A week in Sussex...

I

So yes, there was quite a bit of sea air intake. The weather wasn't the greatest after day one.

That's Archie, the fluffball with the black eye patch! He's a sweetie. We did some very long beach walks. He's rather less excitable now that he has to wear a muzzle on his walks to stop him picking up and eating things like pebbles, cuttlefish, seaweed or tennis balls (we found several washed up ones). He gets going when you run around like a mad thing which I got the urge to do the first time my feet landed on the shingle. We ran until we reached the first rock pools and he paddled while I looked for creatures.

Meanwhile I kept receiving silly dog photos from home. I liked this one of Harvey, he looks like he's playing along with the silliness.

Then two days before I was due to return home I received the sprained ankle picture, or ankle with a gigantic egg on the side picture. That's Jake on crutches for two weeks. It was a foolproof way to get out of the 'quick, let's run the Hoover round, clean the bath and do some laundry because Mum's coming home' routine. Don't get me wrong, it's sweet of them to try but I've ended up cleaning the white film off the bath and taps where someone has probably used half a bottle of limescale remover rather than the ordinary bath cleaner I would have used. I've hoovered throughout properly and there's not much I can do about all the items that M shrunk in the wash. It's all a small price to pay for a week of just being me, actually me in my home town of Hastings.

I took a train from Bexhill to Hastings for the silly sum of £3.40 return. Much quicker and easier than driving. It was only a ten minute ride. I would have walked the seven mile route along the coastal way but it was pretty blustery and the rain was constant and heavy. Instead I had a good long walk along the entire length of Hastings sea front right up to the old town. I enjoyed a browse in Butler's Emporium and a few junk shops. I bought lunch in Judge's Bakery. I peeped in the window of Hastings Pottery. I had coffee in Cafe Des Arts (run by Autism Sussex) in Robertson Street which used to be a lovely old fashioned shoe shop but place of utter misery because I hated buying school shoes (they were all far too girly for my taste!) It's just round the corner from the Children's Library which is still there all these years later!

I've had my dose of home and now I'm all set to cope with more of M's home town. For a while anyway.