 |
| Looks like an oil platform |
We got off at Churchill Square and decided to walk to Hove, where we were due to meet Ian and Ros at Ramsbottom's, our favourite Fish and Chips shop. But before we popped into the bank to get some money, and amazingly got through very quickly without any queueing. It is definitely the total luck of the draw how much you have to hang about in banks nowadays. In fact, just after we joined a very short and quick queue of about 2 people, suddenly we looked behind us and found about 8 or 10 people. Just 2 or 3 minutes later and the wait would have been considerable.
 |
| One of the old pubs on Western Road |
En route to Ramsbottom's, we pootled slowly, popped into a variety of shops and ended up buying a small ASUS laptop, which is better than a tablet, but does not weight 5kg, like the full sized laptop I was schlepping about Europe this time. I like impromptu shopping and tend to buy good things on the spur of the moment. It has Windows 10 on it, which I must admit is very easy to master.
 |
| The half built wind farm |
Once we crossed into Hove I started noticing something weird out at sea. Apparently, they are building a wind farm miles from the beach, but many people are not very happy about it. I photographed a few old pub fronts, which looked great. Unfortunately, about 2/3rd of the way it started raining. That was not very comfortable, but we didn't get too wet, even though Roy had no hood or brolly. I wore my little waterproof jacket I bought in Canada and it worked a treat. It not only had a hood, but a shield on the hood, which came in handy so near the sea.
 |
| Large structures out at sea |
We got to Ramsbottom's only about 5 or so minutes before Ian and Ros, had a good chinwag and a lovely medium size cod (except Ros who had a small one) with chips and in Ian and Ros's case mushy peas as well. En route back, due to the rain, we hopped on a bus back to the centre of Brighton, followed by the one that went all the way back to Hassocks after a very short wait. The only hiccup of the day was that I got a bit confused about something that we picked up earlier and in my utter panic jumped off the bus to go back. When I calmed down a bit, I realised that I had it all the time, but now a full half hour's hanging around awaited us due to that bus only going twice an hour. And this is when my belief in the balance of the universe comes in. Roy went to look at the timetables at the bus stop and spotted another one that also went to Hassocks. We jumped on that and hardly wasted 10 minutes by the whole affair. This one was a double decker, so we could sit on top at the front, although the enjoyment was somewhat spoiled by the furred up windows.
 |
| Another one of the old pubs, this time in Hove |
Saturday we spent mostly at home, but in the afternoon we managed to abscond to the local garden centre again for a cream tea, but this time we had the whole family to come. The kids loved their babycinos and we enjoyed yet another cream tea.
 |
| Montpelier Square where my osteopath lived a very long time ago |
Sunday had the family lunch in the pub with a twist. We all forgot that the first Sunday is still Veteran Car run in Sussex and the pub was jam packed full with old crock fans, so finding a parking place and a table was not easy. Still, we did it and had probably the best lunch we have ever had at the Friars Oak on the Hassocks to Burgess Hill road. I even managed to snap a few of the lovely old cars, which was an added bonus.
Sunday evening was a private firework show organised by Stephen in his own garden. I watched and listened from my bedroom window and those rockets were definitely very loud. On Monday we didn't do much, other than pack and babysit in the evening, so Stephen and Lucy could go out to a Thai restaurant in Burgess Hill with their friends Esther and Ben.
Tuesday went past really uneventfully. We just made one of the early trains with Stephen giving us a lift to the station, our plane was on time, the flight was fine and even the minibus that we caught in from the airport took us along some streets we never trod before. Since then we have been catching up, doing loads of washing, and I have sat through 5 hours of Die Walküre in the Opera last night. Tonight I am seeing my good friend Bozsa at the Music Academy for a concert and then Roy and I are off to Bér tomorrow morning.
 |
| The church at the beginning of Church Road, Hove |
You may have noticed that probably the most momentous event of this week has been missing from my post. That was not an oversight, I was saving it until the end. Rather than going on about it, I am going to copy two links here at the end of this post for your interest and/or edification. One leads to a video on which Alan Woods spends nearly 24 minutes giving you his version of what happened, while the second one is a long(ish) article by John Petersen on the same topic. Listen, read, enjoy and learn!
 |
| Breakfast on Saturday morning |
 |
| Xander easily solving a logic puzzle at the Garden Centre Cafe |
No comments:
Post a Comment