AU55OME Weekend - Day 2

Day 2 started with a bit of a rude awakening. The curtains at Pennyhill Are so substantial that when my alarm went off, I thought I had set it wrong and it was still the middle of the night - absolutely pitch black!

Once I got over the shock, we went over for a delicious 5* breakfast (they use all the best ingredients so everything is gorgeous!), including champagne for Vanda's birthday (not for me of course), then we saw Nova off back home on the train (unfortunately she could only stay for the one night). After that, Van went off to the SPA again, and Colin #2 and I took delivery of the hire car ...


As correctly guessed in the comments by someone (who I suspect might have been there), it is an Aston Martin DB9 Volante convertible. Colin and I took it (or should I say "her") out for a spin, and despite speed cameras and police speed traps, we managed to do slightly more than 70 on a few occasions. What a noise - gorgeous!

We got back to the hotel and visited the SPA again to calm down for a bit. After a bite of lunch, we went visiting some folks in Farnham and Worplesdon, which gave us an opportunity to test the 2 + 2 seating configuration of the Aston. I was somewhat nervous when I ordered it that it would be tight, but I hadn't realised it was only designed for two adults and two double leg amputees. We tried Vanda in the front first with Colin in the back, but this was somewhat ridiculous, so poor Vanda was consigned to the back for most of the rest of the weekend! We took Vanda to friends in Farnham to drop her off, and Colin took a bit of footage on his phone on the way:

Nailing it on the A331

Colin's head was above the line of the windscreen when the roof was down, and he had to duck down to breathe when we were nailing it!

While I mention that the roof was down, we were unbelievably lucky with the weather - it was actually warm, not just sunny, all day. Incredible for October and most welcome!

After dropping Vanda at Sue & Stuart's, Colin #2 and I headed off for Simon & Olivia's place in Worplesdon. They are restoring a lovely 16th century house. I don't envy them trying to fit modern wiring into a listed building part of which was built in 1504 - good luck!

It was great to see Olivia's limited edition Ferrari-red Fiat 500 too - very nice, and actually eclipsed the Aston for looks, although it couldn't compete on the sound!

By now I think we had annoyed most of Surrey by revving the Aston outside people's houses, but we couldn't resist hearing the exhaust burble and the tasty backfiring when the engine was cold - that's what a 6 litre V12 does (cover your ears environmentalists! Well at least I haven't got kids I suppose!)

After a couple of hours we went back to pick up Vanda, only to find that they had polished off three bottles of wine between them, so things were going downhill very fast! :)


Next it was off to Ade & Krish's, where all my Guildford friends had gathered for a bit of a do - about 25 of us in all I think, which was fantastic as I hadn't seen some of them for a long time. Thanks A&K for hosting, and thanks everybody else for coming - great to see you all! I can't remember exactly what Sam was chewing my ear off about, but I'm sure it was important! :)


A really nice evening all-in-all, and just enough time for a round of "bum or boobs" before setting off back to the hotel (aren't digital cameras great things!):


Most amusing part of the night was back at the hotel, and the first installment of "how to extract drunken girls from the back of an Aston Martin" - Parked outside the main entrance of a 5* hotel, with the doorman waiting to valet park the car, howling with laughter as Vanda failed miserably to extract herself from the tiny space in the back. I'm sure they've seen it all before ... unfortunately no pictures of this part of the weekend though :(

Best birthday card of the day for Vanda from Jean & Fred:

"Have you seen my designer sandals?"

"Cool, who designed them?"

"Phillipe Phillop"

Very good ...

That's all for Day 2 - more tomorrow!

C