The two weeks at home

 I left you in my last Northumberland post with us driving back to Essex on Tuesday the 1st August. 

Wednesday, the 2nd August:

CBC and I spent the day at home, getting washing done, doing some tidying (me) and cleaning and bemoaning the rain! It WAS good to be home! I LOVE waking up in my bedroom when I don't have any reason to be up! I love our bedroom and the way the light hits in the morning and how spacious our bedroom is. Having grownup sharing a TITCHY boxroom with my sister (bunkbeds) and even when my mum moved out when I was renting our house from her, her room was still tiny, I REALLY appreciate the space in my home!

Thursday 3rd August:

 CBC and I got up and travelled in the car to Watford to meet our/ his PGCE friend, her children and another friend. She was over from Sweden where she and her husband live.  We met them in Cassiobury park (which is an EXCELLENT public park with great facilities) and immediately went on the little train with them. Her toddler twins LOVED it. It was nice to engage with them this time as the last time we had seen them back in Summer 2022, they were not really communicative.  We walked back to Fiona's Mum's house for cake and tea and played with the boys.  Toddlers are exhausting! I admired a beautiful purple house plant and was given a cutting of it- apparently it might be Tradescantia. It has now rooted and has taken residence in the enormous pot in the bathroom, recently vacated by monster Aloe which suffered a dreadful demise!  After that, we drove to the Chilterns to music camp! I was really sad that CBC didn't want to go this year but didn't make a fuss about it but was really happy we could combine the trip to see fee to visit camp!  We arrived just as they were going into dinner. As we were going to watch a concert performance of The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan, I had brought my tricorn hat (which ended up being borrowed!) and they had themed dinner of Cornish pasties and cream tea- odd combination! The performance was hilarious! I was offered a glass of gin and tonic by some friends who were watching. I don't usually like Gin (I don't really drink ever) but I said yes, and it was quite refreshing! Afterwards, we chatted to various friends until midnight and then had to drive back to Essex!

Friday 4th August:

URGH! It was a rainy, rainy, rainy day.  I have no idea what I did during the day but in the end, after CBC and I were going a bit stir crazy, I called our friend Nath and suggested we take a trip to the Cinema together.  We ended up going to Southend Odeon to see Mission Impossible but CBC and I had  a Thai street food  meal at a little place on a side-street we discovered- it was quite slow to come so we had to bolt it down which is not my favourite way to eat Thai food. Mission Impossible was largely unbelievable but highly entertaining. Alas, on the way from the car, I wasn't looking what I was doing and ended up slightly stepping off a high curb and ended up falling splat onto my knees in the middle of the road. It was SO painful and I had the most EPIC bruise on my left knee which lasted for the next 2 weeks!

Saturday 5th August:

More rain.  Again, we felt a bit stir-crazy! CBC wanted to drop his computer bike off to a vintage restoration cycle shop called By the Sea Cycles to have some work done, so we went to Westcliff. Whilst he sorted the bike, I had a quick look in the charity shops (nothing bought) and then he met me. We decided to walk to Southend pier. We had a Rossi ice-cream, sitting on a bench and then walked along the esplanade. It felt really good to be out. We had our raincoats on and an umbrella. At the pier, we went into Cafe 21 where CBC had a pizza and I had an Earl Grey tea.  We hotfooted it back to the car as we only had 2 hours free-parking and went home. 

Sunday 6th August:

 CBC had booked us tickets to Writtle Jazz Festival!  Bizarrely, he then chose that morning to mow the lawn and do some gardening. I was perplexedly waiting to go and eventually we drove there.   We parked at Writtle college and then walked to the Village Green.  We set up with our camp chairs and went between the two gazebos to watch first the Jazz Dynamos, then the NeilAngilley trio, the Paul Higgs Pavane, all of which were excellent. I had some veg noodles in my own container with my own cutlery (the catering team were happy to fill my own container) and CBC had some Mexican.  I was sad to miss Amy Hollingsworth as I know her from my local orchestra but later, I saw her mum and dad who were both doing a shift on the events team and had a catch up! We made our way home around about 7.30pm.

Monday 7th August:

CBC decided to go out cycling so I decided, after being at home for a while, to take myself off on a circular walk to the nearest woods. I met very few people and had a lovely, sunny, warm walk. Spotted a Speckled Wood butterfly.  CBC was home before me!

Tuesday 8th August:

I spent the morning at home whilst CBC went off to Maldon to meet a work colleague and her toddler plus an cold colleague at a soft play and then I caught the train to Stratford to Westfield to meet two childhood friends,  Davina and Joanne. Davina was the friend I reconnected with at the school 70th anniversary.  We went for lunch at the Malaysian place at the end, near John Lewis and then had a walk in the Olympic park. The food was delicious and it was nice to catch up but I am not that keen on large shopping centres so I wasn't so fond of that part!

Wednesday 9th August: 

TODAY was CBC's and my 10th wedding Anniversary!!!! It got off to less than an ideal start by CBC being very reluctant to get moving but eventually, we drove to Tunbridge Wells, Kent to our friend Tony and Libby's beautiful house. They are friends from music camp and I was really sad we hadn't got to see them. Plus, Libby had broken her leg and was really stuck at home and feeling really down so we concocted a plan for us to go and see them so Libby and I could play flute duets. CBC and Tony went to go and walk round their extensive garden (and shared lake!),  talk about walking in Zermatt and Libby and I got started on duos.  We stopped for a beautiful garden lunch and then Tony joined us on piano to try out some new arrangements he had made of some Debussy pieces.  Finally, CBC joined us for some Haydn trios 'London Trios' for 2 flutes and cello which we all enjoyed.  We said goodbye to them and drove to my Dad's and Stepmum's.  We  chatted and then shared a beautiful fish curry in the garden, cooked by my sister and Magnums.  After dinner, we ended up playing our new board game, Herd Mentality, with much hilarity, and headed home around 11pm.  It's not the most conventional way to spend an anniversary but it was a wonderful day!

Thursday 10th August:

 CBC planned to go somewhere (I forget where) so he drove me to Battlesbridge station to meet my friend Lara to drive to our friend Hazel's house to play flute trios.  We were supposed to be doing a concert the previous Sunday but it had been cancelled so we were happy to meet to play particularly as H had been ill and L rather stressed.   Later, when I got home, CBC and I cooked a Vegetable dinner, trying to make use of the masses of vegetables he had brought the on Tuesday.

Friday 11th August:

 My sister came round with my niece late morning after my niece had had trampolining at our local leisure centre.  We drank tea and K and I played board games, including the debut of the new vintage game, Rivers, Roads and Rails, that I had recently acquired.  We then all headed to the garden centre which has an excellent tea-room/lunch place with garden. We all enjoyed tasty lunches and played Herd Mentality to much hilarity.  CBC and K played hide and seek around the garden centre whilst my sister and I debated buying Dahlias. We both ended up buying a plant in the end.  Back home, we all played a game of Dobble and then they went home.

Saturday 12th August:

 In the afternoon, CBC and I drove to Leigh to pick up a painting that CBC had bought back during the Art Trail in June and we had lunch at Barlow and Field, an intriguing Vegan sliced bread roll.  Later, CBC headed out to meet some colleagues for a birthday whilst I started to pack for Switzerland.

Sunday 13th August:

  I headed to church for 9am to play for the morning service. I really like playing my flute as I sit next to lovely Sue, who plays the keyboard and join in. It's really low key and I enjoy it. Had a lovely surprise today as the minister, his wife and family from the baptist church I used to go to before lockdown were there for the service as their daughter, who lives in New Zealand had got married at this church exactly a year ago and were there for their anniversary. It was so lovely to catch up with them and they were pleased to see me settled in this church. Richard, the minister, said he loves coming to the service here, and if he has a Sunday off, he likes to come there for worship. Back home, I did some more work on packing and spent most of the day trying to harass CBC into packing. He got started eventually, in the evening...

It had been a varied 2 weeks at home, it had flown by quickly! Did not get all the school work I was intending to (story of my life), but it had some fun times.

Now, we were heading to Switzerland for our 10th anniversary tour!

xxx

TARDIS Tuesday- Clara Oswald from Robots of Sherwood- historical outfit

Hi there!

For TARDIS Tuesday this week, after a few weeks of Classic Who companions, I am returning to a modern Who companion- Clara, of course! But, in a surprise change from the modern, tight-fitting or short outfits she is usually known for, we have a historical outfit, worn in the episode, Robots of Sherwood, where Clara and the Doctor encounter Robin Hood.  She does start the episode wearing a modern outfit, which I have worn on this blog before, but this is the first time I have attempted her historical outfit.

Let's have a look at it:

https://whona.forumotion.com/t10012-s8e3-robot-of-sherwood-spoilers

It features a red/orange velvet dress with gold edging,it has long sleeves with drapy ends with undersleeves. It has a fitted bodice and the skirt is more flowing.

https://coffeeandirony.com/2014/09/07/doctor-who-robot-of-sherwood-screencaps/

She wears a Topshop headchain and silver feather earrings.

And now, lets see what I came up with:

This is, as you can see, not a strictly accurate rendition, more of a nod to the original but it came after I found this Maid Marian dress in the charity shop. It was only £6 and I already thought, "Right, that's World Book Day next year sorted!".  The possibilities of it being a Clara dress also did occur to me!

 I bought the gold feather earrings from a craft fair quite a few years ago.  The headchain posed a bit of a problem but I remembered this brooch I wore as an Amy Pond cosplay and figured I could fashion a headchain from it. I did try to hang it from a gold snakechain but it was SO slidy it kept falling off my head, despite hair grips so I attached it to a leather thong instead which, though looks less effective, did the job!

Just in case you needed to see this today

I have had a very strange 36 hours or so.

Friday night, my ears suddenly went strange. My right ear blocked and wouldn't clear and felt like something was stuck. It gradually developed a whooshing sound that became a booming. It got worse so I went to bed. In the middle of the night it was really loud and kept getting worse and vibrating when I spoke, heard any sounds and then added a high-pitched whine.

I completely panicked and it woke up CBC who comforted me and looked things up. 

When I woke up in the morning, it was no better. As it came from nowhere, I was worried. Worried because it was a bank holiday weekend and I'm away in Suffolk. Worried because my ears are super important to my job and life.

My relatives suggested I call 111 to check it out as I was so distressed. After speaking to the line, a clinician, I was given an appointment in Eye, 6 miles from where we were. I saw a GP who told me that she could see a perforation in my ear drum though it didn't have dried blood round it so she asked if it was there already. I didn't know of anything. She gave a prescription for 7 days of antibiotics. We travelled to Diss in Norfolk to collect it.  I started taking them.

As we drove back, after rain, a double rainbow developed in the sky, the primary bow was very low and so bright. I only got these photos from a moving car but they were glorious.

I felt miserable and disconnected with the strange blocked feeling and booming but we had a lovely meal out in the evening after a calm day.

This morning, I woke up and the ear problem had subsided. 

I feel rather silly and dramatic for panicking so much, since it is already doing so well, but so, so grateful for the NHS care I received, away from home too. I will continue taking my antibiotics and be careful.

Thought I'd share my photos in case you needed a bit of hope today....
 

TARDIS Tuesday- Ace McShane from Battlefield

 Back in July 2017, I found a black All Saints wrap top in my local Sue Ryder charity shop which led to my very first TARDIS Tuesday featuring Classic Who companion, Ace, the teenager who travelled with the 7th Doctor. It was quite an easy outfit to put together and she wore it in Arthurian-themed episode featuring Jean Marsh as Morgana and the Brigadier! This was one of my favourite episodes as a child.

Image borrowed from this Pinterest. Original images belong to the BBC

She wore the black top with a green top underneath, fitted black trousers and flat black shoes or boots.

Her hair was worn with the sides lipped up and a green hair scrunchie putting the rest into a pony-tail.  She wears some sort or gold or bronze triangular earrings.

Gif borrowed from The Fashion of Doctor Who

It's been such a long time since I attempted this, I was worried it might not fit....

Here I am in ALMOST the same outfit from 2017.

That black All Saints top is now VERY tight.In fact, I could only do one of the hook and eye clips on the inner bit.

The ubiquitous black trousers are here again- I wore these 2 weeks ago for my previous Ace outfit AND the black Clarks boots. They are boring so that's all the text time they get.

Alas, the green vest top I wore last time is AWOL! I searched but have no idea where it is.... annoying.

What could I do instead?

Well, I did have a green t-shirt which was WAY too high-necked so instead, I turned it upside down and stuff the neck area into my trouser waistband and secured the bottom hem  so it looked like I was wearing a green top underneath... this admittedly did not help with either the tight fit of the top or the tight trousers but I think you will admit, it looks the job!

I used  the Gif maker at https://gifmaker.me/ to try and create the, "Aaaand BOOM!!" Gif from above! Couldn't really be bothered to move the table though so enjoy an array of waterbutts,buckets and watering cans behind me!

You can't really see them particularly well but I am wearing a pair of dangly Dalek earrings. Perhaps I should have swapped to some larger gold ones like I wore last time but I'm happy enough with it.I pinned up the sides of my hair and found my green velvet hair scrunchie. The pictures of the back looked rubbish though so you'll just have to trust me on this!

Dragonfly

 Last Saturday, I was eating my breakfast in the garden.  I have noticed various dragonflies flitting around the garden in the last week. I saw one flying around this morning and decided I would like to photograph.  

Today, I was lucky to encounter the sweetest tamest dragon fly who landed on the figtree and allowed me to circle him/her to take photos from early angle. I was there snapping the sweet insect for about 5 minutes.

Enjoy the beauty and delicate splendour!

Northumberland holiday days 4-10

 On the Wednesday of our holiday, J and I headed into Hexham to join in with the morning mini service at the bandstand in the Sele park. The churches in Hexham have joined together for years to run a holiday club for children and it always begins at the Bandstand.  It was lovely to be part of, sing songs, learn a memory verse, watch the drama story and see the children being sent off to their teams. I briefly saw my friends Ruth, Chris and Jane. 

J and I headed to Small World Cafe for a cup of tea and then I headed back to the house to meet CBC to book our accommodation for Switzerland as all we'd booked was our trains there and back! It took ages which was annoying as it was the first sunny day all week! At least we had it ready now though!

In the evening, we headed to Bouchon, the French bistro in town and I enjoyed the wonderful French onion soup and the Lamb dish.

On the Thursday, I forget what we did in the morning but C and I headed out for a walk to Dipton Burn which is what I like doing best in Northumberland- walking! We didn't meet a single person all the way!  We saw  a few interesting mushrooms!

Back at the house, we helped J finish off the amazing 3 course dinner she was making for Chris and Jane.

Friday, CBC and I headed to Housesteads which is on the Roman wall and is, my favourite stretch of the Hadrian's wall.  We saw the famous Sycamore gap which featured in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.

It is so picturesque but is much more popular to walk than our previous day so we had lots of people walking with us.

We ate a picnic in the woods by the lake side, sitting on a mossy stone.

Our final destination was The Sill, a Northumbrian national parks discovery centre.

We went to get a cup of tea in the cafe and I went to check on the bus times back to Housesteads.   The lady at the desk told me one (the two hourly bus) was in about 20 minutes. The cafe were a little unhelpful and said they weren't sure if the tea would be ready in time so C got a takeaway cup and we headed to the shop and then looked in the shop. When we got to the busstop, it turned out the lady had misheard me so the ACTUAL bus WE wanted, wasn't for another hour! C went and sat in one of the deckchairs in view of the busstop and I headed into the exhibition which was a brilliant interactive historical look at the social history of Coquetdale valley. It was so interesting and so much so that, casually glancing at my phone for the time, realised I was MISSING THE BUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I ran outside to see C anxiously boarding the bus (his phone was dead but he said he would have come back for me in the car!). The bus, the AD142 is really scenic but the Military Road is quite, rollercoasteresque!

Back in Hexham, I took 2 minutes to change into a nice dress and walked to my friend Ruth's house to briefly see her for 15 minutes. C picked me up and we headed to Corbridge to watch a wonderful concert as part of the Corbridge festival featuring French music by Ravel, Debussy, Lilli Boulanger and songs from the Great American song book. It was exquisitely played.

On Saturday morning, CBC headed out on his bike to ride to Bellingham. I jumped on a bus down to town to get the the other bus to Haltwhistle. My destination was Haltwhistle's outdoor pool which is a really fun place to go. It felt bittersweet to be in Haltwhistle again. The last time I'd been there was clearing out WOMOTM's house.

The pool was busy but not in a way that detracted from my enjoyment of swimming. It costs £10 for an adult all day session. I was lucky on the way back to JUST make the hourly bus back to Hexham. When I got back, I called Jane and asked if she wanted to go for a walk. The timing was perfect as a visitor was just leaving and they were plannning a walk so I walked up the hill to their house and we jumped in the car to drive to Letah woods where CBC and I had walked with Jane in May to collect Wild garlic. It was a serene walk full of gentle susurrations and calming dappled light and gave Jane and I a chance to talk as well as walk. On the way home, they dropped me on the Hexham racecourse road so I could have an extra walk back to the house. It was lovely to see a happy CBC who had enjoyed his ride.

In the evening, we headed out to try a recently reopened Chinese restaurant. It was NOT, however, amazing so enough said about that.

Sunday morning, I got out of bed at about 9.40am to hear my Mother in Law, J, tell me she was going to church at the Abbey.  I took precisely 5 minutes to clean my teeth, wash my face and dress in my new Laura Ashley jumpsuit (charity shopped!) and jump in the car with her.  The service was a beautiful service.  Alas, it was RAINING again so after the service (we had tea and coffee in the nave), we headed back to C at home. I spent more time (forgot to mention I did this on Thursday morning) clearing out J's conservatory which was very cluttered, as she is hoping to move house soon, we went to the Errington arms for lunch and then in the evening, after more clearing, CBC and I headed back to Corbridge for the final Chamber music concert. We had free tickets for this as a friend of J's couldn't make theirs. We had super seats and enjoyed Schubert, Coleridge Taylor and a Venezuelan clarinet piece. Back home, I made omelettes and veg for everyone for dinner.

Monday was a day of intense clearing and disposing of clutter in the garage.  We went to charity shops, the dump and the girl in Fardale animal Charity shops was ecstatic when I gave her about 50 bags for life as she had run out of carrier bags and wasn't sure what to do.

By the time we finished, it was getting late and the weather was mizzly and was obviously going to be miserable to join in so after soup and a bacon roll in Small World, we headed back to J's house. I made leftover pasta was dinner very late when J returned from watching a 2 piano recital in Corbridge.

Tuesday was a day of avoidance of packing and eventually heading back to Essex.

Sadly, our Northumberland trip hadn't been as full as walks and cycle rides and adventures as much as we would have hoped, due to the weather, but we had helped with clearing, met friends, had a few walks and adventures and had enjoyed being away from home!

What would be the rest of our holiday?

xx

 

TARDIS Tuesday- Romana from the Stones of Blood

 Hi y'all!

I am returning to an old favourite for TARDIS Tuesday.  An old favourite that was never quite right!

I have attempted this outfit 3 times. In 2022, 2019 and 2017.   

It was worn by the wonderful Mary Tamm who played our first ever companion Time Lady who travelled with the Doctor in the TARDIS in the role of Romana. She joined for a 6 episode season entitled The Key to Time.  I really like these six stories as I absolutely love a sort of treasure hunt programme. My favourite childhood TV series was T-Bag which was all about the search for some sort of trinklets or other!

This outfit was worn in the 3rd story, The Stones of Blood which took place on Earth and was set around some standing stones which turned out to be of Alien origin.

Romana wore a couple of outfits but this one is my favourite:

IMage borrowed from this Pinterest

You can see it in all these different images.

IMage borrowed from this Pinterest

And here is the, I am pretty sure, final regeneration of this outfit (see what I did there??)

This length of hair is the best match I've had for all the times I have attempted this outfit. 

I started with the red gypsy tiered skirt which took a lot of searching when I bought it back in 2019.  I've rolled it up a bit this time to make it more of a match for Mary Tamm's one AND if I wore this to cycle in, I might avoid mangling the hem like I did last time I wore it!

My ancient eYe Italian boots are just about visible underneath.

The newest addition to this outfit is the top! I just couldn't quite get the top right but I think I am pretty much there on both the colour, shape, features and fit of this one now. It is originally from New Look but was purchased for £4 in the charity shop a while back. It is very comfortable and I've already worn in another combination.

Maybe the next time I wear this, I might try to make a DIY Key to Time detector to brandish for the picture. It seems a bit strange to wear 2 shades of red like this but I do think it works. Do you?

xx

Northumberland Days 1-3 A trip to Whitley bay

 Having ended school on Friday 21st July, CBC and I decided to head straight up to Northumberland for reasons which will be explained.  As is our usual habit, we were super reluctant to pack on Saturday the 22nd.  I was slightly better than CBC, having chucked items I knew I'd need at a suitcase on the Friday night.  Eventually, we set off at the shameful time of around 4.15pm.  The car was rammed full of suitcases, CBC's bike, games, musical instruments etc and then there was the added complication that we needed to fit in my Brompton as I had booked it in for a Service that day but we had to get it to a place around 25minutes drive away. The only way she would fit into the car was on MY lap in the front of the car. So there I was with a Brompton bike wedged on my lap, having to be held strictly in position without a) getting my clothes oily or dirty (she is filthy....oops) and b) not touching the gear sticks.  We got her to the shop without incident (but a lot of grumbling) and then drove onto Northumberland without stopping.  We arrived at J's house (CBC's mum) around 10.30pm...arriving to darkness!!! She was supposed to have C's friend and family round to dinner.  But where were they?   Eventually, after about 20 minutes, she turned up.  It turned out there had been a localised powercut in J's estate 3/4 of the way through the dinner and so they had decamped to the friend's house to finish the dinner! The power was back on.  She had brought back Spaghetti bolognaise and Salmon pasta for us so that was a welcome late night dinner.  We went to bed around midnight.

The next morning, we woke up to find there had been another power cut!  So breakfast was cereal an juice with no tea.  We headed down to Hexham to go and get some tea/coffee at the Abbey refectory.  I opted for a bacon roll also and the others joined in with that.  It was largely rainy and grim so it was quite nice to be cosy inside (and not in a cold house!).  The temperature is distinctly lower up north.  After this, we headed back the house, having popped into Milletts for a Jetboil so we could boil some water back home.  The powergrid care team were in the road when we got back. Still no power and not looking like it was due to come back on till at least 7pm.  We were given a couple of power packs and were invited to come and get  hot water from the van if needed.  Apparently, the power cut was due to the intense amount of rain and some connection had come loose but they weren't sure where.

Luckily, we had some other plans and CBC and I headed into Hexham to the Beaumont to meet his friend Matt and wife and daughter who serendipitously were over from China for a holiday and had come to Hexham for a few days. This was the reason we had headed up so soon as this would be our only opportunity to see them.  We last saw them 5 years ago after we went camping together in Derbyshire.  They are SUCH lovely people and we got on so well, it was like 5 years hadn't gone.  We had tea (and they had scones.... I'm not so much a fun so I opted for crisps!) and then headed to the park to let their cute toddler play on the swings. She is a real sweetie.  We then headed to the Heart of Northumberland pub for a roast. I had the pork. All the acompaniments of the meal were amazing and bountiful.  The meat was actually my least favourite part!  Eventually, K needed to go to bed so after a walk in the Sele park, we headed to the Beaumont to meet Joan who had come down for dinner since the power was STILL not back at 8.45pm at night!  We both had dessert!!! 

The next morning, we headed into Hexham to purchase a couple of things, and sadly, to go and visit the new Lidl - love a Lidl bakery.  C's OTHER best childhood friend was ALSO in Hexham (from Manchester!)- what are the odds of both being there the same weekend!?  They were walking down at Tyne Green so we wandered there to see if we could see them but sadly, they were not there but I enjoyed the wander.  We went back to town to the Beaumont (for the 3rd time in 2 days!) to meet J and Chris' sister's inlaws who were ALSO in Hexham on their way on holiday! We had a drink with them and then S, CBC's childhood friend called to invite us over to the house.

It was great to see them and meet S's two boys who I've never met before- the older is 7 and the younger is 3. They were totally loud and hyper which is not my ideal situation BUT, after about 5 minutes of bewilderment, I realised how  LOVELY intelligent and kind they are despite being really loud and hyper! The older is SUCH a sweet boy, totally eccentric and I got on really well with him by having some eccentric banter!

We ended up playing a brilliant board game with them called 'Connect' which was created in 1969 by Ken Garland is basically a game where you have to connect tiles. I really enjoyed it (and have been stalking the second hand websites for it to find one! It was then updated into a game called Rivers, Roads and Rails and thankfully Vinted came up trumps for me on this version).  The family had to get back to Manchester so we bade them goodbye and went back to J's house to make veggie pasta using the veggies we had brought with us from Essex.

The next day after 2 days of remaining in Hexham, due to rain, we decided we wanted to head on a day trip out...despite the likelihood of rain.  

Our first location was Tynemouth which is probably the nearest beach/seaside town to Hexham. It is a lovely place with some great independent shops, a great view down to the beach and a vast sandy beach.

It was, however, starting to rain as we arrived and since it was lunchtime, we headed into a cafe called Dil and the Bear which was a GREAT choice as the food menu was super interesting, not your average cafe and the decor was a beautiful Moroccan style.

I had Vietnamese beef rice noodle salad which was a delicious choice as it was so fresh and full of delicious veg.  CBC and his Mum also chose delicious and original choices which I would have gladly eaten.

Once we had finished, we headed off for a quick look at the nearby shops. The best was Raspberry Bazaar which is full of Indian blockprints, fairtrade and hippie brands like Gringo and Run and Fly clothing. I was restrained and only bought a red and white fairtrade,blockprint, cotton  headband.

After this, we jumped back in the car and headed to Whitley Bay. Having read about this place in a couple of children's books, I was excited to finally see it. In the 1960's, this was the seaside resort to visit. 

We headed to St Mary's lighthouse first.  This is exciting because there is a causeway that connects it to the mainland and so you can only go there at certain times which adds an element of danger and surprise!! It had started raining when we got into the car at Tynemouth and very kindly, it stopped the moment we got out the car at the lighthouse car park!

It was an impressive view!

You can climb to the top of the lighthouse but we decided not to this day.

There were some rockpool exploring sessions going on and some interesting lifeforms had been found from the excited squeals we could hear!

Most excitingly, we saw quite a few  seals basking on the rocks and swimming on the sea and several Cormorants looking brooding on the rocks.

There is a shop by the lighthouse with very friendly volunteers.

After this, CBC and I had a little play around walking on the rocks and then the 3 of us returned to the car.

Next, we drove to the town where there is a place called Spanish City which was a pleasure dome built in the 20th century. Sadly, as package holidays became more of an attraction, it lost its status as the place to go.  Happily, in recent years, it has received funding to be revived and is now an impressive tearoom and restaurant and is an impressive building on Whitley Bay's sky line. previous attraction place

The building is beautiful, especially when viewed from the beachfront side!

We decided to head inside to the restaurant as it was starting to rain again!

CBC and his mum had a savoury snack and I opted for the Milk Chocolate Torte which was ENORMOUS and served with a full family-sized jug of single cream!

It was so big that is was enough to feed all three of us!

The dome is really beautiful!

After this, J went to sit in the car and then CBC and I headed for a walk on the beach.  The sky was beautiful and there was a rainbow!

We headed back to Hexham after this

What did I wear this day?

Well, it's the lilac dungarees again, worn with a different white top!

I took these photos for a friend on Instagram whose daughter was wearing a pair or lilac dungarees and a white top with a purple flower crown! I told her I could recreate the outfit and she said she LOVED the idea of me cosplaying her daughter so I made myself a lavender circlet for my head and then shared the pics with her! She laughed so much!

Have you visited Whitley Bay or Tynemouth?

xx

10 years!

 It's 10 years since CBC and I got married!

It's really hard to believe!  We look a LOT younger in the photos.  

We have enjoyed looking at our photos from the wedding this morning.

Yesterday (the actual day), we went over to Kent to have lunch with our friends from Music camp and played music with them. It was a joyous time. Then we went over to me Dad, Stepmum and sister's and had dinner and played board games. It was great fun. Our celebration will be in Switzerland.

If you would like to see it, here's the posts with the accounts of the wedding day here:

The Big Day- before the wedding

The Big Day- the ceremony

The Big Day- onto the mansion!

I am very thankful for 10 years of marriage. 

I am grateful for fun and laughs and music. I am thankful for understanding each other's jobs. I am thankful that we like vegetables! I am thankful for walks and cycling and for times of rest. I am thankful that we are both teachers and get to spend our holidays together. I am grateful for time and family. 

CBC doesn't read my blog nowadays but if he does, I love you. xx

A