Chester - again!

For the second time in a fortnight to Chester Cathedral for an ordination!? Went to see Philip Robinson's priesting in a service which I shall remember for an incandescent sermon from Grace Sheppard who took the ordination retreat.
(I hope this is her - I wasn't intending to take her photo!) She spoke movingly on friendship in the face of death both taking the Last Supper narrative and speaking about her husband David's (bishop of Liverpool for many years) death in the evening after her 70th birthday party surrounded by friends and relations.


We'd decided to have a meal after the service (which started at 5 pm on a Saturday afternoon) however we reckoned without it being Chester race day - and so having made a note to try Chez Jules on a future visit, racegoers, or maybe bishops! had bagged all the tables - especially as the City seemed to be filling with drunks and police - we went back to the car and drove back looking for a pub/restaurant thinking that Knutsford would be a suitable place if we really didn't find somewhere.
So we arrived in Knutsford and after considerable difficulty(!) found a parking space and after more difficulty a restaurant with a free table Rose & Crown/Portofino we ate late but it was a lovely meal enjoyed being next to the customer visible frying pan. We had pasta and a pudding - my pudding was a little ordinary but everything else was wonderful. We'd stopped eating here a few years back - well before I was made redundant from somewhere based here - probably because the Early Bird menus were over meaty but we are likely try it again!