Month: January 2012

My last full day at the caravan with Mal and so we decided to go to the much publicised Turner Centre. We can’t have a caravan so near and not visit. Then as a special treat on my last night we planned to go to Eddie Gilberts . I love fish and this fish restaurant has an excellent reputation. Well so much for our plans. We drove into Margate and to the Turner Centre. A lot of space outside but there were “no parking” signs everywhere, so we had to park in the towns car park, pay and then walk back. Well, I think we saw three exhibits in all. The upstairs displays were being changed and so that part was shut down for a WEEK!! What a total waste of time. I did ask where we should have parked and was told that was a very sore point. I also wondered about people who may have travelled from a distance to arrive to find most of the place in theory closed down!

A  vast amount of EU money has been spent on this monstrosity on the sea front and I seriously wonder why.  What a white elephant it has turned out to be, there is not even a sign saying what it is! I had hoped this was the beginning of the transformation of Margate. No way. What with that and Dreamland looking a wreck, oh dear! We did walk along the sea front and I think the sign in one of the shops windows summed up the way Margate looked and felt …’Closed until Easter’!!

You will however notice the sign for Pete’s fish factory for haddock and chips for £2.95, now you wouldn’t get that in North Cyprus!!

We should have looked on the Turner Centre’s website before going but I just would not have imagined they would have closed it all down for a week. When we did get back to the caravan I looked on Eddie Gilberts website only to find that was closed too for building maintenance!! I couldn’t believe it. In the end we went to Toby Carvery for 2 meals for £10 and sunk a bottle of wine between us!

Thought for the Day – “Even castles made of sand, fall into the sea, eventually.” ~ Jimi Hendrix

We were back in the caravan by about 9, having left the Travelodge early. I am really surprised how mild it has been all the time we have been in the UK, so the caravan wasn’t freezing.

I had all the washing to do and Mal had paperwork to sort out.

In the evening Shirley, Steve, Mal and I had been invited over to Deb and Dave’s for a meal and lovely it was too with local produce, the kale having been picked that afternoon.

We went to see the chickens that Deb has rescued. She runs one of the local animal rescues TAG.

After dinner we made wishes and let off chinese lanterns and watched them drift away. Thanks Deb and Dave, a lovely evening.

 

 

Thought for the Day – “When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses.” ~Joyce Brothers

We still haven’t acclimatized to UK time and were up, showered and round at Lou and Rhys’s for 8.00am. Lou and Rhys went off to the gym while we stayed with the children. We like to get as much time as possible with them! Mal investigated courses at universities  for River, along with suggestions for his A levels.

My sister volunteers at an Ian Rennie(a bit like MacMillan) charity shop and when I went there with her I bought three huge unread books. One was 1000 years of history, which the older boys loved. Another was a book of things to make and do and Sol took the lead helping the little ones. Ollie and Oscar also painted me a picture to take home with me.

We left after lunch and travelled to Bracknell where we had booked into another Travelodge. It must be old age but I now hate driving all the way from Cardiff back to the caravan in one go.

In the evening we found a country pub and went and had some dinner.

 

 

Thought for the Day -“Our grandchildren accept us for ourselves, without rebuke or effort to change us, as no one in our entire lives has ever done, not our parents, siblings, spouses, friends – and hardly ever our own grown children.”  ~Ruth Goode

Mal and I were up early as we said that we would look after all the children while Lou and Rhys went to the gym, where they are both members. I think they enjoyed a short time on their own. We did offer to babysit in the evening as well but they love being with the kids and if they do go out for a meal or anything, they take them with them.

We had some lunch and then all went off to Roath Park. I say all but Tariq didn’t come with us as he was in the filming for Casualty all day! He had been one of a very few selected from his school. The episode will be shown on 7th April. He enjoyed his day as they were all well fed during the day but he said there was “an awful lot of hanging around”. Of course he got really teased when he came home, that he was the star of the family! He didn’t get paid but they are giving a donation to the school.

Meanwhile, a lovely afternoon walk around Roath Park for the rest of us and feeding the birds.

Back home and Lou cooked us a lovely roast. Late back to the Travelodge.

Something that may interest some of you. Whenever we come to the UK, we hire a car at the airport. In addition to the price of hiring a car, you are asked to pay more to cover the excess on the insurance. For quite a few years now we have bought an annual cover for hire car excess, which works out much cheaper. AND when someone decided to scrape my hire car when it was left in a car park, we contacted them and they paid out straight away. See Car hire excess cover 

 

 

Thought for the Day – “Becoming a grandmother is wonderful. One moment you are just a mother. The next you are all-wise and prehistoric.” ~Pam Brown

We went in for our last breakfast at the Mercure (South Marsden) and then went to reception to ask about my top. The head Housekeeper came down and said she was unable to get the marks out of my top but she had sent for the Manager, Hasan (from mainland Turkey!) He arrived and was so apologetic and told me to buy another top and he would refund the money. I told him that would be difficult as we were travelling around and soon to return to North Cyprus, so instead he said he could give us a couple of bottles of wine if I would prefer. I told him that was more than generous and we accepted the wine. Wow, I was really impressed with their customer service! So unlike many places in North Cyprus!!!! We thanked him, told him that we had really enjoyed our stay and headed off for Cardiff.

We were there early enough to have a good play with Josie and then we walked round to the nursery to collect Oscar with Rhys. Mal and I played games with them both until the other boys came home from school and then River cooked a lovely dinner for us all. Much later we went back to the Travelodge in Cardiff.

I did manage a quick look at my emails and discovered that having emailed the Bangkok Lounge telling them about the hair in Mal’s starter, they had emailed with an apology, saying many of the staff on that night couldn’t speak very good English and to please accept his apology along with a FIFTY pound voucher!! It must be our lucky week.

 

 

Thought for the Day – “Never have children, only grandchildren!” ~ Gore Vidal

One of my tops was a bit creased so I used the iron and ironing board in our room and started on the sleeve, without looking at the iron and it left three marks on the sleeve. When I looked at the iron, someone has obviously burnt something on it which had gone on to my top. We took the iron and top to reception and they apologised profusely, even though I said it was my fault for not looking first. The iron went in the bin and they told me they would send my top top housekeeping to see if they could remove the marks. I thought that was really good of them.

We were in for breakfast early. There was a huge choice. We then drove to Cirencester and spent the day there, looking at the church and also went into the Corinium Museum. Just as well we had somewhere to go as it was raining all day. So, we had a really nice day and even an impromptu guide telling us all about the church. St John the Baptist is supposedly the largest Parish church in the country. Parts of it go back to the 12th century. They even showed us the Boleyn chalice which was made for Ann Boleyn.  The Corinium was also very interesting – Roman Britains second largest city. There were some very good displays in there.

On the all inclusive deal, if you are not there for lunch, then you can have three courses instead of two in the evening!

Another very good evening meal and another evening of all our drinks included! The staff really were nice and friendly.

 

 

Thought for the Day – “Not a shred of evidence exists in favour of the idea that life is serious.” ~ Brendan Gill

We had breakfast and then left Marion and Bryan’s.

I had booked one of my bargains, two nights, all inclusive deal, so we headed for Wiltshire. More battering winds on the drive there. We arrived and part of the deal was an upgrade to a better room, which they did. After leaving our luggage in the room, we went and had lunch. We had tomato soup followed by Roast Beef and horseradish sandwiches. The cost on the menu, over £10 each.

In the afternoon we drove to McArthur Glen shopping village.

We had our dinner in the restaurant in the evening and very good it was too. I had pork chop and Mal the salmon. The cheesecake was excellent too.

From 6.00pm until 11.00pm it was drinks included as well, wines,draught beer, soft drinks, teas and coffees. After dinner we joined others in the lounge to watch the Man U match, I wish we hadn’t, losing 3-0?! We were actually staying at the Mercure Hotel, South Marsden and I have to say we are both impressed, with the staff too because they are so friendly.

For anyone going to Cyprus in the summer, or come to that, anywhere with mozzies, see this offer from Avon

 

 

Thought for the Day – “Good food ends with good talk.” ~Geoffrey Neigher