Tuesday 7th JuneToday we went on a Sussex Downs tour with Trevor as our tour guide. The area is quite beautiful with the rolling hills etc. We went to an outdoor museum which was built mainly from 16th century buildings which were to be demolished from around the Sussex area. They had been removed bit by bit and rebuilt in a field creating a village. It was very interesting seeing these very old buildings made into a working village including the farm, flour mill, school, church etc. This is now an educational and teaching aid for children and adults. We spent most of the day here and enjoyed our picnic lunch in a secluded spot under some trees trying to get out of the wind. It was quite chilly and we had trouble staying warm. When the sun came out and if we stayed out of the wind it was quite warm.
We then drove along the South Downs and found a lovely pub called The Cricketer where we stopped for tea and scones out on their deck where it was protected from the wind.
Wednesday 8th JuneWarren spent the morning washing both cars and vacuumed the Mondeo which was filthy after the 3000 miles we travelled throughout our journey in all sorts of weather. He did a complete detail which they needed and he loves doing. I did some washing. It was good to spend sometime at home doing normal things.
We went off to Worthing in the afternoon to collect my sandal from the cobbler and make a deposit into Trevor’ account. From here we drove to Hove and looked around the shops before we arrived at Amanda (Baileys) home. Jennie and Trevor came in to meet them and had coffee and then left us. Hinda (Warrens niece) arrived from London and we had a great time
chatting. We hadn’t seen either of them for a few years and it was good to catch up. Amanda’s boys, Gabriel and Noah have grown up a little. Last time we were in Hove Amanda had just found out that she was having another boy. Noah is now 5. Adrian came home from work and we enjoyed a chicken curry together. Adrian is a doctor and had to leave us to see a patient downstairs during dinner but fortunately he only had one patient tonight.
Amanda took us all to the train station at 9.30 where we took the train west to Durrington on Sea, Hinda went east to Brighton where she changed trains to get the train back to London.
Trevor picked us up at the station
Thursday 9th JuneToday we went off to Littlehampton where we walked along the water front and enjoyed the village as the fast flowing tide going out. We then took a three sided walk, firstly alongside the golf course through bush and trees for about ½ an hour, this led us to the beach. It was very windy again and our coats were then zipped up to keep out the chill. The beach is all stony and built up in a huge pile along the beach. We had brought our salad rolls stuffed in our pockets and decided this was the place to have them. We sat on the top of the stony hill overlooking the water. When it was time to go, we ended up sliding down the stones onto level ground, we then walked along the beach for awhile but then tried walking up the stony hill again to get over and onto the sand dunes. Well, that was not so easy and both Jennie and I had trouble getting up with the stones slipping from under us. We both fell flat on our stomachs laughing uncontrollably It took a couple of efforts to get up the hill where the boys just looked on laughing.
We walked along the top of the sand dunes overlooking the golf course and ended back at the river mouth on the other side from Littlehampton to see the tide was coming in very quickly. It is quite dangerous to swim close to this channel into the harbour because of the quick tide change. We were all quite hot by now so stopped for an ice cream and a rest.
Trevor then drove us all to Highdown Gardens which was very relaxing. Firstly we stopped at the little café and had tea and scones. The scones were enormous and really only needed one between the four of us, so we only ate half of it, we then took a stroll in the gardens. Jennie can’t get enough gardens to wander through. She is a very keen gardener and hers is open to the public next month. She has had an article in two publications in the last couple of weeks showing her garden. You certainly know her garden has had a lot of love and care.
This was a very different garden this time, it was built on an old chalk pit. The owner was told he could never grow anything here but it is a credit to him and every type of plant now grows there. It has been done over the last 100 years. It is a picture and there are so many different parts to it and benches scattered everywhere where you can stop and rest and enjoy the beauty.
We came home and Jennie cooked a delicious baked salmon with roast potatoes, asparagus, cauliflower sauce and carrots.
Friday 10th JuneWe relaxed today knowing that we have a long flight tonight. We finished our packing and actually spent time in the garden actually reading in the sun. Our first and last time to do this. While the sun came out it was warm but as soon as the sun went in, it became cold again.
We walked round the corner to Tim and Jeans home to see their garden. They are opening their garden along with Jennie and Trevor next month. Their garden is quite different as Tim is very arty and precise in where everything is. We stayed here for a short while and the went home for a lunch which we ate in the garden. We had hoped to do this everyday but the weather hadn’t really allowed us to do this.
We relaxed until we left around 3pm. It is also a slow trip to Heathrow and being Friday is not a good day to be driving there. We must remember not to travel on a Friday again. We travelled most of the way with out much traffic but as soon as we hit the M25 motorway then the traffic was very slow. Trevor usually allows around an 1 ½ hours to get there but this time it took 2 ½ hours. It was just as well we had plenty of time.
They just dropped us off and we said our goodbyes. Once in the terminal we soon discovered that our flight had been cancelled. Amazingly I had checked in on line this morning and we had good seats. Now what? We went to the desk along with all the other passengers who were on this flight and waited patiently for our turn. Everyone had been put on different flights and we happened to get the last two seats on a Singapore Airlines flight. Then we had to go to that check in desk and get our seats. We were given two separate seats which was all that was available but told to go to the service desk and see what they could do. Apparently they were over booked but the kind lady gave us two seats together.
We had heaps of time as this fight was not leaving until 10 pm so stopped by and had some food and relaxed for a while. I couldn’t get onto the internet which was a nuisance as I had time to email. Warren spent time downloading the last of our pictures onto the computer instead.
Once we were on board we found our seats. They were great and we had a young couple next to us with a baby. We had the seats with a cot facility in front of us, but with no cot we had heaps of leg room. The young couple were from Dublin. He was very Irish of course but his wife was originally from Singapore who spoke beautiful English. Their 13 month old son, Eli, was just like his dad. He was a good baby and didn’t cry very much.
The plane was so much nicer than a British Airways plane and we were impressed. I slept better than I have ever slept in a plane and felt great by the time we landed. The problem was that it was now 6pm Saturday night and we had lost a day and I wandered how I was going to sleep tonight
We took a taxi from the airport to our hotel and then after freshening up we walked along Newton Road to Newton’s Circus which is an outdoor food court with about 50 different food stalls. We got a bit lost as we got to the roundabout at Newton’s Circus and ended up having to ask a guy where to go. It is such a busy intersection we had to be very careful crossing.. We bought some drink at the 7eleven as we walked underground to get across the intersection I realized as soon as we arrived that I had been here before with Warren’s niece Heidi and Jye.
We walked around with many Chinese vying for our custom but ignored them and found a table. We eventually bought a carrot cake but not what you would imagine It is an omelet with carrot in it. It was delicious and we had satay sticks as well.
We walked back home and Warren had a swim before we hit the sack.
Sunday 12th JuneWe slept well amazingly and I woke up at 6.30am and found Warren reading. We finally got up and ate our scraps that we had left over for breakfast. No free breakfast here!! We certainly do not need any cooked breakfast. I wrote up the diary.
We spent the morning on the hop on bus and went on the Singpore Flyer which is their big wheel.
Have heard on the news of the Chile volcano with ash hitting melbourne so wonder if we are going to get home.
No comments:
Post a Comment