Making Haste to Hastings

Hi all,
Have shaken of the melancholy so back to my wacky adventures. On Monday I went to visit the lovely Mayhews; Ned, Yee Chuan and Jeffrey. Hastings is a good 3 1/2 hours away but with the help of a Grande Creme Brulee Macchiato from Starbucks (Om nom nom nom)on the way there and a Red Bull (bleugh!) on the way home, tiredness was kept at bay!
Anyway, I finally found Ned by some miracle (had the wrong postcode)at his mysterious workshop which had in it, among other things, a massive engine, some guitars and a door which will soon become a secret door behind a bookcase. Ned seems always at home in places that are not quite complete, and he looked at home here. I had a whole lot of Ned about it. Then we ventured out to see Yee Chuan and Jeffrey at their house. Greeted with the ominous words 'We were talking about you yesterday and here you are!' we sat down and reverted to reminiscing about a time where we sat about eating a whole lot of the time. After that Ned went off to cook with Jeffrey and Yee Chuan got back to talking and being fed fresh samosas (om nom nom nom) with date chutney which were AMAZING! At fourish Yee Chuan and I went down to Yee Chuan's shop.
Yee Chuan's shop in Hastings Old Town is what heaven looks like in my own head. There are just piles and piles of fabric from lots of different times and places, proper vintage fabric and millions of dress patterns. Two sewing machines. In addition to all of this Yee Chuan does alterations and makes tiny wool and vintage childrens clothes and does sewing lessons. It is several layers of awesome. Then Yee Chuan says 'help yourself to whatever you like'!!! Kid in a sweet shop syndrome. Sixties dress now in production.
After all that generosity we went back to the house where a feast lay on the table and we all tucked in merrily...Very exptremely delicious. Not long after this Jeffrey had to go to his tap dancing lesson (this is something normal) and Ned and I went to the house Ned sort of lives in, but since he doesn't really live anywhere I guess a more accurate description would be the house where Ned sleeps sometimes in return for doing it up for the owner of it. Ned decided he was making cheese (as one does...again this is fairly normal) so I loitered awkwardly in the kitchen looking around at yet another unfinished building in which Ned had ensconced himself. Just like old times.
After that we went to get Ned's phone from a pub and operated some form of self control which meant that neither of us got a drink. Since drinking and shared adventure appears to be the only things we have in common, it was pretty impressive. Dropped Ned 'home' then drove off home. Was amazing to see them all in spite of the mighty distance, but since I've always driven miles to see Ned (another story) that didn't really matter.