Birthday Surprise

This week has been a working week for Pete and a non-working week for Julie. She is self-employed and this week there was nothing for her to do, which was good and a welcome change. Whilst Pete worked in his home office (no travel this week) Julie did the normal household stuff that she sometimes finds it hard to get round to. She also found some time to work on her niece's wedding and bridesmaid dresses.

Rowing has finished for a bit, as some gigs have been transported to the Isles of Scilley for a competition, which has meant only the racing crews are training and Julie and the other casual rowers have to make way for them. She is still doing her keep fit (again this Tuesday night) and this week managed a walk with friend Sue and her dog Rufus. Sue and Mark are busy again, as the Salcombe Deli has been open for a few weeks now and we really must try to find some time for Rufus to get him out more when Mark and Sue are at there busiest.

Friday night saw us walk into town again, although this week we had fish and chips before we went. Again it was a lovely evening, but due to meeting and chatting with people we know the return leg of the walk up the lane (Beadon Road) was in the semi-dark, as the sun had set and we were relying on the ambient light of dusk. The lane is in a bit of a mess these days and very uneven, so can be a little risky on the ankles in the dark. Still interesting to see the changes
in the countryside around us and more interesting to see the bats are again flying.

As we almost reached home we bumped into our neighbour Tom who was off collecting money in the local pubs in support if his London marathon run next weekend. Tom is running in aid of Shelter and has been growing his hair in readiness for a sponsored shaving, where it will be left with a red Mohican - brave man. We wish him good luck.

Whilst standing chatting to Tom another friend, Peter Lee turned up and we invited him back home so that Pete could help him with a minor technical problem with an SD card - two hours later it was done.

On Saturday morning Julie went off to a workshop arranged by her flower club and whilst she was away Pete finished off a piece of work, as he will be off on Monday when we go to see Gemma for her birthday. On Saturday afternoon we will be making our way to Brighton for a surprise meeting with Gemma on Sunday arranged by her boyfriend Callum. On the way we decided to go via Charmouth and Lyme Regis. The seas at Charmouth was really calm and sitting in the sun it could have been a summers day. By the time we got to Lyme Regis it was mostly closed, but still good to walk around and have a look in the gallery windows.

Unfortunately Callum chose the weekend of the first Brighton marathon for the weekend of their trip and we had to book a hotel in Hicksted, as all the hotels we tried in Brighton were full. We got to the hotel around 10:30 and after a good nights sleep left for what we thought might be a daunting trip into Brighton. On leaving the hotel and getting onto the A23 we were immediately stuck in traffic, which didn't look good at around 10 miles from Brighton. However, it was only the tail end of a boot sale queue just up the road and we were soon on our way to Brighton.

We got into the town fairly easily considering the marathon and walked through the lanes making our way to the meeting with Gemma and Callum at the pier. She was so surprised to see Julie and it was a great for us to be able to surprise her. We spent a really lovely day in Brighton - the weather was great and the place was really lively thanks to the marathon.