Oh dear here’s a dilemma. Does this weekend count towards our ongoing Covid vacation? We’re just visiting Father-in-Law so that’s not vacation, it’s just routine, even though the sound of seagulls gives away the fact that we’re at the seaside of course so it’s kind-of a potential reason. However the more compelling argument comes from our return route which will NOT turn right at Southampton as is the normal way home, instead we will continue along the A/M27 even when it gets renamed to A31 and on to Bournemouth for a few days R&R.
We work through lunch then leave mid Friday afternoon to drive the 260 miles to Dads, the M1 particularly fratchy for some reason. Many idiots (yes, I know, when aren’t there?) are especially stupid this time, more than usual and traffic is heavy. Got a serious tailgating from what I now know to be a Rolls Royce Cullinan, redefining the obese idea of a Chelsea Tractor. After a few miles (I’m sure he would have passed on the inside if the traffic hadn’t been so heavy) I let him pass so he could advance 10 relative yards and tailgate the poor sod in front of me. What a privileged and intimidating twat - I’m sure RR owners are not generally like that but perhaps it’s the SUV part that defines the behaviour? Or the minimum of in excess of £¼M?
Later on I have to swaps sides and let Hubby drive for an hour as something pressing needs fixing at work. This project is embargoed for now so can’t go into detail but an hour of juggling my iPad, his Surface and my iPhone to remote into our Sheffield servers got it sorted and I am relieved to get back behind the wheel - I’m not a good passenger under any circumstances but definitely not when belting along the A43 and A34 with my head down.
Happily I’d made dinner the previous night so it’s just a reheating job to deliver yummy cottage pie and enjoy a well earned glass or two.
Saturday heralds a balmy and hazy day although the breeze is slightly chill it is, as is typical, five degrees warmer than Yorkshire. A lazy morning is punctuated with neighbours, wandering to the shop for our paper and some vegetables for later, and then it’s time to clean the conservatory roof as the seagull guano is building up, it’s a glamorous life!
Before long it’s time to head off towards Chichester and more specifically The Walnut Tree at Runcton. One of our regular haunts, it’s a perfectly pleasant pub that does a pretty decent lunch. I partake of confit duck leg, the others having fish & chips and gammon steak, in the garden as the sun continues to shine upon us.
After our lovely lunch we return home, and quickly head off again on foot this time. We’re heading north now, roughly back where we just came from, although leaving the road when we can to head across Pagham Harbour toward the Crab & Lobster on the northern waterline.
The region has had settlers since C12 when there was a nearby fortress, the only bit left being a few mounds of earth and a sign. The church faired slightly better as one small part remains.
The harbour was closed in C18 and the local area reclaimed from the sea for agriculture. Nowadays it’s a tranquil nature reserve and where we often walk, usually approaching from the southern part so this walk is a lovely change.
We walk back via a different route for a while enjoying the glorious weather.
Dinner tonight is another easy option - chef is clearly on holiday - but it’s been ages since we had toad in the hole so not really complaining.
Light duties in the kitchen pave the way to me catching up on a really important job. Although we’ve been delivering Zoom classes for a while, some aspects of setting the up have remained manually managed. Today I put the finishing touches on the automated process of building the actual Zoom event, adding the appropriate pupils and ensuring the correct link is visible to them in our book-a-class system. It has to work for the Adults who book and pay for their classes weekly and the children who’s payment paradigm is different. End-to-end automation - happy days!
Sunday is a family lunch so we’re in full-clean mode before talking a quick turn to the shops and along the shore for a while. Couple of nice sights on the way for anyone interested in memorabilia - the appallingly videos 70’s remake on an Austin VDP and a more serious classic for when you’ve stopped laughing at the “lively” Leyland.
The weather remains delightful so we’re dining al-fresco - roast pork et al first but have to drag the dining table out into the garden because the garden furniture won’t seat five.
After lunch we head westerly past Portsmouth and Southampton and into the New Forest. It isn’t part of the drive-plan but a huge delay on the A31 encourages us to seek another route which is delightful.
Our fairly basic hotel in Bournemouth is very pleasant and we’re soon settled in. It’s lovely to see an old SL in the car park which has some shared DNA with our present wagon. Quite fancy one of those!
Meanwhil, ignoring cars from now, we settle in then head off to explore. Neither of us have been here for decades so we have no real idea what to do, so we wander along the prom, then check out the pier before continuing a while longer. Deciding to turn around we go inland to check out a few potential eateries. Our sojourn is very successful and on the course of our journey we managed to eyeball a sufficiency of options.
Firstly we return to our hotel to put trousers on, then head back to Neo which we’ve decided looks like a good place to start the evening on the terrace. Their only Chardonnay is a very agreeable South African and we while away an hour, amused by a local lad chatting up a nearby young couple - which one did he fancy or was it entirely innocent?
After our aperitif we aim for Prezzo but unfortunately they are “full” despite there being lots of obvious space, so we head back to our fallback Italian choice of Cristallo which has a lot going for it, not leastly the two flirty boys waiting on, but most importantly the al-fresco seating. We enjoy an excellent and rather expensive Barolo which, although double the cost of the food, is the perfect end to our first evening.
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