Part Three: Long Eaton.

Once I got off the Eurostar in London, I headed over and bought a young person's rail card and a ticket to Nottingham, which together gave me a ridiculous total of money. After that, I jumped on the train, and read my book while drinking a cup of tea until I reached my destination. Then I wandered down to the Notts bus station and boarded the Indigo bus to Long Eaton, while being glad that I used to live there so I wouldn't have to ask people for directions in the dark.

The bus ride was really odd for me, because it showed me really how little had changed since I'd left there two years ago. There's a new Tesco in Beeston, and one of the pubs had changed, but other than that it was like I'd only been gone a week or so. Anyway, I eventually reached Long Eaton and met up with Jack. He took me back to the school where I met the rest of his Gaps, and we headed to the Coop to get some drinks. We drank them back at the school while we waited for Mitchell to finish work, and then we headed down to my old haunt at the Eaton Farm. There, I caught up with Greggs and Magnus, who'd been there while I was there. It was actually really nice! So, we'd started with beer and cider, but it quickly turned into tequila and sambucca shots, and then Laurence did a shot of vinegar and chased it with salt and pepper... I managed to get a photo of his reaction:

Once we'd done there, we headed up to Jack's local, The Sportsman. This is where it gets a bit hazy for me... I don't think I had many more drinks, but I did realised that I was quite drunk. Eventually, I went to the Hungry Hut and got a huge kebab with garlic mayo - it was like a party in my mouth!! Amazing. Eventually we staggered back to the school and fell into bed. I nearly fell through mine, because the planks holding the mattress up were loose and tended to fall out at inopportune moments. I think it was about three when we got home, which wasn't too bad!

The next morning was pandemonium. I woke up at about 8.30 to a busy house, because all the Gaps (except Olly, who has a different job) had to go to a first aid course at 9am. Someone forgot to wake up Georgie, so at about two minutes past she was frantically running around trying to not be too late. What was the best was that everyone was moderately hungover, and there were a couple of hickeys present (that makeup didn't totally cover). Good times! It wasn't long til I had the entire flat to myself, so I went through a lot of my things and sorted it in to some kind of order. I then chatted to Mum and Dad for a while, which was nice, and in the afternoon I took myself off on a walk along the High Street, through the market, and then managed to kill an hour in both Asda and Tesco. I eventually headed back to the school in time for dinner - in the new dining hall at Trent. It was awesome!

That night, we hadn't really planned on doing much (the effects of the previous night still being pretty raw), but Mitchell dragged us to the pub at around 10pm, where I met some lovely people the Gaps knew, being Jo, Simon and Rachel. So I drank more cider, and chilled out with everyone. Laurence arrived from a family thing moderately trashed, then lost pool, and disappeared - it was a while before we realised he'd headed home. Soon enough, it was 2am again, and we went to join Laurence back at home. Sunday morning was like a less-seedy version of Saturday morning, minus the panic. Jack and I chatted to Mum and Dad over Skype, who were laughing because they'd never really noticed how similar we look (and occasionally act). Then we got dressed and went for lunch at the school, and then all trekked out to Nottingham for an impromptu shopping trip. We went to some shoe shops, American Apparel, Jack Wills, Primark (!!!), and Topshop (!!!!!). We then headed home, stopping at the Hungry Hut for some more kebabs and chips, then just chilled for the rest of the night.

Monday, I got up and headed in to the school to catch up with the staff. I saw Ali first, and talked to her for ages, then went to the Upper Elms and talked to Mandy and saw Trisha and Keith, then went to lunch with Georgie and Jack, where I saw a bunch of the kids, as well as Lynn, Steve, Charlotte, Lisa, Jez, Lucy and a few others. I then headed back over to Catterns, where I used to live - which has now been converted to the music block for The Elms. I gave myself a tour of the new layout. My old kitchen is now a staff room, my room has been split in two and turned into music studios, our old sitting room is the new office, and Justine's place is now mostly a big music classroom with other classrooms for Speech & Drama and learning help. I saw Lesley, who was really excited to see me, and then headed back up to the Lower Elms to see Lorraine. Then I headed over to the pool, where I caught up with Kath (aka, Mum II). She ended up roping me into helping out with Year 6 lifesaving... old habits die hard! A highlight was definitely when one of the kids failed abysmally at 'saving' another one, and when Kath said "If he can't see you, you can't help him. So what should you do?" and the kid replied, in all seriousness, "Leave them to die?". Classic.

After that, I grabbed my camera, said goodbye to everyone, then took myself on a walk through Long Eaton, taking photos of the places I used to hang out, like Princess St (!) and the old churches. I eventually made it back in time for dinner, and then we all had a quiet night in. I watched the first episode of season 5 Skins, and really enjoyed it. I think Franky's going to be a winner!

Tuesday was a bit more chilled... I slept in, then met Jack for lunch at 12 (and saw some more of the staff, like other Lisa and Sharon), and took the bus in to Derby and killed some time in the enormous Westfield. I eventually made it back too late for dinner (although in my defense, dinner is at like 5.45. Who's hungry then? Not me, that's for sure), then we went back to the flat. We were watching tv, when Mitchell decided he was hungry. One thing led to another, and then Olly challeged him to eat an entire loaf of white bread. He didn't eat the whole thing, but he definitely came close!

Wednesday morning, I woke up early to make sure that I was ready in time to catch my train to Sheffield. It didn't hurt that along with my real alarm, I managed to wake myself up effectively when I rolled over and the mattress slats fell out from underneath me... Anyway, I eventually got myself sorted, yelled goodbye to the flat (and Jack) and then caught my bus, which took so long I was legitimately concerned that I was going to be stranded in Nottingham and have to spend another inordinate sum on a last minute train ticket. But it was all good, and I got to my train in time, got my bags on board, and then headed off to where the real story begins: Sheffield.