A weekend with friends in Manchester - Bubbablue and me

Catching up with friends in Manchester

As I get older I realise that many friendships fall by the wayside. Some it’s no big deal as we grow apart. Some I’m sad about.  Many of the latter is due to working full time, missing out on weekday meet ups, and family time being the priority for others at weekends.  But my best friend from uni is still there throughout.

Bizarrely we rarely see or speak to each other throughout the year. We try and meet up 2 or 3 times, and speak a similar frequency on the phone.  We’re total opposites when it comes to social media with me on everything, and my friend not on any of it. Add to that she’s very good about ignoring her mobile, so we’re reliant on cramming as much as possible into our meet ups.

A weekend with friends in Manchester - Bubbablue and me

A couple of weeks ago N and I headed up north to visit her and take our boys to Geronimo Festival.  She’s N’s godmother, and her son’s my godson.  With 2 years between them, the boys get on well.

playing in the garden
playing tractors and trains

We were lucky with the weather, and we first spent some time pottering in the garden, then went off to the park.  N wanted to take his micro scooter which I’m always pleased about – it means he’ll go further than if he walked.

Scooting in Stretford with his micro scooter

The playground was busy as expected on a sunny warm Saturday, so we wandered through the park to another play area.

just hanging around off the slide
the wrong way up the slide
being cheeky at the playground
exploring in the park

I don’t know why, but we always end up with oddballs approaching us. This one was a boy of around 11 or 12, toting a surprisingly real looking toy gun, leather jacket, jogging trousers and sunglasses, warning people he didn’t want to shoot and to look the other way in an aggressive manner.  A little disturbing and the type of thing that my friend worries about for her son in years to come, when peer pressure and the high proportion of deprived areas near their home come into the mix.  N on the other hand didn’t bat an eyelid and just carried on going down the slide.

An ice cream and playground stop later and we were ready to go home stopping off for daisy picking and a walk through a subway with some great artwork.

sitting on the playground caterpillar
looking through the playground netting
picking daisies with his trusty micro scooter
subway Van Gogh artwork in Stretford

What’s great about seeing my best friend is how it’s like we’ve never been apart, and how easily we slip into discussions where we left off.  We didn’t really get much chance to arrange our 40th birthday weekend later in the year but we certainly caught up on a lot of other topics.

Needless to say, N was up at the crack of dawn both mornings we were there.  On the bank holiday I sent him downstairs to play at 5.30 so I could get some more sleep.  That was fine until I heard him call out ‘Mama’ a couple of times, and went downstairs to find him cowering on the sofa.  He’d heard something and got scared because he thought it was a monster walking around.  After that, breakfast was on the cards.

hugs with teddies
breakfast in Manchester

A brief morning of fun with the boys building and mending my godson’s huge box house and foam blocks, and it was soon time for us to go back home.

godbrothers playing with boxes

It’s not often that N is the eldest one when playing with others so it was a good experience for him to naturally be in charge, listened to and looked up to.  Although he played very nicely, allowing my godson to make suggestions for their ‘game’ too.

It was a lovely weekend, nice to spend time with my best friend and her family, and brilliant to be able to spend a good amount of time outside in the sun.  Hopefully we’ll try and meet up halfway like we often do at Trentham Gardens, before our 40ths come around.

How often do you see your best friends?  How long have you known them?

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18 Comments

  1. HE looks so caring!

    We sometimes has that on our walks here, some kid who is so not a good example and its wee bit hard to explain to my son why he is acting that way.

    But still looks like a lovely meeting. I havent seen my friends for the longest time but I know like you its like we were never apart =)

    #countrykids

    1. Definitely a god way to show good and bad behaviour and set expectations. It’s always nice to meet up with old friends. Thanks for stopping by Merlinda

  2. I see my best friends a little more regularly but neither live by and one works full time, so it’s always a juggle getting together. We’re the same though, as soon as we’re together it’s like we’ve never been apart – the best kind of friendships in my opinion #CountryKids

  3. I’m so glad you had such a good time meeting up with your friend and her family, it sounds like it was much needed. Oh gosh that kid at the park really does sound disturbing. N looks really sweet there next to your friend’s son. Xx #countrykids

  4. Oh it is lovely when you catch-up with friends. It looks like you had a lovely time. I can appreciate you were a bit disturbed by that boy! The park looks like it was a good one though. #countrykids

  5. Scooters are like some kind of parenting magic-trick for getting kids out on a “walk” aren’t they? The foam blocks look fun, are they a set or just something that was lying around?

  6. Meeting up with old friends is so lovely – I do love it when it feels like you can pick up just where you left off. It must have been nice for N to be the big one and he certainly looks like he enjoyed having fun in the park. Love the artwork in the subway too 🙂 #countrykids

  7. Weekends with old friends are the best especially when all the kids have a great time too. Funny how N was worried about the ‘monster’ but not the scary boy in the park.

  8. My son loves to scooter but the only suitable surfaces locally are the lanes. The wide path in the park looks perfect. I don’t see old friends even once a year, but when we talk on the phone, it’s like we’ve never been apart. #CountryKids

  9. Sounds like a lovely and much needed catch up with your friend. I have a few old friends from different times in life I’m like this with too. Looks like the boys had a great time together, I think it’s great for kids to learn to mix with older and younger children, to take the lead and let others do so too. the boy at the park sounds very disturbing, that would really scare me, I’m glad N took no notice.

    Thanks you for linking up and shearing your weekend with me on #CountryKids

  10. Glad you had a great time with your best friend and her family. Well done, N for being the good big boy being in charge with playing with the younger one. xx

    1. Thanks Melody. It was a little embarrassing because whenever we were out the house, N was like a little goody two shoes and my godson was being a bit of a terror to my friend’s despair. It was lovely to see them play though

  11. Looks a lovely weekend. We had our oldest friends to stay last weekend – much like you we only see them a few times a year, but its always fab. I have known him since I was 14 (I’m 45 now) and he was one of my friend’s boyfriends back then – lost touch with her years ago, but he and I (and our partners) have always stayed in touch 🙂

    1. It’s the best thing when you’re such good friends that it all just fits into place when you do catch up. Funny how it’s the friend’s boyfriend you’re still friends with but probably the relationship between women changes more than those with men. Thanks for commenting Sarah.

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