Blackberry's journal

Although the weather was nowhere near as good as the forecast, we went to Boulmer anyway.

We went to the Fishing Boat Inn, but it's changed a lot since we last went there. The menu has become one of those gastropub menus, or the sort of thing you might see in a bistro, and has got much more expensive. It might be worth it if the pub hadn't also lost every scrap of atmosphere it had, and the choice of beer was practically non-existent.  There was nothing I wanted to drink so I stuck to OJ and lemonade.  Charles just had coffee.  There were no locals in the bar.  Maybe that's because no-one can smoke any more.  I don't know what the reason was, but it was completely soulless.

We were unable to sit in our favourite seats overlooking the sea because every single table in that area had a reserved sign on it.  The last time I phoned them, they declined to take reservations, and in fact, although all the tables were "reserved", no-one came to claim them and eventually families with children were given them as children are no longer allowed in the bar.

On top of all this, the poor girl behind the bar was doing everything on her own.  Three members of staff hadn't turned up so she was running the bar and waitressing at the same time.  She was angelically patient and she confided in me that she wasn't even bar or waitressing staff but really worked in the kitchen and had been asked to change over for the day.  The publican's wife was running the kitchen singlehandedly.

So everything took a lo-o-o-o-ong time.  Normally we wouldn't have minded, but the pub was so dull that we really wanted to get out of there.

Never mind, once we left and went along to the beach it was really pleasant.  There was a strong breeze, but it wasn't at all chilly and although it was mostly overcast, the sun did try to come out a few minutes at a time.  I managed to walk almost to the end of the beach this time, although I had to sit and rest on a couple of large rocks.

I'm always amazed at how little wildlife there is in the rock pools on that beach.  It seems to be limited to snails and limpets.  It's quite a good beach for picking up unusual stones, though, so I've added a few more to my collection.  We did find two tiny crabs, but they were very dead.  There were also lots of birds, mostly oyster-catchers, but also a couple of skylarks and some swifts, or maybe sand martins.  And oddly enough, a couple of gold-finches.

There were quite a few elderly people on the sands, most of them seemed to be walking dogs.  All the dogs seemed very jolly and good-natured.  There was a most handsome, remarkable-looking shaggy German Shepherd.  I wonder if it's some other, separate, breed.  All the dogs gave us a wide berth.  I think they're frightened of my stick.

There were no children on the beach, in fact, there rarely are.  It's a bit mystifying really, because the sand is that kind of ideal damp closely packed sand which is just perfect for sandcastles.

We didn't stay very long because the sea air seems to act like a sedative on me and Charles and John felt worn-out as well.  In any case we had to find some cat food on the way home.  The tootles only had dried food, so we had to get them their meaty treats!

On the way back we passed the most amazing field.  I imagine it must have been set-aside, because the whole field was a riot of white chamomile and red poppies.  Unfortunately I only saw it for a couple of seconds so didn't have time to take a photo, and there wasn't a convenient place to stop.

When I got home I found a card for the parcel I was expecting.  I didn't think it would arrive before tomorrow, but it was OK, because they had left it with my Asian neighbours.  The daughter, whose name I can never remember had taken it in for me and had been keeping an eye open for us.  I can't get over the fact that she's about to go to University, the first of her family to do so, but she's still very tiny.  She can't be more than 5 feet tall.    I had to smile when she said "I've been waiting for you guys to get back"

I was pleased with the skirt I'd ordered to match my new cardigan and with one of the T shirts, but for some reason I can't fathom, I'd ordered one of the T shirts in the wrong size and while I could have kept it and worn it, it was just a little too snug, so I shall send it back and get a replacement.  It's a really nice shirt, though.  I like the T shirts La Redoute sells because they're nor like the usual ones, which come up close to the neck.  I find those too hot.  These are all a bit girly and have boat-shaped or V necklines.

I started the new way of taking my heart medication today and I believe it's helped dividing it into two equal doses.  I didn't feel too bad walking on the beach, even though it was slightly uphill on the way back and when I came up this evening I seemed less out of breath than yesterday.  We shall see!  But it would be so great if I could get back to the way I was before 1st. December.

Tomorrow we have nothing we have to do, so I might try to get some writing done.

I went out into the yard a short while ago, to take the bin out.  It's pouring with rain, and the entire yard is full of slugs and snails.  They were also all over the wall.  I salted as many as possible, till I ran out of salt, but it looks as though we're being overrun.  I've never seen so many in one place before.

Yuck!  And ick!  I hates the things, I does.

At least I managed to find and order a dress I quite liked which isn't made of polyester and isn't black.  It's actually khaki, which doesn't exactly fill me with joy, but I also ordered a rather snazzy melodramatic kind of cardigan/wrap in the same colour.  I've ordered a pair of pale green suede shoes, so now I need a green hat.

We're off to Stoke on Trent tomorrow for a  CT Board strategy day.  It looks as though it may well rain all the way there, which isn't going to be much fun.