Lunch and history

With John’s birthday coming up in just a couple of days, Marianne made the fabulous suggestion that we drive up and have lunch with John’s mum, Jean!  I, of course, was 100% on board with this as (1) I think Jean’s wonderful and (2) it’s another pub!

So, packing up and heading north a little bit into new territory (for me) just south of Birmingham into the little village Barnt Green is The Victoria Pub & Restaurant … or as it’s affectionately known – “The Vic”.

John drops Marianne and me off to grab the table and a drink (why yes, I will have a pint of London Pride, thank you) while he and Henry go gather Jean from her nearby home.  With drink and table sorted, Marianne and I have a lovely short chat until they return.

Having just spent time with Jean at Mark and Jess’s wedding, it was nice to have a quiet lunch and just chat like old friends (which we are now!).   She’s really such a charming woman and I enjoy any time with her that I am lucky to have.  Henry obviously is taken with her, too, and she loves showing him her pendant with a baby photo of John inside!

The meal is wonderful – from the baked brie starter to the buttermilk chicken, Somerset brie, and bacon pie to the (always my favorite) sticky toffee pudding (with custard, of course) for dessert. Have I mentioned enough how much I love English pubs?

In an ongoing attempt to embarrass him, John gets a special birthday recognition dessert of his own. Does he look embarrassed yet?

If you remember my journal entry from a few days ago about the Rollright Stones, this is when Jean told us the story of her father’s “walk around the Stones” and the missing loaf of bread!

But that wasn’t all of the family history for today — heading back to Jean’s house for a short bit, we got to look through lots of old family albums. This was primarily to look for old photos and stories about John’s “Uncle Ted” (Jean’s brother) who had served in the RAF in WWII and trained in Texas pre-war!

As one of John’s birthday presents, I had ordered him a booklet of stories from the Terrell “No. 1 British Flight Training School” from the BFTS Museum hoping that his uncle was in there. Unfortunately, the book didn’t arrive until after I had left for England, so he didn’t get it until later. I took several pictures of some old photos of “Uncle Ted” so that John and I could provide some inputs back to the BFTS Museum at another date.

However, I heard one of what I think will be my favorite quips ever … Jean was talking about how Ted was a “ladies man” and was always chatting up some young lass or the other. But her ending line was that “whenever Ted would go back to the base after a visit home, there wouldn’t be a virgin left in the village!“

It took everything I had to not burst out laughing … but I was guffawing on the inside. Well done, Uncle Ted. Well done.

Among the other photos though, was John and Marianne’s wedding day photo – look how stylish and young they were!

A couple of rides up/down the stairs for Henry in Jean’s stairlift chair, and we say our fond farewells for this trip.  I’m so lucky to be a part of this family – especially since it’s by their choice to include me.