Wednesday, 12 August 2015

Weddings, Windmills and Waves...Holibobs 2015

So, here we are on the last day of what has been a brilliant 2 weeks back in blighty. The seriously beautiful, hilariously down to earth and properly fab wedding of my cousin, the lovely Lindsay, to the marvellous Marcus, from now on to be known as Mr & Mrs Leslie Roy Cropper ( not really, you had to be there). Catching up with branches of the family not seen for too long, watching the next generation growing up way too fast, all looking very dashing in their wedding outfits. All set in a stunning hotel in the Cotswolds. Much beer and wine was imbibed and delicious food eaten, many laughs were had, a few tears were shed. All in all a perfect do.
  Barely time to change out of the posh clobber, then off down to the south coast, to the lovely little village of Selsey where in just 8 days we had fish & chips on the same evening the body of some poor soul washed up on the beach just a short walk away from where we were staying.
A trip to Chichester, where we discovered the girls & C don't like that lovely, musty smell of ramshackle antique shops ( which makes me go all tingly with the hope of finding something special), but love seeing centuries old graffiti inside the cathedral. That such houses of God would be much more cheerful & less forbidding if still painted in the glorious colours they once had. And that yours truly is none too shabby behind the wheel of a left hand drive car on windy, bendy British lanes ;-)
  Thursday took us to Pagham , and a display by the RNLI & Coastguards, along with a beach barbeque. No sooner had the display finished, than the sirens sounded, the horns blared and a dozen brave men, still in wellies and waterproofs were jumping into their cars, or back onto the inshore RIB and dashing off to rescue a silly sod who hadn't checked the tide times before attempting to walk along the shore from Selsey to Bognor!
Speaking of Bognor Regis, Friday was a beautiful day, so we decided to go and have a look. Can't honestly say I was overwhelmed. In fact I can fully understand George V's "Oh bugger Bognor!" comment. We were much more impressed by the amazing rump steak we picked up at Compton's Farm Shop, just a mile or so outside of Selsey. If you're down there have a look. You can't really miss it. There is only one main road into/out of Selsey!
Some really glorious weather at the weekend meant time on the beach, where J spent hours in the water and C ended up the colour of a boiled lobster. Unfortunately it also meant seagull shit on the curtain billowing from the open window :-/ A rainy last day in Selsey meant we didn't see St. Wilfred's chapel at its best, but it didn't stop me going foraging for samphire at a secret location, generously shared with me by the lifeboat man on duty when we nipped back to the station to deposit all our small change. It was quite a bit, and after quarter of an hour watching pennies and 5ps whirling around the vortex and into the donation box I felt seasick!
A day or two with dad to round things off. Bingo, ice cream, boats, and a frankly alarming weather forecast for tomorrow's trip home. Dear weather, please behave until we have all arrived home safely. Us in Germany and dad back from a long round trip taking us to the airport. It's been a great holiday. A huge thank you to everyone who helped to make it so. You know who you are xxxxx