took him out to "pick up girls" took them seriously! He'd come out on his own for a quiet beer.
Well, forget that! Dragging Jude along with us, we headed instead to
Coyote Wild. It was packed! We got some beers and found ouselves some space - which just "happened" to be on the dance floor. Time to boogy. And, also to steal the wand off a little green fairy. Her mate was a big girl, but she moved like lightning. She had me pinned to the wall almost before the wand was passed to me - and she wasn't using her hands!
We still hadn't eaten. The Prankster was looking particularly hungry. He even started to... No, that story will have to stay between us. KFC time! But not before we scared the life out of young lady on roller blades. She was touting a nearby night club. The Nobster said we'd go if she could catch us, and promptly scampered off. She said it wasn't fair: that the rest of us weren't following him; we had to do it again.
The Prankster and I took one look at each other, one look at the Nobster, and off we went. Only this time he went straight into a tight circle round this poor girl with us in tight pursuit. I think we were actually very lucky none of us knocked into her. She shrieked!! As soon as we broke the circle she was away. All very amusing.
A quick bite to eat, and into
Walkabout. A couple more hours dancing and silliness - met a man with his tie round his head, karate-style, and chatted with a raver cos she was in the way (honestly). Stayed in there till it closed.
Tired as we were, we headed home. No, we didn't, I'm lying. There was still one more place open - the
Blue Bambu club (the one touted by the roller-girl, in fact). It was getting late, so we negotiated a cut-price entrance:
"There's only an hour to go. Can we get in cheaper?", I asked.
"Yes", said the girl on the door. I like to play hard-ball, you see!
Ok. So, perhaps it was a bit easy. Maybe it was cos the place was only half full. No problem for us though. Half full meant twice as much dance floor for us. Jude (it's his nickname - it's short for Judo I think) and the Nobster (who also likes to grab people in strange places) began this strange martial arts-style dancing, criss-crossing the dance floor with death hands weaving, it all looked very impressive. It was only afterwards I found out they were making it up as they went along. I wasn't the only one who was impressed either. Several guys came up to ask them about it, and they must have looked in complete control, 'cos the bouncers left them to it.
Finally it was time to head for the kebab shop and home.
Sunday was a much quieter day. Plans to meet up with Vetty and her companion for the day's walking fell by the wayside in favour of a huge roast dinner, a cuppa with an old friend, and re-uniting ourselves with the car from the night before. The evening was a nice pool session at Riley's snooker hall with Sit Down Steve. It turns
Riley's give free membership for certain corporates, and I qualified. Bonus!
Monday (this was the bank holiday weekend, remember!) was also a quiet day. Watched a bit of The Hoff on TV, and went through loads of old photos from a few months earlier. We did fit in a quick visit to the
Great Central Railway at Loughborough though, before hitting the M1 for the dreaded drive home.
All in all a fabulous weekend, and lots of fun, even if I do owe the boys a bit of an apology for some grouchiness on the last day. Sorry guys!
