It had been a long day by the time I finally got back to the Bristol but that was still not the end of it. As Carol sat up in bed after her afternoon nap with a cup of tea (made with the fresh milk I’d bought at Morrisons) she shared a conversation she had had with Sheila and Joe while I was out galavanting. “We thought tonight we’d go down Main Street towards Casemates to explore and find new places to eat. The Angry Friar was alright but we want to see lots of eateries” she said. “Sounds like a plan” says I at the sound of a great idea.

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Scrubbed up (and out the door) we walked up onto Main Street, turned left and soon began seeing familiar places; one of the first being (to Carols delight) Princess Silks. For the next ten minutes (standing outside the shop) Carol recalled her fond memories of the place to Sheila and Joe and how she would spend hours inside choosing fabric and buttons for the children’s frocks and her own evening dresses (see 2:36). Probably the cherry on the top for Carol was pointing to the very spot outside the shop where she had left our youngest daughter Benita in her buggy after coming out of the shop and going straight home forgetting she even had a baby (see 2:56).

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On the other side of the street the (very British) Marks and Spencer appeared to have expanded their floor space massively (compared to what it looked like in the seventies) and it wasn’t long before Carol asked “Where’s Liptons gone?” – which immediately explained how Marks had grown. What I loved about Marks and Spencer wasn’t the shop but the bench outside it that I have fabulous memories of occupying while people-watching as Carol went off to window shop or (on pay week) to enjoy a bit of retail therapy. *People-watching has remained a passion of mine all of my life and is most definitely up there as my guilty pleasure 🙂

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(Joe, Sheila and Carol at the Gibraltar Arms).

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After walking a few hundred yards further down (the immaculately clean and beautifully presented) Main Street the ladies spotted the Gibraltar Arms and after checking out the menu decided that was where we would eat this evening. As it turned out we were all so impressed with the service, the food and the ambience that we would later return to the place several times more during our week on the Rock. 

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For me, having dinner sitting outside the Gibraltar Arms was far more than just eating a meal (as good as that meal was) and looking around at what I’ve always thought of as my most favourite place in the world. It was a personal experience that bordered on the spiritual.

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