And now we go again...

EssexHebridean

Hey all! Seaside was chilly and blowy and a bit grey and overcast and HUGE waves - it was fab! 

(And of course the photo I took doesn’t even begin to the do the waves justice!). Lovely walk at the RSPB reserve - MrEH saw bearded tits for the first time albeit only a fairly fleeting glimpse - I got a slightly better look as I spotted where they were first. Other birds about included plenty of Marsh Harriers, Mediterranean Gulls, a good view of a Treecreeper, plenty of waders including masses of Avocets and the usual good number of different ducks too. As planned we headed back via Aldeburgh - but to our disappointment the Aldeburgh Fish & Chip shop was closed! 😱 Thankfully their other shop (The Golden Galleon) was still open so we didn’t miss out - and in fact we had what we both agreed was one of the nicest portions of Haddock and chips we’ve had anywhere. At £9 a head it was cheaper than we can get it at home too.  Of course it was eaten sitting in a bench looking out over the beach, too!  Having noshed that, we walked back along the beach… 



The timing was perfect as the sky just changed from flat grey as we were walking along - so we had just a hint of a sunset over behind it and lovely blue in another direction…



Today it’s been back to the garden - we decided to do some exploratory walloping of the remaining concrete slab this morning and see what happened - and in fact with the aid of the lump hammer, a brick bolster, some swearing and a lot of hard work we managed to get the rest of the slab removed. No easy feat as it was a good 3-4 inches thick in some places - thankfully there were enough weaker spots that we were eventually able to get it broken into manageable pieces and removed. MrEH did a tip run late morning with the bags we’d already filled with rubble, then when he came back I refilled them all again ready for run 2 this afternoon. We reckon there is about the same amount still to go next weekend so we’ll have to get that bagged up, plus there will be a fair number of slabs and bigger chunks of concrete too. I’ve got about a third of the area dug over and the biggest stones removed, and begun to to get a border of bricks across the back (the electric supply for the office runs across the back of the bed so we’d like to make sure that’s protected from future digging over) although there is more to do there. I also rescued some random slabs from the front garden this morning to use in the back -and the strip of new slabs for the herb pots is now complete although it could do with being slightly tidied up yet. The resulting gaps in the front have been covered by using the slate chippings we rescued from the area we dug over a few weeks ago - so the front now looks a lot smarter and tidier at no cost to us! 

The other jobs we did today were turning 2 bags of 15p onions into onion marmalade, and cooking and glazing the two hams - 1 with marmalade, the other with mustard and treacle which is apparently a family favourite of MrEH’s lot. those will both now get cut in half and mostly frozen - 1 piece will stay out to feed us later in the week and into the weekend. 

jwil

Lovely pictures!

Moorviews

The photographs are stunning! I have enjoyed that walk myself, along with the Fish and Chips. The sculpture is one of the most classically beautiful and well placed that I have ever seen. I bet that beach hike blew any lingering winter cobwebs away!

EssexHebridean

Thanks jwil!
Moorviews, it's just beautiful isn't it - it always just bewilders me that there is a vocal cohort who intensely dislike it!  I told myself this time that I probably wouldn't bother walking up to it as the skies were flat grey and it wasn't the warmest, plus time was beginning to creep on as well. then we finished eating, started walking back to the car - there was the sculpture in the distance and we just sort of kept walking...!   as for the cobwebs, they'd already been well and truly blown away at Minsmere I think! 

And here we are back into a new week - although it's an odd shaped one, for me. Half a day in work today, then that visit to 55 Broadway this afternoon. Then back into work tomorrow and Thursday and that will be the end of my working week, of course. Then I have a day off booked next Monday, so that will be another short week too! 

MSE Stuff:
- Banks checked this morning - all fine although the usual jolt you get when the "first day" of a month on the 2nd and EVERYTHING has gone out in one big whoosh! 
- I have fed my Oyster with £15 this morning - which will be added on when I tap in later
- MrEH's car was fed on the way back from Suffolk on Sunday so that will be OK for a little while now - mine will need diesel before I go up to Lincoln which I'm planning will be friday, assuming the weather plays ball.
- Happened to check the Tr@vel0dge website this morning and discovered that the hotel we have booked for our stop-over on the way up to holiday has dropped in price again - from the £63.99 we paid down to £56.99 - so that has been re-boked then cancelled - the joys of flexible rate bookings! That will put £7 back in the holiday pot which will be most welcome! 
- I paid the remaining tax rebate money over to my pension last night so will just need to keep my eyes peeled for that landing OK.
- MrEH will have his tax code adjusted for this year too - meaning we'll need to work out the difference that gives and will probably make a regular monthly overpayment of that amount into one or other pension pot - probably mine as it is mine is the one that's lagging seriously behind where it should be. 

We will make a decision later about whether we eat while we are out or wait until we get home. We're meeting MrEH's best pal for a quick beer when he finishes work, so a lot will depend on how long we're with him and in turn what time we would then get home. If we do eat at home it will be couscous as that will be nice and quick to throw together - otherwise that will now roll through to tomorrow. If we eat while we're out it will probably be the weather and cutlery related pub chain, and will be paid from our personal spends. 

PennysIntoPounds

Glad you had a lovely trip, and blimey you've been busy! Enjoy the beer, don't forget your vouchers 😁

savingholmes

Thanks for sharing photos. Always nice to see different parts of the world / UK. You made me yearn for fish and chips though - which is currently on my banned list... It won't be forever.

Well done on getting rid of the last of the slab. Huge achievement from the sound of things. 

Glad things are going well and that you've booked yourself some rest time. Great win on the re-booking too. It all helps.

ohdearhowdidthathappen

Hi EH
Catching up on diaries after a long sojourn. Congrats on the house move and the new diary (although it’s not that new anymore!)

LadyWithAPlan

Fish n chips on the sea front - a classic perfect tradition ! 

Those sculptures are gorgeous 

EssexHebridean

Morning all! OhSh... - thank you! No - we've been in the house 7 months now - amazing it's that long although in a lot of ways it is hard to imagine leaving anywhere else now! LaPlan - can't beat F&C by the sea can you! 

Well, our 55 Broadway visit yesterday was just fabulous! We had no idea ahead of time how much of the building we would be taken around so we were both delighted when the chap leading the tour announced that he had the keys for the "flagpole level" - that is the very top of the building, with the most astonishing views... We started in the foyer at ground floor level - I was utterly delighted to see these again...



The train interval recorders - my Nan took me to see these as a quite small child - I reckon I was probably 7/8 at the oldest first time, and we went back and saw them a number of times over subsequent years too. At the time they were still working - fresh discs were inserted each morning before start of service and then they dutifully clicked away all day recording trains on the 6 lines that existed when they were installed. Standing back in front of them yesterday was fabulous - I reckon the last time I'd done it was between 35 & 40 years ago - but I could still recall the noise they used to make as they recorded, a sort of "swishhhhhCLUNK" sound, as though they were still making it now. 

We then went up through the building - with some of the party using the lifts, I opted for the stairs and in fact walked up with the tour leader and had an interesting chat with him on the way up which was nice, plus the detail on the staircases were stunning!  We were taken along the corridor with the executive offices and the boardroom before moving on along to the Director's office - a truly palatial space. One of the chaps on the tour used to work in the building and recounted how if you had to go and see the Director you had to enter the office at the furthest corner away from his desk, and then faced a l-o-n-g walk across the plush carpet with him staring at you! For the next section up I did use the lift - it worked out that me & MrEH could hop in one on our own which I could cope with - and as he said "You HAVE to travel in one of the lifts even if just for a couple of floors" which I absolutely agreed with! That took us up to the terrace at floor 10, and the final bit up to the flagpole level was done using initially a far plainer staircase than the others we had travelled up, and then some narrow metal steps up the final bit - very different to the splendour of the rest of the building!  We were lucky to get a good 10-15 minutes at the very top so plenty of time for photos...



That is a panoramic shot showing the skyline from the BT Tower on the left all the way across to the Houses of parliament on the right - as y Mum said when I sent it to her, it's as though someone has taken all London's best known landmarks and shoehorned them all into one photo! Eventually our guide noticed that we had over-run massively (our tour ended up being an hour and half rather than the 50 minutes he'd said he expected it to be!) and said we should probably head back down - I did feel a little guilty that we may have impacted on the people on the second tour - and indeed they were somewhat rushed off once we all made our way back to the foyer again! It definitely underlined my view that we would book the first tour in case it over-ran though as we stood less chance of missing out!  it was just SUCH a bargain for the £10 each it cost us though - and apparently that is now likely to be one of the final opportunities to visit ahead of the conversion to a hotel which is due to start any time now. 

We then (after a length chat with a couple of others from the tour - indeed, the only two on the tour who were probably younger than us - it was very much a "retired" demographic!) had a gentle plod through to the pub where we were meeting MrEH's best pal, and (the chap who was best man at our wedding in fact) and had a beer and a good old catch-up with him before ambling back to the station and going our separate ways towards our respective homes. A really lovely day - although I ended it a little footsore as I had done over 21,000 steps by the time I got to my bed last night, and I'd forgotten to put the new insoles in my shoes before I left home, too! 

The MSE aspect yesterday was the choice to eat back at home - I threw together a pan of sauteed veg which worked well for a quick tea with our usual tuesday couscous and some of the ham from the fridge. In the event we both agreed we were ready to get home, so that saved the cost and temptation of a meal out.

We're both back to work as normal today, and both in our respective offices. MrEH has fed his Oyster as expected so that will see him through to the end of next week or possibly even a day into the following one depending on how much he goes in next week - there is a tube strike planned and if that happens he won't go into London on Monday.  Tea tonight is going to be sardine and butterbean pasta I think - a good old budget-friendly staple, and pretty quick to prep as well. 

TallGirl

That is an amazing view and what a bargain for £10 you were indeed lucky to get on the first tour I would never have thought of that. Your garden progress sounds great I never made it into mine over Easter just feels too cold to plant seed yet.