EASTBOURNE 12th – 17th Nov

Transferred to England from Paris on the EuroStar channel tunnel train today. Arrived in Ashford, Kent at 11-06 and picked up our hire car. It looks like our travelling out of season has been an advantage since we got upgraded from our booked car of a Vauxhall Astra to a Saab at no extra cost!

Nice looking car; diesel, automatic, cruise control and leather seats. It even has seat warmers for these cold mornings! I could get used to this.

First stop was to our daughter Jacqueline’s house and then off to pick up our grand-daughter Xanthi from school. Talk about excited! The girl nearly broke my neck by jumping on me. She loves Julie to bits!

Our hotel’s great. Nothing spectacular but right on the sea front and it has terrific views of the sea (well, the English Channel).

What the hotel lacked in facilities was more than made up by the hospitality of the landlord. When we asked if Jacqueline could join us for breakfast one morning he refused to accept any extra payment. Then, on Thursday night he put up an extra bed in the room for Xanthi to stay the night (We were leaving at 05-30 for a day trip to Calais, France) again refusing any extra payment! I will certainly stay there again next time we visit Eastbourne.

Most of the time was spent just touring around and fattening up on pub lunches and dinners. That is one thing I do miss from England; the pub lunches.

Went for a trip to Beachy Head and of course lunch in the pub. Thankfully Julie doesn’t drink so she is the designated driver.

Days are spent with Jacqueline and the evenings with Xanthi. Fortunately Julie gets on well with my ex-wife Deborah so we end up with the almost surreal situation of myself, Julie, my ex wife, my daughter and grand-daughter in the one outing. Such is life.

Wednesday Julie and I went to London for the day to see Les Miserable, the musical. Neil (on W5.1) will know what I mean when I say ‘Thanks for the tip’. We had what have to be the best seats in the house – E14 and E15, centre stage. Fantastic seats.

London is just cranking up for Christmas so the lights are just starting and Julie just loved the trip. We got back to Eastbourne late at night after one really great day out.

Friday was our last day in Eastbourne so we took all of us to France for the day. The ferry crossing was great but I’m afraid I can’t recommend Calais for a trip out, especially out of season. Generally it was a disappointment but over-all it was a nice day out! Still, it means Julie has now been to France 8 times! Not bad for someone who had not been out of Australia until 2 years ago.

It was a little sad saying bye to Jacqueline and Xanthi as we dropped them off home that night but for us the sadness was tempered by the knowledge that we will see them again before Christmas. And of course our great adventure continues with our next trip to Liverpool on Saturday.