Well what can I say about last night, meeting up with my niece and her family after 17 years? Hmm…
First off, we felt very lucky that we were able to book a table for 9 in an outdoor seating area - most restaurants will not do this, first come first served only, but when I explained that one of our party was medically vulnerable and wanted to avoid being inside, the manager intervened and said he would reserve a table for us. So far so good.
We got there at 6.00, there was a large, very noisy, party of people right next to us so we struggled to talk and be heard. We let out a collective sigh of relief when they left… and then the live music began. We had not known about this. Just one fellow and a guitar, but my god he was loud. SO LOUD.
As soon as we’d finished eating we left and went for a wander around (it’s a lovely sea front area, lively and atmospheric), found a place selling take away coffees, stopped and listened to a brass band for a bit. And then… my niece got a text from her son who had left with his sailing mate when we left, and gone back to their digs at the University. .The text gave a link to a police notice about a shooting in the city, and telling everyone to stay indoors. And if already out, to get somewhere safe as quickly as possible. So that was the end of our evening. We all went our separate ways as quickly as we could, nervously looking over our shoulders as we did so.
We heard later that it was in an entirely different area of the city, a gunmen shot and killed 5 people and injured several more, before turning the gun on himself. One of the dead was a child. I don’t think Friday the 13th will be as bad as Thursday the 12th was in our city
@Bathsheba
I hope you manage to take away some good memories from your evening Bathsheba whatever else happened, I as sure you enjoyed seeing your niece and her family again.
We live around a mile from where the Manchester bomber lived, with my wife’s school a couple of hundred yards away s the crow flies. You can imagine the pandemonium at the time.
Oh we did @Meg, it was so lovely to see them all after so long!
Gosh that must have been an awful time for you all, well for all of Manchester really. Such a terrible, evil crime.
Yes, I would agree, @d00d, but we would not have been able to see our great nephew if we’d done that, The family are here because of a sailing championship the 17 year old and his crewman are entered in, and were only available in the evening.
Definitely not! It was really so lovely to see them all. The last time I saw my gt nephew he was only around 5 weeks old, and I’ve never met his 10 year old sister!
whatever else happened, I as sure you enjoyed seeing your niece and her family again.
