(FYI, I wrote this post a few days ago)

I’m bored.  I’ve just finished the first of three books I bought, night before last, in the local Tesco.  This hotel doesn’t have any internet and I’ve become starkly aware of just how reliant on ‘being connected’ I really am.

My, whatever did we do before the internet was invented?

I feel disconnected, especially from my work.  I feel like I have had a limb removed, or like one of my senses aren’t functioning correctly.  I can’t lie, it’s tough.

That said, I have quite enjoyed not having internet in the evenings.  Watching TV with the hubby (well, as best I can, given the TV is on hubby’s side of the bed and barely raised off the floor) with an abundance of cuddles, going out to dinner and talking about his day over the dinner table, in, what I can only describe as one of Britain’s best attributes, the Gastro-pub (more later) and going to bed well before midnight – something we’ve not done much of in the last… well, ever really.

It’s been nice, simplistic, and, ok, on occasion, horribly lonely during the day, which is why I’ve lost myself in literature and devoured my book so quickly.  But being cooped up in the hotel room has been good for my diet – silver lining, eh?

The Stena Line boat across the Irish Sea, was great.  We drove on around 8pm (after a yummy dinner at Nandos with our friend Phil), got our room key and settled in for the night.  The ship had free Wi-Fi, so we both caught up with our Facebook, Twitter, personal email and, probably most amusingly, our games of “Words with Friends”.  It was a cheap method of travel too, we brought the car and as much luggage as we wanted to!

When we docked in Birkenhead, we headed straight down to Stonehouse, it wasn’t a particularly long or boring drive – it was pretty unremarkable.  We stopped in Gloucester for a spot of shopping in their Outlet Malls; I picked up a few ramekins in the Le Creuset shop, a few pairs of trousers in the Marks and Spencer outlet and snorted at prices in the Hobby Land.

For lunch, we tried The Avenue – but the wait was too long, so we moved on.  The Linden Tree had about eight items on their menu, none of which was in the least Slimming World friendly, so we moved on again, and ended up eating in the Concorde Café.  It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible – and they had a good selection of foods which were, or could have easily been made SW friendly.

The hotel, which I’ll write a Yelp review for in short order, is probably one of the only hotels in the area, and, to be honest, I’ve told Col we shall never again be returning to Stonehouse – if they want him back, we’ll stay in Gloucester or something, and he can have a commute.

As it stands, the hotel is less than a five minute drive to the SLB campus, but it is well and truly stuck in the dark ages.  The walls need painted, the curtains need re-hung, a few small changes in furniture (like a TV unit that is a few feet higher) and, most notably, internet.

I’ve not been doing much during the day, having wholly self indulgent lie-ins, mostly because we’ve not had the best sleep since we got back from the US.  We’re in a smaller bed, there’s no air conditioning and we’ve both just been way too hot.  Here, the bed is marginally bigger, the windows have been wide open and I can sleep a lot easier than I have been recently.

I’ve painted my toes and fingers, I’ve written a letter or two and I’ve read a Cornwell novel, all in just over twenty four hours.

Our evening exploits have been substantially more fun and delicious – mostly due to the aforementioned Gastro-pub.

Our first night we ate in a lovely place called The Prince of Wales.  I was very naughty and used my 3G to bust in to Trip Advisor on my phone to find us somewhere to eat, it had a five-star rating and I can most definitely see why.  It was delicious, and, had we been in a more affluent position, there was a group of about eight pensioners, sitting behind us and I’d have loved to have paid for their dinner.

They struck me as though they don’t see each other hugely often, like this meal out was a once a month or once a quarter type deal.  They get together, regale stories of their youth, talk about what’s gone on since their last get together and enjoy a good feed.  It definitely made me smile and I wish we’d had a few extra quid to pay for their dinners – I can’t really explain why.

For our second night’s dinner, we went to a place called The Spa – mostly on the recommendation of a bloke we met in a different pub.  We were just driving around trying to find somewhere to eat; we went in to a pub that had a sign outside advertising food.  When we went in, we were told that there was no food and a punter suggested we try the Spa and gave us directions.  We enjoyed it, not quite as much as the Prince of Wales, but it definitely had charm and was tasty.

Our third night in Stonehouse, we ate in the Fromebridge Mill, Col ordered the steak pie which was an individual little pie – a bit too little – I had the salmon, and both were cleared.  It was definitely an SLB haunt in the area and it is got a great atmosphere.  We’d definitely go back here if we were in the area!

From Stonehouse, we made our merry way up to Manchester, taking in some Eddie Stobart spotting en route…

Any of you, dear readers, need a Stobart explanation?