It was Lafayette's 77th birthday, the only time when for a short period he was two years older than Sandyballs,
There was to be a cast of thousands - well twelve since it was a special occasion. There were, representing the NERDS: Sandyballs, Paco, Froggy, Dio and Imogen (minus dog) plus Moi. Then there were, representing The Darksiders: Marion, Jane, Debbie, Roger, Ed and Peter Thompson.
The NERDS waited at 12 at Lewes for the Gatwick lot who were wasting time sitting about in the Runaway cafe. However Laf rounded everyone up and passed the baton to Sandyballs who had organised the brief walk.
The weather looked ominous, it was warmish but threatening heavy rain so we all set off past the Lewes Football Club and down in the direction of the Town Dump.
After about half a mile Laf called a halt so that he could have a brief rest (bad legs).
By now we were near to The Mighty Ouse which was showing signs of raindrops beginning to fall.
We hurried on. Lafayette had another brief calvados stop thanks to the kind attentions of Ed who knew when to oil the wheels. There was a brief photo stop by the river
where we admired the back of the posh flats near Harvey's Brewery Bridge. At this point it started to rain like hell so we all legged it fast for The John Harvey Tavern, aka the BrewerTap.
There were lots of pints of Old ordered and we all managed to cram into the back room for our pitstop. Imogen got bored and went to the Harveys shop where she bought all next year's Christmas cards and a bottle of cider. (Another NERDS' alchy.....)
After one or two pints and because it was nearly time for lunch Laf. whipped everyone up and out into the now pissing down rain with the prospect of scampering up the length of School Hill to get to the pub.
The stars were aligned for Lafayette who got to the bottom of the hill with Paco and spotted a number 28 bus
which obligingly took them both one stop to the Rights of Man.
There we met Dio who had been keeping a bar stool warm and had had the sense to bypass the walk and go straight to the pub. Marion was startled to see Laf and Paco ahead of us in the pub since they had definitely been behind her at one stage. Nobody mentioned buses.
We settled in and Laf got some prosecco going which made everyone feel in the mood.. Then the rest of the festivities began. As usual the food in the R of M was magnificent, although pricey. But there again What the Hell...... There were scallops and pheasant and beefy things and panna cotta and lots of red wine and coffee and illicit calvados and it was a real swinging party.
Finally we all poured outside about two hours later when fortunately the rain had more or less stopped and Laf led a bunch of hard cores down to the Depot where more coffee cognacs were drunk. The Gatwick lot made for the trains.... hope they got home because......Dio returned with Imogen from the station to say most trains were not running because of flooding on the line. However, Froggy and Paco took a dry train to Eastbourne and a number 12 bus back to Seaford, and Dio, Laf and Imogen took an expensive taxi back to Newhaven and Seaford so the day did not end in total disaster.
It had been eventful and thanks to Sandyballs for organising the "ramble" pity he had to leave the pub early to attend to familial duties but I expect he managed to get home ok.
Thanks to all those who came and made it exciting. Hope they all got home as well.
Lafayett(Bowles Club)
Lafayette.
