Monday 17 May 2010 Busy Weekend

Something is preying on my mind.  We've turned into a regular pair of little Fagins - WE ARE SHOPLIFTERS

Yesterday when we got home from the garden centre (of which more later) we found that they hadn't charged us for these little outdoor stone doorstops.  I just wanted them so the conservatory doors don't get caught by the wind.  one's a stone with a frog on and the other has a bird.  I was all for going back and fessing up but Keith said "No, they missed it."  Well he's right, they did, but all the same..........I wonder what they would have said if we'd gone back?  Shall I ring them up?

On Saturday we made the first of our 'show' visits for this year.  This was Alford Food Fair.  I have to say I was a bit disappointed that it was so small - only about a dozen stalls including the ice cream van!  However Alford itself was a pretty little place and it was a lovely day so we went walkabout a bit.

This is actually a photo of what appeared to be a delightful thatched cottage but as someone had plonked those revolting brown gates in front of it you can't see that much.  I took the photo of it though because it was down what I always see in my mind's eye when I think of "leafy English country lane".  Uber-privat property I guess!

And how about this:  a closed down and shuttered up thatched village pub.  The sign tells you that if you have 5,000 quid to spare as a bond you could have this place and run it rent free including overheads (whatever they are).  Sounds like a bargain to me.


From Alford, where we only stayed a couple of hours, we went to the nearest east coast town, Mablethorpe, only about 10 miles away.  Some of you may remember me rambling on about Cleethorpes....Well Mablethorpe is even worse!  It has moved to the top of my list of "Most Boring Seaside Towns".  Its greatest claim to fame seems to be its featuring in a DH Lawrence novel "Sons and Lovers"

Mablethorpe is the destination for the Morel family's first holiday in the D. H. Lawrence novel, Sons and Lovers, published in 1913. "At last they got an answer from Mablethorpe, a cottage such as they wished for thirty shillings a week. There was immense jubilation. Paul was wild with joy for his mother's sake. She would have a real holiday now. He and she sat at evening picturing what it would be like. Annie came in, and Leonard, and Alice, and Kitty. There was wild rejoicing and anticipation. Paul told Miriam. She seemed to brood with joy over it. But the Morel's house rang with excitement."

I wish I hadn't given the book away now, quite fancy re-reading it.

Even the fish and chips was a disappointment:  cardboard chips and tasteless fish.  I should have known really when the only dish that specified the type of fish was "Plaice and chips".  Neither cod nor haddock were named so I suppose we just got whatever passed for "fish and chips" that day.  You expect better at the seaside.

All that said, Mablethorpe is sort of quaint:

This is about the closest we get to a beach house in this country - a beach hut.  You-re not allowed to sleep there but they're great for eating your picnic in a howling gale.  There's even a sink in there for doing the washing up!  And an electric point so you don't need a thermos!

 And, if you can't stand the bracing sea breezes any more, open the back door of your 'beach house' to a beautiful view - on a nice day - of the putting green.  You might like to note it was in danger of becoming a not quite so nice day!








Do either of these pictures shriek "English Seaside town"?

  Clues:  donkeys, winter coats on the beach, sad little figures not quite in the sea, absence of  sunbathers

Having slagged Mablethorpe off big-time I must say that, though it is a horrible place itself, it IS in a beautiful part of the country,  Specially if you want somewhere reasonably flat.  Its only nod at wobbly scenery is a very gently undulating landscape. The result of the flatness is that you can see for a very long way.  This made it the ideal county in WW2 for air bases.  Some of you in America may well have had members of your family based here in the war.  Some of the bases still exist as RAF stations.  Some don't but many are still in use as civilian airfields, or simply as green field sites.

Now then, absolutely finally, a teensy weensy RANT.  How many more  home delivery pizza, indian and Chinese food and fish and chip shop leaflets do I have to put up with?  So far today there have been 4 and we get them every single day of the week, even Sundays.  There's always a clutch of them in the local free newspaper.  Sometimes we get 3 or 4 in a week from the same place! 

Rant over.  Ta-ta.

xxx