Goring Beach, West Sussex

So on Saturday afternoon we packed up Colin (after a bit of an out-of-the-blue invitation from Flyingpops old friend Dawn) and zoomed down to the sea-side at Goring (just outside Worthing) to enjoy some of the (continuing to be) fantastic weather -

- I took the opportunity to walk around and get a feel for the place, following the hedge tunnel into the distance and gazing out through little gaps towards the beach -

- to the other side is a large green, sporadically studded with small groups, either sunbathing, playing gentle sports or picnicking, all covered by the haze from countless charcoal BBQs -

- others enjoyed the ocean swell, ignoring the blatant warning signs -

- or just gazed out to sea -

I managed to score a couple of bottles of cold beer from a small shop at the end of the grass area (£2.50 each though, so bring your own if you come along!), then had a little snooze on the grass, really relaxing place...

Christmas 2006 update!

Sorry, been getting really behind with all this, Oblivion (the game) seems to have become my new life! ;) Anyway, back to Christmas eve quickly, after zooming around in Colin (who was being very badly behaved and not starting when we wanted him to) dropping off the last few pressies (mostly in and around Dorking) we went to see the Christingle service at St Martins church -

- then back to Flyingpops' folks house for double duck dinner -

- (which was delicious) and then a few drinks (only one more sleep to go!)...the morning arrived with a bump almost before I knew it and we tore open our stockings and drank hot tea in bed, then downstairs before the hour of eight to open all the rest of the gifts (pics for those involved on flickr), then back into Colin for the drive to my folks for lunch where preperations were already well advanced -

- for a feast of roast goose with all the trimmings -

- followed by Christmas pudding, then on to the *second* haul of presents of the day!

- Full and happy we settled down to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening watching TV, DVDs, listening to gramaphone records -

- and then at about half eleven we all piled out to Colin, put the stereo on far too loud with all the subs pumping and managed to break the back seat...hehe...great day! ;)

We slept over at my folks on Christmas day night, then the next morning helped little Alexander (who can now say "No" and "Ta") to open his presents, then drove to Flyingpops' grandpops' place for some cold cuts, drinks -

- and to watch little Emily open *her* presents (and baby Oliver dribble disinterestedly at his), play "pass the parcel" and then finally back home for some well deserved rest (but not before drifting off at Flyingpops' folks when I collapsed into the chair), kids can be such hard work...! ;)

So yesterday we popped down to Worthing with Colin to drop off the last Christmas pressie -

- (after spending most of the morning trying to get him started, and failing miserably, first time he *really* hadn't wanted to start), finally called the AA out and the guy adjusted the tick over (up a bit) discovered that the distributor cap had somehow been installed back to front(!), the battery was half the power required to start our size of engine and one of the HT leads wasn't connected to the spark plug...He said it was frankly amazing poor Colin ever managed to start at all! He showed us a trick with the leasure battery where we could jump start him without another car and set us on our way, and with all the cylinders now firing, and not all firing back to front you can imagine that the engine now sounds rather a *lot* better... ;)

We bought some industrial jump leads and a 96 Heavy duty battery to replace the 44 that was in there, but Colin is staying at home for New Years as we really don't have time to re-wire him now...

Today, we are setting off for Cornwall (5-ish day break, see how it goes), back to Hedley Wood for their New Year celebration, almost certainly no Internet access, so this may well be the last you hear from me until 2007! :(

If so, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! :)

Picasso, Tapas House, Worthing review

Second birthday celebration in a row (wow, really dirty-stop-out behaviour going on lately!), Saturday night found us down in the distinctly "Balearic resort"-style, south coast town of Worthing (a mish-mash of largely shiny, inviting bars, resturants and clubs containing a large number of drunk people, although not as many as I had *expected* there to be, I guess Brighton is stealing some of the thunder)...

- we enjoyed a couple of drinks in chain-pub Yates (much like any other Yates) and then on to the simply divine Picasso resturant, hidden away behind the Guildbourne Centre on Annes Road-

Walking up the stairs you find yourself simply transported to Spain, the buzzing atmosphere, the wonderful aroma and the music, the warm sunny decor (looked like the Spanish flag?) all combine to create a perfect ambience -

- if you come here, please, don't miss the Tapas...it looks a bit like a set menu, and it is, in a way, you pay a certain amount per head (depending on how many of you there are) and can select from 3 lists, one largely chicken and seafood, one largely pork and beef and one wholely vegetarian, we went for a selection of all three and I can quite honestly say the smile never left my face...roughly 40 dishes were delivered to the table from ensalada, melt in the mouth garlic bread, deep fried squid, beef in red wine, garlic mushrooms, spanish tortilla, deep fried chicken with chilli, herb roasted spuds with garlic, Paella...the list went on and on...and *every* *single* *dish* was *perfect*...

Go, you cannot possibly be dissapointed...and the huge seafood paella the table behind us had delivered, with mountains of mussles and about 40 king prawns...there's more, definitely much more to discover once you have tried the Tapas, although I'm not sure I'll be able to resist having exactly the same again next time...extraordinary...and the bill worked out at about a tenner a head (before drinks)...so excellent value also...

I'm not ashamed to say, I asked and was allowed in to meet the chef and I shook him by the hand...

We'll be back! ;)