Well what and extraordinary drive we had over to The Chequers, Thompson. It had rained for pretty much the entire day and we were considering putting the roof up when just in time the rain stopped and we decided to risk the drive without. We also were leaving early as we wanted to drop in to the garage that is restoring our Morris 1000 Traveller for us to see how they were getting on. So we set off at about three thirty with the roof down. After about half an hour I decided I needed my sunglasses and that is how it stayed until we reached the garage. We took a couple of pictures of progress and were assured that the car would be ready by Friday which is when we and few other like minded Folkmoggers are off to France. The man at the garage promised to have the car ready for our return.
Despite the fact that it was only about five we decided to push on to the pub directly and as we drove we noticed an extremely dark cloud dead ahead. Then we turned to the right and it was clear sky ahead and then to the left and it was dark and then…. well you get the picture.
We arrived at The Chequers at about ten to six to find that it was not quite
open yet and as we stood in the car park watching the lightening in the distance
it began to rain. Luckily two things saved us from getting wet. Firstly there
were umbrellas in the car park and secondly someone arrived to open up.
At about quarter to seven someone else arrived and the landlord mentioned that he had cordoned off a part of the car park just for us. We went out to move our Mogs to the saved area and while we were doing it more people arrived. We soon filled our allotted spaces and the bar area that had also been saved for us. Indeed after not very long the waitresses were struggling to find a way through the horde to deliver food. We noticed the struggle and sat ourselves down only to find that we had overflowed the bar area and one group had to sit in the other bar. One person had come all the way from Australia only to sit in the overflow area. Seems a bit harsh but she seemed to be enjoying the company.
As always a pleasant meal was had and the main topic of conversation seemed
to be the upcoming trip to France. We all agreed that plenty of time should
be allowed for getting to Portsmouth as there is always a hold-up at or around
Hindehead. There were also lots of commiserations for those who could not
go to France because of other commitments.
We eventually finished our meal and moved on at about quarter to ten I guess. I myself felt maybe a little overfed but happy nevertheless. Of course it was raining again and we made as swift a getaway as possible to try to out run it. In this we were successful and by the time we arrived home there was a clear sky.
