Month: October 2023

We went to Kearsney Abbey with Ellie, she met one of her own to play with and then of course ran to find the stream!

It really was nice and sunny.

We went for a coffee at the cafe and a swan came and sat next to us to preen himself!

We did some sorting in the afternoon, so much in the loft. A lot of toys and things that were Scarlet and Jack’s with us stupidly thinking they would  be coming to stay. I often wonder if we will ever see them again. So, the best thing is to take them into work and let others enjoy them.

Thought for the Day – “You don’t always need a plan. Sometimes you just need to breathe, trust, let go and see what happens.” ~ Mandy Hale

My volunteer day at Cancer research . We have a new volunteer who is working on the books and media. I work on the till all day on my own.

So many more poppies around the village today. It really is a lovely community in Birchington.

Thought for the Day – “Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” ~  Henri J.M. Nouwen

Well, the weather in Madeira is not good!

At least we managed Ellie’s walk here with no rain. We went to Wingham woods and orchards.

The harvest has finished but there were a few apples still on the trees. Ellie remembered us walking round there before and we share an apple with her. We also took her to Elgar’s field for a game of ball. On the way home we stopped at Wingham Farm shop amongst other things, to buy a 2kg (£3.95) bag of their delicious Jazz apples.

A poor game by the Hammers later in the afternoon. Nice to see the wreaths for Bobby Charlton and Bill Kenwright. I met Bill Kenwright many years ago when my ex husband worked for his wife Anouska Hempel in South Kensington.

We then watched the Manchester derby, that was a boring game! Mind you not much more to do with the rain outside!

Thought for the Day – “Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.” ~ A.A. Milne

A wet walk with Ellie. looking at the news, it is a good thing we didn’t hang around in Hastings the previous day as the town centre is now flooded!

Mal received a letter from Canterbury hospital for a date for his catheter change. They said 6-8 weeks originally and they have just made it 8 Weeks and 1 day as it is middle of November!  How very true this article is.

We had a football day, watching the matches on TV and then of course Strictly. Well, it certainly wasn’t a day for long walks (in the rain!) Winter duvets are now on, not bad for the end of October and still having summer duvets.

Thought for the Day – “I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than regret the things I haven’t done.” ~ Lucille Ball

Thankfully we both had a good nights sleep.  We managed to walk Ellie before the rain started.

This is one of the dog lounges!

Part of our package was “late checkout” – 1pm but as we did very little the previous day we left the hotel about 11 and headed for The Range as they are selling Wilko’s dog poo bags. They are the best made, so I cleared their shelf…14 packs! It wasn’t out of our way, we were driving past.

From there we went to Hillier Garden Centre. It is enormous with a lot of concession stores in there. I bought a pair of boots and a top and Mal bought a jacket. We weren’t looking for any of these but nowadays the lack of High Street stores, we had a good look around.

The rain stopped so we had a slow drive to Hastings and had a late lunch at Conquerors March.

We arrived home about 5.

In the evening we watched the Spurs game……yeah, we are still top!

Thought for the Day – “When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” ~  Paulo Coelho

Our silver wedding anniversary. Things don’t seem to be going our way. I was up in the night with a bad stomach and the symptoms I get when  MSG has been in food ie I pass out and I’m sick. I didn’t think to mention this as we checked in as it was rarely used when we were in the EU but it often happened to me in Cyprus. Lately I have checked food and even Oxo has it in now!! We went down to breakfast and I couldn’t eat anything! So, between the pair of us we really didn’t feel like doing anything adventurous. Simple pleasures, we sat on the beach in the SUN!! We also had a stroll with Ellie but not far.

I was feeling a lot better by the evening and so we had a small dinner. We ended up bringing that nights wine home with us, neither of us felt like drinking.

At least it was a nice restful day.

Thought for the Day – “Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards.” ~ Vernon Sanders Law

As our plans for Madeira have all been cancelled, we decided to try a 2 day break in Eastbourne. It’s a dog friendly hotel we have had coffee in previously and it is right on the sea front. A bit of a trial to see if Mal could cope and also to get him out of the house. We stopped at Brede wood on the way, so Ellie could have a bit of a run.

We arrived at the Lansdowne hotel for a 2 day “signature break”. It was the easiest which meant we didn’t have to think about meals etc. This break, you have a bottle of prosecco  on arrival, breakfast and dinner included both nights which included pre dinner cocktails and a bottle of wine!  A shame Mal wasn’t drinking much alcohol. Ellie wasn’t left out either!

We unpacked and went for a walk along the sea front and then into dinner.

We could have left Ellie in the room but we took her downstairs and with a dog you are able to eat in the  bar rather than the restaurant. That was fine with us apart from the fact everyone kept stopping to make a fuss of her. She always just lies under the table but she enjoyed all the people stopping to talk to her.

The cocktails were great and so was the food, all a very pleasant surprise.

Having had cocktails and a bottle of Prosecco, we chose to take the wine  back to the room! Of course we then had to give Ellie her late night walk. We bumped into the “Wednesday Runners” who came to stroke Ellie and wanted her in their photo!! They evidently get together every Wednesday for an evening run along the sea front! My goodness she is popular in Eastbourne.

Thought for the Day –  “Challenges are what make life interesting and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.”~ Joshua J. Marine