I had to scrap my earlier post as it was too long and boring. I knew it was boring while i was writing it so i decided to start from scratch. I had a great time this weekend when i went over to Alton Towers with my friends. Let’s just say that the road trip was loads of fun. I couldn’t wait to reach the hotel as it had been a long time since i stayed at any. Fortunately i was supposed to be sharing the room with one of marty’s friends so i didnt have to pay the full rate. I got a pretty good rate for 2 nights. The hotel took time checking us in (like forever) and then they had to make us change rooms. It pissed me off big time so i stormed off to give  the manager a big lecture. We headed off to the water park (ground level of the hotel) in our flip flops and shorts. The guys went in the water while their spouses stayed near the pool area keeping an eye  out on their hubbies and kids. It wasn’t easy for us guys to go off and have our bit of fun. We managed to get an opportunity to try out some of the rides when the kids were with their mums. We tried the ride where we got to sit on rafts and go down a slide at full speed. That was a lot of fun as we screeched down the dark slide and landed in the pool (one at a time though). We decided to give it another try while marty and sherry waited in line for the other water raft slide thingie which went around the park (it wasn’t actually a raft. It’s easier to call it a raft to save time)it as more like an over sized inflated ring which u sit on with ur legs sticking out. The other ride took me by surprise. It was very fast and was virtually unstoppable. There was a point where i thought i would fall over when the raft changed direction. I nearly chaffed my ass coz it wasn’t at mid point. I was relieved when i reached the landing point. We left to change after a couple of hours in the park. There was a surprise waiting for me when i reached the room. There were four tubs of candy in the room along with several balloons. So i took three of the tubs and distributed them amongst the three couples along with the balloons.  I am glad I took time out to complain to the manager. Then I took a nice long bubble bath (the hotel was kind enough to provide us with imperial lather shower gel, bubble bath, mint tea shampoo) so that i could feel better. We decided to have dinner at the hotel restaurant as we had no other options available. We were really hungry at that point as none of us had had any lunch. The buffet cost us around 16 quid each and it took us an hour to get our table. It’s a good thing they had some stuff which we could eat. I only helped himself to the vegetarian and fish stuff lying around. I also helped myself to loads of salad and chips. I was so hungry that i piled up a lot of food on my plate. I didn’t care what the others thought as i wanted to get my money’s worth. It wasn’t surprising when i finished that in 5 minutes. I went over for 2 more helpings (i filled up my plate yet again. yeah i am a greedy bastard). It’s a pity i was too stuffed to have any soup. The best part was that there we got to have ice cream for dessert. I had four scoops of ice cream topped with marshmallows, strawberries and some sprinkles. It wasn’t a surprise when i could barely walk or burp later. The guys decided to sneak out for some quality bonding time later when the women and children slept. We had a round of virgin pina coladas and J2Os (non alcoholic) till the hotel bar closed down. I had a great time making potshots at Marty and vice versa. I mean we had no bad intentions and it was all for fun anyway. We had to wake up early the following morning so we could go to the theme park. I had to rush towards the breakfast area as they finished serving after 10 am. I am glad i got 40 minutes to have my breakfast. I felt nauseous at the sight of food (gee i wonder why?) so i helped myself to cereal and a croissant along with some water juice.

The theme park was a lot of fun as there was a lot to do. I chose to sit out most of the rides and helped with the kids. We had a great meal at Eastern Express. Marty was wise enough to ask a girl working over there for directions to the nearest Indian Restaurant in the area so that we could have something for dinner. I know i havent written about the day in details. There isn’t much to write about over here. I mean i am so chicken that i sat out most of the thrilling rides. I had loads of slush puppies on the way (slush as we call it in Pak). We got to ride on the cable car all the way to the other side of the park. I was freaking out cause i have a fear of heights and they were talking about the car dropping. Unfortunately we were unable to go back across the park coz the cable car stopped operating after a certain time. We had to take shortcut to the hotel so that we could relax. The walk was around 1 km long and we were knackered by the time we reached a gate which was a buffer between the hotel and park. The gate was locked and we nearly freaked out coz the intercom wasn’t working earlier. Fortunately my roommate (marty’s friend anj) managed to get them to respond. They sent some guy over to let us out. I was so tired that i took yet another bubble bath. We got ready on time so that we could go for dinner at the place the girl had told us about.It was a bit tough but we found the place. We were totally surprised when we found “Thornbury Hall Rasoi” as it was something we hadn’t expected. It was a nice elegant place with a beautiful backdrop. The owners of the restaurant were British Pakistani and the girl we met earlier in the day was the daughter of the proprietors. Marty joked about the girl inviting us for a free meal a couple of times. The hosts were quite nice and gracious to us. The decor was in good taste and the food was excellent. It was cooked really well and was not greasy at all. We topped up the food with dessert which was in a class by itself. I have never had ice cream like that in my life ever. I felt like going for another helping but then i was really full by that time. We had a nice drive back to the hotel later.

The following day was quite sad as we had to go back home. We made the most of the day by going back to the water park. We decided to have some lunch at Leicester on the way. However we didn’t anticipate the time it would take us to reach there. We finally managed to get some stuff to eat at Kebabish. Lunch was followed by some last minute shopping (women will be women after all). I got a bit sick on the way thanks to the weather. I managed to jump out at hanger’s lane and catch the train home. The train service was a bit slow that night and i reached home at 11.30 pm.

Anyway we all had a superb time and it was one of my best trips ever. I was hardly stressed out and i got to spend time with my friends. The highlights of the trips were all those comments we passed and all those jokes we cracked. The running gag throughout the whole trip was me sharing the room with anj. Apparently we were supposed to be more than roomies and a dozen jokes were made on our behalf.

one of the best parts of the trip was when Marty managed to nick a key chain with the words”i am totally addicted to blokes” on it and stealthy attached it to sherry’s jacket. It was really tough trying not to crack up over that sight.

Ah those were good times and i shall always treasure those memories.