Birthdays on Ice

Its Fiona's Birthday today but we have been celebrating all weekend.
We were down in Stranraer for the WOHFTF weekend.
Since Fiona has had her birthday on curling weekends before, I think she knew something would be done, but as most of us were staying Sunday night, and her birthday wasn't until Monday, I suspect she thought there would be a cake on Sunday night.
We were called to a pre-dinner drink on Saturday night where Fiona was in the room before she realised the bunting and pictures on the wall were of her.

The other side of the room had the same for David who celebrates his 50th soon.
After dinner the lounge was also decorated for the birthday pair.

A joint cake was brought in with 40 candles for Fiona and 50 for David (luckily they used number candles or our carbon footprint would have been horrendous)

One half was iced blue and green wishing David a happy Birthday and the other in red and pink for Fiona.
The band played happy birthday and had them do a birthday dance.
Sunday dinner was quiet. The pressure of the eating and the curling wore most of them out so it was just Fiona and I, with Alan and Christine who headed down to the games room for some carpet bowls and to wish Fiona Happy Birthday once the witching hour came.

This morning we found a notice on the hotel bedroom door:

And when we arrived for breakfast the balloons were back.

Another rendition of happy Birthday by the entire dining room, accompanied by the horrible electronic candle Fiona bought for Ciaran's birthday.
To finish off the birthday it was out to dinner with Margaret, Grace, Rachael and Ciaran, before back from more cake and another few verses of Happy birthday.

WOHFTF 2012

Just back in from Stranraer where Fiona and the gang were taking part in their annual Curling (and eating) weekend.
This is a serious weekend - dinner Friday night, cooked breakfast Saturday morning, roast meats and salads for lunch (with lots of deserts) and another big dinner Saturday night. Same again on Sunday and this year most of us stayed Sunday night so another cooked breakfast Monday. There's also curling, sponsored by Courvoisier, with the winning team invited back in March for the Winners Weekend.
There also the WOHFTF (We're only here for the food) Challenge Trophy. High stakes indeed!

WOHFTF Challenge Trophy...

...and Runners up Trophy

Started off a bit rough - I was feeling ill most of last week and didn't travel well on Friday evening. I had to skip dinner and retire for the evening, missed breakfast too, only surfacing briefly for lunch.
By the time dinner rolled around I was feeling better and both teams had won all their matches well, so were well placed going into the final day.

Dinner was fabulous. It started out with a pre dinner room party, which was a ruse to remind Fiona, that her 40th, and David, that his 50th, hadn't been overlooked. The dining table had balloons  centrepieces, and handmade cubes of photos going back 20 years. After dinner, it was birthday cake and dancing.

As the final 4 matches were being played Sunday it was clear the David's team had made it through to the semi finals. Now if Alan's team could win 1 more end they were guaranteed a place in the semis even if they didn't win the game. They did win and that set up up both teams for the semi finals after a few anxious moments when it looked like they would have to play each other.
My ability to strategise the game fails to develop. After realising that Alan had deliberately lost an end in order to retain last stone, an advantage,in the next end, I thought I was seeing much more devious playing. After the game Fiona dashed by confidence - " I think he just muffed it" Alan himself later confirmed he made a mistake. I think I'll stick with the food!
Both teams won their semis and a nail biting final was on the cards - or was it? The winning team would be invited back in March but what would the dinner table be like tonight? No one bothered to mention to me that both teams from this weekend would be invited back, so the final became more of a friendly than the chess on ice I was expecting, but everyone was happy and dinner was saved.
750ml bottle of Brandy each to David and his team, and a 1.5l bottle each for Alan and his team.

Alan, Christine, Iain, and Fiona with the WOHFTF Challenge Trophy

David, Drew, MaryAnn and Fiona with the runners up prize

Rooms are already booked for 2013...

Dad's Birthday

We were over in Dublin for the weekend for my dad's 75th birthday.
It was a bit of a laugh.
We flew in late on Friday night, dropped Ciaran at my mum's while Fiona and I stayed in the Travelodge in Swords. The hotel was a direct response to the decision a few years ago to replace the sofa bed with a normal sofa. It also reduced the pressure on the bathrooms...
It was  a bit of an eye opener as the Travelodge seemed to be the party night out meeting point for all the young people. When we headed for breakfast on saturday morning there were abandoned people sleeping in reception, very drunk people staggering through the corridors, a couple of very shaky girls arriving by taxi, still in last nights finest, though no longer that fine.
Saturday night the family headed out for a Chinese meal. The restaurant has changed hands a few times over the years but the food is amazing, and now they have Malaysian food also. The service was a bit less so. I don't think they had ever had to cater for a large group and seemed to struggle.
When we arrived Fiona and I jockeyed for position - she wanted to be near the overhead heater and I wanted to be as far away from it as as she could managed. We found a good compromise until later in the evening the circuit breaker on the heating tripped and the staff had no idea what happened.  All we noticed was that it progressively got colder. Eventually they realised and had Phil stand on his chair to poke the switch with a broom handle to get the heating back. Poor James and William were shattered though. After quickly eating their dinner they put their hoods up and slept for the rest of the night.
After dinner it was back to the house for nightcaps and to be told that our memories of collecting wood for the Halloween bonfires were simply shared delusions because thats not what my dad thought.
Sunday morning had more recovering people at the hotel before we headed back up to my mums.
Another family dinner with mum's lasagna and applesauce cake before Doreen and her boys flew back followed a few hours later by us three.