janewilliams20

That's where we went yesterday afternoon. We'd heard there was a bit of estuary that was good for autumn migrants. What we found was an unmanned National Trust site with a couple of leaflets about guided walks. One of them took us through a wood reputed to contain red squirrels, then out to the estuary, so we did that. ("Two miles? Are you sure you want to go that far?" asked worried husband. Yep.) The leaflet also pointed out a few historic sites. It seems that "Newtown" is so called because it was built as a planned New Town, on a grid system, with all modern amenities. Yeah, yeah. Yawn. By the Bishop of Winchester, in 1256. Now that's different!

Not as many as I'd hoped, and not the ones I'd hoped, but things.

Did not go to a car boot sale with all the bits we didn't manage to sell last time. Did unload the Big Car, triage what was in there, and Freecycle quite a lot of it. There's been plenty of interest, I'm just making sure we leave it the full 24 hours as requested before we pick recipients.

Up to the Lodge: the RSPB reserve at Sandy - for a digiscoping course. Now I know much more about how it works, and why (probably) my previous attempts had focus problems. And met some fun people, and took some photos (without benefit of scope, just my little camera on zoom).
( pic under here )

I've got a bit of a sniffle and feeling generally knackered, so we went for a version of dinner that involved not cooking and being able to taste it: Indian takeaway. Yum. And you can now get Cobra beer in an LA version. Nice.

The weekend after next, we'd booked some extra days off so as to go away for the last holiday this year: Thursday to Tuesday. What we hadn't done was decide where to go, and book it. So we wandered around the web looking at flights (all on the wrong days), last-minute packages (expensive, or Benidorm), and maps. And, at some point, said "how about the Isle of Wight?" Investigation suggested Sandown as being the place most likely to have somewhere to eat in the evening, and a quick web-hunt, later, we found this. Good food, nice location, a slightly off-beat and enthusiastic attitude, and free Wifi. I'm happy. Used the phone to book, and the chap who answered was friendly and helpful, so they're off to a good start. And, from the look of the various saunas and shallow warm pools and so on, I'd better find a swimsuit that fits for once. This looks like a good place to relax.