Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

We went to meet R and her fella-me-lad in Torquay.

We had intended to meet them at their hotel, but when I saw where it was, thought it would be better to meet at the seafront. It seemed a bit far for S to walk to the seafront or town centre, (if we could park at the hotel or near it). And we couldn't fit everyone in the car if we wanted to drive in. It probably wasn't that far, really, but it seemed easier. Plus I knew the carparking near the seafront. And I like what I know, and fear the unknown! Argh! (High drama there, perhaps I could win an Oscar?)

Anyway, they were waiting for us when we arrived: I hope they hadn't been waiting too long. I didn't like to ask, as I was afraid of the answer! (I do Cowardly Lion impressions too :))

It was great to see R, and her bloke seems nice. We walked and talked for a little then found a place to eat. The food was pleasant enough: I had a cajun chicken salad, but the chicken wasn't remotely spicy and bit dry. The coleslaw with it wasn't nice, but the rest was tasty. S wanted garlic bread and cheese, but when it came, demanded the cheese taken off. :D T had sausage and chips, which he mostly threw around or dropped sneakily. Well, not very sneakily. :D While we were waiting for the food, S spotted a man selling bubble-swords who was letting huge bubbles float away, so she spent the time running about popping them.

The kids were reasonably well-behaved during the meal. T didn't start agitating to get out of his pushchair and apart from the cheese problem and wanting her food miraculously cooled :D, S was fine. I had to nip off to buy some plasters from Boots as her feet were getting rubbed by her trainers. After the meal, we got ice-creams & an ice-lolly for T and wandered down the sea-front. The weather was good and Torquay's a nice town.

We walked down to the small beach (the tide was in) and I said S could go for a paddle. She went all whiny cos of the possibility of losing her plasters, but when I went down to the water with T, changed her mind and was soon splashing about merrily. Alarmingly, T would go in one direction at a rate of knots and show no signs of stopping, so if we were heading into the sea, I don't know how deep he'd have gone before realising he can't breathe water. :D But he was dragging me with him anyway. The water wasn't cold, and they & I had a fun time, while the grown-ups sat on the steps watching. :D

After that, R and her fella said goodbye as they were heading for their hotel and we were going home. I wish I'd got more of a chance to talk to R. It's hard with the kids there, especially T, as he needs constant supervision and help to walk: but he couldn't stay in his pushchair the whole time. And I was the only one dressed in such a way as to be suitable for paddling.

I'm thinking about trying the mission101 thing that Splee talks about on his blog, as a motivation to get more done with my life; one of the things on it would be to get up to London on my own in the next year. I must try to get it together.