South Park and Horley Car Boot sale (in the rain)

Oh well, that was a bit of a waste of time...quite funny though to see the number of people, who despite the persistent downpour, still decided to pack their cars up and come to sit in the middle of a damp field -
-
or in the case of Horley, a car park, and try to sell their soggy wares to the very few fanatics (us not included, we didn't even undo our seatbelts at Horley, shot that one out the window)...who had also braved the conditions, clutching their pennies in the hope of a floppy bargain...

Dorking Car Boot sale (and all that jazz)

So, we got up pretty early on Sunday (as we seem to do quite often!) and headed over to Dorking to try and get a wreath for the front door (and perhaps a little something for the living room wall at the weekly car boot sale -

- it was a gloriously sunny day (and thus *absolutely* freezing) -

- but it seems the blue skies were enough to tempt about half of Dorking to either buy or sell (or come along for the walk, and maybe get a new bear to chew on, if lucky)... ;)

Spotted a new stall (seems to be, Dorking Car boot sale is becoming more and more like a market with each passing week) selling fresh fish (actually smelt quite good, i.e. non-fishy, but then, the environment *was* close to refrigerator temperatures) -

- and a good number of house clearance type removal van types -

- must only be about 50% actual car boots on offer...

Still, succeeded in our mission, got a jolly nice wreath and on a whim picked up a live tree for Flyingpops' mum, who had been bemoaning the visual appearance of the huge old fibre optic tree they bought a few years back (fetched from loft and dusted down)...so we spent a couple of hours over there eating a spot of breakfast and assisting with the erection and decoration (200 lights!!!) of the new one -

- then we zoomed around Sainsburys' in Redhill for a few bits and bobs (for me to eat while I am off on holiday), popped up to the Priory Farm shop to pick up Flyingpops' festive feast (all lovingly hand-made) which we had pre-ordered last week, and then home...

I put dinner on, was really looking forward to a nice quiet evening, and at a convenient (hrm...) moment in that process Flyingpops and I decided to take a quick look at the toilet (which has had a trickling leak from the base of the cistern for a while now), we took the lid off and promptly managed to break the arm off the ballcock...leaving the toilet in constant "I need to be filling myself up" mode...a hectic and very wet five minutes later I had the thing wedged back into "I'm full" mode using the arm from the ballcock and a VW Beetle wall ornament...not ideal, but better than holding it with my finger, however, there was just no way we could risk leaving it like that overnight...

Flyingpops rang her dad for emergency assistance and he said he was "Coming right over", so while the cavalry were on their way we threw as much dinner down our throats as possible (before it went cold). As it happens Uncle Al actually drove Flyingpops' dad over and the pair of them (after calling for "Tea please!") had the whole thing locked down almost before the kettle had boiled...! Amazing!

Only bad thing as a result is no flushing toilet for the time being...we are awaiting a plumber to come today to take a look, but no sign yet...so my hopes of anything happening today are dwindling...For now, a bucket rests beside the toilet to do the flushing for us (which does the job for now, if inelegantly)...but why do these things always seem to crop up right before Christmas, eh...? ;)

Oh, and just before I go, a quick detox update - Day #5 now, mucked up a bit on Saturday (had a Big Mac and some Chicken Nuggets), but everything else is still going 100% and as it's been easy and rewarding I think there may be a related New Year's resolution in the pipeline ;)

Update - Plumber came, and apart from a few minutes on his mobile and a few ticks drinking tea, he was in and out within about half-an-hour! We now have a leak-free, flushing toilet...phew... ;)

King Charles Hotel, Gillingham - Review

So, clutching our wedding invite we set course for Kent early on Saturday evening...we had booked a cabin at the King Charles Hotel (the pictures on their website are hilarious fantasy), Chatham (about 2 minutes from Fort Amhurst, where the reception was to be held), pictured above (in reality), it turned out to be a charming, sympathetic conversion of an old naval military facility, lovingly decorated by local artists and set in a stunning location (as you can see)...the room came complete with authentic capstan full strength aroma (despite booking non-smoking), and the shower was equipped with a handy auto-on feature when running the bath, to really capure that feeling of adventure on the high seas as you wade across the bathroom floor trying to shield your wedding outfit from the forceful spray...

The reception, in contrast, was in the lovely grounds of Fort Amhurst (here is a view of the town from the ramparts)...

...and a view of the festivities from the same location...

- the food was really good, a selection of BBQ'd burgers, kebabs and wraps, veggies well catered for also, then drinks until the sun was well below the horizon and disco action late into the night, a very pleasant affair spent in the company of some genuinely interesting and friendly folk -

In the morning we were woken early by the noisy natives setting up a massive car boot sale right outside our cabin window, so we gave up trying to sleep, got up and went down for breakfast (which was included in the price) -

We asked for one Full English and one vegetarian breakfast, and I think the chef must have been having an off day...the vegetarian breakfast had an enormous block of cheese on the side...how I kept a straight face when the waitress brought it to the table I really cannot say-

So, we took a quick walk around the boot sale (got a DVD), then hopped in the car and Tomtom brought us home...wedding good, hotel bad... ;)

What a weekend...

...awesome time at Tommo's, had the pleasure of seeing Mr Jonks this time too (who seems to have actually lost weight as he has grown older, must be the stress of having kids ;)...out the back garden in the seminary Tommo keeps a Disney-esque menagerie of fluffy animals that both please and pain, bringing joy with their antics and pain with their annoying ability to consume brand new plants, dig up beds, pee on perfectly good BBQ covers and drown themselves in ornamental ponds...

We played muchos xbox, drank muchos cervesa, ate copious amounts of Chinese food and watched a movie or two, and then I had the pleasure of his excellently appointed spare room for the nights (well earned) collapse...

Today we headed over to Dorking boot sale to assist Flyingpop's papa with the sale of the crap from the old family homestead's loft, then spent the rest of the time in tense limbo, her nan is in hospital, critically ill...and it's hard to know what is for the best...still, the family is rallying round (as they do so well)...

A weekend of strong contrasts...

Mundane in comparison, I also managed to chop off 3mm of my little finger on my left hand with the speed peeler resulting in an impressive amount of blood while preparing our Sunday roast...lack of concentration I guess... :(