Maz's visit - May 2010
26th May (Wednesday) - Maz arrives day. I worked in Ash so I could pick her up from Gatwick on the way home, but flight delays meant I ended up going to Costco, then home to unpack the meat before back to Gatwick. We were all a bit frazzled and overtired by the time we got back from Gatwick, but very excited none the less!
27th May (Thursday) - Shoreham day. I did some work stuff and dashed home to meet Maz and go for a little walk. And walk we did - we went into Shoreham and potter around the shops - some more interesting than others. We sat in squashy sofas and ate toasted cheese (and not so toasted cheese) sandwiches. Thus readied, we went on a big long walk all over the place. We went through the town, over the footbridge, along by the houseboats, around the main road (via a pub and then way down the beach, all the way down to the fort. And we talked and talked and talked. It was marvellous. We stopped again at the pub to wait for LD, who never arrived (he's already got home) but we did manage to do some damage to the rose wine lake of Shoreham and eventually wandered home a bit giggly.
28th May (Friday) - having "done" Shoreham, we decided to spend a day around Brighton. Some work stuff intervened, and I was nearly terribly grumpy, but we got off in good time. A long long wander through the north lanes - I had to be practically dragged out of a few shops. We finally got as far as the pier and had lunch, then wandered around the photographic exhibitions before starting on our long long walk-and-chat. The sun was gorgeous, there was few people around and we had a grand time. The walk to the Marina was nice and the semi-freddo was terribly refreshing! The second half of the walk was absolutely gorgeous- the undercliff walk beside the white chalk cliffs, with the blue skies with seagulls circling, such a delight!
After all that walking, we jumped onto a bus and back to the city centre. A quick jog up to the Eagle and we had quite a number of glasses of wine, while chatting with some of the work crew (some more than others!). Excusing ourselves before becoming too inebriated, we went for some so-so food at a great rocker pub, before going to Before I Sleep. Which was BRILLIANT. Very difficult to explain (nor can I) but every time I see the frozen food department, cherries, snow, butlers and ebay, I will remember it!
Weekend of 29th May
29th May (Saturday) - with my darling, patient husband available, we decided to do some local sightseeing. Off to Lancing College, whose immense chapel we see perched on the local hills every day. For a school chapel, it was incredible! We spent a few hours looking around. Actually, given the references to daily eucharist, holy water, stations of the cross, we'd thought it was Catholic, but it turns out it's "High C of E". Later on had a very illuminating chat with Mr Nexus and learnt all. After the chapel, we went to see Shoreham airport, which is tiny and charming, but unfortunately not serving food, so we ended up going to a local carvery, where they mistaken thought they knew us. After massive portions, we ambled home and Mr and Mrs Nexus came round for an evening of chat, crumble and cavorting (or at least, discussion). Lovely evening!
30th May (Sunday) - got up to go to the airport with Maz. Gatwick's quite easy, and only about 40 mins on the train. We chatted as vigorously as we had all weekend and were yapping all the way up to the gates....Everything felt a bit sad on the way home, even if the sun was shining. When I got home, we spent the day mainly at home. I took out all my post-maz blues on the mess that was the front garden. Filled 5 bags with general green stuff, cut the grass, tackled the mess under the fushia bush, tackled the weeds. All looked a bit shocked afterwards, but nothing has died since... Was puzzled by some uber-tall flowers/weeds (single flower on the top, blue and thistle-like, closes at night, eventually becomes thistly-like seeding). I eventually pulled them all up (big tuber root) but I don't know what they are....
Afterwards, we ended up doing a barbeque after all. Mr and Mrs Nexus came over and we all ate! We did a surprisingly good job on the potatoes and corn!