Stormy Seas

Not been the best of days - windy and wet for most of it - but even then there are sights to be seen.

Early evening walk on the prom - still very windy but more or less dry - and the waves were crashing against the prom walls in a very impressive fashion - tried to capture it on my phone's camera but this really doesn't do it justice:

Easter Journeyings

Good Friday saw us on the road to visit family once again - setting off early  to avoid the bank holiday traffic, and arriving in really good time as a result.  

Had a couple of days then enjoying some family time, and helping out with stuff like shopping and furniture rearrangements - while our Marci found a quiet corner to hide in . . .

Goodbyes said, we were back on the road again on Easter Sunday, heading across country towards Stratford-upon-Avon where we were staying the night.

Took a break to revisit Kenilworth Castle - stretching our legs, and enjoying tea and a pasty - before moving on to Stratford itself, where we duly booked in to our Travelodge.

The weather thus far hadn't been inspiring, but at least it was dry (outside) - unfortunately the same couldn't be said for 'inside' where a dripping noise was tracked down to the light fitting in the bathroom!

After some to-ing and fro-ing, we were moved to a new room, and also offered a complementary breakfast for the morning to make up for all the inconvenience.

Now we could enjoy the rest of trip without fear of electrocution . . .  including a few drinks and a curry that evening, and a wander round Stratford in the morning.  By midday (still full of that complementary breakfast) we were on our way home.  

Took the opportunity to visit another English Heritage site - Witley Court - along our way.

This would have been a very impressive historic house in its day, but was gutted by fire in 1937 and is now an impressive ruin instead - but still with lovely gardens, an extremely ornate church, and a fantastic fountain.

Really enjoyed our couple of hours meandering our way round - although we did spend a lot of that trying to take a decent photo of the fountain in action!  

Luckily we found a sweet spot in the weather and got to enjoy some sunshine before a rather wetter journey onward to home.

Unexpected Snow!

Woke up this morning to hear Martin saying I wasn't expecting that!

Cue much hasty activity with the camera before it all melted in the sunshine - didn't take long, but it was pretty while it lasted . . .

A Way Down South

Back from a few days 'down south', taking Martin's Mum and Aunt to a family funeral.  

It was a long way, so we booked a couple of nights in a hotel in Southampton - breaking the journey either side of the funeral which was still nearly two hours drive away.

It's been a while since we visited Southampton and once again we didn't really have time to explore the old town as much as we might have liked.

We did have a walk out the night we arrived - here we are by the Pilgrim Fathers' Memorial - and managed a short wander before heading off the next day.

Hopefully we'll make it back for a proper visit one day (and on a happier occasion) although can't say we enjoyed the south of England traffic - way busier than mid-Wales!

Sticky Toffee Pudding Day

With plans to turn the rayburn off next week, time to get cooking . . .  particularly any cakes and puddings that benefit from a longer slow bake, such as bara brith.

Today though, was sticky toffee pudding day - producing a good few batches for the freezer and future consumption.

Yum!

Project Memory Lane

A lot of our time recently has been spent sorting out old family photos, scanning them for future digital access, then having long conversations with family about who is who! 

It has felt at times like there are copies of photos everywhere - although most have now gone into albums  to share with family and / or look back on ourselves in the future.

We've also started tracing our various family histories - not sure if all this 'looking back' is an age thing, or if nostalgia is just a more comfortable place to be at the moment. 

It has been interesting to revisit years gone by though - and great to travel down memory lane with family, and hear their stories.

Could Have Been Worse

Back from another trip across country to visit family - this one a tad on the fraught side . . .

Friday was a real 'Jonah Day' - took the car into town to get some bits and pieces for my parents - parking in one of the few 'timed' ANPR monitored car parks.  It was only on the the way back to the car though that this fact struck me - and at a rough calculation I left somewhere around 5-10 minutes over my time.  All of which put me into a foul mood - with the prospect of having to pay a £90 fine for just 'not thinking'!*

Then, having just about recovered my equilibrium, went out to the car to go and fetch fish and chips, and found it had a flat tyre!

Luckily the brother-in-law knew someone who was able to sort it for me - but we did have to have a new tyre (fitted at 10.45pm that night by the roadside!).

By then I was of course looking out for the third car related event - which duly had me stopping at the side of a busy A14 the next day trying to reattach a windscreen wiper in the wind and rain!  (Managed to jam it back on, but used the wipers with some restraint on the rest of the journey despite encountering rain, sleet and snow!).

Of course it wasn't all bad - there was family time, and cuddles with Marci Moo (seen here enjoying a lick of beer).

And the snow did at least provide some nice views on the final leg of the journey home:

*Update - after watching the post for a couple of weeks, it seems I was stressing for nothing, as no ticket arrived.  Either I miscalculated and I was still ok, or was over such a short amount of time I was given some grace!