Saturday Night IN


Another lockdown weekend. What to do? Meal out? Trip to the cinema? A virtual catch-up with friends? Such a dilemma, but despite the choice I would always opt for a friends on-line chat.

Back in April, I mentioned on this blog that we had set up an online evening Saturday Night In for a group of female friends. We had recently returned from our annual Girls on Tour weekend at the beginning of March and although we are in contact via WhatsApp, we thought it would be a great idea to establish a Saturday night drink and chat. What initially started as an opportunity to check-in with friends has now become a regular opportunity to meet up which we can all dip in and out of. 

I have to confess, most of us turn up with an alcoholic beverage (or two!). It's the nearest we can get to recreating a visit to a wine bar. We check everyone is okay, find out what people have been up to, share stories and forthcoming plans - just as if we were on a night out together. There can be anything from 12 to 17 of us, from all over the UK, from Glasgow down to London. What we all have in common is that we enjoy each other's company, look forward to a break from our everyday lives and want to have some fun. Just like we do on our annual weekend away.

These weekends started with a trip to Dublin, staying in a small hotel near Lansdowne Road in 2005. It was early March and not everyone knew each other in the group, but over the weekend we started to relax and laugh. We had such a good time it was suggested that we repeat the weekend. The formula for the weekends began there and has continued ever since.

We have had some laughs. From getting the steam train to make an extra stop near our accommodation in Highley as one our group was pregnant and 'not feeling too good,' to all of us arriving at our hotel in Riga, to find two of the group were booked into another hotel with a similar name. Another memory involved us buying alcohol in Marrakech followed by several of us having a hair-raising journey back our riad, to us all singing 'Don't You Want Me Baby' very loudly in a Lisbon restaurant. Each year we take it turns to organise the venue and co-ordinate the weekend - this year we found ourselves in a remote house in Stanhope, County Durham. We relaxed, laughed, had fun and appreciated the break from our busy lives. A chance to recharge those batteries, little knowing that two weeks later the country would be in lockdown.

Next year, we have decided to venture to Seville but as the pandemic continues to rage the chance of a group trip abroad look less and less  likely. Over past years we have usually alternated between abroad and the UK. From Canterbury to Budapest, York to Warsaw, plus we've even had a long weekend at Center Parcs!

Our on-line format runs along the same lines, a chance for us to escape the trials and tribulations of our current lives, and relax, have a wee drink and a laugh. Current discussions have ranged from where you can get yeast from to make bread to the new canine additions that two of our group have acquired. We have laughed at our hair, discussed schools returning and compared our shopping experiences. Regardless of the conversation, we just enjoy each other's company.

We have now introduced a quiz, with each of us taking a turn to be quiz master. Last night's masterpiece even saw a Disney round in which some did better than others. It is hardly Mastermind, but we quite like the opportunity to use our brain cells...and laugh. What this weekly Saturday evening allows us to do is forget our daily chores and current  worries. A much needed distraction from pandemic news and our own concerns. We know that it is important that we all keep checking in on each other as this situation continues. What is normally an annual weekend away has now turned into a weekly virtual face-to-face event; one which we all look forward too and keeps up morale. As one of the group said last night 'Certainly keeps the spirits up.' 

Plus we always have a really good laugh.

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