Uninspired!

Haven't felt inspired to update this Blog, for a combination of reasons.

The weather is totally getting me down, for various reasons, both personal and weather related, I've been very depressed and as a lifelong, periodic suffer from depression, I know that I have no motivation, whatsoever, in the bad times.

We managed 5 days back at Sandy Balls, where the weather was atrocious, we didn't even go swimming, as it was cold and wet and dark all the time. The walk across and the thought of getting wetter didn't appeal at all.

Our first morning back there was a small window of dry weather, although blowing a gale. I thought it would be good to drive to Avon Beach, park on the road above the beach and cook our breakfast and have a walk on the beach, to blow the cobwebs away and see the big waves.

That was enjoyable, for me and the dog. Mike didn't like it at all, he was too cold. When we got back to the site we found our hook up cable and water hose had been stolen. So the rest of the week really was spent under a black cloud, in both senses.

All the other campers around us were shocked at the theft, this sort of thing doesn't normally happen. What did amuse me was the reaction of the men staying around us, as some of the campers were very camp indeed. We then realised we seemed to be in an all male community and when we saw the rainbow stickers with GCC on them, the penny dropped, we were staying in the middle of a Gay Caravan Club Rally. Who knew? I think I shall have to join, they seemed a lot more cheery than some of the straight, married campers we've seen, who never seem to even speak to each other.

So all in all it was a bad week, with the theft and the weather. We had to move back to M-I-L's for the weekend as Sandy Balls was fully booked for the weekend. More Happy Campers arriving!

At the weekend we were having a bit of a family Do, at my Sister-in-Law's, which was a pleasant diversion from the weather and I did what I do best, catering for 12 and making sure they were all well fed.

The forecast was so bad for the following week, we didn't go back to Sandy Balls but stayed in the house, which was sensible really and due to the high winds delayed driving to our next booking at Chichester.

We drove down here yesterday and it was a lovely sunny day, we took a short cut on a B road as we got near to the site, which was an exciting drive, although just about passable, the road was a river, for about 4 miles, with ditches running like raging torrents.

So here we are, grey skies again and windy but at least it is dry, at the moment. Planning to get the bus into Chichester in a bit and then hopefully a dog walk this afternoon.

These are a few of the photos from our breakfast at Avon Beach.

And on the 13th I thought I had better take advantage and take a photo of the Moon in her glory, as I suspected, rightly, there wouldn't be a chance the next night of the Full version.

Dennis Severs' House

Thursday 19th December was the night we had tickets to go to Dennis Severs. house, in Spittalfields. I'd wanted to go to this house ever since I saw a documentary about it.

The house is a 18th C Huguenot Silk Weaver's house and the late Dennis Severs turned it back just as it would have been at the time the family lived there. The Christmas Silent Evenings are pure magic, with real fires in the grates in every room, candlelight and the scents and sounds from the time.

I only have a photo of the exterior, to go round in silence is part of the experience and it would be too intrusive to be taking photos.

When we arrived in London, at Liverpool Street, it was dry. Within minutes, the heavens opened and there was thunder and lightning all around. This was the storm that probably brought down the ceiling in the Apollo Theatre. We were soaked but saw a Card shop that had a stand of umbrellas outside. Great we thought and bought one for £4.95. That was probably my biggest waste of money ever. We walked no more than 200 yds and the bloody thing blew inside out and one of the ribs broke!! The rain was so bad it was hard to work out where we were going and a 9 minute walk turned into a 40 minute walk, by which time I was dying for a pee and I knew there wouldn't be any toilet facilities in the house we were going to. With that in mind, we had to nip into a pub down an alleyway, that looked rather like Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter film.

What I love about London is the way the old and the new sit side by side.

It's a good job the house visit lived up to expectations, as the walk there was a nightmare and later, when we returned to the MotorHome, the dog had had an attack of the runs, which needed cleaning up. Not the perfect end to the evening!