Maggie & Mal's Adventures in North Cyprus, the UK and Beyond
A short walk for Ellie, she seemed so tired yesterday after her long walk.
We then went to Wingham Wildlife to renew our annual passes.
Obviously my favourites there are the Orangutans.
40 years of Eastenders, I never watch it but turned it on to see what all the excitement was about. So noisy, I turned it off.
We took Ellie for a long walk over the fields and I think we tired her out. It s quite a long walk for her now she is getting that bit older. Maybe a gentler walk tomorrow.
I met the Kent Lavender Ladies for lunch. One of the girls suggested we go to Sardinia in Broadstairs. That is where we booked as they do a £15 lunchtime special. When they brought the menus to us they told us as it was half term, they don’t use that menu. Nice of them to tell us when we booked. Majority decision, we walked out after complaining that no one informed us.
Then of course we had to find somewhere else… Broadstairs in school holidays…not easy. But we managed to find the Cafe Grill and had a nice meal there.
Lots of laughs as usual.
Meanwhile Lou and Rhys are having some time in Spain at their house.
I went to Westwood shopping, as usual more price increases and such a range of prices for the same products at different stores. For people who don’t check things, I seriously wonder how they manage. Bringing two boys up on my own and no maintenance from their father I have always been a shrewd shopper. I had to be.
Up early, packed the car up and caught the ferry. There were very few cars on it. The early ferries appear quite empty. The sea was ROUGH! Ellie wasn’t too happy about that.
We stopped at Ripley for a sandwich and a cuppa and a walk for Ellie. Lovely to see the crocuses out.
Going from the A3 on to the M25 is total chaos. No one seemed to know which lane they should be in and most traffic was at a standstill. So a big delay.
We stopped at Lou and Rhys’s on the way back to drop off some things we bought for them and collect an Avon order.
Arriving home, messages on the answerphone, Ellie’s weight clinic is cancelled tomorrow and a letter saying owing to unforseen circumstances my operation with Maxillofacial has been cancelled for March and is now booked for OCTOBER!!!!! This was accompanied with a letter asking for a donation for the NHS…are they joking??? I have paid my contributions and I have to wait over a year for this operation.
Scarlet sent me a video of her walking their dog and so I “whatsapped” her for about an hour, bless her. She is revising for mocks.
It was nice to empty the case and have all clean clothes! A washer drier in the lodge, so better to use their electricity while we were there and not piles of dirty washing to come home to!
An early morning beach walk with Ellie, she really loves it here. Off she trots on her own straight to the beach!
We drove into Shanklin but didn’t stay for long as it was so cold.
Better to be in the lodge , warm and cosy and watching the wildlife outside! Then of course the Spurs v Man U game and for once, we won!
Waiting for their breakfast!
The robin sings until we open the door! Ellie had her beach walk and then we drove into Ryde. We parked just outside this “shop”.
Quite amusing really!
We had a walk all along the pier.
Then around the shops. A lot of charity shops and as they do, they all offered Ellie treats so in the end we stopped looking in them……We have to take her to see Meghan on Tuesday for her weight clinic!
This is the view across to Portsmouth, so WHY is the ferry so expensive?
I think it is about 13 miles.
Valentine’s Day..
A lovely walk with Ellie first thing (after feeding the birds). It was cold but nice for a walk. Again, Ellie just dashes for the beach! I am sure we could open the lodge door and she would just go on her own!
We booked to go to our favourite pub, The Blacksmiths Arms for a Valentine’s lunch. We have never had a bad meal there and today was no exception. Of course they are very dog friendly with dog blankets and treats.
There are such lovely views from the garden although it was too cold to eat out there today, even with the sun!
The food was so good. I had scallops to start, followed by roasted monkfish in parma ham and then my favourite desert ever, and no one makes it like them.
White chocolate and raspberry creme brulee. It is full of raspberries.
Ellie had a run around the garden after we finished and then back to the lodge. We told them the TV was a bit in and out and also internet. I think most of this is the remoteness of the lodge so we can put up with it but two of the gas rings on the hob weren’t working but they came to repair this early evening.
The retreat has been very quiet since we arrived but it looked as though more people arrived for the weekend to fill some of the empty lodges.