This weekend could have been one of the worst of my life. I had been so excited, I can't even begin to describe how excited I was. And then on the day of the trip, as I was opening the oven to warm the croissants my back went out. I broke my back in 1997 and I also have disc disease which means that the discs in my spine are crumbling away. I've lost four and another two are starting to go. When my back goes out I can look forward to a week of constant pain and regular debilitating spasms. One of the worst things is that I am afraid of the spasms. I could spend all my time living in fear of the next moment just in case but I don't.

On Feb 4th I was terrified. The though of journeying to Manchester and spending a weekend alone with strangers had changed from an exciting adventure to a complete nightmare. To give you an idea of the scale of this... my daughter had to dress me while I sobbed in pain. I was devastated... and then we re organised my whole suitcase with things that were easier for me to wear, added a whole load of strong drugs and in complete terror I headed into the unknown...

... to one of the best weekeds I have ever had; and it's all down to the people I met. The first kind people were the station staff who took care of me, handled my case, found me a seat and walked me from platform to platform. Then there was the lovely man who offerent to carry my stuff all the way to the hotel, but I only let him do it to where he was going anyway. Then there was the hotel staff who took really great care of me, taking my case up to my room, opening doors and ordering a taxi.

But the best, sweetest, most adorable, beautiful and kind people I met all weekend were this weird group of strangers I happened to bump into in the foyer of my hotel.

We had kind of decided that I would write an axaggerated tale to see how far we could take it before people realised it was totally made up... but then I figured that there was nothing I could say to improve the truth which was unbelievable enough in itself.

I could hardly believe my luck when I walked in to the foyer and immediately spotted two of the lovliest men I have met and to know they were waiting for me. The life force that emanated from them was so enlivening and their smiles were so warm and bright that they buoyed me for the whole weekend. There was so much beauty in them it blew me away... and the greatest beauty of all shone from the obvious love they have for each other. I have rarely seen two people who fit together so well and who lighten any situation by sharing that love with those around then.. consciously and unconsciously. The humour that surrounsd them is like a cloud of laughing gas that makes you smile even when you feel like shit. I totally fell in love with them both right from the start. (I even forgave the positive references to Margaret Thatcher )

And then we added in a pure, quiet and gentle soul who brings a sense of calm so that I can hardly imagine him in any kind of fluster. There were times when I was concerned that he might be feeling left out because he talked the least of us all... but I think it is because he listened the most and when he had something to say we all listened. He has the sweetest smile and kindest eyes and was the most perfect gentleman. He is the kind of man that you would always feel safe with no matter what happened or where you were and would trust with you darkest secret and know beyond doubt he would never betray you. His only fault was in his bad choice of umbrellas.

After a fabulous meal my new friends insisted on dragging me down to Canal Street to see the go go dancers. I fgured that If I was going to be dragged off on an adventure then we should also drag in the fifth member of our happy band who, bless him had only just got there and was probably looking forward to a rest. We lured him with the promise of go go dancers only to find that they had run away from the rain... although there was other entertainment. Personally I liked the twinkles in the trees.

Anyway, our new member gave the best hugs ever and, as he owed me a few I took great pleasure in totally taking advantage and getting as many as I could. i can tell you one thing; you shouldn't trust the photographs posted in the forums... no mere photograph can convey the brightness of a smile or the animation of a sweet and cheeky personality. I couldn't get enough of that smile and fortunately we were blessed with it a lot over the weekend. I can't think of anyone else I have ever talked about Chemistry with, without instantly getting bored or even falling asleep. And he was so tall... why didn't I expect him to be so tall. With that smile, the beautiful eyes, the personality and the fab hugs, if only he had been thirty years older, straight and single I would have packed him in my suitcase and brought him home... whether he wanted to or not

On the Saturday I noticed that there was a fabulous metal rail around my sink that would be perfect for handcuffs and again ranted against the universe for cursing me with back troubles that weekend. Having been down Canal Street the night before I am confident I would have found someone to chain to it if I had been fit. In fact, there was a very nice waiter called Aaron who carried my case up to my room who would have done nicely

Anyway, our second trip down Canal Street was to a fab Italian restaurant where we met the sixth member of our happy band who was last but certainly not least. To be honest I think we overwhelmed him a little. He was very quiet to begin with but we soon warmed him up. We had some awesome recommendations for real Chinese restaurants which I spoiled by my inability to travel to them. He was unbelievably sweet and although quietly spoken became animated and very interesting when talking about things he knew. Thanks to him we found out some fascinating things about Chinese culture... such as they steaks are not rare, medium or well done but a percentage of how cooked they are. I would assume that rare would be 15%, medium 50% and well done 80 - 100%.

We had some excellent conversations about languages; some of which I have to admit I didn't understand at all. In fact we hardly stopped talking and we didn't even have time to slag off anyone on GA. Although it was suggested as we had most of Europe and Asia covered by our group we shoudl really talk about the Americans, when it came down to it we didnt have much of whinge there either.

I think we mentioned stories maybe six times, and then only briefly... four of those was me asking Stu if he had re posted his story yet... I TOLD them I had a bad memory(he should have realised when I got his main character's name wrong (I did remember there were four letters with a double at the end) ) and who's counting anyway.

What more can I say. This physically screwed, tired, grumpy and fat and frayed old woman was given the honour of spending the weekend with a band of babes who kept me smilng no matter what. Thanks you GA for letting me get to know these treasures and thank you boys for putting up with me and even seeming to like me

Would I go again; even with the pain? HELL YEAH.