Wilts

Friday - it was time to meet up with some old friends. We had arranged to meet earlier in the year, but  they were unwell and had to postpone. We headed out onto the Queen's highway - only to spend the first twenty minutes of the journey negotiating the traffic between home and the western side of Chichester. (The sooner they decide on the solution for the road improvements, the better). Once clear of Chichester the roads opened up and we had a very good run until we got to the outskirts of Salisbury. There, everything ground to a halt again. The delays did give us a chance to catch up with the Gorse Fox's little sister. We spent the last hour of the journey on the phone to her, hearing all about her recent trip to see Beloved Aunt in Canada.

Despite the delays we arrived at the Victoria & Albert in Netherhampton about 5 minutes before Mrs Tiggywinkle and Badger.

We had a lovely couple of hours catching up on the latest news from each family and discussing our joint interest in genealogy. The Gorse Fox did get an opportunity to get onto his hobby-horse regarding backups and strategies for protecting data.

The pub features in The Good Pub Guide. Obviously, as we had the car, the Gorse Fox didn't get a chance to try the beer, the food was good. The menu was quite varied and the food was mostly locally sourced (perhaps with the exception of the haddock - which he had).

All too soon we had to part company and head our separate ways. It had been a good place to meet as it worked out about 90 minutes drive for both couples. We had a very quick run back and a quiet end to the day.