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Last Saturday evening saw George and I booking into the Basingstoke Hilton where we had an assignation with his three brothers and their wives, and his little sister and her husband.

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George’s immediate family members all share a great sense of humour and our get-togethers are usually hilarious affairs. They normally happen annually but this one was late by about 10 months, as two of the brothers have recently had quite serious illnesses, so I didn’t know quite what to expect.

I need not have worried though as they both seem to have recovered well and, apart from one having lost quite a bit of weight, and the other gaining it, they were just the same as ever. They’d hoped to come and visit our neck of the woods, but couldn’t find a hotel that could put them all up, so took up my suggestion that we join them at Basingstoke. So there we all were on a special offer of £90 a couple for dinner, bed and breakfast. Pretty good I thought.

Of course the hotel made up for that economy in the bar. Lots of the jokes that night were about the cost of drinks, which were pretty exorbitant, whether alcoholic or not. But no-one had to drive afterwards so there were not many of the latter kind. And several bottles of wine and pints of beer were consumed over dinner.

All in all, it was a good night. George even made it to midnight without having to slope off to bed early – getting up at 4.30 every weekday means his retiring habits are normally much earlier than that. It was good to see them all looking well and in such good form. We met up again for breakfast and then all headed off in our different directions.

The next family affair is tomorrow (possibly today when you read this, as I am going to try and pre-post to my usual Tuesday slot). This time we’ll be going the opposite way, to my sister’s wedding at Torbay Register Office in Paignton, and then on to the Drum Inn at Cockington for lunch. We’re taking my car this time so that I can drive back and George can have a few drinks and sleep them off on the way home. He’ll have been on the road since 5 am so it’s only fair, I keep telling myself.

Sis and her future husband have been together even longer than George and I, who only got married in May last year. I was telling a friend that I wondered if they were being copycats.

“Oh no,” she said, “Don’t think that. Actually, you inspired them.” Isn’t that a much better way to put it?