15-17 August 2008: Chelmsford (Caz's hen weekend at V Fest)

My brother's fiancee - Caroline - decided to have her hen's night at the V Festival! What a fab way to celebrate only being free for another month....

We all arrived on the Friday evening at the campsite in Althorne (a little village 30mins from the V Festival) and set up home for the weekend. There were 10 of us in 3 tents and thankfully Lisa had organised a gas BBQ as well. We all managed to set up the tents (even though we were women I think we were extremely impressive) and then set about getting the barbie going and spending some quality time drinking!

Lisa had organised the whole weekend and though we were sorted for the night in terms of games, food and alcohol, our neighbours had a disco going with some very loud, very cheesy music blaring out of their tent! I kid you not. So like all good neighbours we joined them! If anything it was a chance to get warm and we even had our own male stripper...(enough said)!

The next morning was a leisurely one as we did not have to get to the festival until after midday. So on went the bacon, toast and tea. A taxi turned up and after the bride-to-be had preened herself enough we left the campground around 1pm.

By the time we got into the festival (and there some dramas with that!), had more to eat and had a drink in our hands, we were listening to Alanis Morrisette - then Duffy - then onto Will Young. Unfortunately we missed out on Estelle and the Sugababes...oh well....maybe next year. Along the way we met some aspiring male 'angels' who were trying on Caroline's wings for size - the competition was to see who could get the most gorgeous guy to wear them...some contenders but I am not sure there was any one clear winner....

It didn't rain all day and in fact the sun shone for most of it. By the time we got to the main act (The Muse) it was spitting but being crammed in amongst all the bodies actually kept you dry. The Muse were amazing and I know Caroline had a blast (you only need to see the photos to see that)!

We eventually got picked up again after the festival (lots of dramas with that!) and got returned to the campsite, though some a little worse for wear than others (no names mentioned...though you might be able to tell from the photo....).

Sunday was a day for sleeping off the previous night's excesses, but tents had to be packed up, people had to drive home and Caroline had to face up to the prospect of never being single again!! We had a pub lunch at the campground and Lisa recited an emotional poem and gave Caroline a collection of old photos for her to keep.

The sun was shining and we were a little sad to say goodbye to everyone...but we will all be able to relive the weekend come Caroline's wedding on 19 September.

Here are a few photos from the weekend...(I can tell you now that the incriminating photos are already deleted...)

25-27 April 2008 - Milan, Italy

Vicky, a good friend of mine, finally decided to do the 'right' thing, and marry Conall. Preceding such a commitment, you have something called a 'hen's night' and therefore a weekend was planned for celebration/commiseration in Milan.

There were eleven of us - 8 friends and 3 mothers. We arrived in the afternoon and after finding out hotel we ventured into the city square where we were met by riot police and lots of people! We didn't know that we had arrived on a public holiday and the hot topic was the liberation of Italy by the US...because there were riot police about, I wasn't entirely sure it was a protest or celebration....

Milan has a lovely cathedral and shopping pricinct (where Posh Spice shops) and after spending the afternoon walking about in sunny 20 degree temps, we found an ice cream shop that was shouting at us to come and try it out! I forgot how nice it is to eat an ice cream in warm weather - will London ever be warm again!!??

That night was the first night of 'celebration' and we ended up in a restaurant called Joia, dressed like angels (literally)!

The meal was an experience and a half...very 'out there' and 'spiritual'....

There were six courses, and the most memorable one for me was

the soup...you had 3 small glasses of soup, you ate half of the middle one, mixed in the one from the left, ate half that again, and then added in the right one. Amazing how the taste changed with each addition.

Two hours later we were absolutely stuffed - even though they were 6 small courses, over 2 hours it all added up (as did the bill...along the lines of about €880)!. But we didn't mind paying as it was worth it for the experience, the absolutely delicious food and supurb service.

The next day we all got on the hop on-hop off bus which took us around Milan. Milan seemed to be just another European city - there is the cathedral, the church, the castle and the expensive shops, but not much more....except of course, the 'Last Supper' painting. Vicky - the art history buff she is - gave us a great 'lecture' on the painting and that certainly helped with the memory! (trying to think back to the Di Vinci Code...)

That night there were lots of festivities, and thankfully the Italian waiters were good sports...enough said! Here is a picture that sums it all up....

The next day we headed home....some great memories to take away, and hopefully the 'bride-to-be' enjoyed it as much as everyone else did.