Monday 18th January 2016

We woke in Seaford, East Sussex and with not much doing at all, had a lazy day. Should we go for a walk along the beach? No its too cold. Should we write some words for the blog? No we can't be bothered. Should Allan do the repairs to some screws that have become loosened? No, just let it slide until tomorrow.

Sometimes a day of doing nothing is just great. We have had a lifetime of doing things just when and how the boss wants them done but this is retirement and it is wonderful. We are finally in control of our own life and destiny. (There is just not a big enough smiley to follow that) Or should we say we are in control of our lives until the next time the phone rings.

We were due to meet up with a friend from W&P but sadly she is ill and so we will need to rearrange our evening.

Tuesday

We spent the morning shopping in Newhaven at Lidl and then to Sainsburys (another £8 off if you spend over £40!). More petrol bought to keep the generator working and then we returned to Seaford for the night and a dinner of Cumberland Sausages, vegetables and a thick onion gravy. This is a hard life. ha ha!

Wednesday

Earlier in the month we checked the ferry prices and there were lots of cheap crossings. Today when we checked there are only 3 left. So it is now time to book our return to France. There is no point in paying an extra £30 or more when we are not constrained by time and can travel when we want to. The cheap crossing, together with a 20% age discount (only available at the port, in person) and paid in Euros because their conversion rates were set when the Euro was stronger, means we are now off back to France on 24th February - the day after James' birthday.

We then decided to spend the afternoon on Seaford seafront and after Dorothy's brother Tony unexpectedly saw us and stopped to say hello, we saw that some friends we had met in Newhaven, two years ago, had returned to their motorhome which was parked near us and we invited them in for tea and coffee. Pete and June have been full-timing in their motorhome for many years. We had not seen them since last Spring and it was good to catch up on what we had all been doing. We said our goodbye's when it started to get dark and we made our respective ways to where we would spend the night.

Thursday

Today we visited Dorothy's Mum and intended to catch up on the washing, however, the washing machine was playing up and it took most of the day to do one load of washing! A new machine is definitely needed. We left the washing to dry in the conservatory and headed back to our overnight stop in Seaford.

Friday

Today we took Dorothy's Mum on a surprise trip over to Hailsham to visit Frankie and Scarlett-Louise. We had very nice afternoon with them and whilst Great Nanny W. and Grandad Allan did some serious baby cuddling, Dorothy helped Frankie to take down the Christmas Tree and put the decorations away for another year. Then she helped Frankie to put up some new curtains. Whilst doing this she adjusted the pleating cords at one end but did not realise that the curtains had never been tied at the other end??!! Allan had to quickly dash to town and back to buy a large darning needle to re-thread some of the pleating cord.

After all this busy work we went to The George for dinner where we were joined by James when he finished work. We had not realised that there would be "Bouncers" on the door on a Friday night!

Together with Mum we returned back to Seaford albeit rather later than we expected this evening. As we are unable to drive the motorhome close to Mum's house we phoned Tony to come and collect her which we were happy he did.

The seafront for the night to hear the waves gently washing over the shingle and the melodic calling of the Kittywakes. Who am I kidding! We are not allowed to spend the night on the seafront and so it was G+T's for a night-cap and dreams of better weather in France!

Saturday

We woke up to another dull day and after breakfast we finished the blog for the last two weeks and managed to upload it onto the website. This is so much easier now that we have the MiFi dongle from 3.

This evening we need to be in Eastbourne to have a meal with Dorothy's Godson Grant and his wife and their two children. Doesn't seem two minutes since Dorothy was bouncing him on her knee and he was our Junior Usher over 25 years ago. Now he is grown up with a lovely family of his own.

Afterwards we couldn't decide where to spend the night so we made for a quiet Industrial Estate on the edge of Eastbourne!

Sunday

The Industrial Estate is not the best place to stay but it was quiet and no one bothers you. Today we decided to make our way to the Sovereign Harbour for a little geocaching.

One of the geocaches required us to take a photograph to prove we had been "at the scene" so, here it is!

We also learned that further along our walk is where all the poo from Eastbourne finishes up. In a sort of modern castle and then into the sea at the eastern end of Eastbourne.

After this we went to the Eastbourne Sainsburys to get another £8 worth of free groceries and when Dorothy asked if her Nectar card worked in this store as we are from Newhaven, the store assistant kindly gave her another small bundle of discount vouchers. "Every little helps" or is that another store???!!!

As we needed gas we went to the Polegate service station at Cophall roundabout and then along the A22 to spend the night. The generator is in use and everything is being charged up. How we are looking forward to our return to France where we do not have to rely on the generator until we come back to England next winter.

These weeks in England are mostly to keep in touch with family and friends. Nothing much to say on our Blog but a good record for us.