3rd November - Bonfire at Brabyns Park

I had great fun getting to Rick's flat tonight. We managed to get to Marple by following the directions we had been given. However, the street lighting wasn't very good in the village so we ended up pulling into the car park near Brabyn's park and asking for directions. Fortunately I managed to find a Girl Guide leader who knew the area well and was very helpful. We eventually reached the road where Rick lives and noticed Karen in the car behind us. I watched whilst she parked up. She had brought her two daughters with her - it was good to see them again. We walked to Rick's flat together - it is quite a posh place. We knew we were at his flat when we saw all the shoes outside the door (everyone wanted to make sure they kept the carpets clean!). We went inside and found that there were quite a few people already there. We decided to leave for the park at about 7pm to make sure we got to the best viewing point before the fireworks started. We made our way to the top of the hill where Brian and I bought burgers from one of the vans. I didn't reckon I could last out until we returned to the flat! The bonfire was blazing brightly and the fireworks were very impressive. I managed to get a couple of good photos with my camera phone. When the fireworks were over, we made our way back to the flat for coffee. I decided to join the others in ordering food from the local Chinese takeaway as I can never resist the opportunity to have Chinese food. I shared a portion of chicken , cashew nuts and vegetables with Brian - the portions were very generous and the food was very tasty. I chatted to Tim, Chris, Mike and Simon about next week's dinner dance. We're all looking forward to it.
When it got to 10 pm I decided to leave as I felt it would not be easy to find our way home. I turned out to be right. Because of the poor street lighting we missed our turning off the A626. I just about managed to avoid going onto the motorway. Fortunately, Brian had a rough idea of where we were and we eventually managed to find our way back onto the A6. I eventually got home just after 11pm. On reflection, it was quite an enjoyable night despite all the hassle we had finding our way in the dark.