Elizabeth’s Journal

Weekend was Busy

On Saturday Joy & I ran up to Barleylands to the craft shop to check out their day-long Christmas make-and-take and Christmas goods available. Made it back in time for dinner (which Brian had said he’d have ready at 12:30 p.m. and we’d better not be late!), then we gathered coats together and headed over to the park for the annual Lake Meadows golf tourney.

Nigel was happy from the beginning since Rich couldn’t come from Roumania for it, and as his only goal is to beat Rich, then he started out ahead of the game. Dale was defending champion, but unfortunately he lost it to Graham, who had given no indication the night before when we were up at the Chequers that he was going to mount such a challenge. But Dale was still semi-happy since at least Lee didn’t win it, and Lee was happy that if he hadn’t won, then at least Dale didn’t win. Gotta love that sibling rivalry!

Today, Sunday, saw Dale celebrating his birthday by going to Duxford for the airshow I mentioned in my last blog, accompanied by our friend Kavita, Jonathan, and Ben. Our friend Andy met them there. Everyone was very impressed.

I didn’t want to go for that long with Kayleigh, since I would be the one putting up with her (they left this morning around 7:45 a.m. and didn’t get back until just past 7 p.m.), so I did not see the planes. Joy & Brian were previously committed to attend an interpretive dance show that Ali and Eleanor participate in every year, so I was on my own—fine by me! I looked up train times and got input from everyone and decided that Kayleigh and I would go to a seaside town in Essex.

We caught the 10:45 a.m. to Shenfield and from there hopped on a train to Clacton-on-Sea, where we arrived just past noon. The two of us spent a lovely day there—I had fish and chips in a Wetherspoon’s pub, Kayleigh rode some rides and a little rollercoaster on the Clacton pier, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach making sandcastles and collecting rocks & seashells. We caught the 5:36 p.m. train out of Clacton and got back to the house about a quarter past 7 p.m. Ended up having dinner in the High Street with Kavita before she took a train back to London, and now we are all tired out. But I can still hear the sound of the ocean . . .

Posted by elizabeth at July 13, 2008 05:26 PM