Yesterday’s forecast of rain from 10-3 was now changed to rain from 11-3, so we abandoned any idea of cycling to the Christmas Lunch and met at Crofters at the later time of 11am. Lawrence had said he would pay on the day but didn’t pay, didn’t tell us anything and didn’t turn up, so he got a poor grade from Michael today.

There wasn’t a lot of rain on the way up in the car, just some light drizzle. We chose our meals from the menu at the reception desk, then everyone went swimming for £5 each. Everyone had a great time in the pool, Jacuzzi and sauna, especially Jack, Jerry and Callum OB who had not been here before.

For starters several had potato and leek soup which was really tasty – Callum OB liked it so much he made it last nearly 20 minutes, much to everyone’s annoyance. The main course was more of a mixed bag as usual. Those who had beef liked it very much. Callum OB decided anything on his turkey plate that had made contact with the cranberry sauce was inedible, which absurdly meant he ate hardly anything. And whilst everyone else thought the roast potatoes were superb, Callum F thought they tasted “like s**t”. Michael’s mushroom risotto was just about acceptable. Desserts were great again, with most having sticky toffee pudding and three having cheesecake. All the plates were empty by the end and everyone had clearly enjoyed the meal overall.

It had been raining hard while we were eating and it was still raining as we left. In fact it rained all the way home, so everyone was grateful we had come by car. We got back to Crofters by 3.30 and had a games social until 4.30. Most had a lot of fun on Halo Reach, but Zac preferred a solitary game of Call of Duty 4.